Aug 25

RAW: SALA – Suite – Lesa Farrant, Phil Hart et al – St Morris Upholsterers

An exhibition of some interest is on at the St Morris Upholsterers shop on Magill Road. Phil Hart presents 21 porcelain pots, most white with blue sand dune like lines or plant stems and leaves, of various sizes, all giving you that feel of the beach. Maria Parmenter presents around 25 slabs built in earthenware and screen printed (with the occasional porcelain.) Where Hart works with blue, Parmenter focuses on a pale red with patterns that remind you of woollen carpets that eke out the designs of landmarks that may be familiar such as the old Highways Department building in Walkerville. Many are attached to the wall in the shape of half eggs.

Lesa Farrant has created an array of porcelain pieces the most likeable of which are her Lids and Pins, slip cast porcelain in white with green and red pins painted on. While Lauren Simeoni has specialised in jewellery with the standouts being Bing Swagger, Cherry Bomb and Krystal, all incorporating artificial plant foliage with other elements to create pieces of real interest.

For those looking for stylish curios for the house, especially at the prices on offer, all present excellent opportunities and reason for a half hour fossicking amongst the furniture.

Also, worth looking at, though not on the official handout, are half a dozen paintings by young Adelaide artist, Andy Clarke. Very much in the impressionist style, Clarke already possesses a significant additional knack for conveying sensual feeling and emotion in his work, especially with mist (Morning in Mackerel Bay) and haze (Butlers Beach). There are also moments of influence from traditional Japanese artists. When combined with provocative titles such as Ibis In Filth and The Bengali Flute, Clarke is an artist to look out for in the future.

Aug 25

RAW: Harry Harlow Project – Space – Til 27th August

Harry Harlow was a mid west, US 1950’s psychologist who first used the word ‘love’ in a scientific paper. He was condemned for that and for many of his research techniques into the human condition, especially child rearing, using rhesus monkeys in his experiments. Nonetheless, the findings of his research have become common place even if established science does not like much to use his name as the source of the ‘discoveries.’

The Harry Harlow Project is a one man show, written as well as performed by James Saunders. His work is aided, at the front of the theatre by Video Artist, Martyn Coutts and composer and sound designer, Kelly Ryall.

Skilfully the three artists quickly establish Harlow in his world and then lead us on various pathways that make us question whether in doing his science, Harlow was mad, misunderstood, doing little more than playing out his own psychologies (was he suffering from Aspergers), a monster, just in for the glory or an individual capable of profound care for new born infants.

There are moments of high wire choreograph precision when video has to match performance on the stage but the ensemble carry it of seamlessly. The script and production is often intense as well as humorous and running barely an hour never loses your attention. Saunders work on stage is terrific, portraying well the dimensions of the man without over reaching into melodrama.

Works by the arts community about science often tend to ride roughshod over research realities or quickly retreat to areas with which the artists (and / or they believe their audiences) are more comfortable. No such criticism can be made like that here and one is reminded of Liam Neeson’s performance in the film Kinsey where the pursuit of results and the ‘flow’ felt from the research come to block out every day life including being able to make much sense of their relationships with their own family members, making, to outsiders, the person appear quite weird.

If nothing else, plays like this give an insight into the type of people, who no matter how we may judge them, actually make the big changes that affect us all.

This is excellent theatre and well worth attention as well by any with an interest in psychology and scientific endeavour generally.

Aug 25

RAW: I left my shoes on warm concrete and stood in the rain – Gabrielle Nankivell – Space – 4K

By Julia George

Gabrielle Nankivell is a talented dancer, so much in fact that she has shone in a solo performance, her latest choreography “I left my shoes on warm concrete and stood in the rain,” a 50minute theatrical dance ‘visual poem’.

The piece starts in darkness, with loud and strong audio that sounds like a herd of horses blended with other noises. After a short delay strobe lights flash as Gabrielle begins moves in an erratic way. The audio / visual poem then begins, which explores the ‘struggles’ of life, and although highly abstract, it resonates in a meaningful way.

Throughout the performance there’s a juxtaposition of light and shade, in both the audio and visual aspects, taking the audience on a ride of both fear and joy. The set design complements whilst it also clashes, with old suitcases and a decorated tree, amongst other eclectic items, representative of life’s journey. A big screen made from butcher’s paper is the centrepiece and throughout the performance sections of the poem are flashed on it.

The synchronicities of the audio and visual elements of the performance are flawless and this creates moments of shock, suddenly at one point the audio reached a crescendo and the room switched to pitch black in the same second and at other point the strobe lights flashed, coinciding with the audio. This perfectly in sync and dramatic element added to the theatricality of the performance whilst it also complemented Nankivell’s beautiful, flowing choreography.

Toward the end of the piece Nankivell wears boots, which she then removes to reveal bloody feet, and she then pours more blood out of the shoe. Most likely this is a symbolic representation of war wounds from the journey of life.

This piece really is more than a choreographic piece of contemporary dance. Luke Smiles and Benjamin Cisterne are the masterminds behind the original soundtrack, which brought the performance together, through a combination of sound effects, voices and music. Nonetheless Nankivell’s choreography looks effortless and makes for an entertaining work of performance art.

