SON OF A GUN: Former Melbourne and West Torrens player Steven Stretch with his son, emerging Glenelg player, BillySource: adelaidenow
GLENGOWRIE'S Billy Stretch has impressed in college and club ranks in recent seasons - and looms as a possible father/son selection for Melbourne next year.
The 16-year-old utility - whose dad is former Demons and West Torrens wingman Steven Stretch - made his debut for Glenelg's reserves on Saturday, April 27.
It followed his promotion from the under-18s on the back of a six-goal, 34-possession game against Central District the previous week.
Last year he made his debut for Immanuel College's First XVIII as a Year 10 and was a member of the SA squad for the national under-16 championships.
A Melbourne spokesman confirmed Billy had met Demons officials and spent a week at the club last year.
Billy will be eligible for next year's AFL National Draft and, under the father/son rule, can go to Melbourne where Steven played 164 games between 1986-93.
The rule means that if Billy decides he wants to play at Melbourne and the Demons want to recruit him, they must match any club's bid with their next highest pick. Joining the Demons would be the realisation of a dream for Melbourne-born Billy.
He has supported the club since soon after he was born and regularly attended home games at the MCG as a toddler in the late 1990s.
"Dad has always kept involved with Melbourne and that influenced me and who I supported," Billy said.
"Every now and then we'd chuck some of dad's highlights videos on and see a lot of old players like Jim Stynes, Robbie Flower and Garry Lyon running around.
"(Playing for Melbourne) has always been my dream.
"But my focus at this stage is to try to play my best footy at Glenelg and with school footy and to take things step by step."
The Stretchs returned to Adelaide in 2003, leading Billy to join the junior ranks at Henley Sharks and Woodville-West Torrens.
Four years ago he switched to Glenelg to play with mates.
Steven said Billy always had a football in his hand when he was growing up.
"The last two or three years he's developed really well and realised he could get to where he wants to go," Steven said.
Will Chambers dives over for Melbourne Storm.Source: Getty Images
MELBOURNE have secured the services of centre Will Chambers for four more years, keeping him at the Storm through the 2017 season.
Chambers became a dual premiership winner when he returned to Melbourne Storm last year, after spending two seasons playing in Super Rugby for the Queensland Reds and for Irish province Munster.
Melbourne Storm football manager Frank Ponissi said he was delighted to have secured the 24-year-old's signature, particularly considering the situation that led to his departure previously.
“Not surprisingly Will attracted a lot of interest from rugby league and rugby union,” said Ponissi.
“We were shattered to see him leave the club at the end of 2009 and determined to avoid that happening again.
“Will has always been an impressive and very well-liked person. He actually returned a more mature player and person, who we identified as being a vitally important part of our club.
“We believe Will is just reaching his peek, he is playing outstanding footy, with plenty more to come. His signing is a significant boost for Melbourne Storm for now and for the future.”
Chambers said coach Craig Bellamy's commitment to the club played an integral role in his decision.
“I love Melbourne, the club and all the people involved,” said Chambers.
“When I returned to the club everyone was wonderful, they really made me feel welcome to be back.
“Craig Bellamy’s decision to stay on a long-term deal has made my decision a whole heap easier. I’m very settled in Melbourne and love playing for Melbourne Storm.”
Bryan Norrie ... Bellamy's emphasis on tough players means the forward was a natural fit.Source:FOX SPORTS
The truth of Melbourne is not the Big Three.
It is Ryan Hinchcliffe, there on the hip of Cooper Cronk, an unlikely hole runner.
All times are listed in EST
It is Bryan Norrie getting a nod on the field as he heads into a scrum, and grabbing Sam Thaiday's jersey sleeve as he comes out.
Or Gareth Widdop, a role player at Melbourne, happy to play his part, who will bankroll that into a marquee role at St George Illawarra next season.
The truth of Melbourne is the small names, the unsung, the men who every weekend have a job and, importantly, always find a way to do it.
W
L
D
B
PD
Pts
1
Storm
7
0
0
0
83
14
2
Rabbitohs
6
1
0
0
40
12
3
Roosters
5
2
0
0
102
10
4
Sea Eagles
5
2
0
0
77
10
5
Knights
5
2
0
0
67
10
6
Broncos
4
3
0
0
26
8
7
Titans
4
3
0
0
16
8
8
Cowboys
3
4
0
0
6
6
9
Dragons
3
4
0
0
-56
6
10
Raiders
3
4
0
0
-73
6
11
Panthers
2
5
0
0
-18
4
12
Sharks
2
5
0
0
-19
4
13
Bulldogs
2
5
0
0
-53
4
14
Tigers
2
5
0
0
-60
4
15
Eels
2
5
0
0
-68
4
16
Warriors
1
6
0
0
-70
2
They are the reason that, seven games in, Melbourne are still undefeated.
It is part of a winning streak that extends to 16, taking in the World Club Challenge and the eight-game streak that closed out last season with a 14-4 grand final win.
It is remarkable.
What's most remarkable is how Melbourne, confined by the salary cap like all NRL clubs, distributes its talent in a way unique to itself, and yet manages to contend for a title year after year.
