“Should you express even the most polite disappointment on this page… you are likely to be silenced!,” grumbles singer Little Mac, who had written on the Chief Minister’s Facebook page to complain about the way land owners are being treated to accommodate the new Whitlam sub-division.

“Comments will be hidden, deleted and you will be blocked from even liking anything on the page,” she says.

“This means the public are denied transparency, knowledge and understanding of how this will affect us in a number of ways. If there is such willingness to hide information on the matter of this development, then what else?

“The issue of taking land without consultation, without warning, without due compensation and where the current land owners are notified by way of a Facebook post along with the rest of us… that’s one concerning matter (actually that’s more than one). Silencing people is yet another. “Both of these matters are disrespectful to the public, and to anyone who wishes to publicly and politely express a legitimate concern.

“Mr Barr suggests that offensive, abusive and off-topic posts are deleted, and that spammers and trolls are blocked. Myself and others I’ve seen weren’t any of these things and yet we were silenced and have been blocked. We weren’t rude, we weren’t abusive, we weren’t spamming or off-topic – yet we were silenced for having valid concerns.”

Why John said yes

No big whoop, until you realise why.

“Part of my own understanding of HIV and AIDS issues has been through the prism of experiencing the death of two of my younger brothers – David and Stephen – who died of AIDS within six weeks of each other in the late 1980s,” he says.

“My brother was one of the first 10 people in Australia diagnosed, so it was seen as a punishment from God for taking drugs or being homosexual.

“Unfortunately while society’s views may have progressed since in many areas, people with HIV and AIDS and their families and carers still face discrimination, so part of my responsibilities as patron will be to reduce that discrimination and increase awareness.”

GLORIA in excelsis

They were in good company, joining NSW Premier Mike Baird, TV host Sam Newman and Golden GLORIA winner, feminist and author Germaine Greer.

The awards – hosted in Sydney by journalist David Marr – attracted only 800 votes nationally.  

Back to the future

NONE of us are perfect in publishing when it comes to getting the date on the front page right. Shamefully, a few weeks ago we managed to have ours a week out, despite three people checking it. But the “Canberra Times” the other Sunday knocked our lapse into a cocked hat with a dateline (“November 8, 2014”) that was a year out.   

Michael strikes silver

ON Saturday, November 21, Strathnairn Arts is celebrating, among other things including its annual Christmas exhibition, the contribution of its property manager Michael Sainsbury, pictured, who has lived and worked for the past 25 years at the arts hub, located on the western edge of Canberra near the Murrumbidgee River, more formally at 90 Stockdill Drive, Holt. The fun starts at 4pm.

A door closes…

“It’s a cliché, but it’s true; all good things must come to an end,” she wrote in a surprise missive to friends and colleagues.

“I suspect that relatively few people can say they are inspired every day by the people they work with. But I can.”

She says she’ll be taking on private consultancy work “with some exciting new projects already in the pipeline for 2016”.

Strange agenda

YOUR taxes at work: At a recent meeting in an unnamed public service office the participants filed into the board room, sat for 15 minutes waiting for the chairperson until everyone’s phones lit up with a “meeting cancelled” entry into the diaries. And they all filed out, none the wiser.