Kryztoff Rating  4K



Aug 24

RAW: Adelaide Festival of Ideas – Full Line Up

ADELAIDE FESTIVAL OF IDEAS
REVEALS FULL LINE-UP
Adelaide Festival of Ideas – Friday 7 October to Sunday 9 October

Organisers of the 2011 Adelaide Festival of Ideas today revealed a full line-up of over 80 speakers for Australia’s longest-running ideas festival.
Adding to an impressive previously announced list of Penny Sackett, Peter Doherty, Barbara Hardy, Ted Nordhaus, Michael Shellenberger, Sarah Joseph, Bryan Boyd and Paul Ormerod the new speakers revealed include:
• Renowned Human Rights Barrister, Julian Burnside • Leading Australian Information Security expert and Ethical Hacker, Jody Melbourne

• Prominent Psychologist, human sexuality researcher and best selling author, Christopher Ryan
• Former Federal politicians, Amanda Vanstone & Carmen Lawrence
• Influential European architecture critic and author Bart Lootsma
• Deputy Chief Urban Designer for New York’s Department of City Planning, Jeffrey Shumaker
• Current and future Adelaide Festival Directors, Paul Grabowsky and David Sefton
• Journalist, author, and political and social commentator, David Marr
• Eminent New York-based Arab and Muslim issues columnist Mona Eltahawy

Executive Producer, Sandy Verschoor said having such a broad range of distinguished international and local thinkers converge on Adelaide to share their ideas in a free compact event is an exciting prospect.
“With this kind of depth and breadth of intellectual and creative talent assembled for the event weekend, Adelaide will be transformed into the nation’s epicentre of vibrant ideas and discussion,” Ms Verschoor said.
“I’m as excited about the festival’s wide appeal to attract new audiences as I am the stellar line-up itself.”
Speakers will address a wide array of topics ranging from climate change, human rights, architecture, politics, religion, the future of the media and cutting edge scientific research to drug addiction, social media, “hacktivism”, the cosmos and prehistoric man’s sexual exploits.

Details of all speakers can be found at www.adelaidefestivalofideas.com.au

Aug 23

RAW: Adelaide City Council takes the step to ban cigarettes in Rundle Mall

By Lewis Dowell

The Adelaide City Council has approved a complete smoking ban in Rundle Mall, with offenders to be fined $62 for the act.

There have been bans in the past, sure, so it would seem like this was just a natural next step in the state’s progression of anti-smoking campaigns.

However, bans in the past have been in regards to enclosed areas where non-smokers would have no way to avoid the second-hand exhaust of smokers, particularly in places like pubs, clubs and coffee shops where smoking is popular. Bans were put in place for the health of staff members who have no choice but to breathe in second hand smoke during long shifts.

Smoking bans in restaurants and cafes also carry the notion that smoking near foods and kitchens is a health risk. The scheme approved by the City Council just 3 weeks ago, which would give restaurant and café owners a 50% discount on trading permits if they agree to make their outdoor eating areas ‘non-smoking’, seems to have been devised under these lines, whereby smokers and non-smokers should be able to enjoy food and drink smoke free.

This year we have also seen an attack on cigarette packaging, where the government has decided to de-brand cigarettes, turning them all into a haze of pale green. A policy that was met with great contention from tobacco companies who feel they should be able to operate freely in the market place.

Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood says the move to ban smoking in Rundle Mall is about making the Mall competitive against other shopping centres where smoking is banned due to the simple fact that they are in doors.

“Rundle Mall is competing with other shopping centres where smoking is not allowed and we want a level playing field.” Said Mayor Yarwood, this is despite studies that have shown that smoking regulations have had little to no effect on retail trading either positively or negatively.

The other point made by Mayor Yarwood was that the ban would make the Mall a more family friendly place, saying “Families and older people have a right to use the public seating in the Mall and not be exposed to cigarette smoke”.

I am a non-smoker, and in the past have been in favour of the government’s attempts of 1. Making the public aware of the health risks of cigarettes (even though they may be tedious and exaggerated, I am willing to put up with them because of their importance), and 2. Taking away any weapons being carried by the tobacco companies such as advertising, branding and the cute ponies they pulp to make cigarette paper.

And as I am just old enough to remember pubs and clubs before the smoking ban, suffering from smelly clothes, sore eyes and a second hand smoker’s cough, I can tell you that I whole-heartedly support the banning of smoking indoors.

I also submit that banning smoking in popular areas such as Rundle Mall, most likely is an effective step against smoking in society.

(And while I’m on the subject, why is it legal to smoke whilst driving? if mobile phones are deemed unsafe to use in a car then why is it ok to manipulate burning objects whilst travelling at 60km an hour? But that’s a different subject.)

However, there are some factors in this policy to which I find trouble with, and they seem to be becoming more popular in society. That is the idea that 1. Non-smokers have more rights than smokers, and 2. That families and old people have more rights then everybody else.

The active and accurate demonising of tobacco companies by activists and the government, seems to have led to not only the demonising of smokers, but also to the high horsing of non-smokers. As if being a non-smoker is so honourable, that you are granted the right to demand what ever you like from the group who is apparently so incapable of thinking that they would actually smoke.

If someone is smoking in an area where smoking is not allowed, then by all means tell them to stop because they are not allowed to do so. However, if they are smoking in an area where smoking is permitted, you unfortunately have no right whatsoever to tell them to stop. Particularly if that area is as big, open and outdoors as Rundle Mall.

Point number 2. If you are the parents of children, it is not necessarily societies duty to tip toe around your children and hide what you might think is inappropriate behavior, but what actually is quite normal social intercourse between adults. Sure common sense must prevail, and there will be cases where people are no doubt acting inappropriately in front of children, but unfortunately for parents, adults of all ages will swear, smoke, drink and will sometimes behave in ways in which you wouldn’t want your children to behave and that is their right as adults.

Instead of banning smoking in places where it would seem completely appropriate to smoke, and hand out fines for swearing (as experienced by over 800 people in Victoria), maybe we should put a little faith in parents to be able to explain these behaviours to their children. Not forgetting that these children will one day be fully functioning adults capable of making decisions for themselves.

