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The Belconnen e-Mag - the online voice of Belconnen

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Mortgage and rent payments outstrip income gains in Belconnen

The 2006 Census has revealed that the median* monthly mortgage payments in Belconnen have increased by an average of 9.2 per cent a year from 2001, the year of the last census. The median rental per week has also increased by 7.4 per cent per year over the same period.

However, median incomes have only increased by 4.3 per cent per year over that period. Therefore mortgage repayments have outgrown income by 4.9 per cent each year from 2001 to 2006. Rents have outgrown income by 3.1 per cent.

Housing affordability - is there something they're not telling you read on

Other news from the Census

The median age has increased to 34.0 years from 31,8 years, and in 2006 9.3 per cent of the population was 65 and over compared to 7.4 per cent in 2001.

The population increased by 2.6 per cent (0.5 per cent per year) to 84,382.

Catholics are the most numerous religious group but over 23 per cent claimed to have no religion at all. To see data Discover Belconnen

*What is a median? It divides a data set in two, as the median strip divides a road. One half the values are below it and one half above.

Like dogs? Want make a practical contribution to the welfare of hundreds of dogs in the ACT? More click here

A second chance for dogs by Domestic animal service

Building underway on Belconnen Community Arts Centre

Good news for Belconnen. Construction work has commenced on the centre.

Architects Williams Ross of Melbourne have been engaged to design the Centre. They have designed many regional arts centres in Victoria and have designed buildings at Canberra Girls Grammar and the ANU.

Stage 1 should be opened in May or June 2009. Stage One will include the following:

• Visual arts gallery
• Outdoor sculpture gallery
• Dance studio/rehearsal room and change rooms
• Wet/dry creative workshops
• Large foyer
• Community meeting room
• Arts Lounge
• Studio/office areas for artists and arts organisations
• Café/kiosk
• Reception and administrative area

Stage 1 will consist of a Gallery, Dance Theatre, Wet and dry studios, studio spaces, a multi media studio, gathering space, an outdoor exhibition area and a cafe/kiosk. More details can be found at http://www.arts.act.gov.au/pages/page128.asp

The development of the Centre will be overseen by an advisory group, the members are:

• Roberta McRea (Belconnen Community Servoce)
• Stephen Bounds (Belconnen Community Council)
• Jan Wawrzynczak (Belconnen Community Servoce)
• Anita McIntyre (Stathnairn Arts Association)
• Francesca Rendle Short (University of Canberra)
• Wendy Morrow (Ausdance ACT)
• Noonee Doranila (ACT Cultural Council)
• Evol McLeod (Director Tuggeranong Arts Centre)

Stage 2 will come later and will include a theatre.

A community Arts Centre has operated successfully in Tuggeranong for some time. The director of that centre, Evol McLeod, said that lessons learnt from Tuggeranong would be applied in a way that would make the Belconnen centre even more effective.

The Tuggeranong Arts Centre on Lake Tuggeranong.

Washing line - a hot new e-Poem by Maria Josey (click on image to access)

TravelSmart

The TravelSmart - Belconnen project is a large-scale Voluntary Travel Behaviour Change Project intended to encourage the use of healthier, more sustainable transport modes. read more....

Belconnen Community Service Newsletter

Keep up to date with Belconnen read the BCS Newsletter by Clicking here This link will require Adobe Reader, if you don't have it you can obtain it free from Adobe www.adobe.com Also it's a big document so if you have a slow connection you'd better make a cup of tea or coffee to drink while you wait!

Latin Dance the new sensation - black is the new black

Latin rhythms have always evoked notions of exotica and fun. 1930's band leader Xavier Cugat put Latin sound into the popular idiom, the sixties saw the Bossa nova come and go and in the nineties it was the Lambada. In the new century Latin dance is more popular than ever. Read more.

Hazel's budget travel in RSA, Zimbabwe, Central Queensland, Round the World, Kimberley and the CCE's Tuscany and Sicily study trip is now included by Hazel (just click on the Italy 2005 option)

Belconnen roo cull opposed by large majority

Our poll on Kangaroo culling at Belconnen naval transmitting station attracted a large number of respodents. Most of whom opposed it.

