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Canberra Today 27°/30° | Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Welsh / Colonel Sanders gets the finger-linking message

COLONEL Sanders may have had a Southern secret or 11 up his sleeve when he began frying fowl back in Kentucky but he’s failed the “vibe” test in northern Canberra.

Mike Welsh
Mike Welsh.

A petition with more than 1600 signatures objecting to a KFC outlet at Gold Creek Village has been presented to the ACT government, considering a development application. Gold Creek business owners contend the area is unique in the ACT and that KFC would be ”completely contrary to the vibe of the village”.

ACT Green Caroline Le Couteur has also waded into the fast-food fight. The MLA says, with “six out of 10 Canberrans overweight or obese”, she has serious health concerns for the region and also has animal rights and employment issues with the company. Ms Le Couteur cited recent reports that companies such as KFC “have suppliers which routinely abuse animals and exploit their migrant workforce”.

DESPITE Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s blunt advice to CEOs to stop commenting on “fringe issues” such as same-sex marriage, the Canberra Airport is forging ahead with its second campaign supporting marriage equality. CEO Stephen Byron says electronic and 3D boards will greet transiting pollies with the message: “The right to marry is pivotal to the wellbeing and happiness of LGBTI Australians who just want to get on with their lives”.

MEANTIME, the airport’s relationship with Singapore Airlines may have hit turbulence with the carrier conducting a review of the Singapore/Wellington/Canberra link. While CEO Byron says results to date were “beyond expectations”, Chief Minister Andrew Barr was less ebullient. Barr says he understands the reality is the service is unsustainable without the Wellington leg.

The airline’s spokesman Karl Schubert says the review is simply seeking ways to make the services more successful and its commitment to the Canberra region “remains unwavering”.

ONE of Canberra’s favourite footballing daughters has made sporting history with 38-year-old, high achiever Bec Goddard leading the Adelaide Crows women’s team to a thrilling, six-point win over the (until Saturday) undefeated Brisbane Lions in the inaugural AFLW Grand Final.

Ms Goddard, a member of the AFP’s Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (SAPOL) quoted lyrics of the John Farnham hit “You’re the Voice” – “We have the chance, to turn the pages over” – to describe the team’s part in football history.

Goddard was handpicked for the role by the Crows in October and says: “AFL is Australia’s greatest game and now it’s a game for everybody”.

FANS of the ’90s cult movie “Fight Club” know “the first rule about fight club is you do not talk about fight club”, but it appears a conversation must take place on MMA (mixed martial arts) or cage fighting in Canberra.

Agreeing that a ban on the rapidly growing sport would drive it underground, the ACT AMA says the government must set rules. Pre and post-bout medicals, the removal of bikies and organised crime groups from the sport and the prevention of serious injury are among the considerations.

Branch president Steve Robson says: “There was a clear distinction between combat sports and collision sports; having the whole aim of the thing to bash someone senseless is not acceptable to most doctors”.

AN article in New York’s “Village Voice” suggests it’s possible to build a light-rail system that pays for itself. The premise of the piece, published online, titled “The Dark Side Of Light Rail” is that if you build light rail in the right place and, “in collaboration” with developers, the route will be magically lined with multi levels of small boxes for people to live in. Sound familiar?

The boxes would automatically appreciate in value and ultimately realise extra revenue through property taxes.

Though a parallel between the Brooklyn-Queens Connector, or BQX, and the Gungahlin leg of the ACT light rail might be more akin to comparing (big) Apples with lemons.

 

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