And on the point of old people, I think this is a group that we can be guilty of under-estimating. There seems to be an idea that all elderly people in Rundle Mall are somewhat lost, having wondered away from their nursing home in their sleep the night before, so we must tip toe around them lest a breath of air knock them over. This is instead of what’s probably the more accurate story, that the elderly people you will find in Rundle Mall are actually fully functioning members of society who have managed to navigate the city to find themselves in the CBD, where they are carrying out several tasks before making their way back home. I would also say that they are perfectly capable of telling a group of people to stop smoking, or even move to a different spot if the smoke was really bothering them that much.

Society shouldn’t be tailor made for social conservatives, and believe it or not there is such thing as appropriate levels of public swearing, smoking and drinking. Behaviour in the public should not be regulated on who will take the biggest offence to certain behaviour, and shouldn’t be about hiding appropriate adult behaviour from children.

In the fight against smoking people should always remember that the enemy is tobacco companies, not smokers. Public smoking should be regulated in order to not cause health issues for other members of society, but smokers also shouldn’t be shuttled off out of sight, stricken from the community because they have such an incapacity of thought that they would actually smoke.

Aug 23

RAW: How The Shoppies Run This State (With Our Money)

By www.icac-sa.com

THE SHOPRANOS
On Friday, July 29, Peter Malinauskas, the 30-year-old state secretary of the shop assistants’ union, accompanied by Treasurer Jack Snelling, a former ‘shoppies’ official, walked into Premier Mike Rann’s office and sacked him. Few of the public had ever heard of Mr. Malinauskas. People were shocked that a faceless union boss could dictate who leads the Labor Party and the state. Many began to wonder what power the same union might wield over Rann’s replacement, Jay Weatherill.

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) is South Australia’s biggest trade union, claiming a membership of 23,000 – a number inflated by including the Northern Territory – drawn from the retail, fast food and
warehouse industries. This tiny minority effectively rules SA and dictates every move of the Labor Government.
How?
Money.

Without their express agreement, all SDA members contribute a levy of $5 to ALP coffers, amounting to over $904,000 between 2001 and 2010. This financial clout and its membership numbers deliver the SDA a controlling clique of delegates to Labor’s state conference.

For years the grassroots membership of the ALP has been sidelined from preselection decisions. Branches are stacked; candidates chosen by party headquarters are simply imposed on safe seats. Union hacks of dubious talent from the SDA, unfit to face the voters in Lower House seats, are given a secure place on the Upper House ticket and installed for six- and eight-year terms of undistinguished anonymity. The SDA thus has the numbers in the party room to dictate ministerial appointments, lucrative parliamentary committee roles and nice little earners for family members and other cronies. The SDA controls the dominant right-wing Labor Unity faction and wages an endless internal war against the socialist Left.
Further, in SA, the ‘shoppies’ MPs tend to be far-right reactionary Catholics (devotees, for instance, of the Latin Mass) who use their influence to deliver preferment and taxpayer dollars to the Catholic Church. Nowhere else in Australia has a Catholic clergyman – Monsignor David Cappo – been given a place in Cabinet, brazenly transgressing the constitutional separation of church and state. Monsignor Cappo runs political interference for the Rann government on a range of controversial issues as the so-called Independent Commissioner for Social Inclusion.

One tragic consequence of this system of patronage is that ability and character play no part in preselection or ministerial promotion: you simply rise to the head of the SDA queue, it’s your turn, and in you go. Events currently before the courts may in due course expose a sad example of this. As well as lucrative attachments to the public purse, the SDA delivers direct
benefits to its members by undemocratically dictating the very laws that govern the state.

The most obvious example is SA’s absurd shopping restrictions: with the retail industry at a 50-year low, Rundle Mall and major shopping centres are forced to shut on their most profitable days of the year, over Christmas/New Year and public holidays. Tourists arrive to find Adelaide closed for business. Of course, shop assistants deserve their leisure time: but retailers are prevented from rostering temporary staff because the SDA hates casuals who don’t join the union.

Direct grants of taxpayers’ money to the SDA by the Rann Government are commonplace, often under the guise of ‘workplace safety’: in 2007 alone, $450,000 was given to subsidize ‘safety information schemes’, among them a blatant recruitment commercial for the union. icac-sa has identified appointments to public office of some 36 SDA bosses, exofficials
and their cronies – brothers, sisters, wives, de factos and girlfriends – which cost the SA taxpayer several million dollars a year and effectively cashflow the operations of the ALP.

DON FARRELL
Senator Don Farrell, universally known as ‘The Godfather’, is a former state secretary and national president of the SDA who exercises a stranglehold on power within the South Australian ALP. Such is his influence, he was one of a small cabal of factional conspirators who deposed Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister (to be rewarded with a promotion to parliamentary secretary by Julia Gillard).

This was the first time most Australians had heard his name. Long before he was elected to any public office, Don Farrell orchestrated the elevation of Mike Rann to parliamentary leader in 1994. He has been the patron of other rapid risers from the ranks of the SDA, notably federal MP for Adelaide and Rudd/Gillard minister Kate Ellis, who was awarded preselection at the age of 26.

Farrell’s father, Edward (Ted) was a serial candidate for the DLP in the 1960s and 70s, an early indication of the deeply conservative Catholic bias that permeates Rann Labor. Don Farrell was the failed ALP candidate for the federal seat of
Adelaide in 1988.

In 2008 Farrell anointed himself to the safe #1 position on Labor’s senate ticket, replacing Linda Kirk – an SDA protegee of his – whom he axed after she disobeyed his direction to support Kim Beazley against Rudd for the party leadership. He was made parliamentary secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water in 2010, although his voice has seldom if ever been heard throughout SA’s sustained water crisis.

