Page 5002 - Week 13 - Thursday, 12 November 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
celebrating the king’s relationship with a lady interspersed with requiem music, which was quite solemn and beautiful.
The great thing about it was that this concert was under the auspices and with the co-operation of the Friends of the Albert Hall, and it was conducted in the Albert Hall. I had been told in the past that the Albert Hall did not have very good acoustics. That was not borne out by this splendid concert in this splendid venue. I congratulate the Spanish Embassy and the Friends of the Albert Hall for bringing this great concert to us in such a beautiful setting and I hope that as the refurbishments of Albert Hall go on we will have more experiences like that. I congratulate the Friends of the Albert Hall for their initiative.
Both Ms Porter and I had the privilege of attending a couple of weeks ago the opening night of Free-Rain Theatre Company’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I think that Ms Porter, like me, is a regular attender at Free-Rain’s events, mainly held in the Courtyard Studio. This was a superb production by an amateur theatre group.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has always been a great favourite of mine, and I thought that the interpretation brought by director Jordan Best and a really fabulous ensemble of Jenna Roberts, first-time actor Alexander Marks in the difficult role of Brick, Liz Bradley, a perennial around town, as Big Mama, Tony Turner as Big Daddy and the rest of the ensemble cast was fantastic. I do want to congratulate Anne Somes as the artistic director of Free-Rain and all the fabulous supporters of this great amateur group.
We really should pay more attention to the great work of amateur and semi-professional theatre in the ACT, because they do make a significant contribution to the cultural life of our city—and often on the smell of an oily rag. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was a stand-out performance by all concerned. The set was fabulous, the costumes were great, and it is a great testament to the work of the people associated with Free-Rain Theatre Company.
Housing—stock
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo) (4.40): I would like to briefly talk on an issue which has exercised my mind for some time, and that is making better use of our ageing housing stock and one particular area in which we could see some regulatory legislative changes which might enable that.
I live in Downer, and Downer has an ageing population. I am surrounded by houses which are vastly larger than the inhabitants require. They were extended for a large family, and they have now often got one or possibly two people in them. They are just sitting there, which is not ideal from anyone’s point of view.
We do have a situation in the ACT where, if you have a large block, you can build a dual occupancy residence in your backyard in certain locations, and some people are happy to have share houses, which is certainly something which has in many cases a lot to commend it. But there is another alternative, which we used to have in the ACT and we do not really seem to have anymore, and that is what used to be called the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video