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Hyacinth’s Open Day

Photograph of the view of Sydney Harbour from Kirribilli House

Not a bad view, eh? You can see why Janette Howard wouldn’t want to leave Kirribilli House!

Yesterday was the one day each spring when the doors are open to the punters. For $15 ($10 senior concession, with card) we can roam the gardens and take snapshots of each other admiring the views. And the fit men and women of the Australian Federal Police and the now-merged AFP Protective Service chat politely instead of shooting us.

Kirribilli House is a relatively modest twin-gabled residence in the Gothic picturesque style, dating from 1855. “It’s pretty crap,” complained one teenage lad. “The White House is better. But it’s the location I guess.”

In theory, the Prime Minister’s official residence is The Lodge in Canberra, not here. When, almost inevitably, Kevin Rudd is elected PM, will his family live here, or The Lodge?

[I also wrote about Kirribilli House for Crikey. It covers different material, and there’s a photo of the rude chap who dared wear a “Kevin 07” t-shirt.]

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Contemporary art for sardines

Photograph of Marrickville Contemporary Art Prize launch night

“Just how many people can you pack into one tiny art gallery,” I wondered as I squeezed through At The Vanishing Point‘s winding displays to find a drink.

The launch of the inaugural Marrickville Contemporary Art Prize was an upbeat but slightly chaotic affair last night, with 61 works packed into a narrow gallery space and probably every contemporary artist in the village jammed into a narrow corridor trying to reach the dodgy chardonnay and too-few spring rolls being served in the back yard.

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So this is what a resources boom looks like…

Graph of mineral exploration expenditure

This graph (right) shows the massive rise in spending on minerals exploration in Australia over the last 8 years.

The graph comes from the Australian Bureau of Statistics report 8412.0 – Mineral and Petroleum Exploration, Australia, Jun 2007 released yesterday — although this specific graph doesn’t include petroleum.

They say:

The trend estimate for total mineral exploration expenditure increased by $22.3m (5.0%) to $470.8m in the June quarter 2007. The estimate is now 37.4% higher than the June quarter 2006 estimate.

The largest contributions to the increase this quarter were in Western Australia (up $17.1m or 7.8%) and South Australia (up $7.2m or 9.8%). New South Wales showed the largest decrease of $1.7m or 4.7%.

I suppose I should say something about this being an indicator of where all the money’s been coming from lately. But we all know this already, don’t we?

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Red Sofa shortlisted

Photograph: Red Sofa by 'Pong

’Pong’s photograph Red Sofa (right) has been shortlisted for the Marrickville Contemporary Art Prize 2007.

The Award Presentation and Launch is tonight at At The Vanishing Point gallery, 565 King Street, Newtown from 6pm to 9pm.

However the exhibition is spread across two galleries, with the rest the works on display at the Don’t Look Experimental Art Gallery, 419 New Canterbury Road, Dulwich Hill. That half is launched tomorrow night from 6pm.

Sadly ’Pong won’t be able to make the award presentation tonight, though I’ll try to be there. However we’ll both be at tomorrow’s launch in Dulwich Hill. Join us?

The exhibition runs at both galleries until 23 September.

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The Leadership (Non)-Challenge

When I returned to focus on politics after a busy morning yesterday, I discovered that not only was John Howard still PM, but also that there was never a leadership challenge. Really. How can this be?

I happened to read Crikey first, where Christian Kerr wrote:

Nothing happened in Canberra this morning. Nothing in a Samuel Beckett sort of way. A nothing that means plenty. A nothing that is quite profound.

You’ve right there, Christian! Every newsroom and every politics junkie in the country including myself arced up — prepared, as I said, for the biggest political story in a decade. And then come the time, Howard et al strolled out of the party room meeting as if nothing had happened.

Finally, at 12:45, Tony Abbott appeared. There had been “full and frank discussions”, he said, but there was “absolutely rock solid support for the Prime Minister”.

Continue reading “The Leadership (Non)-Challenge”