I'm Standing for Election

This is my 1000th blog post and it focuses on a topic I've never mentioned before. I'm standing for election as a councillor for the new Armidale Regional Council. This new local government authority emerged a couple of years ago as the result of the merger of the Armidale - Dumaresq and Guyra councils. It is still small by the standards of many countries, with a total population of about 30,000 people. Eleven positions are up for grabs and 48 candidates have put their names forward.

I'm standing with 6 other candidates on an 'Independent' ticket and the three other groupings are Country Labor (a branch of the Australian Labor Party), the Greens, and the New England Futures Group. The last named comprises four young tech-oriented business people led by my friend David Levingstone who works in IT. The Independents I'm associated with are mostly involved in private business. We're led by a former Councillor, Margaret O'Connor, whose background is in farming and law, but we've also got an engineer, an agricultural machinery dealer, a hairdresser, and interestingly an Aboriginal elder, Mavis Ahoy. We're also multicultural and have a strong gender balance. I'm third on our ticket, which me more or less makes me unelectable, but I don't mind that. By the way the four groups mentioned above are considerably out-numbered by the free-standing independents.

Yesterday evening Dot and I attended a 'meet the candidates' forum in the auditorium of the local Bowling Club. Each free-standing (i.e. ungrouped) candidate spoke for 3 minutes and then fielded questions for the next few minutes. In the case of the four formal groups, only the leader spoke and fielded questions, so I was there to appraise the competition. Alas, most of the candidates either (a) talked about their past achievements and provided no vision for the future; or (b) promised to do this that or the other rhetorically, but failed to explain the strategies / approaches involved. Margaret, to her credit tried to explain both her intentions and the role of Council in reaching those goals. Mind you, I'll take some credit for this as we've discussed at length such issues over several years. Moreover, as an advisor to the 'House of Representatives Select Committee on Regional Development and Decentralisation', I know far better than most in this country about the task of local development and how to achieve it.

I managed some pictures of the gathering on my mobile phone:

Here's Margaret in the second row awaiting her turn to speak.

Quite a large audience participating.

Spot Dot?

Margaret making her pitch.

 And here I'm standing with Margaret and Amber Fernandez. The latter went to Duval High School at about the time Emily and Rebecca were there.

Wish me luck on 9th September, Election Day. Mind you, if I get elected I could miss a few council meetings when I'm travelling widely in Australia and Overseas in the next 12 months. Five trips are already planned, only one of which is here in Australia! Psst! Keep this quiet for the next 10 days!

AS

Lego Towers

Whilst we were in Canberra a little over a week ago, we went to see an unusual exhibition at the National Museum of Australia. This excellent museum celebrates Australian and Aboriginal history and does that well, but the exhibit we saw appeared disconnected from the other exhibits. However, it was great to see in its own right.

One of Australia's leading Lego masters had been hired to construct, from standard Lego blocks, models of some of the world's most famous tall structures. And visitors could also play with piles of Lego pieces to construct their own urban utopias or dystopias, some thing that exercised Max's attention for most of the visit to display. A sign on the wall provided the name of the guy who constructed the buildings and his description as a certified professional.

The following pictures show some of the most famous structures. What do you think they are? The first is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai - the world's tallest structure for the moment until it is overtaken by the Kingdom Tower in Jedda (Saudi Arabia). I once glimpsed from a plane!

Anyone been to Kuala Lumpur recently? If so, you'll recognise the Petronas Towers.

Can anyone enlighten me on this cluster of geographically disconnected structures? But I know that the one after is to be found in Shanghai.

And I once attended a reception on the top floor of the next building, which can be found on Australia's Gold Coast. Quite how it's still standing I don't know because the ground underneath is, I understand, pure sand! If the Gold Coast receives a substantial earthquake, which is admittedly unlikely, the could be an almighty crash!

And here, finally, is the Empire State Building in New York with Max and Rob seated next to it working with Lego blocks:

And what did Max build? Well it looks like the world's most unlikely structure. These pictures show the base and the curved and snaking tower above it. Since no lift system could operate in it, the poor residents would have to climb a large number of stairs.

Shortly after taking these picture the exhibition closed for the day and Max's tower came crashing down. Fortunately the remainder were left standing, sparing Ryan McNaught from the laborious job of reconstructing them all.

This blog post number 999. In a week or so I will reach the milestone of 1000!!