They do it nothing like the other contenders.
Join Ben Ikin, Paul Kent and special guests Brett Kimmorley and Gorden Tallis live on NRL 360 on Wednesday from 7.30pm (EST) on Fox Sports 1HD
Craig Bellamy can't really recall where or even how, but he probably worked out his formula after a lifetime of being nothing more than an average club player, playing above his weight for all of it, getting more years out of his career than anybody thought he had a right to.
The key is toughness.
No club boasts a collective trio like Cam Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk. One is probably the best to ever play his position, two are potential Immortals, the third is just the Australian halfback.
Yet to accommodate them and remain under the salary cap Melbourne has to make sacrifices, quite substantial ones, elsewhere.
Like everybody else, they have to fit all 25 players under the salary cap.
With that in mind, no club is better at finding discards, cast-offs, the under-appreciated or rookie gunslingers to fill their roster. Yet they all share the same quality.
"In those players, the Norries, Hinchcliffe," Bellamy says, picking two, "those players are tough.
"They're mentally tough and they're physically tough."
In many ways, Hinchcliffe is the true Melbourne.
"They're small for the position they play, but they're tough," Bellamy says.
"That's what I look for."
Bellamy can't remember what he saw that first drew him to Norrie, but he soon recognised it.
His recruitment process is a mixture of things.
He interviews the player, talks to people who know him, probes for a read on their character.
Character is important.
Like a horse trainer who will pick a horse because of its kind eye, or its good conformation, he believes he has an ability to read people, to see past the words that might be what he wants to hear and said for only that purpose, to see into the character of the man.
It's not so unusual. Bush people will often say they can tell a man by the look of his head. Bellamy is from Portland, near Lithgow.
There is also a gruelling vetting process. Other clubs tell how Melbourne will get 20 players to the club over the off-season and flog them all summer, watching for the ones that can stand up to it. Norrie and Adam Blair came to the club that way.
There are many qualities that make up a footballer. All are looking for talent, the first requirement. Then in different measures they look for skill, strength, work ethic, toughness, speed, size.
Probably more than most, Bellamy puts an emphasis on tough players.
"Usually, those guys are pretty consistent, week in, week out," he says.
While their highs will never be as high as the likes of more talented players, neither will their poor games ever be poor as the sullen superstars at some other clubs.
He knows those blokes will kill you in a minute. With that understood, coaching becomes easier. Not easy, just easier.
That's how Melbourne dug themselves out of trouble last week against New Zealand, when the streak was under threat. It's why they got Souths the week before, holding on for longer than the Rabbitohs were willing to hang on.
"If you know your limits in a team and your limits in a player you can work with that," he says.
"When you don't know what you're getting each week, that's frustrating. But if they're tough, his best performance and his worst performance aren't usually that far apart."
The Melbourne city skyline from a suburb.Source: Supplied
MELBOURNE's population continues to boom as lack of housing affordability pushes more young families to the city fringe.
New ABS figures show the city is growing by 1500 people a week, with outer suburbs such as South Morang, Point Cook and Tarneit recording the biggest increases in the nation.
Melbourne added 77,200 people in the year to June 2012 - the most of any capital city and an increase equal to the size of the Latrobe Valley.
Fuelled mainly by overseas migration, the city's population has reached 4.25 million, only 400,000 short of Sydney's, said the ABS report Regional Population Growth Australia 2011-12.
It revealed that South Morang grew by a massive 15 per cent or almost 6000 people, while Point Cook added 4100, Tarneit grew by 3600 and Craigieburn-Mickleham by 2900.
Dr Bob Birrell, director of Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research, said that the continuing growth on the city fringe reflected Melbourne's housing affordability crisis for young families.
"Fringe housing is the only detached housing that's affordable for the rapidly growing number of young households in the city," he said.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy said that Melbourne was facing significant expansion, with only eight council areas accounting for 70 per cent of the city's residential growth.
"It's a huge challenge for government to manage this," he said.
Inner city Melbourne also recorded huge growth, with Southbank soaring by 11 per cent to 13,600 people.
The Melbourne city skyline from a suburb.Source: Supplied
MELBOURNE's population continues to boom as lack of housing affordability pushes more young families to the city fringe.
New ABS figures show the city is growing by 1500 people a week, with outer suburbs such as South Morang, Point Cook and Tarneit recording the biggest increases in the nation.
Melbourne added 77,200 people in the year to June 2012 - the most of any capital city and an increase equal to the size of the Latrobe Valley.
Fuelled mainly by overseas migration, the city's population has reached 4.25 million, only 400,000 short of Sydney's, said the ABS report Regional Population Growth Australia 2011-12.
It revealed that South Morang grew by a massive 15 per cent or almost 6000 people, while Point Cook added 4100, Tarneit grew by 3600 and Craigieburn-Mickleham by 2900.
Dr Bob Birrell, director of Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research, said that the continuing growth on the city fringe reflected Melbourne's housing affordability crisis for young families.
"Fringe housing is the only detached housing that's affordable for the rapidly growing number of young households in the city," he said.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy said that Melbourne was facing significant expansion, with only eight council areas accounting for 70 per cent of the city's residential growth.
