Mobility in the child (and carer) friendly city : SEQ vs. Stockholm

The rationale for providing state subsidised public transport has changed over time from a social obligation to provide transport options for those without access to private transport to an environmental and economic imperative to minimize congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. In many jurisdictions this shift has seen a greater focus on the provision of peak hour commuter services and a shift in the demographic profile of the riding public and a significant increase in the number of commuter passengers relative to others. The scheduling of commuter services is not geared to meet the needs of children and their generally female carers who often need to engage in trip chaining and travel outside peak commuting periods and on weekends. In addition to service scheduling difficulties, transport infrastructure, both on-board and supporting infrastructure such as bus stops, train stations and connecting footpaths often do not support children and their carers to use public transport services. Combined with a negative attitude by passengers and service providers, such as bus drivers, which may see children, babies and young people as out of place and unwelcome on commuter services, these issues conspire to hinder the use of public transport by children and their carers. Overlaying feminist geography analysis and insights and child-friendly cities objectives, this paper proposes some basic criteria for the provision of public transport services and supporting infrastructure which meets the needs of children, babies and their carers and juxtaposes the achievement of these in South East Queensland, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden.

The story of the men’s white shirt

The classic white dress shirt is familiar and omnipresent in men’s fashion. As a result, we tend to be unaware that for more than 200 years this singular item of apparel, which is essentially unadulterated in form from the late 19th century, has been able to define and represent status, wealth and fashion norms. The history underlying this garment is rich and, in the main part, untold.

Three sides to every story; Ernesto Love + Eve Roleston + Ernest Olove = 3SUM/3DUM

This was another in the project of using my three pseudonyms to investigate the strategic potential of the fictocritical as an approach to making visual art. It was large scale single artwork that took place over 21 days and combined 2D, 3D, Time-based elements and performance in an attempt to construct a Gesamtkunstwerk. Over the course of the exhibition I critically and creatively engaged with political, social, economic and cultural issues thorugh opening up a range of rhetorical modes such as the lyrical, the elegiac, the rhapsodic, the humorous, the parodic and the satirical.

Going through the obstruction, the Torrens System Assurance Fund and contemporary solutions : a tale weaved from a story of a nun, a romantic triangle and sibling corruption

Private title insurance has been the subject of much debate by law reform bodies and academics. This article adds a new dimension to the discussion by analysing its role against a recent scenario where a nun was betrayed by the actions of her brother, and compensation payable from the assurance fund, after much challenge by the registrar, amounted to in excess of $4 million.We ask whether the slow burning of title insurance into the psyche of Australian home purchasers will see state-based assurance fundings looking to minismise their role in the Torrens system. We also query how the rather more immediate electronic establishment of electronic conveyancing will alter the balance between the assurance fund, private title insurance and the increasing responsibilities on stakeholdes involved in conveyancing.

Boat race festival in Samoa

A travel article about the Teuila Festival in Samoa. "IT isn't a festival without a boat race," Faumui Iese says. We stand together on one side of a spectator boat as it follows the Teuila Festival Fautasi Race. On the shoreline, a crowd clambers down a retaining wall. It seems his is a common sentiment. Each team represents a village...

Perfect start to a river cruise

A travel article about Amsterdam. BY COINCIDENCE, I flew to Amsterdam a week after I'd read Ian McEwan's novel of the same name. Amsterdam is a modern take on the theme of duelling and, in many ways, he couldn't have chosen a more appropriate place for his title. This is a city that duels with itself. I flew in at dawn, traditionally the moment to test your abilities at 10 paces. The countryside below was dark but blocks of orange light pulsed in the fields...

Wine weekend in New Zealand

A travel article about the vineyards around Queenstown, New Zealand. GRANT Taylor holds a glass of pinot noir to his ear and says, "I listen to it." It's 11 in the morning. I steal a glance at my guide, Mike Stevens, an English ex-pat who's lived in Queenstown for nearly 20 years, and so is very nearly a local. He's brought me here and knows Taylor well. We are all quite sober...