AS

Super-active Max

Grandson Max seems to have plenty of energy these days and, during our recent visit to Canberra, his home turf, he provided ample evidence of his sporting skills. On the Saturday, he played rugby league for his team, the Sharks, and they had a good win. However, like a lot of young players, Max needs to hone his positioning on the field, better anticipate the opposition's moves, and run just that bit harder. Well, he's only 13 and these traits will no doubt emerge in due course. So here we are on the field before the game:

And here he is during the play, or more accurately during stoppages ... the only time I could easily identify him from the side-line and take a clean shot not blurred by fast movement ... my camera is only a basic model.

On the Sunday, we took part in quite a few activities, terminating in a trip to the Sky Zone Trampoline Park adjacent to the large Westfield shopping centre in Belconnen, one of Canberra's major suburbs. Max bounced around for perhaps 90 minutes or even longer trying to get airborne and practice some elegant somersault and cartwheel type moves. He found a school-friend and they had a great time together spending most of their time on the mats shown below rather than on other arenas like that dedicated to dodge-ball. I've seen this type of entertainment centre many times in the United States, but not before in Australia, as far as I can recall.

AS

Freakshake

Last weekend, when we visiting Bec and Max in Canberra, we did lots of interesting things that I'll discuss in subsequent posts, but one of the most exciting was to visit a cafe in Manuka, a suburb close to Parliament House. Exciting? Most cafes are rather similar and boring!

This one was call Patissez and it was different because it offered something magnificent I'd not come across before -  a Freakshake! This was, in effect, are rather elaborate and delicious milk-shake. It had oodles of cream and a lovely rich texture - very enjoyable. Here I am seated next to Bec anticipating the Freakshake arrival.

Here they've arrived.

And don't they look delicious?

These sorts of encounter really make life interesting. I don't like travelling in a rut and I see life as a set of boundless opportunity waiting to be seized.

AS

An Evening With Rodgers and Hammerstein

I have mentioned in various posts that Armidale, my home town, has an extraordinary cultural life and yesterday evening we turned up for yet another extravaganza at the University of New England's Madgwick Hall. This time we were entertained by music, and especially songs, from some of the 20th century's best know musicals staged by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

The first half began with the famous waltz form Carousel and this was followed by 7 songs from that work, State Fair and The King and I. The second half, termed Act II, also started with an orchestral interlude, this time from Cinderella and State Fair.  Then came songs or choral works from South Pacific, The Sound of Music, and Oklahoma. The singers all came from the Armidale Drama and Musical Society and musicians were from the Armidale Orchestra. In other words, this performance, which was excellent and won enthusiastic applause from a large audience, was staged by locals. Most of the songs were sung solo, or perhaps as a duet, by a constellation of sixteen different singers, each of whom had a chance to shine. However, a large 91 - member choir also frequently backed the soloists and one could see from their expressions that they were have a lovely time. I might add that the 48 member orchestra, ably conducted by one of my local physicians, Bruce Menzies, also played well.

Any reader with a knowledge of elementary mathematics will work out that there were over 150 performers on stage, which amounts to 0.6% of Armidale's population. That seems to me an extraordinarily high proportion of the population and shows how talented we are. I managed a few sneaky shots of events on stage from the middle of the audience, but no-one seemed to mind.

Dot and I were accompanied by three of her long-term friends and, since it was billed as a gala night, we found ourselves quaffing wine both before the concert and in the middle break.

AS

Another Gong

Personal events are happening thick and fast at the moment. Last Thursday I attended the Armidale Bridge Club's AGM, much as I've done for decades, and that was after the usual Thursday game I and my partner didn't quite live up to our reputations and came in second.

Towards the end of the AGM our President, Ian Price, announced that the committee, which I exited 12 months ago, had realised that no new life membership had been awarded for many years. I could have told them that since I was president when the last award was made back in the late 2000s. Anyway, the committee had decided to award 5 life memberships ... all deserved ... and my name came first 'out of the hat'. I received (i) a wonderful citation which I won't bore you with, (ii) a framed plaque recognising the event to join the many others I now have from various organisations, (iii) a photo of the event, which attached below,  and (iv) the promise that the club would now set up an honour board listing life members names.

This was highly satisfactory and energising. I'm off shortly to act as Director for the usual Saturday pairs game at our clubhouse located five 5 minutes walk from where we live. However, today's game has one other feature. The deals we'll be playing are the same this week across most clubs in  NSW and, in effect, we're playing against everyone in this state. That means we'll get sets of resulting scores: the first will reflect intra-club competition here in Armidale; and the second will be the inter-club scores in about a week's time when everyone in the state has had a chance to participate. Individual clubs meet on different days. As director today I'll be supervising a large number of players because the event has attracted a lot of attention. That may affect my own game as I'm playing as well as directing. Don't worry, I'll have no conflict of interest!