NIMFA FARRELL
Don Farrell’s wife, Nimfa, was installed on Senator Linda Kirk’s parliamentary staff – salary range typically $90-100,000 – but resigned in mid-2003 after a falling out which led to Ms. Kirk being dumped from the Senate ticket. On 28/2/07, Linda Kirk told The Advertiser of Farrell’s ‘absolute power’ over preselection by the Right, and claimed he had pressured her to resign after his wife left her staff.

SENATOR LINDA KIRK
A former industrial officer for the SDA, Linda Kirk served a single term in the Senate 2002-08, often under criticism for her overseas travel costs and allegations that she spent office hours working on her PhD. After being forced from Labor’s
Senate ticket, she was promptly given a $127,000-a-year job by Kevin Rudd as senior member of the Migration and Refugee Review Tribunal. Unlike many SDA appointees, it could be said she had some qualifications after her service on parliamentary committees related to these issues.

KATE ELLIS
Under Don Farrell’s patronage, and via her SDA membership, the strikingly attractive Kate Ellis had a meteoric rise from 15-year-old checkout operator and university dropout to federal MP for Adelaide at age 26 and Australia’s youngest ever federal minister. At 23, she had already caught the eye of Kevin Foley, who hired her as a ministerial adviser on a salary of $93,000. Her junior ministries of Sport, Youth, Status of Women and Early Childcare have made headlines for her fashion shoots, an $11,000-a-night junket to Switzerland for the World Cup Soccer bid debacle, and her 130% staff turnover, a record for any parliamentary office.

Kate Ellis’s brother, Matt Ellis, is Health & Safety Officer of the SDA.

PETER MALINAUSKAS
At age 27, former Woolworths Mitcham trolley boy and checkout operator Peter Malinauskas succeeded Don Farrell as SA state secretary of the SDA. He was promptly installed in a $50,000-a-year position on the board of Workcover, while still to complete his economics degree at the University of Adelaide. He replaced Unions SA secretary Janet Giles, who resigned in protest at new laws which significantly disadvantage injured workers and produce the worst return-to-work outcomes in Australia. The appointment was one of the last decisions by outgoing Industrial Relations Minister Michael Wright, himself a former organiser for the SDA. Malinauskas joined former provincial racecourse manager Philip Bentley, Mike Rann’s best friend, and Sandra de Poi, fiancee of Labor MP Leon Bignell, on the Workcover board. Since the Rann Government took office in 2002, Workcover’s unfunded liabilities have blown out from $68 million to $1.2 billion, while slashing workers’ rights and benefits.

ROB MALINAUSKAS
Younger brother of Peter Malinauskas, in his early 20s Rob Malinauskas has gone from third-year cadet journalist at The Advertiser on $40,000 a year to earning three times as much, first as an adviser to then Treasurer Kevin Foley and lately to Corrections Minister Tom Koutsantonis. Both Foley and Koutsantonis are former officials of the SDA.

ELIZABETH MALINAUSKAS
The sister of Peter and Rob Malinauskas, Elizabeth Malinauskas was appointed liaison officer for Attorney-General John Rau on a salary of $93,293.

ELIZABETH HOLLIDGE
The ex-girlfriend of SDA secretary Peter Malinauskas, Elizabeth Hollidge is a junior solicitor in the law firm of Scammell & Co., where her father is a partner. A former ministerial adviser to then Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, himself formerly of the SDA – salary $93,293 – she was recently appointed to the SA Development and Advisory Committee – fee circa $35,000 – a role for which she has no discernible qualifications. As is often the case, the formal biographies of such committee appointees conceal more than they disclose. Ms. Hollidge is described only as ‘a person with wide experience in commerce and industry’.

No fewer than eight ex-shoppies are present or former ministers in the 16-person Rann Cabinet. On promotion, they appear to suffer selective amnesia: with the honourable exception of Tom Koutsantonis, their trade union histories are completely excised from their formal biographies on government and party websites.

KEVIN FOLEY

Kevin Foley joined the SDA on leaving school at 15. He was warehoused as an adviser to Bannon government minister Lynn Arnold before becoming his Chief of Staff when Arnold replaced the disgraced John Bannon as Premier. He was the member for Hart before parachuting into Labor’s safest seat of Port Adelaide. Mr. Foley’s membership of the dominant SDA/Right faction has protected him from the consequences of his often loutish behaviour in and out of parliament. Mr. Foley’s ministerial offices have provided a career path into politics for numerous young SDA apparatchiks, in public service positions not advertised on merit.

MICHAEL ATKINSON
A former Advertiser journalist, Michael Atkinson was an adviser and press secretary to former federal ALP Minister Chris Hurford before becoming an advocate for the SDA. He was Attorney-General in the Rann government for eight years, where poorly drafted legislation was often subject to amendment and, in the case of anti-bikie association laws, was thrown out by the High Court. Mr. Atkinson has sued numerous of his critics for defamation at taxpayers’ expense, and when successful has pocketed the proceeds. Taxpayers footed the bill when Magistrate Andrew Cannon successfully sued him for defamation; a suit by Advertiser journalist Colin James was recently settled for an estimated $100,000.
Mr. Atkinson lived in the home of fellow MP Bernard Finnigan for three months after his divorce from his wife, Joan, herself a former SDA official. He resigned from the front bench a day after the 2010 election. Mr. Atkinson is widely regarded as a numbers man for Labor’s Right faction; his ministerial office has provided employment for several ex-SDA figures.

