West Coast Pirates Fight For a Berth in NRL

THE Western Reds have been officially consigned to the history books and so has any chance of an alliance between the two Perth consortia bidding to enter the NRL in coming years. 

WA Rugby League chief executive John Sackson yesterday announced plans for Perth to push for a place in an expanded premiership as the West Coast Pirates, distancing the city from the Reds moniker it carried during its three-year existence in the 90s.

The Reds were eventually victims of the Super League war but Perth is among the favourites to regain a place in the premiership should the ARL Commission decide to expand in the near future.
A final decision is expected to hinge on the game's next broadcasting deal. While the WARL is ready should Perth gain the thumbs-up, it isn't the only interested party. Perth millionaire Tony Sage, who owns the Perth Glory soccer team, has also announced plans to bid for a licence.

Officials from both consortia recently met to discuss the potential for a united bid but were unable to find any common ground.

"We were interested in what they had to say," Sackson said.
"But . . . there were differences of approach. We felt our model was a better model in terms of nurturing development and promoting grass roots rugby league."

Sackson held a phone hook-up with ARL Commission officials last week and finished that conversation with the impression the broadcasting deal would be completed in late September, whereupon a decision on expansion would be made.

Southeast Queensland is considered the other most likely destination should the game decide to go from 16 teams to 18.

Meanwhile, the frantic few days before the June 30 deadline for player movement continued yesterday when Penrith winger Sandor Earl joined Canberra and Newcastle forward Lisiate Fa'aoso linked with Melbourne for the remainder of the season.

The Sydney Roosters have also brought in ex-Penrith hooker Nafe Seluini as a replacement for Anthony Mitchell, who is joining North Queensland.

And former Roosters winger Sam Perrett will have his first training with Canterbury this morning.

Why WA Is Not On The Tourist Map

Though this state gets only a tiny portion of visitors from China - Australia's fastest-growing and most valuable overseas tourism market - Dr Hames says we do not need to build attractions to complement the natural wonders of the west.

But his views are out of sync with Tourism Council of WA boss Evan Hall, who says Perth is missing out on visitors because it lacks a "signature experience".

Asia-based tour operators interviewed by The Sunday Times at last weekend's Australian Tourism Exchange agreed with Mr Hall, saying WA needed more man-made attractions to compete with east coast destinations.

Dr Hames disagreed, saying: "Tourist operators believe that what they can sell out of WA is beautiful weather, blue skies and beaches, plus our events.

"When we go to tourist operators in China they see WA as the great new place to visit. They had been to the Sydney Opera House and do those things, but after that it was a bit boring.

"What they wanted was something that was new and fresh not just old buildings.
"They wanted swimming with the whale sharks, skydiving over Jurien, fishing for barramundi in the Kimberley."

WA is playing catch-up with the eastern states to attract newly cashed-up Chinese tourists. Tourism Australia believes the China market has the potential to be worth up to $9 billion a year by the end of the decade.

"China is now our fastest-growing and the most valuable overseas tourism market, delivering more than half-a-million-plus visitors and $3.8 billion in spending in 2011," Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said.

But only 3.1 per cent of that money was spent in WA.

Simon Burley, marketing director at Tourism WA, said it was working hard to fix that and was on course to reach 100,000 visitors a year from China by 2016.

Mr Hall has challenged the Government to be more visionary and do more than fall back on WA's natural attractions.

He said it should combine our "unparalleled natural offerings" with man-made attractions.

"You can have a diversity of experiences," he said. "Perth needs an icon, but still has to be set against a beautiful river, with big, blue, clear skies it's that classic image that we are still missing.
"What Perth lacks is a signature experience."

Mr Hall also called on the Government not to delay plans to construct a cable-car link between the new Perth waterfront and Kings Park.

The link remains part of the Barnett Government's waterfront concept, but funding for it was not included in the first $440 million phase of the development.

Dr Hames scoffed at the suggestion the cable car link would attract additional tourists.
"To say a cable car would be iconic that's a bit silly really," he said. "There are cable cars everywhere in the world. That's not going to drag people here to see WA."

Dr Hames said he was open to the idea of theme parks, but believed "our biggest task is to let people know what we have got, rather than chasing to build new things."

WAITING AROUND: German tourists Michaela Raschke and Kathrin Wunderlich love Perth, but say there is little to do in winter when the weather is bad. Picture: Theo Fakos Source: PerthNow

George Michael Symphonica Tour - Australia 2012

AFTER HIS 2010 SOLD OUT TOUR, GEORGE MICHAEL RETURNS TO AUSTRALIA AS YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE!

