Economist.com Cities Guide: Sydney Briefing - May 2005

News this month

Schapelle’s trials

Schapelle Corby, a 27-year-old Australian, was found guilty of smuggling marijuana into Bali and sentenced to 20 years in prison on May 27th. The case has provoked strong emotions in Australia, where the court’s verdict was broadcast live on television. Newspaper polls indicate 90% of Australians believe Miss Corby is innocent. Some have called for a boycott of Bali, a popular tourist destination.

Miss Corby, a trainee beautician from Queensland, was arrested at Bali's Denpasar airport in October 2004 after four kilograms of marijuana were found in her surfing bag. She had flown with friends to Bali from Brisbane, making a transit stop in Sydney. Miss Corby denied the marijuana was hers. During her trial, allegations emerged that some airport baggage-handlers in Sydney were involved in a drug-smuggling racket. Australia’s federal government has offered to supply two senior barristers to aid Miss Corby’s appeal.

Facing the future?

Australia's buoyant economy was a factor in John Howard's fourth successive election victory last October. On that rising tide, Peter Costello, the treasurer, delivered his tenth federal budget on May 10th. It featured larger-than-expected income-tax cuts worth almost A$22 billion ($17 billion). They come on top of A$15 billion in cuts last year and A$60 billion in spending promises during the election campaign. Mr Costello still managed to project a fiscal surplus of A$7.4 billion in a budget he dubbed “framed for the future”.

Exactly whose future Mr Costello was referring to has provoked much speculation. Some speculate that this will be his last budget before taking over leadership of the Liberal Party, and the prime ministership, from Mr Howard. But Mr Howard may have other plans. A fortnight before the budget, he told journalists he “was not going anywhere”. The 48-year-old Mr Costello has displayed mounting frustration at the reluctance of Mr Howard, who turns 66 in July, to prepare for what Mr Costello has called an “orderly transition”. Relations between the two men are expected to continue festering.

Out of the shadows

Australia will soon have a new ambassador in Washington, DC. Dennis Richardson, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the country’s domestic spy agency, will fill the position. The appointment of a spymaster to Australia's most important diplomatic post is unprecedented. But Mr Richardson has broken moulds in his nine years at ASIO. He has overseen a big expansion of the agency's manpower and budget to focus more on counter-terrorism. And he has transformed ASIO's secretive image, often briefing journalists (including your correspondent) and appearing before parliamentary committees. His remark in 2003—that Australia's involvement in the Iraq war had made it a more likely terrorist target—upset John Howard's government. But his plain-speaking style has been welcomed by all political sides.

Sent packing

Turmoil has broken out at Channel Nine, Australia’s leading commercial television network. On May 9th David Gyngell, its chief executive, resigned abruptly. The Sydney-based network, owned by Kerry Packer, Australia’s richest man, has been fighting a ratings war with Channel Seven, its main rival. In his resignation statement, Mr Gyngell said his position had been “rendered untenable” by “unhelpful and multi-layered management systems”—widely interpreted as interference from the top.

Mr Gyngell is highly regarded in media circles. But his close connections to the Packer family—his father was also a Channel Nine executive, he is Kerry Packer’s godson and was best man at the 1999 wedding of James Packer, Mr Packer’s son and heir—appear to have come to nothing. It is unusual for top executives in the Packer empire to depart on their own terms. David Leckie, one of Mr Gyngell’s recent predecessors, now runs Channel Seven after himself being pushed out of Channel Nine.

Free at last

May was a bad month for Australia's immigration department. On May 23rd, Virginia Leong, a Malaysian, and her three-year-old daughter Naomi were freed from Villawood immigration detention centre in Sydney. Ms Leong was detained in 2001 when she tried to leave Australia on a false passport. She had not seen her seven-year-old son since being detained, and her daughter was born at the centre. Their treatment attracted widespread media attention and condemnation from human-rights groups. The Leongs walked free after immigration officials presented them with “bridging visas”, allowing them to stay in Australia.

The department has also been under siege for mistaking citizens for illegal immigrants. May brought revelations that it wrongly deported an Australian woman, Vivian Alvarez, to the Philippines four years ago, and that it had detained another Australian, Cornelia Rau, for ten months. Ms Rau plans to sue the government for compensation. The federal government has ordered an inquiry into the bungled cases.

Kylie's troubles

Kylie Minogue, a 37-year-old pop singer, has called off her 20-concert tour of Australia after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent emergency surgery to remove a tumour on May 20th, which doctors pronounced a success. The news sparked an outpouring of sympathy, with one Melbourne newspaper devoting nine pages to the pint-sized chanteuse. Since getting her break in “Neighbours”, a 1980s soap opera, Miss Minogue has won international fame as a singer of catchy pop tunes. An exhibition of photographs and videos from her career recently broke attendance records in her home city of Melbourne, and is now on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Catch if you can

June 2005

52nd Sydney Film Festival

June 10th-25th 2005

The main event of winter in Sydney is the annual film festival, which seems to grow in stature with every year. This year’s programme opens with the Australian premiere of “My Summer of Love” (pictured), a British film written and directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, and closes with “Howl’s Moving Castle”, by Hayo Miyazaki, a Japanese animator. In between, more than 170 features, shorts and documentaries from 39 countries will be screened at five venues across the city (the State Theatre is the main hub).

Only the most dedicated cinéastes could sit through the festival from start to finish—more selective viewers can avail themselves of flexi-passes of ten, 20 or 30 tickets. Day passes are also available.

Bookings: Ticketek, tel: +61 (02) 132 849 (website). For a full programme, visit the festival website.

More from the Sydney cultural calendar