"It's a huge challenge for government to manage this," he said.
Inner city Melbourne also recorded huge growth, with Southbank soaring by 11 per cent to 13,600 people.
Make: CanonModel: Canon EOS-1D XDate/Time: 2013:04:13 20:30:47Source: The Daily Telegraph
THE truth of Melbourne is not the Big Three.
It is Ryan Hinchcliffe, there on the hip of Cooper Cronk, an unlikely hole runner.
It is Bryan Norrie getting a nod on the field as he heads into a scrum, and grabbing Sam Thaiday's jersey sleeve as he comes out.
Or Gareth Widdop, a role player at Melbourne, happy to play his part, who will bankroll that into a marquee role at St George Illawarra next season.
The truth of Melbourne is the small names, the unsung, the men who every weekend have a job and, importantly, always find a way to do it.
They are the reason that, seven games in, Melbourne are still undefeated.
It is part of a winning streak that extends to 16, taking in the World Club Challenge and the eight-game streak that closed out last season with a 14-4 grand final win.
It is remarkable.
What's most remarkable is how Melbourne, confined by the salary cap like all NRL clubs, distributes its talent in a way unique to itself, and yet manages to contend for a title year after year.
They do it nothing like the other contenders.
The Melbourne Storm held off a focussed Warriors side to remain unbeaten with a 28-18 NRL win.
Craig Bellamy can't really recall where or even how, but he probably worked out his formula after a lifetime of being nothing more than an average club player, playing above his weight for all of it, getting more years out of his career than anybody thought he had a right to.
The key is toughness.
No club boasts a collective trio like Cam Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk. One is probably the best to ever play his position, two are potential Immortals, the third is just the Australian halfback.
Yet to accommodate them and remain under the salary cap Melbourne has to make sacrifices, quite substantial ones, elsewhere.
Like everybody else, they have to fit all 25 players under the salary cap.
With that in mind, no club is better at finding discards, cast-offs, the under-appreciated or rookie gunslingers to fill their roster. Yet they all share the same quality.
"In those players, the Norries, Hinchcliffe," Bellamy says, picking two, "those players are tough.
"They're mentally tough and they're physically tough."
In many ways, Hinchcliffe is the true Melbourne.
"They're small for the position they play, but they're tough," Bellamy says. "That's what I look for."
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Bellamy can't remember what he saw that first drew him to Norrie, but he soon recognised it.
His recruitment process is a mixture of things.
He interviews the player, talks to people who know him, probes for a read on their character.
Character is important.
Like a horse trainer who will pick a horse because of its kind eye, or its good conformation, he believes he has an ability to read people, to see past the words that might be what he wants to hear and said for only that purpose, to see into the character of the man.
It's not so unusual. Bush people will often say they can tell a man by the look of his head. Bellamy is from Portland, near Lithgow.
There is also a gruelling vetting process. Other clubs tell how Melbourne will get 20 players to the club over the off-season and flog them all summer, watching for the ones that can stand up to it. Norrie and Adam Blair came to the club that way.
There are many qualities that make up a footballer. All are looking for talent, the first requirement. Then in different measures they look for skill, strength, work ethic, toughness, speed, size.
Probably more than most, Bellamy puts an emphasis on tough players.
"Usually, those guys are pretty consistent, week in, week out," he says.
While their highs will never be as high as the likes of more talented players, neither will their poor games ever be poor as the sullen superstars at some other clubs.
He knows those blokes will kill you in a minute. With that understood, coaching becomes easier. Not easy, just easier.
That's how Melbourne dug themselves out of trouble last week against New Zealand, when the streak was under threat. It's why they got Souths the week before, holding on for longer than the Rabbitohs were willing to hang on.
"If you know your limits in a team and your limits in a player you can work with that," he says. "When you don't know what you're getting each week, that's frustrating. But if they're tough, his best performance and his worst performance aren't usually that far apart."
MOTORISTS parking at Tullamarine tipped $114.7 million into Melbourne Airport's pot of gold last year, thanks to charges that are among the world's highest.
An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report reveals parking was the source of 20 per cent of the airport's revenue -- a bigger share than at any of Australia's five other major airports.
It is Ryan Hinchcliffe, there on the hip of Cooper Cronk, an unlikely hole runner.
It is Bryan Norrie getting a nod on the field as he heads into a scrum, and grabbing Sam Thaiday's jersey sleeve as he comes out.
Or Gareth Widdop, a role player at Melbourne, happy to play his part, who will bankroll that into a marquee role at St George Illawarra next season.
The truth of Melbourne is the small names, the unsung, the men who every weekend have a job and, importantly, always find a way to do it.
They are the reason that, seven games in, Melbourne are still undefeated.
It is part of a winning streak that extends to 16, taking in the World Club Challenge and the eight-game streak that closed out last season with a 14-4 grand final win.
It is remarkable.
What's most remarkable is how Melbourne, confined by the salary cap like all NRL clubs, distributes its talent in a way unique to itself, and yet manages to contend for a title year after year.
They do it nothing like the other contenders.
The Melbourne Storm held off a focussed Warriors side to remain unbeaten with a 28-18 NRL win.
