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Canberra Today 24°/27° | Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Welsh / Russ and Jack put on a turn for ‘Twiggy’

AUSTRALIAN acting royalty came to town to assist in giving out a large sum of money.

Coffs Harbour residents Jack Thompson and Russell Crowe added starpower to a function at which WA mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest announced a donation of $400 million to be spread among a range of charitable causes including cancer research. Crowe, who has worked with Thompson several times, including the ’90s Aussie movie “The Sum of Us”, told the audience he first met Jack at the age of six while helping his mother, a caterer, on the set of a movie in which Thompson was starring.

Mike Welsh
Mike Welsh.

STILL on people with large piles of money, Canberra has its first billionaire. Canberra Airport owner Terry Snow has climbed the “Australian Financial Review’s” top 200 Rich List from 84th last year to 59th this year.
According to Rich List editor John Stensholt, Snow’s burgeoning bank balance (up from $658 million to $1 billion) is due to previous lists under-valuing the Canberra airport precinct.

THE memory of former Prime Minister Robert Menzies continues to get a workout in the political campaign against decentralisation. Member for Canberra Gai Brodtmann read a letter from Canberra resident and Menzies’ daughter, Heather Henderson, to the parliament. The essence of the passionate correspondence was Menzies’ quote from the 1950s: ”We are stuck with Canberra, whether we like it or not, so we might as well do it properly”.

NO surprise more local motorists are flashing their headlights at oncoming drivers to warn of speed-detection vans. Several sets of new stats point to a spike in the number of drivers who have been “pinged”, some of whom are now clearly keen to “even” the odds. The capital’s mobile speed cameras wrote $4 million worth of fines in 2015-16, double that of the previous financial year. With extra vans raising more revenue at more sites the next set of figures is sure to get more than headlights flashing.

CONSTRUCTION of a security fence to block access to the lawns on the roof of Parliament House is about to begin amid questions over its appearance and cost. At a Senate Budget Estimates hearing, Senate President Stephen Parry was unable to nominate the cost or reveal the design of the fence due to national security issues. It’s estimated $126.7 million is to be spent on a range of security measures to further fortify the building.

CANBERRA’s six-time gold medal Paralympian Michael Milton continues to scale new heights. The 44-year-old, who had his left leg amputated above the knee due to bone cancer at the age of nine, competed in the recent 10th annual Ultra-Trail Australia 50-kilometre event at Katoomba, finishing in a time of 12 hours 8 minutes.
Milton is the first person to attempt the event, the southern hemisphere’s largest trail running race, with one leg and on crutches.

CLOTHES strewn across the carpark at Scrivener Dam last week at first glance appeared to be another irritating example of a lazy citizen dumping rubbish at an out-of-the-way location under the cover of darkness.

One curious onlooker conducted a more forensic examination that revealed the scattered garments were all women’s, including underwear, bearing expensive designer labels. Her theory: a rare twist on the classic relationship revenge of him tossing out or slashing her precious fashion collection after a serious indiscretion.

AN innovative charity that created a practical solution to a growing social problem has been recognised by a Canberra community group. Orange Sky Laundry, which was founded in Brisbane in 2014 by two mates who saw a need to provide a free mobile laundry service to the homeless, has now expanded to all capital cities including Canberra.
The service, the first of its kind in the world, won the Innovation category at the 2017 Volunteering Awards for the Canberra region for using technology and knowledge to enrich the community.


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One Response to Welsh / Russ and Jack put on a turn for ‘Twiggy’

Chris says: 29 May 2017 at 11:57 am

The best trick is to flash your lights at anyone that appears to be speeding. I never do It after seeing a van as speed fines are our only form of voluntary taxation and besides getting enough points puts the lead-foots off the road.

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