George Michael triumphantly returns to Australia in November and December 2012, with his Symphonica Tour

The multi-million selling artist is back in good health and fighting fit after a battle with pneumonia at the end of last year, which unfortunately led to his ‘Symphonica’ tour being postponed. George Michael is now preparing to return to the big stage later this year with rescheduled and newly added tour dates in Europe, the UK and Australia.

Before its unexpected hiatus, Symphonica, played to packed houses in Europe and fulfilled George's long-cherished artistic ambition of performing alongside a full orchestra. On the tour George will perform a carefully chosen selection of his own material spanning his remarkable career; and he will also cover some of his favourite songs from other artists.

On Symphonica, the music has been re-worked and re-arranged for a large scale orchestra, which will accompany George and his band throughout the tour. This brand new symphonic production has given each song added layers and fresh nuance. It's unmistakeably George Michael, but not as we've ever known him.

With an unparalleled voice, a large-scale orchestra and a tantalising promise to include songs never previously performed live, Symphonica is a magical experience awaiting singer and audience alike...

TOUR DATES*:

Sat 10 Nov - Perth Arena

*Ticketek is selling for the above venues only.

The Beach Boys 50 - 2012 Tour Australia

Paul Dainty, Chairman of Dainty Group has announced that one of the worlds' most legendary and influential bands of all time The Beach Boys, will tour Australia this year as part of their 50th Anniversary Tour with dates confirmed in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

The 50th Anniversary Tour marks the first time in more than two decades that original members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks will tour together.

The 50th Anniversary Tour, which commenced in North America in April, is receiving critical acclaim and proving to be a historical concert event not to be missed.

For five decades, America's first pop band to reach the 50 year milestone has recorded and performed the music that has become the world's favorite soundtrack to summer. Founded in Hawthorne, California in 1961, The Beach Boys were originally comprised of the three teenaged Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and school friend Al Jardine. In 1962, neighbour David Marks joined the group for their first wave of hits with Capitol Records, leaving in late 1963, and in 1965, Bruce Johnston joined the band when Brian Wilson retired from touring to focus on writing and producing for the group.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and recipients of The Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award, The Beach Boys are an American institution that is iconic around the world.

Perth Tour Date:

Thursday 6 September - Burswood Dome, Perth

Simple Minds And Devo Take To Australia

Two rather different but very popular ‘80s pop acts are coming together for a big tour of Australia this December, as Simple Minds and Devo play a series of theatre and winery shows with support from Australian art-rock superstars the church and, for some shows, the Sean Kelly led Models.

Australia was the first territory to embrace the music of Simple Minds, their Love Song in 1981 was a massive hit here, as was the New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) album which followed in 1982. Of course, after that, they became one of the world’s biggest bands with hits like Don’t You (Forget About Me) and Alive and Kicking which continue to be cherished the world over.

One of the most exciting, subversive and infectious acts of the post-punk era, Devo not only have a swag of hits, but a huge number of critically adored records which are seen to be some of the most influential among many modern bands. Likewise, their stage show has always been one that confounds and intrigues and their recent visits as headliners of the Splendour In The Grass and Livid festivals have shown that they have not lost any of what made them so exciting.

Alongside the long-standing Australian legends of alternative pop and rock music the church and groundbreaking Aussies Models (who play the A Day On The Green winery dates in the Yarra Valley, Perth, Hunter Valley and Brisbane's Mt Cotton), these shows are set to showcase some of the finest music that came out of the 1980s but is still completely relevant and exciting today.
Tickets are on sale Monday 2 July. Dates are below.

Film Festival a Revelation

The Revelation Perth International Film Festival is one of the fastest growing film festivals in the country, annually attracting more than 10,000 people and showcasing new, ground-breaking national and international films. 

The 15th annual festival has attracted Hollywood actor, director and screenwriter of contemporary cinema, Crispin Hellion Glover (Back to the Future, Charlie's Angels, The People Vs.Larry Flynt, The Doors), iconic Australian comedienne Judith Lucy as well national and international filmmakers, musicians, screen artists, academics and distributors. The festival will be held from July 5-15, 2012.

Green Tape Chokes Our Tourism

A luxury hotel! Right inside a Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

Of course, you might say. Who wants to stand in a hot forest the whole day, looking at trees?

Who wouldn't want to zip back after a couple of hours to grab that cocktail, jump in that pool, lounge on that sun deck or take that massage next to that passing wombat?

