Sydney jibe hits raw nerve with Stanhope

It’s nothing personal mate – A gentleman will read a broadsheet and the tabloids are for the great unwashed.

Thumper

The MCG will be cooler on 26 December 2006 at about 10:30 in the morning… I can’t wait…

Sorry Big Al – I was quoting from caf’s post on Sonic’s view of Nova with “educated and skilled” but its good to know that you are as patronising as Sonic in relation to the Tele readers.

Well i dare say that Gough did get some funding from the BLF (or what ever it was back then)

SLBrown: By “To quote one national capital builder…” I had mistakently assumed that the rest of that paragraph was a quote from someone you knew in the construction industry.

Why is the preoccupation with comparing Canberra with Sydney and Melbourne? Everyone’s leaving those places and going to Brisbane. This is an old traditional and increasingly irrevelant debate created by the two aging monarchs of Australian cities. In the last 12 months two new electorates have been established in Queensland at the expense of Victoria and New South Wales.

About 140,000 (Net) have left NSW for other states and about 150,000 (net) have choosen to move to Queensland.

Lets face it those folks in the ad are the ones that haven’t moved yet (I note they were not threated with being diverted to the Gold Coast or Brisbane)

Sorry to burst your bubble Laurie but there’s a difference between educated and smart. Almost by definition, you can’t read the Telegraph and be smart. Any idiot can get an education – being able to use it is a different matter … but I digress

Sydney – nice with a water view, some restaurants are OK and it can have interesting shopping if you like crowds. Anywhere without aforementioned water view is just another suburban shit-hole. End of story.

Melbourne – always makes me feel underdressed. Better restaurants and bars.

“Sonic might not like it but educated and skilled people read the Telegraph and listen to Nova.”

Really – i honestly find that hard to believe

Caf: if the insinuation is that I am a developer, sorry to disappoint your consiracy I am not.

If the insinuation is that Indi is a developer – I can’t answer that. But if Indi is we don’t put gags on public servants advocating a Government role in everything and anything.

The view may well still be valid, so please let people have their view – and if you don’t agree argue the point rather than play the person.

SLBrown: So according to a developer, we need less restrictions on development… well golly, who would have thought they’d say that?

Sonic might not like it but educated and skilled people read the Telegraph and listen to Nova.

I would like to see a change in attitude towards facilitating (through planning and development measures) further revitalisation of local shops.

I know there are commercial realities, but I look at my local shops then I visit say Griffith, O’Connor or even Ainslie and the difference is that mine don’t feel like a village. Some essentials are there, but what’s missing is the social hubs of a few restaurants or a cafe/bar.

Town Centres are for the retail hits only for me…they provide no stimulation and who really wants to sit in a food court gobbling down fast food? Apparently this is the only social activity available to the masses here…sad really that the highlight of the weekend will be for most a handful of CDs that aren’t needed, a bland/unappealing item of clothing purchased from a chain store and then the mandatory visit to Big W/Target/Kmart to keep the kids happy with some new video game to rot the brain.

If govt were serious it would get cracking on revitalisation plans that provide for a fresh approach to attracting people to their local shops, then I’d say this would give us a bit of hope.

Of course, the trickle down effect is already in train…school closures (already rebadged by govt as renewal of the education system) seem to be a mere formality – problem is the shops fall into a slump, traders move on, developers move in and all that is likely is another slab of units. Eventually you are left with is a suburb full of dwellings, so you really aren’t ‘living’ you’re just commuting from your collective of dwellings to the office and are without an activity hub or place for interaction ie. village style shops.

Sydney. What a place. Air you can see as you breathe it, roads you park on in peak 3 hours each way, and houses that only the richest 1% of the population can afford.

The desirable areas of Sydney are too expensive for anyone under 40 to buy in without sacrificing all other life luxuries, and the rest is a dirty, polluted, graffiti covered crime filled sprawl.

Greater West? Please. Name 1 great thing about living anywhere west of Parramatta?

Anyway, I believe the severe attitude imbalance that Sydneysiders suffer means they deserve the joint.

Thumper – Melbourne rocks. MCG, trams, easy public transport.

The fact of the matter is people have voted with their feet- over the past 5 years over 3000 more people have left Canberra than came to it

I wonder why schools have to close, AFL teams have to be paid to play in Canberra and the Canberra raiders may have to become the Central Coast Raiders.(RIP the CANNONS, COSMOS and COMETS).

To quote one national capital builder IT’s TIME! Canberra has to have a good hard look at itself and think do we want to continue down this path? Is it appropriate that most of the nation does not see itself reflected in their own Capital (despite slick $1 million ad campaign). Should Canberra be less planned and more real (let face it planning gave us schools in places that are not needed, shops that need a car to get to and town centres that are disconnected).

Its easy to say why you like a place , its harder to be self critical….. So come what do we hate about your own city that we would like to change!!!!

I was interested in the weather comment, as I find Canberra out of all the cities I’ve dwelt in, to have the best ‘blend’ of weather patterns. If the radio compare can only come up with:

“It’s, like, -6 overnight. Why would you want to be diverted there? In Sydney, it has only started to get cold the last three weeks, but we can look at least look at Canberra and go, `This ain’t so bad.”’

Then that simply reflects on intellect and a distinct lack of depth…

Perhaps I should clarify – I don’t have a problem with the ad (or indeed, the CMs reported response).

Yeah I haven’t come across to many cities I don’t like….

I dunno, I didn’t find it to be an overreaction, the sum total of what the CM said appears to be:

“The kind of people the ACT Government is trying to persuade to move to Canberra are educated and skilled, probably not the kind of people who would choose to listen to Nova FM, and probably not the kind of people who would be likely to make life-changing decisions on the basis of a mildly amusing television advertisement.”

He even called the ad “mildy amusing”.

I don’t think there’s a problem with a bit of interstate rivalry, as long as it stays friendly.

Love Canberra, love Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide too

I’m with VG – I like living in a place where rush hour lasts about fifteen minutes.

And, despite my lefty tendencies, I really don’t believe that any of our beloved town planners would really know how to cope with providing amenities for a massive influx of residents.

The whole Live in Canberra campaign makes Canberra look like a cheap hooker flashing her undies.

Actually make that an expensive hooker what with the rate rises, stamp duties etc and the cost of the campaign itself.

I personally don’t care if people bag life in Canberra. It’s their loss, not mine.

Have a sense of humour Sonic.

The less people here the better I say

And it’s soooo easy to get their hackles up.

hehe…. I love melbourne.. but they do take themselves sooo seriously..

good article. canberrans are sensitive souls, but i do defend it when its unfairly attacked.

i would also suggest that melbourne is superior to sydney in all respects excluding surf beaches.

…. and they use terms such as “The Paris end of Collins St” in all seriousness.

Te he.

yeah the melbournians hate it…. they get so pissed off…. it’s actually really funny… when I was living there I had a good mate say to me in all seriousness “why don’t you F off and live in your precious sydney if you think its so great….”