The magic of cinema is set to return to the city centre with the Civic Theatre installing a 7.5-metre-wide movie screen in the iconic main auditorium.
Under two years since the closure of the Tower Cinemas on King Street, the return of films will re-activate the CBD, which has experienced major disruption due to COVID-19.
The new 7.5 metre x 4.4 metre screen combined with the Civic Theatre’s state of the art sound system and individually air-conditioned seats, will provide a cinematic experience like no other in the region.
Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said cinema and theatre have a long history in Newcastle’s CBD and City of Newcastle is pleased to offer both live performance and recent release cinema for the enjoyment of the community.
“After a period where COVID-19 has had such a devastating impact, it’s wonderful that through adding regular film screenings to our Civic Theatre program, we can take this positive step in our city’s journey towards recovery, and provide a boost to surrounding local businesses by attracting more people into the Civic precinct.”
The Civic Theatre opened in 1929, and although designed as a live theatre, it was leased as a cinema for the next 45 years.
Civic Theatre Manager Leonie Wallace said locals are thrilled to experience something contemporary but screened in a venue with such historical links.
“We trialled bringing film back to the Civic Theatre in January with a season screening of a selection of the most acclaimed productions from London’s National Theatre at the Civic Playhouse. It was so popular that film screenings in the Civic Theatre was the next obvious step,” Ms Wallace said.
“Our new program features a variety of films that appeal to people of all ages and tastes, such as recent release features, documentaries, theatre productions and children’s films during the school holidays.
“We’re also working on securing shows to return to the Civic Theatre stage with the venue’s audience capacity lifted to 500 people from next month, the maximum number allowed under the current Public Health Order.
“We have made changes to how the Civic Theatre operates to enable people to experience cinema and live performance safely with physical distancing requirements and hygiene measures met under our COVID Safe plan.”
The Civic Cinema initiative is part of the Civic’s Beyond the Stage program of cultural offerings outside of the traditional uses of the Civic Theatre and City Hall. So far, this has included the Civic Bar Beats – Friday evenings of live local music in our Theatre Bar, and lunchtime concerts at City Hall.
Tickets for Civic Cinema are now on sale through the Civic Theatre website.
MORE THAN 100,000 PEOPLE TO BE PROVIDED TRAINING FOR JOBS OF THE FUTURE
More than 100,000 people across NSW will have the opportunity to reskill for the jobs of the future thanks to the NSW Government’s Skilling for Recovery initiative.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the NSW Government had committed almost $160 million to match the Federal Government’s JobTrainer funding, which would be a key component to the State’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan.
“COVID-19 has presented an unprecedented challenge to our State, and Skilling for Recovery complements our current skills and training strategy,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“It’s crucial we look to reskill, retrain and redeploy the workforce to industries where there are skills shortages and emerging employment opportunities. We are committed to ensuring the NSW workforce is the most highly skilled in the country.”
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said getting people back to work was pivotal to the state’s economic recovery.
“Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in this pandemic and we need to get people off the Centrelink queues as quickly as possible,” Mr Perrottet said.
“The innovative thinking we’ve seen during lock-down will help drive our economy back to prosperity, supported by almost $16 billion in economic and health measures which focus on getting people into jobs and keeping businesses in business.”
Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Geoff Lee said this investment would help job seekers retrain or up-skill to enhance their credentials and support school leavers to enter the workforce for the first time.
“We have to skill the workforce to take advantage of future job opportunities which may be very different to jobs in the pre-COVID economy,” Mr Lee said.
“Education and skills are key pillars to the NSW Government’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan, so it is a critical step to commit to these additional training places. I expect industries such as health, manufacturing and construction to be key training areas.”
Skilling for Recovery includes:
- Infrastructure-specific training to support the record spending on projects such as the Aerotropolis, hospital redevelopments and regional road upgrades
- Full-qualifications to retrain and become qualified
- Short course micro-credentials to upskill
- Support for apprentices and trainees
- A new online Skills and Employment Hub
- Regional employment brokers to connect industry and trainers with job seekers;
- Tailored support to re-engage young people in regional areas back into school, training or employment.
Training is expected to commence in the coming months.
Missing woman found – Lake Macquarie
Police have located a woman missing from the Lake Macquarie area.
