http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/adelaide/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/south-australia-its-the-middle-bottom-bit/ If South Australia had just arrived in the world, red and wrinkled and mewling, what would we call it? Something to reflect our pride – FreeSettlerVille, perhaps? Or our aspirations – New Melbourne might suit. Or something that highlights the diverse range of South Australian attributes, from bogan frenzies to Old Adelaide Family pretensions – Taylyah Ashton-Smith, maybe? Back in 1999 advertising ‘guru’ John Singleton declared the name South Australia “boring” and suggested ‘Bradman’ instead. It may be that having six or seven wives gives one a rather low threshold for boredom – although his enthusiasm for cricket shows he is not entirely averse to the concept. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/south-australia-its-the-middle-bottom-bit/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/south-australia-its-the-middle-bottom-bit/#item8551 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-pros-and-cons-of-having-a-brothel-as-a-neighbour/ Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-pros-and-cons-of-having-a-brothel-as-a-neighbour/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-pros-and-cons-of-having-a-brothel-as-a-neighbour/#item8527 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-horror-movie-about-poverty-and-violence/ When the Snowtown murder trial concluded in 2003 a prominent criminologist scandalised the good people of Adelaide by saying there was nothing surprising or remarkable about the case. New Yorker Allan Perry, a lecturer in criminal law at the University of Adelaide, blamed what he called a subculture of degeneracy in the city’s most depressed and dysfunctional suburbs, defined by inter-generational welfare dependency, the daily abuse of alcohol and drugs, shocking levels of child abuse, child neglect and family violence. Dr Perry said the only thing which shocked him about Snowtown was that people were shocked by it. And he really cut loose in his description of my hometown, sending talkback and the letters pages into meltdown, and prompting the then Attorney General Mick Atkinson to tell him to move back to Brooklyn. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-horror-movie-about-poverty-and-violence/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-horror-movie-about-poverty-and-violence/#item7675 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/not-everyone-has-the-obamarama-spirit/ If you thought young Australians were only ecstatic while listening to LMFAO at Stereosonic while chugging overpriced bottled water, think again. A News.com.au survey has found that more than half of Australians under 35 are happy or ecstatic that Obama is here. Ecstatic! Well, that may be true on Sydney’s glittering beaches, in the delicatessen queue at Prahan Market or on the broad and leafy streets of Burnside, but you know where it’s not true? At the Occupy Adelaide protest. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/not-everyone-has-the-obamarama-spirit/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/not-everyone-has-the-obamarama-spirit/#item7167 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lets-tell-these-bloody-street-preachers-where-to-go/ In the name of God, why should anyone be force-fed the word of the Lord while they’re shopping? That swarthy dude with his dulcet tones outside Roger David in Rundle Mall? He can convert me to men’s suits any day. But these sanctimonious sermonisers and their 100-decibel rantings? No way, Jesu. Myer is My Sunday place of worship, thank you very much, and Adelaide City Council can have My Vote for ridding our secular shopping strip of these screechy preachers who are apparently just as deafening as chain saws, jackhammers and farm tractors. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lets-tell-these-bloody-street-preachers-where-to-go/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lets-tell-these-bloody-street-preachers-where-to-go/#item7078 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/How-many-revamped-precincts-does-one-city-need/ We South Australians have some harebrained ideas sometimes. This week, Adelaide City Council decided to push ahead with multi-million dollar plans to revitalise the dreary and deserted Victoria Square into a major CBD hub. That’s despite the fact that the State Government is already pushing ahead with its own multi-BILLION dollar plans to revitalise the nearby Riverbank precinct as the new city’s heart and soul. After lengthy debate on Tuesday night, Adelaide City Council voted to invest $11.5 million on Victoria Square – despite the fact that there’s no commitment from the state or federal government to cough up the $100 million needed to complete the project. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/How-many-revamped-precincts-does-one-city-need/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/How-many-revamped-precincts-does-one-city-need/#item6101 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australias-most-liveable-city-produces-excellent-whine/ In the exciting world of statistics and public policy, one set of findings often begets another diametrically opposed set of findings. For example, there appears to be a direct link between worrying about multiculturalism and living in those parts of Australia untouched by multiculturalism. Take a trip up the Queensland coast to Caloundra or go to a hinterland town such as Gympie. Aside from lemon chicken at the local Chinese, there is no discernible non-Anglo influence in these communities. Most of their residents wouldn’t know a burqa from a beer mat. Yet these were the same places which elected One Nation MPs in bid to protect their gloriously monocultural lifestyle, despite that lifestyle being under siege from absolutely nothing. Over the past 12 months there have been three different surveys which have all identified Adelaide as the most liveable city in Australia. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australias-most-liveable-city-produces-excellent-whine/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australias-most-liveable-city-produces-excellent-whine/#item6049 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stuff-adelaide-oval-lets-fix-the-environment-first/ Good health is fundamental to our lives, so in assessing whether a government decision is good, bad or just acceptable it is useful to apply the health criterion. If this was applied to every decision, no doubt government would improve. I am going to apply this criterion to the Adelaide Oval. Our health has two fundamental needs. Easy to understand is the need for hospitals, emergency services, life support systems (intensive care) and family doctors. Waiting lists and hospital closures are rightly big news. Even more fundamental to health are the natural life support systems, the natural resources, water, availability of productive, non-degraded land, biodiversity and stable climate. These are deteriorating, and scientists have used the words global environmental change to describe them. This change is accelerating. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stuff-adelaide-oval-lets-fix-the-environment-first/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stuff-adelaide-oval-lets-fix-the-environment-first/#item5701 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-exactly-is-wrong-with-adelaide/ What is wrong with Adelaide? We call ourselves the ‘Festival State’, but far from being overrun by action we appear to be operating as a surrogate nursery for the rest of the country’s sporting events; they are born here, we suckle them, and then they unceremoniously move elsewhere. And they never call! We lost another of our great sporting events last week, The Rugby Sevens carnival. I was lucky enough to attend two weeks ago for the carnival’s last Adelaide showcase with my son, but had I realised it was a rugby funeral I would have worn black.  The Deputy Treasurer and Minister for Tourism John Rau was unconcerned, however, by the loss of yet another great sporting event. He shrugged his shoulders and said ‘the fact is we can’t win everything’. Well, yes Minister, but why are we losing so many? penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-exactly-is-wrong-with-adelaide/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-exactly-is-wrong-with-adelaide/#item5678 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/everybody-needs-good-neighbours/ Another day brings another Defence scandal, prompting a colleague of mine to quip that the people of Inverbrackie and Woodside are probably grateful now there are refugees in the housing estate rather than military personnel. He said it with a smile, but serious intent. The Adelaide Hills’ Inverbrackie Detention Centre has not been without its own scandals since it became home to families from Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq. First there was the Fruit Picking Incident. About six young asylum seekers scaled a fence - an internal fence, mind, they never got as far as the outside world - to pick fruit. They spent at least ten minutes picking cherry plums. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/everybody-needs-good-neighbours/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/everybody-needs-good-neighbours/#item5653 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Some years ago in the most excellent Sydney suburb of Marrickville I had an accidental and unusual encounter with a sex worker. It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was queuing up an ATM so I could buy a mountain of Greek takeaway from the Corinthian Tavern. There was a woman in front of me who looked like she’d been around the block a few times. She was stick-thin, wearing black heels, a sequined skirt, a boob tube, and long black gloves which went up to her elbows. She tried repeatedly to withdraw money from her account, inserting and re-inserting her card. She started sobbing and cursing. I asked her if she needed cash for a cab or something. No, she said, but asked if she could borrow my mobile.