Aspiring Labor politician Deepak-Raj Gupta with his national award, right, with NSW Liberal Premier Mike Baird.
He says he was gonged as recognition of his work in “promoting multicultural harmony, acceptance, mutual respect and understanding among the ACT’s diverse communities”.
“Winning the award will inspire me to work even harder for the multicultural communities in Canberra, including the sub-continental and wider ACT community,” Deepak-Raj vows. So will getting elected, CC muses.
Masters of the meeja
FORMER breakfast radio star and one-time Canberra Living Treasure Scott Masters has wasted no time getting back into the media saddle after his recent, untidy demise at FM104.7. Unphased by redundancy, he has launched Scott Masters Media, offering 24 years of media experience to help businesses grow their brands through commercial production, creative writing, voiceovers and, intriguingly, social media management. Intriguingly because at the time of writing, the betrothed one had but 18 followers on his own twitter account. Early days.
Show and tell with Nichole
LOCAL historian Nicole Overall opened the 120th Queanbeyan Show last weekend. Humbled by her knowledge of local history, she says the show has been opened by prestigious names that include first member for the seat of Eden-Monaro Sir Austin Chapman, the Lord Mayor of Sydney Patrick Stokes and even Prime Minister Joseph Lyons was in attendance in 1935. The show started in 1873, but paused over both the World Wars.
Wisely, in her ribbon-cutting moment she didn’t mention the story of the unfortunate son of the original owner of Jerrabomberra who got “squished” when a horse fell on his head at the show in 1877.
Losing his head
LOOKS like the ACT Australian of the Year candidate for the big title in January, equity advocate and former chief of army David Morrison, got the title by half a head, if the clumsy cropping on the Australia Day website is any guide. Lovely suit, though.
Time for tea?
A VISITOR to the penultimate Floriade in Commonwealth Park, Malcolm Beazley, reports longing for a Devonshire Tea.
He writes: “On our second attempt at one of the pop-up cafes, the young lady behind the counter apologised profusely and informed us that all they had was English Breakfast!”
Look, it looks the same
“FIRST look inside Canberra IKEA store,” panted “The Canberra Times” with a parade of pictures that, unsurprisingly, confirmed that the first look looked like how all Ikea furniture stores look.
But public service reporter Phillip Thomson manfully pressed on with the puffery, predicting 15,000 will be gumming up Majura Park on opening day, November 16.
Reassuringly, Thomson reports that IKEA’s building in Canberra was made to withstand local conditions with thicker, insulated walls and the light streaming through the many windows apparently helps make it the most sustainable IKEA building in Australia. No, really.
Store manager Mark Mitchinson told us he’d spent 18 months preparing for opening day but recent months had been even more intense.
“It becomes very real now,” he said. “We turned on the ice-cream machine the other day.”
Gai’s Small gesture
FEDERAL Member for Canberra Gai Brodtmann is dressing “small” in Parliament this week as part of her contribution to the Shop Small campaign.
“I’ll once again be wearing items I’ve bought from local fashion designers every day in Parliament, showing off the breadth of talent we have here in Canberra,” she says.
“As a former small-business owner, I know the importance of shopping local to support jobs, innovation and creativity in our community. And it reduces your carbon footprint.
“I’m calling on Canberrans to send a strong message of support to our local businesses this month.”
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