The 28-year-old woman was last seen driving a vehicle in the Caves Beach area about 9.30pm on Monday (14 September 2020).
Officers from Lake Macquarie Police District were notified when she later failed to return home.
Following inquiries and a public appeal, the woman was located safe and well at her Caves Beach home just before 5am this morning (Wednesday 16 September 2020).
Police would like to that the media and the community for their assistance.
Officer charged – Northern Region
A police officer has been charged over an alleged domestic-related incident earlier this year.
Following an investigation, the 48-year-old woman, a senior constable attached to a command in the Northern Region, was arrested at Belmont Police Station about 11.30am yesterday (Tuesday 15 September 2020).
She was charged with wound person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and reckless wounding (DV).
The charges relate to an alleged domestic-related incident involving a 45-year-old man at a Newcastle home on Monday 27 July 2020.
She was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Newcastle Local Court on Thursday 24 September 2020.
The officer is currently on long term leave.
Woman charged following alleged aggravated robbery – Cessnock
A woman will reappear in court today charged after information was uncovered during an investigation into ram raids in the Hunter Region earlier this year.
Strike Force Emirs was established by the State Crime Command’s Robbery and Serious Crime Squad to investigate ram raids on two petrol stations in the Lake Macquarie area in March this year.
In the early hours of Tuesday 3 March 2020, cars were used to force entry into petrol stations in Wyee and Fennell Bay, where cash and cigarettes were stolen.
Attempts were also made to remove an ATM, but they were unsuccessful.
Last month following inquiries, strike force detectives arrested and charged three men – aged 18, 23 and 25 – who remain before the courts.
After uncovering information during the investigation, police arrested a 20-year-old woman at Cessnock Police Station about 10.15am on Wednesday 8 July 2020.
She was charged with steal motor vehicle, aggravated robbery, drive motor vehicle during disqualification period and destroy property in company use fire etc.
Police will allege the woman drove a stolen Audi Q5 following a robbery at a Cessnock home, where an 83-year-old man was assaulted. The Audi was later found destroyed by fire at Bellbird Heights.
The woman appeared at Cessnock Local Court the same day, where she was granted strict conditional bail to reappear at the same court today (Wednesday 16 September 2020).
Investigations under Strike Force Emirs are continuing.
Appeal to locate missing woman – Lake Macquarie
Police are appealing for public assistance to find a woman missing from the Lake Macquarie area.
Jasmine Towers Hammond, aged 28, was last seen driving in a red Jeep Wrangler with NSW registration JJ5AS in the Caves Beach area about 9.30pm yesterday (Monday 14 September 2020).
Officers from Lake Macquarie Police District were notified when she failed to return home.
Police and family have concerns for her welfare.
Jasmine is described as being of Caucasian appearance, of medium build, about 160cm tall, with long blonde hair and has a tattoo on her left bicep and one her inner left forearm. She was last seen wearing a red blouse and blank pants.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Police issue two $1000 PINs after ADF member breaches hotel quarantine restrictions
Two Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs) have been issued after a serving member of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) entertained a guest while undertaking mandatory quarantine in a Sydney hotel overnight.
ADF officers were conducting security at the hotel on Hickson Road, Sydney, about 12.45am (Tuesday 15 September 2020), when they heard a female voice in the room of a man, who is a serving member of the ADF undertaking mandatory hotel quarantine after recently returning from overseas deployment.
After the ADF officers conducted inquiries, the woman was escorted from the hotel’s quarantine area and police were contacted.
Officers from Sydney City Police Area Command attended the hotel, which is managed by the ADF, before speaking with the pair.
Following extensive inquiries, the 26-year-old man and 53-year-old woman, who was a guest staying at the hotel, were each issued $1000 PINs for fail to comply with noticed direction in relation to Section 7/8/9 – COVID19.
The woman was directed to check-out immediately and attend a COVID testing facility before self-isolating at her Hornsby home.
The man remains in hotel quarantine and the ADF are conducting further investigations.
Greens call for ABC and SBS to be included in News Media Code
The Greens have today said the Morrison Government’s Media Code plan is incomplete, calling on the government to include the public broadcasters in the Mandatory Code, ensure the survival of the AAP newswire and protect smaller players.