TOM KOUTSANTONIS
A former taxi driver and Young Labor stalwart, Tom Koutsantonis was an industrial officer for the SDA before his election to the state seat of Peake (now West Torrens) in 1997 at the age of 26. In 2009, his appointment as Minister for Road Safety lasted 47 days before he was forced to shift portfolios when his driving record of 58 speeding offences became public. He is now Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Industry and Trade, Small Business and Correctional Services. Other salaried positions include membership of the Economic Development Board of SA. Questions are beginning to be asked about Mr. Koutsantonis’s conduct of the application by Marathon Resources to mine in the Arkaroola region of the Flinders Ranges, and how this may have related to the dismissal of Premier Mike Rann from office, reportedly on the orders of SDA
supremo Don Farrell.

JACK SNELLING
Jack Snelling was elected as MP for Playford in 1997, aged 24, but according to his ALP biography he did not exist before that date. He was in fact a staff member of the SDA and an ALP electoral officer. After serving as Speaker of the Lower House, he was briefly Minister for Science, Road Safety and Veterans Affairs before his elevation to Treasurer, in the wake of Kevin Foley’s removal at the hands of the Right faction. Mr. Snelling was one of the two factional messengers despatched to inform Premier Mike Rann he had lost the party’s support.

TOM KENYON
Minister for Road Safety Tom Kenyon followed the standard career path from SDA organiser to electorate officer and ministerial adviser before being installed as Member for Newland in 2006 and fast-tracked into cabinet. Mr. Kenyon is the
protégé of former ALP Senator John Quirke, at whose behest he is alleged to have falsely vilified former Burnside councillor Rob Gilbert under parliamentary privilege. At the next sitting of parliament, Mr. Kenyon may face a demand to explain his conduct to the House. It is not expected he will quote from the MacPherson Report, in case he finds the name of his mentor’s wife, Davina Quirke, inadvertently on his lips.
TRISH WHITE
SDA stalwart and state convenor of the Labor Unity (Right) faction 1995-2002, Trish White was MP for Taylor from 1994 to her retirement in 2010 and Minister for Transport in the Rann Government. Said retirement has been good to Trish: a
super payout of $93,300 p.a. for life and lucrative directorships of the Motor Accident Commission and Australia Post. Trish is a graduate electronics engineer, just the qualification for the board of multibillion-dollar public enterprises. She is also a strategic adviser to global corporation Worley Parsons, which provides services to the energy and resources industries.
BERNARD FINNIGAN
Bernie, affectionately known by all as ‘BFF’, joined the SDA in 1995 years as a protégé of Senator Don Farrell, and was assistant state secretary for five years before being parachuted unelected into the Upper House in 2006 after the death of
MLC Terry Roberts. An enthusiastic joiner of parliamentary committees – and who wouldn’t be, at $18,000 a pop – Bernie was parliamentary secretary to Premier Mike Rann until appointed Minister for Local Government in 2011.

There his glorious reign lasted for 72 days until he abruptly resigned without explanation. Since, he has been suspended from the ALP, equally without explanation, and has attended parliament for minutes at a time just often enough to remain on the public payroll. Why did one of the SDA’s most illustrious graduates suddenly and mysteriously become The Vanishing MP?
LINDSAY SIMMONS
Former SDA member Lindsay Simmons was warehoused as a member of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal before becoming the failed federal ALP candidate for Sturt and then the one-term state MP for Morialta, 2006-2010. One rare venture into the headlines was for allegedly abusing her hairdresser. On involuntarily leaving parliament, Lindsay was consoled by an appointment to the Training and Skills Commission, on $30,000 a year or $3750 a meeting.

CARMEL ZOLLO
SDA patronage boosted Carmelina Zollo into a safe Upper House seat in 1997, although she was born in the Campania Region of Italy, not the more favoured Puglia. Via lucrative service on numerous committees she became an entirely
undistinguished Minister for Correctional Services and Road Safety until replaced by younger SDA appointees like Tom Koutsantonis and Tom Kenyon.
ANNETTE HURLEY
SDA-affiliated Annette Hurley was state MP for Napier 1993-2002 but stood for and lost the marginal seat of Light in 2002. She was promptly found a Senate seat in 2005 and, under Don Farrell’s patronage, even before she had entered parliament was appointed Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Annette’s remarkable talents earned her membership of no fewer than 14 parliamentary committees at $10-18,000 each, before new PM Kevin Rudd dumped her from his cabinet in 2007. The Right faction forced her from Labor’s Senate ticket in 2010, but she found immediate consolation as SA director of ALP spin consultants Hawker Britton.

On the rare occasions Senator Hurley made the news, it was for her voracious appetite for travel (Cook Islands, Fiji, Bosnia-
Herzogovina) culminating in a lap of honour to Bhutan, whose national symbol is an erect pink penis.
NICK CHAMPION
Nick Champion embodies the classic SDA rise to stardom: from trolley boy to organiser (1994), then training officer and health & safety officer before reaching the head of the queue in 2007 as federal MP for Wakefield.

AMANDA RISHWORTH
Former SDA organiser Amanda Rishworth earned national prominence as “Who’s that?” when she sat behind Kevin Rudd in parliament during his brief tenure as PM. She was the failed ALP candidate for the state seat of Fisher in 2006 and won Kingston in the 2007 federal election. Amanda chairs the House of Representatives standing committee on education and employment, and enjoys study tours abroad, though not the one to Japan earlier this year when she was stranded for five hours on the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo.