Anyway, here I am receiving my gong.

AS

A Great Honour

I have done many exciting things in the past few weeks and another is about to come my way.  At the end of last week I was invited to be a member of an expert panel to a House of Representatives Select Committee on Regional Development and Decentralisation. This has been my principal research field for the last 30 years, which has led to my being a Fellow of two Institutes, and I've my hand in the game right up to the present.

Indeed, I spent a couple of hours last Wednesday morning discussing these issues at Sydney's University of Technology with a good colleague, Lee Pugalis and we even debated submitting an Australian Research Council request early next years connected with this theme. And I'm even discussing with two other colleagues, one in Melbourne and the other in Adelaide, organising a conference session on similar themes.

So my appointment is perhaps not so surprising after all. Then, on the other hand, I have long argued that Australia's approach to regional development has largely not realised expectations, for a whole lot of uncomfortable reasons. Such ideas might have permeated parliament because back in 2000 I was asked to write a report on the subject by the Department of the Parliamentary Library for circulation to all Members and Senators. I am forbidden to report in this blog what I'm likely to say to the Select Committee, some ten members of Parliament from across the political spectrum. And I've just signed a form provided by Hansard to that effect.

Thus I'll turn up at Parliament in Canberra next Monday morning to commence my new on-going role. It's a longish journey by UK standards, as Canberra - our national capital - is almost 800 km (500 miles) from Armidale by road one-way, using the inland route. I guess you're expecting at least one photo, so here's my destination. By the way, I'll have to fly there and back and not drive the 1600 kms.



AS

Lunch With Alexander Downer

Yesterday I was privileged to be invited to a lunch at Sydney's Centre for Independent Studies where the guest of honour was Australia's High Commissioner (=ambassador) to London, Alexander Downer. I was perhaps a little out of place among Sydney's business elite wearing their suits .. and usually ties. As usual, I managed to turn up looking a bit like a Silicon Valley nerd with open-neck check-shirt and drain-pipe pants, all bought from a surf-ware shops in which I have share-holding.
Anyway, the dinner and the company on my table were both excellent, and we had some energetic and productive discussion amongst ourselves.

The it was Alexander's turn to speak and what he had to say about the Brexit vote, its subsequent handling by the UK Government, the likely pluses and minuses for the UK itself and the remainder of the EU, potential impact on Australia and our global relationships, and whether we should sign a free trade deal with the UK and, indeed, the EU was masterly and thought-provoking. He also fielded questions ... one from me ... expertly and I gained the impression that Australia is well-served by his presence in London.

Participation in affairs of state at this level is for me an enduring joy and it reminded me that I've personally had the opportunity in many places to have my own say among our governing elite. For example, some 17 years ago I addressed an audience that had the governors of 4 Reserve Banks (Australia, NZ, PNG and Indonesia) sitting across the table from me. I've also presented at Canberra's Shine Dome, the HQ of the Academy of the Sciences, delivered keynote addresses to prestigious audiences, and been invited to national summits in such places as Canberra's Parliament House. And today, when I got home from Sydney, I found a voice message inviting me to sit on an expert panel at an inquiry into regional development being held by the Federal Government in Canberra on Monday week. And so it goes on, as I'm now part of a network funded by our Department of Foreign Affairs that brings together researchers from three countries: Australia, Chile and Argentina. Maybe a forthcoming post to this BLOG will come from one of those countries.

Enough of that! Now for a few pictures of yesterday's lunch, which was held in the CIS library. Here's the CIS's founder Greg Lindsay introducing the event ... I've known Greg for probably getting on for 40 years.

And here's Alexander making his detailed analysis of events.

AS

UNE's Natural History Museum

Over thee last 2-3 years the University of New England (UNE) has been constructing a large and new Agricultural Building very close to where my office is located, and I often witnessed its progress as I walked "to work" from my car. The building was opened in 2016 but until this last weekend I had never stepped inside, although I was a aware that UNE was developing its version of the Smithsonian in there in the form of a large collection of rocks, stuffed creatures of various kinds, dinosaur remains and so on.

Well, this weekend the Vice Chancellor held an open day for Armidale's public to come along and see some of our natural history treasures and we decided to go along and have a look at the offerings. So did a large number of other people - perhaps in the thousands - and when we got there the building was crammed with bodies (alive by the way).

I won't describe each exhibit, because they're blindingly obvious.

In addition, the building's laboratories had some hand-on exhibits like sand-pits with buried bits of skeletons or rocks. The whole museum was excellent and attracted a large number of children who must have learned a lot about the natural world.

AS