http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/cities/ 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 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +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/save-up-your-pocket-money-if-you-wanna-park-in-CBD/ Did you feel ripped off this holiday season when you parked your car in the city, at a shopping centre or at the airport when picking up or dropping off loved ones? If paying inflated petrol prices wasn’t enough, motorists are now also being hit with inflated parking rates when they go shopping or to the airport. Then, of course, there are the CBD parking stations that cost an arm and a leg. It’s these CBD parking stations that consistently cost motorists dearly as the fees at the CBD parking stations start climbing the moment that boom gate rises to let you in. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/save-up-your-pocket-money-if-you-wanna-park-in-CBD/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/save-up-your-pocket-money-if-you-wanna-park-in-CBD/#item7649 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/trams-might-fly-melbourne-gets-the-jump-on-sydney/ This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/trams-might-fly-melbourne-gets-the-jump-on-sydney/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/trams-might-fly-melbourne-gets-the-jump-on-sydney/#item6359 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-gold-coast-is-in-danger-of-losing-its-lustre/ First came the holidaymakers. Then came the high-rises. Then came the property spivs and assorted shonks. Then came the meter maids and the blue-rinsers from down south. Then came more holiday makers. Then came schoolies. Then came the theme parks, more families and more blue-rinsers. Then came the football stars. Then came nightclubs that were bigger and louder than the original Cavill Avenue lot, and then, inevitably, came the drug lords and violence. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-gold-coast-is-in-danger-of-losing-its-lustre/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-gold-coast-is-in-danger-of-losing-its-lustre/#item6344 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-sport-that-transcends-race-class...and-humility/ This is the second instalment of Penbo’s series of columns for the Herald-Sun on what Australia really thinks of Victoria. In his first year as prime minister the rugby league-loving St George Dragons fan John Howard was the unlikely winner of the 1996 parliamentary press gallery AFL footy tipping competition. The rules required the winner to put a sizeable amount of cash on the parliamentary bar. Before a boozy throng of journos, Howard gave a terrific off-the-cuff speech which belied his league pedigree and offered some thoughtful and charitable insights into the place of Aussie Rules in our national identity. Even though Howard doesn’t care for the game – he refused to barrack for the Swans in that year’s grand final because he didn’t want to seem a bandwagon-jumper – the PM said Aussie Rules was the only football code in Australia which transcended class and ethnicity. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-sport-that-transcends-race-class...and-humility/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-sport-that-transcends-race-class...and-humility/#item6309 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/melbourne-the-club-we-secretly-wish-we-could-join/ Like my fellow South Australians, I’m still upset about the poaching of Stephen Kernahan and John Platten, irritated about the theft of the Grand Prix and annoyed that the only body of water in Australia more fetid than the Yarra is the glorified drainpipe we call the Torrens. Despite a lifetime of hard-wired antipathy towards the Vics, I’ve been kindly invited by Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper to fill its opinion page the next four Mondays. Rather than filing ad hoc pieces on issues of the day, I’ve decided to attempt a themed series about all things Victorian, through an outsider’s eyes. My equally well-balanced Adelaideans who also have chips on both shoulders might disown me for not entitling the series Why Everyone Hates Victoria. Instead, I’ve stumped for What Australia Really Thinks About Victoria, with four pieces looking at Melbourne’s personality, the nation’s love-hate relationship with the AFL, why Melbourne has won in its rivalry with Sydney, and the 10 things which make Victoria what it is and which all Australians should know. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/melbourne-the-club-we-secretly-wish-we-could-join/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/melbourne-the-club-we-secretly-wish-we-could-join/#item6208 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/build-the-cycleways-and-the-riders-will-come/ Cyclists are the worst. They dress up like extras in an MC Hammer video, then they act like they own the bloody road. They are rude, cliquey, sanctimonious and, very, very ugly. Did we mention that they look incredibly stupid in lycra? But one day, not all cyclists will be like that. One day, and possibly very soon, scores of ordinary people in ordinary clothes will ride ordinary inexpensive bikes to work. That’s the dream of people like Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, who is set to announce more cycleways any day now. In an age of rising petrol prices and sedentary workers looking to get fit, it’s a perfectly reasonable dream. Right now, the cycleway knockers have it much too easy. It’s money for old bike chains when your opponents are hippies, lycra warriors and leftie ideologues like Clover Moore. And don’t the shock jocks know it. They rail against the traffic chaos caused by the narrow green bike lanes as though the green is some kind of toxic ooze. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/build-the-cycleways-and-the-riders-will-come/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/build-the-cycleways-and-the-riders-will-come/#item6119 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony. 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. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) 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 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/getting-rid-of-the-septic-tanks-and-other-labor-achievements/ As friends and family gathered to celebrate my friend Tom Uren’s 90th birthday recently, he had many reasons to be proud of his contribution to Australia.  History books abound that record the unique achievements of the Whitlam Government in which Tom was a senior figure. But there’s a big one that is barely remembered – the role the pair played in getting rid of the septic tank. These famously malodorous mosquito and cockroach breeding pits lay beneath the lawns of suburban homes everywhere, including the then home of Prime Minister Whitlam in western Sydney.  As Tom tells it, by the time he was elected to power Gough had decided enough was enough – a modern Australia deserved a modern sewerage system. So he appointed his Minister for Urban and Regional Development, Tom Uren, to clean up the country by funding new sewerage plants across urban Australia. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/getting-rid-of-the-septic-tanks-and-other-labor-achievements/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/getting-rid-of-the-septic-tanks-and-other-labor-achievements/#item6027 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/brisbane-its-reasonably-close-to-the-gold-coast/ If there is one thing I like about Twitter, it’s hashtags. In case you aren’t part of the Twitterati, hashtags refer to the “#” that allows debate or discussion on particular topics in Twitter between users who would probably otherwise never get in contact with each other. For example, there is the #AusPol hashtag that discusses Australian politics and the #qanda one that discusses the ABC’s Q&A programme every Monday and a million other hashtags on every topic under the sun. I often use them when I post Independent Australia articles on Twitter to get them out to a wider audience, for instance. But they can also be on frivolous matters as well — and this is where the fun really starts. Yesterday a hashtag arose called #rejectedbnetourismslogans, which, as the name suggests it is all about creating slogans to poke fun at the city of Brisbane. I’m not sure why or who suggested it, or why, but it has gone viral with thousands of contributions, most of them quite funny: feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/brisbane-its-reasonably-close-to-the-gold-coast/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/brisbane-its-reasonably-close-to-the-gold-coast/#item5539 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/traffic-jams-no-jobs-ghettoes-blame-poor-planning/ Ask any poor wage slave trapped in rush hour traffic or crammed like a sardine into a sweltering carriage on their hour-long daily commute and my guess is you’ll find no shortage of strong opinions on Australia’s less than terrific track record in urban planning. As our major cities have grown in population over recent decades the unimaginative response of state governments has largely been to drive new housing towards our metropolitan fringes. But as many of us experience daily, on the whole they’ve done so without putting in place the economic and social infrastructure to accommodate such expansion – public transport, training and employment opportunities and access to essential community services such as childcare. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/traffic-jams-no-jobs-ghettoes-blame-poor-planning/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/traffic-jams-no-jobs-ghettoes-blame-poor-planning/#item5260 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the third and final piece by Penbo for the Herald Sun about what Australia really thinks of Victoria. When Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 its opening ceremony was hailed as delightfully whimsical in its hometown and ridiculed as laughably provincial elsewhere. In our coverage in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph we ran a double-page spread of flying trams and Leunig ducks under the deliberately annoying headline “And the winner is…still Sydney”, an obvious reference to Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration of the 2000 Olympic host city and its much more majestic and ambitious opening ceremony.