LEE ODENWALDER
SDA support saw Lee Odenwalder, former community liaison officer to Health Minister Lea Stevens (2003-05) endorsed for the safe Labor seat of Little Para in 2010 ahead of the man who’d been promised the job, Kyam Maher. Mr. Maher was rewarded for his stoicism with the post of State ALP Secretary. He replaced

MICHAEL BROWN
Former SDA official Michael Brown was an adviser to ministers Michael Atkinson, Kevin Foley and Paul Holloway before becoming State Secretary, where he distinguished himself by masterminding the dodgy how-to-vote card rort for Leon Bignell which was instrumental in Labor retaining government.
Some ambitious MPs have seen the light and sought preferment by affiliating with the SDA (although they’ve never worked in a shop in their lives) which ensconces them in the dominant Labor Unity faction. Among these:
MICHAEL O’BRIEN
A self-made millionaire, former businessman Michael O’Brien is more likely to have employed shop assistants than been one. Membership of SDA/Labor Unity saw him elevated to cabinet as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests.
CONOR O’BRIEN
Son of Michael O’Brien, young Conor is serving a political apprenticeship as an SDA organiser. Likewise DAVID RANN, son of Premier Mike Rann.
CHLOE FOX

A former high school English teacher, Chloe Fox became the member for Bright in 2006 and, although often touted as ministerial talent, not least by herself, was overlooked. In July 2011, Chloe retrospectively joined the SDA and now expects to be promoted to incoming Premier Jay Weatherill’s cabinet.

And still they come. The next generation of candidates from the SDA is being warehoused in public office at taxpayer expense:
DANIEL ROMEO
At age 25, Daniel Romeo was appointed Attorney-General John Rau’s chief of staff. At the same time as public servants’ pay rises were capped at 2.5%, young Daniel’s salary was increased by 26% to $115,000. While previously employed in then Treasurer Kevin Foley’s office, he was mentioned in despatches for running up a debt of $39, 495 on his government credit card between June 2008 and May 2009. Daniel Romeo’s links to the SDA are via his wife, Sonia Menechella Romeo, a former shop assistant who is now assistant state secretary of the union.

SONIA MENECHELLA ROMEO
See above.
ANNA BRADLEY
Former SDA organiser, hired as adviser to then Planning Minister Paul Holloway.
EAMON BURKE
Former SDA organiser, hired as adviser to then Police Minister Michael Wright.
PETER LOUCA
Ex-SDA, failed candidate for Mayo in 1996, appointed chief of staff by then Attorney-General Michael Atkinson.
SHANNON SAMPSON
SDA industrial officer, hired as adviser to Michael Atkinson.
STEPHEN CAMPBELL
SDA industrial officer, hired as chief of staff to Rory McEwen, independent MP rewarded with a ministry for supporting Labor.
ZOE BETTISON

Former SDA organiser, associate director of ALP spin consultant Hawker Britton, widely expected to replace Mike Rann in parliament.
BRIGID MAHONEY
Former adviser to Local Government Minister Gail Gago, defected from the Left to the SDA/Right faction, now senior policy consultant in the Department of Health.
The SDA routinely fields younger candidates in marginal and unwinnable seats as
practice for the career path ahead. Among these:
BEN DINEEN
Young Labor stalwart, candidate for Bragg in 2010.

QUENTIN BLACK
Twice-failed candidate for Hartley.
MOIRA DESLANDES
Former chief of staff to Trish White, failed candidate for Mawson.
MIA HANDSHIN
Failed candidate for federal seat of Sturt, hired as adviser to Kate Ellis.

Aug 22

RAW: SALA – Moving Image Project – Peel Street

X ImageBy Socratos

Peel Street has been experiencing a transformation over the weekends of the SALA festival. The street has been blocked off and worked into a festival/performance space with visual and musical artists commandeering the laneway to imbue a festive atmosphere and inspire the minds of passersby and revelers. Next weekend shall be the final crowning culmination of the month long affair with the street once again being hijacked by a troupe of performers utilising music, dance and projection to create a mind altering atmosphere within the city street.

After a string of successful runs this swan-song promises to be an endearing and captivating final performance with musicians and performers at the peak of their game improvising melodies to the projected images of self projected on self, mirroring the process of movement within two different envelopes of time.

Here’s what the performers have to say about X Image (pictured);

X image installation is contained within a blackened space. The master projector beams colour scale images into pitch-blackness, as projected incarnates emerge in progression… 1, 2, 3, 4. Embodying a human landscape of visual imagery, the figures weave ghostly shadows and whisper trails whilst the viewer is invited to convene. Irrevocably, a plumed figure with wings outstretched acts as a full-scale projection screen, providing the viewer with a lucid apparition into the minds eye of the projectionist. The musicians, faces clad in black, wield a wild array of eclectic instruments, thus perpetuating the ambiguity of the installation.

The final performances shall occur at 7.30 and 9pm on Saturday, 27th of August in Peel St.

Aug 22

RAW: SALA – Yiloga – Tiwi Footy – Peter Eve & Monica Napper – Tandanya

Dressing Room - Peter Eve - 2005

With football finals now kicking off in various leagues around the state, the arrival of Yiloga – Tiwi Footy by Peter Eve and Monica Napper could not be better timed.

The role of football of all codes to the spirit and soul of this country, albeit tribe by tribe depending on their form, cannot be underestimated or much avoided. This exhibition gives us a chance to not only observe what it means to the Tiwi islanders but also compare and contrast their commitment to it with that in more southern climes.

This photo essay of about 40 images focuses on the annual Grand Final and follows the team and supporters as they head off on the morning of the game and finishes as they return home at dusk by barge.

Given over the centuries the Tiwi fiercely resisted all comers, it is extraordinary the way the Australian national game has been more than embraced but adopted as a part of the islanders’ culture.

