Heartbreak Highway

ANTI-DEVELOPMENT types have come up with a heart-rending romantic yarn, wrapped around recently engaged couple Sara Cameron and Sam Maloney, in an effort to convince Tassie Premier David Bartlett not to drive a road through the Tarkine wilderness.

ANTI-DEVELOPMENT types have come up with a heart-rending romantic yarn, wrapped around recently engaged couple Sara Cameron and Sam Maloney, in an effort to convince Tassie Premier David Bartlett not to drive a road through the Tarkine wilderness.

Cameron spent her university breaks exploring the Tarkine and fell in love with its beauty and tranquillity. She was among those who discovered and named the Tarkine Falls. She met Maloney in 2004 in Alice Springs and last year they went on a walking trip into the Tarkine. Maloney was overcome with emotion and proposed to Cameron under the mist of the falls. They intend to marry at the Tarkine Wilderness Lodge next January, but Bartlett's proposed road would obliterate their walk. "The thought of the bulldozers aches our hearts. We dreamed that this area would be protected for future generations to enjoy," says Cameron. Bartlett is yet to reply to their letter imploring him not to build a road over their beloved walking track.

The final curtain

DENIS Wong, the bloke who bought Hollywood glamour to Sydney with his famous Chequers nightclub, has died. Wong and his brother Keith opened Chequers in a basement in Goulburn Street in 1953 and over the next 20 years presented acts including Sammy Davis Jr, Shirley Bassey, Liza Minnelli, Matt Monro, Ginger Rogers, Dionne Warwick and Nelson Eddy. Chequers died a slow death when visiting artists started appearing in concert venues rather than smoky nightclubs and it ended its days as a rather down-market discotheque. Wong switched to bigger things and brought acts such as the Rolling Stones and Tina Turner to the country.

Cap in handouts

BOB Brown, the Australian Greens leader who has to struggle along on about $150,000 a year plus allowances, is hoping Kevin Rudd will follow Barack Obama's lead and cap the salaries of executives whose companies are helped by the Government during the present financial turmoil. But yesterday Brown appeared to be getting no more support than he did in mid-2008 when he first suggested chief executives' salaries be eased back to less stratospheric levels. Obama has set a salary cap of $US500,000 ($775,000) on the chief executives of companies his administration bails out, an amount that should still allow them to holiday in the Bahamas. "Maybe now that Obama's broken the ice, the Prime Minister will have a swim as well," Brown says.

New life in cyberspace

RECENTLY retired High Court judge Michael Kirby is not going quietly into retirement but has set up a very professional website to further his life's work. Michaelkirby.com.au is not what you would expect from one of the country's leading jurists and is worth a look even if the idea of reading assembled speeches and judgments dating back to the mid-1970s doesn't sound like much fun. "Everyone who visits this space has a right to agree or disagree with what they find," Kirby writes. "Causing occasional offence is not the greatest sin. Being boring, self-righteous or unkind compete for that award. I welcome feedback and suggestions as I embrace new adventures in my life. These may take me into arbitration and mediation; academic teaching and research; new international activities; and work completely outside the 'Great Game' of the law." Kirby also makes the rather contentious claim that the site proves he "invented the blog".

Roll-up of renown

ANYONE not at the American Australian Association benefit dinner at Sydney's Royal Randwick Racecourse last night has shot their bragging rights for the week. It was one of those parties where everyone who is anyone rolled up to honour Westfield boss Frank Lowy for his on-going contribution to the relationship between Oz and the US. Kevin Rudd headed the parade and was joined by News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch, Telstra's Sol Trujillo, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, former PM Bob Hawke and former Australian Defence Force chief Peter Cosgrove. Top rating broadcaster Alan Jones, who said he was going to cut back on his off-air commitments after brain surgery last year, shrugged off his doctor's warnings to act as master of ceremonies. Chairman of the AAA, Malcolm Binks, says the dinner raised funds for the association's education program which has awarded more than $3million to 79 fellows over recent years.

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