Craig Bellamy can't really recall where or even how, but he probably worked out his formula after a lifetime of being nothing more than an average club player, playing above his weight for all of it, getting more years out of his career than anybody thought he had a right to.
The key is toughness.
No club boasts a collective trio like Cam Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk. One is probably the best to ever play his position, two are potential Immortals, the third is just the Australian halfback.
Yet to accommodate them and remain under the salary cap Melbourne has to make sacrifices, quite substantial ones, elsewhere.
Like everybody else, they have to fit all 25 players under the salary cap.
With that in mind, no club is better at finding discards, cast-offs, the under-appreciated or rookie gunslingers to fill their roster. Yet they all share the same quality.
"In those players, the Norries, Hinchcliffe," Bellamy says, picking two, "those players are tough.
"They're mentally tough and they're physically tough."
In many ways, Hinchcliffe is the true Melbourne.
"They're small for the position they play, but they're tough," Bellamy says. "That's what I look for."
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Bellamy can't remember what he saw that first drew him to Norrie, but he soon recognised it.
His recruitment process is a mixture of things.
He interviews the player, talks to people who know him, probes for a read on their character.
Character is important.
Like a horse trainer who will pick a horse because of its kind eye, or its good conformation, he believes he has an ability to read people, to see past the words that might be what he wants to hear and said for only that purpose, to see into the character of the man.
It's not so unusual. Bush people will often say they can tell a man by the look of his head. Bellamy is from Portland, near Lithgow.
There is also a gruelling vetting process. Other clubs tell how Melbourne will get 20 players to the club over the off-season and flog them all summer, watching for the ones that can stand up to it. Norrie and Adam Blair came to the club that way.
There are many qualities that make up a footballer. All are looking for talent, the first requirement. Then in different measures they look for skill, strength, work ethic, toughness, speed, size.
Probably more than most, Bellamy puts an emphasis on tough players.
"Usually, those guys are pretty consistent, week in, week out," he says.
While their highs will never be as high as the likes of more talented players, neither will their poor games ever be poor as the sullen superstars at some other clubs.
He knows those blokes will kill you in a minute. With that understood, coaching becomes easier. Not easy, just easier.
That's how Melbourne dug themselves out of trouble last week against New Zealand, when the streak was under threat. It's why they got Souths the week before, holding on for longer than the Rabbitohs were willing to hang on.
"If you know your limits in a team and your limits in a player you can work with that," he says. "When you don't know what you're getting each week, that's frustrating. But if they're tough, his best performance and his worst performance aren't usually that far apart."
Melbourne has again dominated Australia's population growth, adding 77,242 people in 2011-12 to reach mid-2012 with a population of almost 4.25 million.
New estimates released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show five of the eight municipalities recording the nation's biggest growth were in Melbourne - three in the outer northern and western suburbs, one in the south-east, and the city of Melbourne itself.
Perth outgrew Sydney to be Australia's second biggest growth centre, its population swelling by 65,434 or 3.6 per cent, more than twice the national growth rate, to almost 1.9 million.
Victoria added 88,966 people to close the financial year with 5.624 million people, just under 25 per cent of all Australians. Australia added almost 360,000 people, and the Bureau estimates its population hit 23 million last week.
It was the 11th year in a row that the bureau estimates that Melbourne led the nation's growth. In that time, the city's population has grown by more than 750,000, or almost a quarter, imposing new strains on an infrastructure designed for far fewer people.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy said the city's population was growing by 1500 a week, or equal to the combined growth of Brisbane, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Newcastle and Canberra.
''There is no sign of that growth slowing. That growth is continuing and has continued now for the best part of 10 years,'' Mr Guy said. ''It is the policy challenge we face in planning for today and the future.''
He said many of the problems in urban areas arose because growth was not managed well in the last decade: ''We didn't plan well on a state level for growth.''
Wyndham, centred on Werribee, had the biggest growth of any municipality in Australia, adding 12,822 people. That is more than the entire annual population growth of Victoria at one stage under the Kennett government.
Whittlesea had the second biggest growth in the nation. Melton was fifth, Casey sixth, and the City of Melbourne eighth.
The city's population centre remained in Glen Iris, but most of its population growth came north and west of the Yarra, a dramatic change from 20th-century patterns, which saw it spread in a lopsided way to the south-east.
MELBOURNE's population continues to boom as lack of housing affordability pushes more young families to the city fringe.
New ABS figures show the city is growing by 1500 people a week, with outer suburbs such as South Morang, Point Cook and Tarneit recording the biggest increases in the nation.
Kurtley Beale could be back for the Rebels on Friday night. Picture: Michael KleinSource: Herald Sun
KURTLEY Beale's meeting with Melbourne Rebels teammates will help decide if the Wallaby champion's Super Rugby exile will end on Friday night.
The Herald Sun understands Beale will speak to his teammates before training today at Visy Park in his first face-to-face contact with them since being banished from the South African tour in March for fighting with teammate Cooper Vuna.
Coach Damien Hill will have the ultimate say on whether Beale is selected to face Super Rugby champions Waikato Chiefs at AAMI Park on Friday, but the players' reaction to him will be pivotal.