Holy Grail - Monica Napper - 2007

The images are mostly in colour though the black and white ones are the better. While southerners may worship the jersey, one senses the Tiwi see the game more as a means to celebrate the ceremony of bringing their people together including their links with the past.

A few images stand out including Listening to the Coach, an image of Fabian Kantilla (a surname held in some regard in this town) and Cyprian Ullungurra, both veterans of the league sitting shoulder to shoulder and Explosive Entry, Pumaralli team members bursting through the supporters’ banner in a celebration for all as streamers and socks and spectators seem to go everywhere. There are also some wonderful scenes around the goals where supporters lap the boundary line as the men play out their heroics a few metres away. Some of the best of these are not displayed but rather are in the full catalogue book.

The signs of respect to opponents, as exhibited in Good Luck also send a message that would be usefully adopted at all levels of the game and help to remind us that it is just that, a game, and not a forum for unfettered abuse and violence against others.

With both our local AFL sides going so poorly, a visit to Tandanya to see Yiloga – Tiwi Footy would, for those fans, serve as both a useful diversion and a reminder of the joys of just being a part of it all. For sports and event photographers it is a must.

Aug 19

RAW: What is the current state of the journalism industry?

By Rupert Hogan Turner

The past financial year has been fairly damaging for the journalism industry. In Australia the media are labelled as ruthless dogs, hounding politicians and citizens for stories. In the UK they are liars and cheats, using fraudulently gained information in order to make headlines. In America the story is very similar with the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism giving a “bleak” outlook. So what is the future and current state of the Journalism industry?

An industry’s success is usually determined by its ability to maintain itself and grow in an economic environment. Recent years have seen the toppling of several of the world’s largest and most venerable newspapers, radio stations and other media outlets and the monopolisation of the few remaining. The harsh economic climate of the last five years has seen The Tribune, which owned 23 television stations and broadsheets such as the Los Angeles Times, file for bankruptcy. It was a “worrying signal about the future of newspapers in the United States.”While leading publications such as the Chicago Tribune managed to live through the fiasco, there were 4200 lay-offs in the process. “The company is now frozen in what seems to be an endless effort to emerge from bankruptcy.” Writes David Carr who goes on to explain that the change in ownership of the Tribune Company has resulted in the depreciation of the media outlets bearing it’s name. “They threw out what Tribune had stood for, quality journalism and a real brand integrity”. Without the monopolisation of the industry, one business transaction would not affect such a great deal of media outlets.

In this way we see the clear and saddening effect of the monopolisation of the journalism industry. The Tribune Company seems to be a fairly accurate representation of the American journalism industry. Several news companies are failing and “turning to executives from outside” these new thinkers bring new ideas but like Sam Zell, now majority shareholder of the Tribune Company, their minds are often on overall profit by improving and liquefying assets rather than building a cornerstone. Not surprisingly this has left the new CEOs with a highly unprofessional attitude which can sometimes lead to parties “on the 24th floor of the Tribune Tower. Smoke detectors were covered up and poker tables were brought in.” It is difficult to maintain the integrity of an industry which can be so quickly purchased. Newspapers which, over several years, gained readerships and the respect of their audiences are being bought by bored millionaires or by corporations looking for a quick, cheap investment. New owners place pressure on editors which trickles down to the opinions of the publication. This affects readerships which places further fiscal pressure on the media organisation.

The monopolisation is largely American-centric with NBC being taken over by Comcast, now the nation’s largest cable TV company, AOL purchasing the Huffington Post and becoming a far more powerful online empire, finally Rupert Murdoch’s international media empire has not left the US untainted, with some of its largest stakes being based in America. Australia is another country guilty of media monopolisation with calls for “the country’s federal and state governments to redress the imbalance in media ownership”. This becomes particularly apparent during election years where the media quickly polarises. News Corp is notoriously right leaning, meaning that 60+ of the newspapers, 20+ magazines and Fox News express largely right wing opinions. Much of Australia’s media is right wing “if anyone on radio anywhere in Australia, EVER, was this nice to Julia Gillard, there would probably be some kind of rally demanding a full inquiry”. This unbalance has been ongoing for some time leading to articles like “the myth of a left wing media”. This has left Australia with lower trust in the media than almost anywhere else in the world. According to an Edelman Public Relations survey only 32% of Australians believe what they hear and see in the media. Many Australians believe conservative, right wing monopolies hold too much sway in the news and therefore distrust the media as a whole. Since the British phone hacking scandal trust in the media has fallen even further.

This monopolisation comes with fears that those who control the media, control the world. In some respects these fears are grounded. If we look back to The Tribune Company in 2008 there is evidence that owner Mr Zell approached a leading female editor and insisted that she be harder on then Govenor Rod Blagojevich. After reminding him that the newspaper had already investigated the governor and called for his resignation Mr Zell responded with “You can always be harder on him”. In an interview later the editor expressed her belief “that he was trying to use the newspaper to put pressure on Blagojevich”.

“In recent years nearly all of our media corporations have been reducing their commitment to journalism,” the focus has largely shifted to celebritisation. Celebrity journalism is relatively cheap to produce but still has a large profit margin. The media industry is turning away from quality journalism as its major source of profit and towards celebrity journalism. This ‘cheapening’ effect is another factor in the lowering of trust in the media, tabloid papers, the worst culprits of celebrity journalism, received the lowest trust of all media sources. This tied to a growing belief that “objectivity is, in fact, a myth–that everyone has a bias, everyone has an agenda, and that corporations, like major news corporations, have a corporate bias.” It’s no surprise trust in journalism is at its lowest point since the forties.

