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The Next Five Years with Bernard Salt

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25.01.2022 Join me Monday 14 December 7 pm (AEST) for a (free) webinar presentation "Australia. Not Just A Sporting Nation" which looks at the role the #creative industries #arts, #culture) can play in rebuilding a better Australia. Sponsored by the Larrikin Collective this 35-min presentation argues that 'creativity' is stamped into our DNA, that there's an underlying creativeness to everyday Australian life, that the creative industries build both social cohesion and social engagement... and contribute to good mental health. Then there's an interview led by Barrie Cassidy where we discuss the impact of the creative industries on Australian society. Lots of energy, bespoke data and charts illustrating the case, fun references to Australian culture. Plus, I explain why I think actors, dancers and media presenters are being quietly admired from afar (well, from Canberra) by demographers. Sign up. It's both fascinating and free! https://tinyurl.com/yypr6ker See more

24.01.2022 Perhaps Darryl Kerrigan was right. Maybe there is something special about #suburbia. I am in search of Australia's suburban heartland, the points in each city where there is the greatest expanse of suburbia in every direction. These epicentres lies between 13-20km from the CBD and contain salami-like 10km-radius slices of up to a million people. The epicentre suburbs are Parramatta in Sydney, Runcorn in Brisbane, Leeming in Perth and Green Fields in Adelaide. But the groun...d zero, the genesis point, the Garden of Eden of Australian suburbia centres on Melbourne's Burwood. This cradle of the quarter-acre block contains the street where neighbours is filmed (in Vermont), the suburb where Barry Humphries conceived the persona of Edna Everage (Camberwell, but he placed her in Moonee Ponds), the suburb that the 1970's pop group Skyhooks immortalised in "Balwyn Calling". These slices of suburbia don't reflect some provincial backwater but rather they showcase a suburbia that pulses with youth, energy and people coming and going. And, yes, they also contain the essential Bunnings and Harvey Norman stores that enable Australians to adorn and enjoy their very own castle within our suburban heartlands. See page 15 The Weekend Australian $4.50 (p/w) https://tinyurl.com/y8c74ebx

17.01.2022 And so to the recovery. There's much that the government can do (eg infrastructure & social housing spending) but we also need to jointly--every single Australian--work together to not just rebuild Australia but to rebuild a better Australia. What can we do every day? Take that holiday. Check the "made in" label at supermarkets. Commit to that kitchen renovation. Support a local cafe. Give positive feedback where it's deserved. How about we make a small business owner Austral...ian Of The Year; it would stand as an example to others thinking about setting up a business. Surely we can find a worthy recipient who pays their taxes, is good to their workers and to the environment? How about we ask the national broadcasters to showcase weekly stories of entrepreneurship to help build the idea of Australia as a nation of can-do people. I'd love to see a story of a 28-year-old brick layer from Dubbo taking on an apprentice and playing footy at the weekend. We need to come together to create jobs, to support those who build businesses and indeed everyone who contributes to the "Commonwealth of Australia." Now is not the time for division but for unity to create an even better version of the nation we left behind pre covid. See page 27 The Weekend Australian Magazine $4.50 (p/w) https://tinyurl.com/y47yqcjj See more

14.01.2022 Towards the end of 2020 Australians have been saying what a terrible year. And no doubt it was just that: drought, bushfire, flood, pandemic, troubles with China, jobs and businesses lost. Suffering and mental health issues have abounded. So, how does 2020 compare with other 'bad' years? Some say 1932 was a shocker when unemployment topped 30% during the Great Depression. Others say 1942 was frightening when the Japanese bombed Darwin and advanced along the Kokoda Track. And ...then there's the time of the Great War followed by the Spanish flu when tens of thousands of young Australians died over 1915-1919. No doubt that the coronavirus year (if it is to be only a year) is right up there amongst our worst of times. But the lesson from history is that we endured all of these trials by sticking together. It's hard enough battling a war, Depression or pandemic without also having to deal with a civic unravelling (as seems to be happening in the US, France and the UK). The greatest asset we Australian have, and that we exhibited in these past horrific years too, is our ability to hold fast, to focus on the issue at hand and to come through--united--to the other side. See my column page 24 The Weekend Australian Magazine $4.50 (p/w) https://tinyurl.com/yck3jsy5 See more

03.01.2022 The coming of the coronavirus has shifted the narrative of Australian urban (and I suspect regional) life. For the better part of 20 years Scandi minimalism has dominated interior design and especially in apartments. This look works well if you're hardly ever home but rather are out and about, at the office, in a cafe, at the gym, on holiday locally or abroad. The home in this era of design takes on the feel of a minimalist hotel foyer. But maybe this whole interior desi...gn look is about to be upended by new working from home arrangements. If we're now more inclined to work, study, be entertained and shop from home--that is, spend far more dwell time in the home--then minimalism must give way to clutter, to maximalism, to the lived-in look. Bare floors, clear benchtops and perfectly made beds (replete with intricate pillow architecture) must give way to a new style of, let's call it, "cluttterfication". So, if you have commissioned a cutting-edge minimalist extension to your chi-chi inner-city terrace house, I'd hold off a year or so and watch for signs of a design shift. Otherwise you could find that your cutting-edge extension looks just a tad dated by 2025. See p25, The Weekend Australian Magazine $4.50 (p/w) https://tinyurl.com/y43gl6qc See more