Several senior players -- including Vuna, James O'Connor and Mitch Inman -- have publicly supported Beale's return to the fold.
The 24-year-old has been estranged from the Rebels since fighting Vuna and captain Gareth Delve in Durban on March 25.
Vuna and Beale, who are friends, were sent home on separate flights.
Beale returned to the club's Carlton base yesterday for a weights and logistics session.
The Herald Sun last week revealed Beale had asked to speak to his teammates before resuming his career. That meeting is likely to be an emotional confrontation.
Beale, who has been counselled for alcohol-related issues during a five-week suspension, has worked closely with the Australian Rugby Union, the Rebels and the Rugby Union Players' Association.
He has maintained fitness under the guidance of ARU staffers and has held several meetings with Wallaby coach Robbie Deane.
The Rebels delivered one of their best performances of the season on Sunday against the Crusaders in Christchurch, let down by some poor discipline late in the 30-26 defeat.
Hill said the Rebels' short turnaround would be draining physically but was probably good for the team.
"I think the sooner you get back to playing after a close loss the better, but it's going to be tough on them with a five-day turnaround," he said.
Scott Higginbotham cemented his case to be the permanent Rebels skipper when Delve leaves at season's end. He scored a try and set up another and was everywhere in defence.
Melbourne Theatre Company's True Minds, by Joanna Murray-Smith. Picture Jeff BusbySource: Supplied
Melbourne Theatre Company's True Minds, by Joanna Murray-Smith. Picture Jeff BusbySource: Supplied
MEETING the prospective in-laws, introducing the beloved to one's parents, and struggling with the ex-boyfriend is the stuff of many a romantic comedy.
True Minds, the new play from Joanna Murray-Smith, mines the comic possibilities of it all.
The hapless Daisy (Nikki Shiels) - successful writer of a book about men not marrying women their mother's don't approve - scrambles to impress Vivienne (Louise Siversen), the Right-wing mother of Daisy's lawyer fiance Benedict (Matthew McFarlane).
Daisy's mother Tracey (Genevieve Morris) is an old-fashioned, hippy feminist. Her father Maxim (Alex Menglet) is a celebrated, philandering, Left-wing political animal. And her former boyfriend, Mitch (Adam Murphy) is just out of rehab.
Daisy is hurled into the bear pit when they all arrive at her home at once.
Murray-Smith's text satirises all the characters, making them more caricatures than fully rounded personalities. It's a double-edged sword for this production as it provides laughs, but leaves the characters and story two-dimensional.
She pokes fun at the foibles of the Left, the Right, the rich, the radicals, the social climber, the media personality, the opinionated, the substance abuser. You name it, she smacks them.
There are some witty social observations and good laughs at the expense of everyone, but the story and the drama seem to get lost in the flurry of arguments that often turn into shouting matches or drunken rants.
In the latter half of the play, a couple of sentimental speeches about love cannot compete with the reference to Shakespeare's famous love sonnet, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediment''.
Director Peter Houghton keeps the pace and energy up with plenty of physical and visual gags scattered among the dense, but often overly wordy, comic dialogue.
The cast is clever and funny, hurling themselves into the roles. Strangely, the play really takes off after 60 minutes when Benedict, the absent fiance played hilariously like a prancing peacock by McFarlane, arrives and becomes a pivot for the dramatic action.
So, which man does Daisy choose for a husband? The bad-boy recovering addict, the former boyfriend, or the clean-cut, conservative lawyer? Now, that would be telling.
Tickets for Melbourne Storm’s home games during the 2013 NRL season have now been released and are available to purchase through Ticketek.
With the first 20 rounds of the upcoming NRL season set in stone, Melbourne Storm fans can now lock in a number of blockbuster clashes into their calendars.
Season 2013 promises to be another exciting season with a number of big clashes scheduled. Blockbuster match ups against St. George Illawarra (Round 1), New Zealand (Round 7) plus a Grand Final re-match (Round 3) all come inside the first two months of the season.
Melbourne sports fans can enjoy an unbeatable, entertaining spectator experience at AAMI Park with Melbourne Storm as they strive to defend their NRL premiership title this season.
Storm’s home ground, AAMI Park offers an electric atmosphere and unprecedented proximity to the play and allows Melbournians an up close and personal experience whilst watching some of the world’s best players.
Last year offered a number of unforgettable experiences for the Storm faithful. Whether it was Billy Slater’s acrobatic try against three Rabbitohs defenders in Round 2, Justin O’Neill’s length of the field effort against the Broncos or Will Chambers’ last gasp winner to pip the Sharks, season 2012 proved to be a memorable one.
Round 1 kicks-off with the unveiling of the 2012 premiership trophy against St. George Illawarra on Sunday 10 March at the family friendly time of 3pm.
Union workers march down Swanston St this morning. Picture: Angus ThompsonSource: Herald Sun
A UNION has vowed to keep pressure on investigations into the Swanston St wall collapse, saying "we're not going to let them sweep this under the carpet".
More than 5000 construction workers started the rally at Trades Hall at 10am to protest against what they claim is lax safety standards by building giant Grocon.