Queensland floods anniversary : Brian Willmett

"In today's story we hear from Postmans Ridge helicopter pilot, Brian Willmett, and how he and his neighbours worked together to rescue four people, including Kevin and Eileen Lees, from the inland tsunami which swept down the Lockyer Valley during last year's Queensland floods. It was a ten metre high wave that swept through Postmans Ridge that day, ripping houses from their foundations and sweeping two people to their deaths. Brian Willmett was at home when he suddenly ran to rescue neighbours who were in danger. To mark the anniversary of the floods in Queensland, ABC Open has compiled Aftermath, an extensive look at the Queensland floods as well as floods in NSW, Victoria and remote Western Australia, Cyclone Yasi and the 2009 Victorian 'Black Saturday' bushfires. Australia certainly has been hit by a few disasters in the past two or so years. The site has a timeline showing content from these six disasters, with links to about 40 people effected by these disasters. If you go to that site you will be able to choose a person to watch videos about them."

Queensland floods anniversary : Angela Emmerson

"We're marking the anniversary of the destructive floods that hit Queensland a year ago this week with our series of interviews from survivors. Today's story is from Helidon teenager and university student Angela Emmerson, who tells Amanda Gearing how she and her sister scrambled to the roof to escape the dangerous flash flood which suddenly engulfed their house on the 10th of January last year. Tomorrow we'll hear from Grantham resident Rob Wilkin who rescued 31 local people using his car and boat. He helped them escape to safety as 138 houses in the town were destroyed. To mark the anniversary of the floods in Queensland, ABC Open has compiled Aftermath, an extensive look at the Queensland floods as well as floods in NSW, Victoria and remote Western Australia; Cyclone Yasi and the 2009 Victorian 'Black Saturday' bushfires. Australia certainly has been hit by a few disasters in the past two or so years. The site has a timeline showing content from these six disasters, with links to about 40 people effected by these disasters. If you go to that site you will be able to choose a person to watch videos about them."

Future perfect

"Future Perfect" is a solo artist exhibition featuring a 9 channel video installation, which is comprised of looped computer animation projections. In the first room, the big one, there are nine projections of looped computer animations. Many of these look like representations of gallery spaces containing sculptures, including rotating interpenetrating discs, bouncing coloured coffins, and jostling cardboard cubes (the cubes are blank, then covered in drawings, then covered in photographic imagery). In one video, a man and a woman walk towards one another but never get together. In the second room, an animated video on a flatscreen suggests an origin story. The subtitles tell how, in Russia, my great-grandfather made a joke about Stalin's child bride that cost him his life. That one isn’t a loop; it has a beginning, middle, and end. Lying on the floor, in front of the video, are two slightly crumpled mural prints of photographs of the ocean. There's also a clear Perspex cloud shape on a wall. Viewers will see themselves reflected in it, as if it were a distant hovering mirage. The first room of the exhibition, where objects are set in perpetual motion, is about departure. The second room registers some sense of arrival. The future perfect implies looking back on something that hasn't happened yet; future and past are conflated and the present is somehow deferred. The future perfect combines anticipation and reflection, and it relates to my interest in combining 3-D animation with other mediums like drawing, painting, and shot video. In my work, the virtual and actual coexist in tension, just like experience and expectation in the future perfect.

Forward slash story

FORWARD/STORY (Forward Slash Story) is an invite-only 3 day residential lab taking place May 16, 17 & 18th, 2014. A lab where storytellers working in tech don’t give presentations. There are no projects or mentors only peers. Participants share and explore the creative challenges of telling stories that break new ground. Five core challenges that storytellers face will be explored in a collaborative environment. On-site expenses are covered for those who attend. FORWARD/STORY attempts to tackle some of the most difficult problems surrounding storytelling in the 21st Century. A gathering of thinkers & doers working across a diversity of creative fields come together for 3 days focused on sharing, experimentation and innovation.

Grandad falsely accused of rape and incest

THE Queensland Department of Child Safety has refused for 18 months to correct a file that falsely accused a man from Toowoomba of being a rapist who was jailed for fathering his own grandchild.

Take my brother first : heroic final act saves sibling

"A schoolboy who begged rescuers to save his little brother first is among a dozen people drowned."

Phone call was lost as Grantham dad swept away

"As a wall of water crashed towards his Grantham home, pensioner Bruce Marshall frantically phoned his daughter Fiona for help."