A surf lesson and breakfast with the former PM and the Liberals’ last Warringah MP gets top billing with an estimated value of $2500. Just how great do they think the guy is?
A tour of Taronga Zoo with the NSW Environment MinisterMatt Keanhas a Liberal Party market value of $1500,while an afternoon beer-tasting with Manly MPJames Griffinfor four is worth $1000. A morning tea for two people with broadcasterAlan Jones at the winner’s choice of location – Jones’ Sydney or Fitzroy Falls piles – is $3000. Which is all enough to make another item – dinner for eight with plucky NSW SenatorAndrew Bragg around the lazy Susan at Chinese eatery XOPP – seems like good value at an estimated rack rate of $2000.
Other items include a silver pendant necklace from Mosman jewellerPeter Dracakis and two tickets to watch the Australian Wallabies donated by lobbyistDavid Begg. But CBD’s pick of the bunch is the “All Inclusive Day on Sydney Harbour” with art collector and philanthropistLisa Paulsenand her retired shipping executive husbandEgil Paulsen. The outing for six on the couple’s luxe Palm Beach 38 cruiser with a gourmet lunch and fine wines is a steal at $1500. Now that’s value.
Rone scores COVID coup
The arts scene is agog. The latest funding round in the federal government’s COVID rescue package,the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) contains a big surprise.
Tyrone Wright,the Melbourne street artist better known as Rone,scooped a grant worth $1.86 million.
That is more than the grants set aside for big arts entities such as Byron Bay Bluesfest ($1.1 million). The musicals of promoterMichael Casseldid well,with grants secured for the launch of the musicalHamilton in Sydney ($1.03 million) and the reactivation ofHarry Potter and the Cursed Child in Melbourne ($1.1 million).
Cultural institutions such as the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra ($700,000) and the Australian Ballet ($469,000) will just have to make do.
What will audiences get for Rone’s $1.86 million? The Geelong-born artist has taken over the Geelong Gallery with his latest project,but his grant-funded project is under wraps until 2022. We are told to expect “a mystery story in a deserted space,signature murals surrounded by the furnishings and fixtures suspended in time,a musical soundtrack leaving audiences feeling as though they are immersed within a movie rather than an exhibition”.
In the arts world,immersive experiences of the type the artist is famous for are so hot right now. But there was one grant allocation that eclipsed Rone,which went to our biggest star. HVK Productions,the company behind the stage adaption of Bluey,Bluey’s Big Play,received $2.06 million.
Off the chain
Palm Beach Protection Group founderRichard Kovacs had a win in November in his long-running fight to keep dogs off the beach outside his Pittwater home when the NSW Land and Environment Court ruled against the local council’s off-leash trial.
But the former gold trader - to monitor dog walking activity – and the Protection Group have had more trouble trying to win the court’s support for their latest crusade:signage.
Unsatisfied with having forced Northern Beaches Council to punt dogs from the popular beach at the foot of Barrenjoey Lighthouse,the group took umbrage in December at what they claim to be inadequate signage informing the community of the decision. A council executive told the court it had only erected three signs and corflutes on the beach – all reading “Dogs Prohibited” or “Dogs prohibited on beach” or carrying “a symbol of a dog inside a red circle with a red line crossing the dog” to spell out news of the ban. The council also posted a media release and updated its website to reflect the dog ban.
But it wasn’t enough,according to the Protection Group. “The group submits that … the signs need not only to state that dogs are prohibited in writing and by symbol,but also need to advise the public that contravention of the prohibition is an offence,” chief justiceBrian Prestonrecounted in a judgment handed down in late January.
Also on the group’s wish list? A council-sponsored notice in theManly Daily newspaper,a notice on the website’s landing page,more info in the council’s email newsletter and a public information sign spelling out that both on-leash and off-leash dogs could threaten thePosidonia australis seagrass on the beach. Oh and a map of the seagrass beds.
But Preston appeared to be unmoved. He ordered some changes to the council’s website but no need for more signage. “I find that it will not be necessary,” he said.
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