Furthermore an industry’s performance can be measured by the number of positions it requires and creates. In the last several years the number of vacant positions in the journalism industry has dwindled, particularly newspapers which have lost 48% of revenue in the past five years, leading to substantial job cuts. “American newsrooms are substantially smaller than what they were a year ago” journalists are being removed from the newsroom and their work is much more dispersed and far more competitive. In their attempts at cost cutting many American news papers have turned to staff buy outs or layoffs to save money. This has resulted in the most experienced, and therefore most expensive, staff leaving first, leaving “papers [that] are staffed by the least experienced journalists.” This strategy has led to a decline in quality which has effectively reduced the readership, reducing profit further, leading to larger budget slashing.

The rise of social media has created an entirely new landscape for journalism. No longer must we wait for the 7pm news, blogs and news websites give us a finger on the pulse of the world. In Canada for example, smart phones have “established a new level of speed and interaction in the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery”. Twitter, blogs and news websites have hugely expanded the capacity for reporting and they have done so in a relatively inexpensive way. However, it has also opened the floodgates for thousands of inexperienced and unqualified writers to have their opinions heard.

Finally there is the growing threat of citizen journalism and the internet. Many newspapers are toying with the internet and attempting to go online. However in a world where public based news sources such as the ABC and BBC are forced to offer quality journalistic content for free, how will a profit driven media industry react? Several companies have attempted to charge for online content or have placed heavy advertising on their sites with only 1% of users opting to pay. The web has also multiplied the number of sources available to readers and has resulted in higher competition for stories among corporations. Stories are needed immediately and larger corporations now have a greater reliance on independent opinion articles. The internet has created a low cost alternative for independent news organisations. This has extended the debate of who exactly constitutes “the media”. Mainstream and corporate media feel threatened by their new competition “For all that it may not be a regulated profession, neither is it just a coming together of people with cellphones, video cameras and blogs as receptacle for an apparently endless stream of unfiltered, unedited consciousness.” However bloggers and independent media have hit back, claiming that they are the only truly objective source of journalism. The increase in the number of citizen journalists may have resulted in an increase of unsubstantiated content but it has also allowed the populace one more avenue of information. Journalism’s role as the fourth estate relies on having as many independent sources of news as possible and through citizen journalism it has become that much stronger.

The journalism industry may have gotten back on its feet after the heavy 2009 decline but it’s new focus on instant, celebrity based news and its inability to convert itself to an increasingly internet based world will be its downfall. A monopolised industry run by connections and big business, the integrity of journalism is fading, “When our reality is framed as one simple binary question – “Are you an Angelina sympathizer or are you a Jennifer sympathizer?” – there is no room for the news.”

[References available on request to editor@kryztoff.com ]

Aug 18

RAW – SALA – Moving Image Project – Various

The big innovation in the 2011 SALA Festival is the introduction of the Moving Image Project, conducted in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival Centre. Described by its curator, Karen Paris, as aiming ‘to engage directly with the public by permeating the Adelaide CBD with huge scale projections and a diverse range of cutting edge moving image artwork’, the MIP is set up in around a dozen venues.

With a festival normally about still works embracing the moving, the MIP rounds out the circle started by the Adelaide Film Festival earlier in the year when it placed moving art work in places normally reserved for still works only, the most notable of which was AES+F’s Feast of Trimalchio at the Art Gallery.

The most prominent public places carrying MIP films are the sails on the Adelaide Festival Theatre and the Rundle Street Lantern, the latter of which is much more engaging. But elsewhere, such as the Feltspace, the Bang & Olufsen Showrooms and on Saturday nights in Peel Street, smaller screens carry works from a variety of artists.

At the Artspace, above the entrance to Dunstan Playhouse, are eight works. Ray Harris’ Glitter Vomit has a youngish woman with a ring in her nose spewing forth glitter on the screen, an effect enhanced with a pile of the glitter on the floor nearby. Harris says it is about ‘the things you need to get out, emotions, repressions, things you’re afraid to say or admit, sugar coated in glitter..’

Leith Matson’s Future, Past and Present places you inside a car that observes the travel from Adelaide to Melbourne to the front, rear and both sides in very rapid time lapse photography, with one carrying occasional text such as ‘News … is it?’ and ‘Even if I thought I knew I possibly wouldn’t’ no doubt alluding to the conversations one has with oneself when immersed in such long travel.

Landscape Past by Thom Buchanan (et al), almost ubiquitous in the art world this month with him (inter alia) working also in the ADT’s acclaimed Worldhood, superimposes dusk settings of King William Street traffic viewed from Victoria Square on an isolated country landscape.

The concept of what works as ‘Moving Image’ artwork is clearly still being refined. Some of the works in the Artspace suffer for repeating sequences within them, leading a viewer to question whether the artist has just got lazy and looks to pad out the head line length through recycling or did they simply just run out of ideas. Others fail through use of third grade cameras and jerky hand held shoots that give the works a point and snap feel; the artists just got lucky with some vision and decided to dress it up and call it art.

At the core is the reality that the cinema and TV worlds have been doing moving image art for up to 100 years and high standards have already been set there. To excel, one needs to bring something new to the experience, such as AES+F do with their grand scale moving image tryptichs.  Sure, not every one has access to those sorts of resources, but unlike, say painting where a canvas and some paints don’t cost that much to get one started, moving image art to work probaby does require more than rudimentary ideas and equipment.

Not subject to this criticism is Jasmin McAllister’s work Isolations 3 at the Bang Olufsen shop in Grenfell Street. Here, fingers, hands and forearms dance around in multiple and split screen modes, conjuring images that look variously like cells dividing, mystery water plants in shifting tides, geometric shapes and video game creatures. It is a most engaging work and being able to recline in the B&O lounge to watch makes it one of the best parts of the whole MIP project.