A short time later, the workers from multiple trade unions walked to the scene of the wall collapse that killed three people on March 28.
The union members were silent as they passed the site of the tragedy.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) Victorian Secretary John Setka the "minute's silence" was a mark of respect for the young victims.
"If people see it as disrespectful then so be it," he said.
The workers held a minute's silence at the scene of the tragic Swanston St wall collapse. Picture: Fred Zhang
"If we were having a rally and we didn't go there and have a minute's silence we'd probably be accused of being insensitive."
Mr Setka claimed the Victorian Government is involved in a cover-up over the collapse of the Swanston St wall.
He said Premier Denis Napthine had failed to announce a hardline stance against Grocon, who were responsible for the site where the March tragedy happened.
"We're not going to let them sweep this under the carpet," he said to thousands of construction industry workers outside WorkSafe's Exhibition St headquarters.
He condemned WorkSafe for being quick to clean up the site soon after the accident.
"A wall comes down and their people come and start cleaning it up," he said.
"WorkSafe has a lot to answer for."
He also alleged crane workers were using their phones as torches on the Myer Emporium site following the death of crane driver Bill Ramsey, whose family members were at the rally.
His comments follow widespread condemnation of the rally, which Dr Napthine branded as a shameless political stunt.
Mr Setka said the union's only demand was to be allowed to choose its own safety representatives at Grocon work sites.
"We want Grocon to do what every other builder does and provide a safe working environment," Mr Setka told a press conference this morning.
The CFMEU has also released a list of reported safety incidents at Grocon sites, including the four highly-publicised deaths, a carpenter who served his finger and a worker who was in hospital after a demolition mishap.
CFMEU Victorian Secretary John Setka wants the union to be able to choose its own safety representatives at Grocon sites. Picture: Jon Hargest
But the Herald Sun can reveal the number of infringement notices Grocon has faced in the past five years is similar to those received by similar-sized firms.
Workplace figures show that out of 142 inspections, Grocon received nine improvement, prohibition or voluntary compliance notices. Most other big builders received between four and 10. However, one company, which has CFMEU safety representatives on sites, received 82 notices in that time.
Workcover Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips said the union's campaign against Grocon was misleading and Victoria had a good workplace safety record.
The rally finished at midday. Traffic was affected, and Yarra Trams had extra staff on hand to divert trams when needed.
Melbourne has edged Sydney in the posh nosh stakes with Attica coming in at No.21 in World's 50 Best Restaurants list.
Sydney's Quay, famous for Peter Gilmore's snow eggs, gets a nibble in at No.48.
According to the World's 50 Best Restaurants website Attica is chef "Ben Shewry's innovative but nature-led Melbourne masterpiece".
Shewry "often rises before dawn to forage on the shore near his family home" for ingredients for Attica, located in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea.
The 35-year-old New Zealander will "stop by local parks and even alleyways, as well as Attica's own gardens, to pick up more raw materials to prepare meticulously for the restaurant that day. His commitment pays off: the cuisine is both uniquely imaginative and outstandingly good," the website says.
It lists the food as "natural Antipodean" and the "potato, cooked in the earth in which it was grown" as Attica's standout dish.
Quay, which has featured on the list for the past five years, has dropped 19 spots from No.29 last year.
But with commanding views of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge to accompany the "nature-based Australian" cuisine, "Gilmore's infatuation with his region's produce results in thoughtful dishes that showcase New South Wales's ingredients in their prime".
Spain's El Celler de Can Roca has seized the title of the world's best restaurant from Denmark's Noma, the two Michelin-starred Danish restaurant that spent three years at the top.
The list, released on Monday, was compiled for a 12th year by more than 900 international experts for Britain's Restaurant magazine.
A university event where women and men were asked to sit separately raises more questions.
The fallout from an event at the University of Melbourne where women and men were asked to sit separately has been intense.
The media coverage so far has focused on the issue of segregated seating in a public space, with many using raw and emotive language to denounce the university and the Islamic community group involved.
It’s clear that the university should be considering its role as a public institution and pay closer attention to communicating its guidelines for venue hire. But the university should be reproached for another reason.
Seating and equality
Gender segregation is contested amongst Muslims worldwide. In Australia, a Muslim who walks into a gender segregated room instantly decodes the “culture” of that room. You can stay, you can leave, or you can argue. Freedom of choice exists. But if you want to join a club, you are obliged to play by club rules.
In the case of events at the Copeland Theatre on 13 April, no-one was forced to sit anywhere against their will. Seating was suggested with two signs, one pointing to an entrance for “brothers” and the other towards an entrance for “sisters”.
The event organiser, Hikmah Way’s preferred seating arrangements raise questions about gender differentiation in public settings and whether it is respectful and empowering, as they would argue, or backward and “humiliating” as others believe.
The university should have been aware that this group was likely to have specific guidelines for gender-mixed gatherings and provided clear directives on the matter. But alarm bells should have also rung for the University of Melbourne over the premise and content of this meeting.