But note this. This ad campaign is the first in which Tourism Australia has featured not just our best bits of nature, but the luxury resorts right next to them, including spectacular ones at Kangaroo Island and Tasmania's Great Oyster Bay.

Not only that, the Blue Mountains resort is the one at Wolgan Valley that green groups fought and green tape almost strangled. A hotel in a national park? Sacrilege!

Which makes Tourism Australia's latest ad campaign, launched in Shanghai, not just a celebration of Australia, but one more sign of the decline of the anti-human green movement.

The Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa, which Test captain Michael Clarke booked out last month for his wedding, is the perfect example.

Emirates announced in 2005 it wanted to build this $125 million extravaganza, yet had to work for two more years just to get its plans through all the green tape, including approvals from the then Howard government, the local shire, the NSW Land and Environment Court and the NSW Labor government.

It's a familiar story for any big developer. For years now, it's seemed a sin to green preachers to have man's footprint anywhere near nature.

This absurd fear of human contamination has closed a uranium mine in Kakadu, banned oil exploration around the Barrier Reef, halted coal mines in Queensland, delayed housing developments in even the most barren scrub and now threatens a planned $30 billion gas hub project on James Price Point an empty scrap of the vast Kimberley.

Even a humble $50 million expansion of the Yaringa Boat Harbour on the Mornington Peninsula was held up for a year by green bureaucrats fretting over an orange-bellied parrot no one had actually seen there for a quarter of a century.

This anti-human paranoia has also led to attacks on tourism itself. Tourists are told not to climb Ayers Rock; recreational fishing has been severely restricted; horse riding in many national parks is limited or even banned; and where is the five-star resort on the Barrier Reef itself that tourists would cross the world to see?

It's like banning laughter in church. Victoria's magnificent Wilsons Prom is under such prudish management that you can't stay anywhere inside bar a camping site or some spartan eco-cabin.
The Wolgan Valley resort could have gone the same puritanical way. What an effort and expense Emirates had to go to just to get an official "yes" to a project that Tourism Australia now touts as one of our biggest tourism magnets.

It had to swap 114 hectares of bushland it had bought next to the park for 39ha of the park itself, with green groups screaming every inch of the way. It had to plant thousands of trees, modify its designs and agree to all kinds of restrictions. Even now, just four helicopter trips a week are allowed to ferry in guests.

Now come the Tourism Australia ads to explode the fallacy and extremism that tends to drive such anti-development campaigns.

No, man is not necessarily a pollution on the landscape. No, there's not much point in having great scenery if you make it too tough for people to see or enjoy.

These ads no longer trade on our beauty spots being remote and unsullied by human hands. After all, there's not a single national park that isn't improved by a good road to go see it.
So we see the beauty of the Great Oyster Bay through the windows of the Saffire Freycinet luxury lodge.
We look out over Kangaroo Island's beach from the great windows of the Southern Ocean Lodge. Uluru is seen from well laid dining tables at dusk, and a chopper is parked on top of a waterfall in the El Questro Wilderness Park, because who wants to hike in the heat?

In fact, the sole Victorian entry in the 12 destinations showcased is nothing designed by nature not the Great Ocean Road or the penguins of Phillip Island but Crown casino.

And Sydney closes the ads with our greatest calling card the man-made Sydney Opera House, on the edge of the God-made harbour.

It's the perfect balance.

Fremantle Street Arts Festival Boosts Local Economy

An independent report commissioned by the City of Fremantle has estimated that more than 105,000 people visited Fremantle for the 2012 Fremantle Streets Arts Festival, injecting up to $3.75 million into the local economy. 

The Fremantle Street Arts Festival is Australia's largest annual street arts festival showcasing local, national and international acts including busking, street theatre, comedy, circus and cabaret.

Fremantle Street Arts Festival Boosts Local Economy

Tourism WA Gets Ready to Welcome the World

The final countdown is on until the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) 2012 hits Perth. In just two weeks, ATE, which is the southern hemisphere's biggest travel trade show of its kind, will get underway at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The event, which runs from June 15 to 21, is attracting up to 700 buyers from 40 countries, including some of the world's most influential members of the travel industry. Around 1,700 sellers from around Australia representing 600 companies will also attend.

The international travel trade will have the chance to experience our extraordinary State through an extensive familiarisation program run by Tourism WA. The program will see approximately 450 delegates travelling across Western Australia from June 9 to 29. ATE will also include key functions which will showcase WA, its extraordinary produce, entertainment and hospitality.

(Source: Talking Tourism)