Australian Greens Spokesperson for Communications and Media Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has said any Code must protect public broadcasting and public interest journalism.
“The ABC is Australia’s most trusted news source and should be included in any reform to tackle the greed of the big tech giants. It was a deliberate decision to lock the public broadcasters out of the draft code, allowing Facebook and Google to profit from their content for free – the Government should reverse this and drop their relentless attack on the ABC.
“The power and greed of the tech giants is threatening journalism and public access to news. The government’s mandatory ACCC code could be part of the solution but the draft needs fixing and additional measures brought to the table.
“Australia’s media landscape is facing unprecedented challenges. Public interest journalism, reliable local news and trustworthy and informed analysis is essential for a robust and accountable democracy. The power imbalance between the big tech giants and Australian news organisations is unsustainable.
“It is therefore important that key parts of Australia’s media landscape are protected as part of this process. There is no reason for the ABC and SBS to be excluded from the Code. Public broadcasters deserve a fair return for what they produce and what the tech platforms benefit from.
“At the same time it is important that Australia’s fact based independent newswire service is supported. It would be unconscionable for the Government not to find a way of supporting AAP while introducing a code that supports other media players. AAP is key media infrastructure that helps new players into the market and diversity across Australia’s media landscape.
“The ACCC’s draft Mandatory Code must guarantee simple and cost effective benefits for small and independent media players, through effective collective bargaining arrangements.
“If the aim of this code is to ensure the viability of Australia’s media, then the Government should ensure ABC is included, that AAP doesn’t fail and that small and independent publishers don’t miss out.
“Public interest journalism is under threat in Australia, whether it be from funding cuts to the ABC, loss of advertising revenue for commercial outlets or the threat of heavy-handed police action that we have seen lately. The Greens’ changes would see the mandatory code go some way to protecting public interest journalism in Australia.
“The Greens reserve our final position on the Mandatory Code until we have seen the legislation.”
Don’t dump on SA: major flaws in bill for proposed nuclear waste dump
The Greens strongly oppose the bill to establish a nuclear waste dump at Kimba.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens Senator for South Australia said:
“The Senate Inquiry showed that this is a highly flawed bill. There are deep concerns that this bill blatantly seeks to prevent any right to judicial review of this process and sets in stone Kimba as the dump site against strong community opposition.”
“The Morrison Government has no mandate from the people of South Australia to dump nuclear waste in our backyard. The decision to set up a nuclear waste dump in SA will affect our state for generations to come. All South Australians should have the right to have their say on this important issue.”
“The Morrison Government has bungled this process from the beginning. They have mismanaged site selection, failed to secure the consent of the Traditional Owners, the Barngala people, and failed to consult the broader South Australian community.”
“The Government needs to halt this process and establish an independent inquiry into all waste management options.”
”The Greens will fight this is Canberra, and work hard in Parliament to stop our state being the Morrison Government’s dumping ground.”
Mark Parnell MLC said:
“Nuclear waste dumps are illegal in South Australia under State law. We already know that the Traditional Owners of the land are opposed to the dump. They were even denied the right to vote in the community ballot. Also, other affected communities through which nuclear waste will be transported, weren’t even consulted.
If the Federal Government pushes ahead with this divisive project, it will also trigger a State Parliamentary inquiry, where all those South Australian communities ignored so far, will be able to express their concerns.”
Labor split on nuclear waste dump
The Greens are calling on the Labor Leader in the Senate, Penny Wong to declare where her party stands on the proposed Nuclear Waste Dump in SA, after a clear division within the Labor Party was revealed in a Senate Inquiry Report released late yesterday.
NSW Labor Senator Jenny McAllister delivered a dissenting report, independent of her Labor colleagues including SA Senator Alex Gallacher who supports the majority report that SA should be a dumping ground for nuclear waste.
Greens Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“Penny Wong needs to come out today and tell South Australians where the Labor Party stands.
“Does it stand with Senator McAllister who has stated the process for selecting a site has been flawed and no meaningful community consent obtained? Or does it stand with SA Senator Alex Gallacher and the Liberal Party who want to dump on SA?
“The decision to set up a nuclear waste dump in SA will affect our state for generations to come. All South Australians should have the right to have their say on this important issue and they should know very clearly where the ‘opposition party’ stands both at a federal and state level.”