Violent rhetoric
The promotional material for the event “Islamic rulings on Jihad in Syria” refers to Islamic scholars of great note. One is 13th Century scholar Ibn Taymiyyah who is credited with founding the Islamic political movement known as “Salafism”. Adherents to this movement seek a return to the Golden Age of “Al Salaf Al Saleh”, the first generation of Muslim leaders.
Ibn Taymiyyah’s teachings champion universal Islamic Sharia Law and urge any action that is Islamically possible against non-conformers to this vision. His fatwas explicitly promote violence to purge infidels – Christians, Shia sects, and Sunni Muslims who do not agree with Salafist objectives.
Salafists in Australia garner support for violent jihad in Syria by reference to the teachings of Ibn Taymiyyah, collecting donations for humanitarian aid for Mujahidin (Islamic rebel fighters) in Syria.
The Salafist modern era voices are Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi, an Egyptian now based in Qatar, and Sheikh Adnan Al Arour, a Syrian now based in Saudi Arabia. Both are outspoken in their call for violence in Syria.
Qaradawi pronounces that the death of one third of the Syrian population is a small price to pay for the downfall of the “infidel” government. Arour encourages killing not only people who actively oppose, but also those who do not support, the fight against the Syrian government. Last year he infamously pronounced that such “infidel” corpses should be minced and fed to the dogs.
The religious agenda of combatants in Syria is at odds with activists and the broader population who had hoped for a newly imagined democratic Syria achieved through peaceful means.
So when Hikmah Way’s promotion arrived in my inbox, it was not its content that surprised me. It was the venue.
Promotion of pursuit of an Islamic state ruled by Sharia Law at whatever cost – even through the slaughter of non-conforming humans – has no place at an Australian university.
The invitation sent earlier this month to the Hikmah Way event at University of Melbourne. Author
It is analogous to permitting a right-wing Christian group to promote a Crusade to Syria to “rescue” it from non-Christians. Or permitting a radical Christian group to promote ethnic cleansing of Israel to make way for the Messiah.
The role of the university
The event title alone should have alerted University of Melbourne venue hire. Ignorance of Islam and of politics in Syria is the real story here.
The University of Melbourne campus has been used as a cover of “legitimacy” for an Islamic political movement on the premise that universities aspire to be accessible to a full diversity of ideas. But the university shouldn’t be used in this way by these kinds of groups.
Ironically, prior to the rapid disintegration of Syria in the past 12 months in particular, Syrian schools and universities enrolled as many women as men, and all classes were mixed. But if the supporters of Hikmah Way and sectarian-based fighters in Syria get their way, gender segregation will be enforced.
Of course, we need discussion about gender segregation and whether it has any place in universities, even within external groups who use the facilities. But public commentators also need to look more closely at groups like Hikmah Way and what they’re espousing in our universities.
Shewry "often rises before dawn to forage on the shore near his family home" for ingredients for Attica, located in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea, it says.
The 35-year-old New Zealander will "stop by local parks and even alleyways, as well as Attica's own gardens, to pick up more raw materials to prepare meticulously for the restaurant that day. His commitment pays off: the cuisine is both uniquely imaginative and outstandingly good," the website says.
Attica's Native Fruits of Australia.
Photo: The Age
It lists the food as "natural Antipodean" and the "potato, cooked in the earth in which it was grown" as Attica's standout dish.
Quay, which has featured on the list for the past five years, has dropped 19 spots from No. 29 last year.
But with commanding views of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge to accompany the "nature-based Australian" cuisine, "Gilmore's infatuation with his region's produce results in thoughtful dishes that showcase New South Wales's ingredients in their prime".
Spain's El Celler de Can Roca has seized the title of the world's best restaurant from Denmark's Noma, the two Michelin-starred Danish restaurant that spent three years at the top.
The list, released on Monday, was compiled for a 12th year by more than 900 international experts for Britain's Restaurant magazine.
RESIDENTS across Melbourne are fed up with hoons keeping them up, wrecking their parks and making their streets unsafe.
A speeding vehicle broke a light pole and dragged it 50m through a Langwarrin street this month while in Carrum Downs, north of Frankston, residents are so sick of the racing, they have distributed dob-in-a-hoon letters to their neighbours.
>> Are you in a hooning hotspot? Tell us below.
In Oakleigh, the council is considering putting in speed bumps and allowing permit parking in the Princes Highway service lane, to discourage hoons from racing. Residents along the lane say hoons have used it for 25 years.
Back down south ... Beale may be included in the Rebels side to face the Chiefs.Source: News Limited
Wallabies star Kurtley Beale is back training with Melbourne Rebels, one month after his late-night dust-up with teammate Cooper Vuna.
Beale re-joined his Rebels teammates on Monday morning after spending the past few weeks in Sydney undergoing counselling for his off-field misdemeanour.
A decision on whether Beale lines up for the Rebels against the Chiefs on Friday night will be made later in the week.
Beale’s impending return will be a much-needed boost for the Rebels after they fell agonisingly short of a second straight victory over the Crusaders on Sunday.
The 36-Test veteran also needs to prove he’s ready to face the British and Irish Lions, with several of his playmaking rivals putting in strong performances over the weekend.
Open Mike sneak peak: Demons great David Schwarz discusses his highs and lows.
