Brisbane City Council invites you to a strategy workshop for the Hemmant Lytton Neighbourhood Plan. The Hemmant-Lytton precinct is a key economic and employment growth area for our city that is expected to become one of Brisbane’s leading industrial hubs.

We need your help to find the right balance between fostering economic growth while recognising the value of the natural environment and the existing residential community.

Strategy workshop

At the workshop, Council officers will present some background information and research on the Hemmant-Lytton area. Participants will work in small groups to explore development options and ideas.

Event details
Date: Thursday 13 February 2014
Time: 4.30-7pm
Where: Wynnum Golf Club, 64 Stradbroke Avenue, Wynnum Qld 4178
RSVP: Friday 7 February 2014. Please phone or email Council on the details below.

More information
If you would like further information on the Hemmant Lytton Neighbourhood Plan:
– visit www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/neighbourhoodplanning
– phone Council on 07 3403 8888
– email neighbourhood_planning@brisbane.qld.gov.au

The program seeks to provide young Queenslanders with the opportunity to have their voices heard, debate key issues and propose new legislation.

Numerous YMCA Queensland Youth Parliament bills have influenced legislation and provide an insight into the issues that our state’s next generation of leaders prioritise.

Individuals aged 15-25 years can be part of the YMCA Queensland youth Parliament by visiting www.ymcaqyp.org or contacting their local member of parliament.

The Scope Australia Day Award.        

The Scope Club of Wynnum Inc is calling for Nominations for

 The Club’s Australia Day Award.

We are seeking for someone over the age of 18.

Who is community minded, helpful, a volunteer who excels above their normal duties?

Who never expects recognition for their efforts!

Now is the time to thank them.

        Nominations to include a brief history & details of

 Community activities of the nominee.

Please forward to Margaret Davey – 9 Sue Street Manly West   Q  4179 
Ph:  3901 1448

Or
Email Margaret on margaretrene@me.com

Sung Kyo Kim’s
‘EAST MEETS WEST : Chinese characters meet pop-art’

‘EAST MEETS WEST: Chinese characters meet pop-art’
is a new exhibition by Korean-Australian artist Sung Kyo Kim who astutely bridges Asian and Western cultures. His richly coloured and textured paintings combine the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy with bright, pop-art imagery in innovative ways. Sung explains:

‘Nowadays, the Chinese language is very important as well as English and I hope that Australian viewers – including Chinese, Japanese and Koreans – will be inspired by my paintings, particularly the next generation. I want my art to be for Asian and Western people alike.

BIO
Sung, who lives and works in Brisbane, was born in the Republic of Korea and moved to Australia in 1988. For 25 years he worked as a draftsman and structural designer, mostly for mining design companies in Queensland. More recently, after gaining a BA in Fine Art from Curtin University, Sung has re-focused full-time on his art practice. His newest works, titled Prosperous Business, are inspired by his long links to the mining industry and express a wish for its prosperity.

HERITAGE OF CALLIGRAPHY
Sung’s main influences include his heritage of calligraphy from an early age, through primary school and into later life, combined with an interest in bright colour that grew more recently and in various ways. His artistic talents, however, stretch back to his ancestors,something he recognised early on, beginning at primary school. Twenty years ago he learnt hyukpilhwa from a Korean master-artist, and 40 years of design and drafting are reflected in his artworks.

‘My painting’, Sung says, ‘is based on Korean folk art including beautiful Chinese characters that are reinterpreted with a pop-art style’.

His art links to hyukpil, a genre of Korean folk painting called minhwa, dating back to the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220AD). Chinese characters are essentially ideograms of stories, and hyukpil transforms parts of the character to incorporate symbols which correspond to the character’s meaning. For example: a crane symbolises longevity; a carp, success; a butterfly, joy; and a peony, wealth..

SYMBOLIC MEANING
The main point of Sung’s paintings in ‘EAST MEETS WEST’ are the meanings of the characters he uses. In one painting, for example,he incorporates a symbol that means ‘good luck’. The painting therefor ‘expresses the wish for good luck to an owner who is happy to hang it on the wall’, he says. ‘I always feel happy with flowers, butterflies and fishes, especially when I look at my paintings in the early morning. Most East Asian people get the same feeling and I want to share this.’Sung’s paintings, Good Luck; Love; Peace in the Family; Longevity, Good Health and Wellbeing, are examples of this style.


  

Regional Development Australia (RDA) Brisbane is hosting their second CLICK! Digital Expo on 13-14 March 2014 at Brisbane City Hall, aimed at small businesses and not-for-profit organisations from Brisbane and the broader SEQ region, looking to capitalise on the snowballing power and potential of the digital economy. This event builds on the outstanding success of their November 2012 expo which was the first such event of its kind in the region attended by over 600 people, who attended free of charge and participated in seminars, workshops and the many exhibits on offer from leading technological and digital providers.  Further details are at www.CLICKdigitalexpo.com.au  

Ross Vasta welcomes the decision by the Australian Taxation Office to withdraw its draft ruling about the way GST is applied to moveable home sites.

The decision means there will be no change to the longstanding GST treatment of rented mobile homes.

Submissions about the draft ruling convinced the ATO that mobile home estates and caravan parks are similar enough to receive the same GST treatment – both involve letting sites separately to the home and the use of shared facilities.

“This is a sensible decision by the Tax Office to stick with its interpretation of the Howard Government’s GST legislation that puts residents of mobile home estates on the same footing as those in caravan parks,” said Ross Vasta.

Residents of mobile homes and caravan parks, like most Australians on modest incomes, are struggling with cost of living pressures.

Ross Vasta said “I’m pleased the Tax Office has given these residents an early Christmas present by announcing they won’t go ahead with a change in their interpretation of this GST law. The decision removes months of uncertainty that would have been hanging over the heads of my constituents.”

It is now over to Bill Shorten to get Labor out of the way and support the Abbott Government’s repeal of the carbon tax.

“Repealing the carbon tax will save hundreds of dollars on Australians’ electricity bills, so Labor should make a new year’s resolution to respect the outcome of the election and come back to Parliament in 2014 and support the Government’s decision to abolish the tax,” said Ross Vasta