Question 1: Should Kangaroo numbers at the Belconnen Naval Radio Station be controlled by culling using lethal injections?

81.4 per cent said no and 16.3 per cent said yes (there was one don't know).

Question 2: Do you believe that the proposed Kangaroo cull will lessen the force of the Australian Governments opposition to Japanese whale killing in Antarctic waters?

76.7 per cent said yes and 21.0 per cent no (there was one don't know).

Comments

If the RSPCA is supporting the cull then how can i or most of the general community pretend to have an informed view of the situation.

I think it's really disgusting that the Defence force is too lazy to relocate these kangaroo's (mothers, fathers and joeys). THey'd prefer to kill them rather than move them. It's a real disgrace, esp. when the real reason they want the land is because they have plans to put developments on it. The public/media are constantly sold lies. ACT Govt. should hang their heads in shame. We are the only state/territory that puts down joeys. How awful!!

this issue has gone on for to long, a cull is not the option in this case.

If they must be moved then translocate out of area

You'd think a 'civilized' nation would not even entertain the thought of murder to control a situation, let alone with our national icon.. a 'protected' species no less! If humans are to constantly take the high ground of intelligence, prove that we're worthy! Choose the humane alternatives, a tag and release method. To see these lives slaughtered would be a blight on Australian consciousness, and lead to nothing but comtempt in the eyes of the world, for the Australians who allowed this masacre to happen.

I don't believe any sort of culling should take place at all.

Please don't kill the roos. Please relocate them instead, thank you.

The 'experts' report has been completely discreditted and the Stanhope government is lying to the people of the ACT. An article in the "Canberra Times" on Tuesday, 18 March said that the site is comtaminated and remedial action will need to be taken before the site can be developed for public housing.

The decision to massacre Belconnen kangaroos has no conservation value at
all. It is also undermining any of the twenty first century solutions. While
scientific discoveries enable cosmic journeys and microscopic DNA research,
ACT Government in order to sort out ''perceived'' problem is turning to guns
and violence - solutions from the dark ages.

This decision also highlights the biggest tragedy of humanity, a tragedy so
fundamental that all others stem from it - the failure to recognise that
humanity's true moral test is embedded in its attitude towards those who are
totally at its mercy - animals. The ACT Government have failed the test
abysmally.

The first question ignores this option:
The kangaroos should NOT be culled.
The Japanese will have "ammunition"
if we kill the Belconnen Kangaroos.
The reasons supposedly to remove the
kangaroos are to protect rare skinks
dragons and moths. What will housing
development do to these?

moths but these will be trampled even more
when the roos are gone due to housing
development.

There are other alternatives than to kill these beautifull animals it is called Relocating.

These kangaroos have a right to be relocated - NOT CULLED. WE have to manage our valuable wildlife better than we are currently and resources would be better spent on RESEARCH !!!

I strongly oppose the killing of our kangaroo and the great whale

NSW rural areas have enough problems...drought, salinity, erosion they don't need ACT kangaroos eating what little feed they have for their stock and causing worse erosion !!

The excessive kangaroo numbers are causing the destruction of natural grassland which is the habitat of a number of highly endangered species.

When there is an alternative to investigate, the killing option should not be taken just because it is expedient.

I support the concept of creating a wildlife preserve on the site

This isn't a cull, but it is killing healthy beauty animals because we are selfish and think they are in our way. It has already been proven that they are not starving and could be quite easily moved to another area!

Kangaroos should be moved. Australia should stop seeing its native animals as pests. The treatment or should I say mistreatment of a species ( the thylacyne) has in the past led to its dissappearance.The whole world is looking at Australia in horror. The treatment of these unique animals causes me great distress. Please do all you can to stop the cull. I will sign a petition to stop cull.

Note: As this is not a scientifically conducted poll the results cannot be taken seriously

The poll for this month concerns Petroleum prices to access poll click here

Don't forget you can suggest poll topics contact the Webmaster

ACT economic growth boomed in 2007 for details click here

e-Poems by Anonymous

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