David Schwarz played 173 games with the Demons. Picture: Fiona HamiltonSource: Herald Sun
FORMER Melbourne great David Schwarz has slammed the AFL for being seduced by corporate bookmakers "grooming" children into gambling.
"I believe the AFL is drunk on the revenue they receive from gambling agencies and until that goes, we're in trouble," the 173-game Demons veteran and reformed gambling addict told Fox Footy's Open Mike host Mike Sheahan.
Schwarz, who played 173 games during an 11-year career marred by three knee reconstructions, also spoke about his $5m gambling debt born out of a $250,000 a week habit.
"My biggest issue at the moment is these corporate bookmakers are grooming kids into gambling. People will say, 'Well how is that happening?' When my (eight-year-old) boy comes up to me and says 'Richmond are favourites because they are $1.63,' we’ve got issues.
"He should know they're favourites because Jack Riewoldt is a bloody good full forward and Trent Cotchin's a great midfielder and they're up against Brisbane who have had their real battles travelling to Melbourne."
Northern Territory-based bookie Sportsbet, an official partner of the AFL, broadcasts live head-to-head and exotic bet type odds during Channel Seven's and Fox Sports' coverage of AFL games.
Corporate bookmakers have also infiltrated AFL clubs including St Kilda who wears Centrebet's branding on the back of its jumper.
Luxbet was the first online bookie to join an AFL club sponsoring Richmond in 2009.
The NRL last month reduced leviathan bookmaker Tom Waterhouse's role during live games after league bosses conceded he had blurred the lines between commentary and advertising.
The move went against a landmark multi-million dollar deal the bookmaker had signed to be a part of Channel Nine's commentary team for the 2013 rugby league season.
American rapper Kevin McCall got into a fight with an audience member after being booed at a Melbourne concert on Saturday night.
"Come up here! Come up here! I'll beat your ass in front of all these sexy ladies," the rapper, known as K-Mac, shouted to the crowd after being heckled.
A man climbed on stage and a brawl erupted. The incident was filmed on a mobile phone and later broadcast by Channel Seven.
McCall, 27, is said to be known as the "nice guy" of the urban music community. A one-time college footballer, he goes to church and sings with his grandmother.
He is signed to RCA records and Chris Brown Entertainment and had a number of Grammy-nominated collaborations with Brown in 2011. Brown, who severely assaulted his girlfriend and R&B star Rihanna in 2009, worked closely with McCall on albums In My Zone and Fan of a Fan.
McCall was due to play in the Supafest urban music festival in Melbourne on Saturday. The festival was postponed but McCall played in Melbourne anyway.
Watching Nathan Kaso's short film Miniature Melbourne immediately brings to mind what Orson Welles once said about moviemaking: ''This is the biggest electric train set a boy ever had.''
Kaso's film looks like it was made using Lego and miniatures, only it wasn't. That really is Melbourne on screen, and those tiny plastic model railway people, well, they're real, too.
The film was shot using a technique known as tilt-shift, the main characteristic of which is a blurring of the top and bottom of the frame that creates the impression of varied depth of field.
''It tricks the mind into thinking you've shot with miniatures because it's impossible to actually shoot landscape that way,'' Kaso says. ''You need to shoot from high up and with the right sort of perspective to make it look like you've shot with models.''
Traditionally tilt-shift is an in-camera effect, achieved using a dedicated lens; in Kaso's case it was achieved after the fact, using Photoshop.
''The whole film is stills,'' he says. ''You get a much sharper image that way and you can process it, push it a lot further in post-production, and not lose the quality.''
While Welles never finished his 1939 adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (the train set he referred to), Kaso worked on his delightful time-lapse portrait of Melbourne over 10 months. (He also squeezed in a trip to Sydney and a day-in-the-life of the harbour city in his filmToy Boats, released in November.) He spent six weekends editing it before posting it on video-sharing website Vimeo last Thursday.
It was a hobby project for the 28-year-old, who works as a designer and illustrator at a digital advertising agency and takes stunning landscape photographs in his spare time.
''One of the things I like about photography is it gets me away from the computer,'' Kaso says. ''I love the outdoors, being in nature.''
But Miniature Melbourne didn't take him away from it all so much as into the thick of it.
''My main location was the Skydeck at Eureka tower,'' he says. ''Also some car parks and bridges, just random spots with good public access. I'd walk around and see a car park, walk up to the roof and there you go.''
He was asked to leave only once, he says, by an overzealous caretaker.
''They put a message over the loudspeaker, pretending to be the police,'' he says.
One shot proved more difficult than most, and was only completed last week. It was the sunrise at the beginning of the film. The problem, he explains, was that he couldn't find a suitable shooting location that was open to him at that time of day.
''I called a few hotels and asked them if I could have access, but they all said no. So I shot a sunset and played it backwards.''
Kaso makes no claims for having invented a unique filmic form. (Sydney's Keith Loutit, for example, has done similar movie work, while Melbourne photographer Ben Thomas uses tilt-shift to shrink cityscapes in his Cityshrinker stills.)
''It's been around for a while,'' he says. ''I've just tried to bring my own style to it.''
