COOL MOVES

It’s rare that a school excursion creates long-lasting problems, but in Australia’s capital the thousands of schoolchildren descending on Canberra each year to visit Parliament House and the bush capital’s other institutions have had an unintended side effect. For many Aussies, sixth grade was the last time they visited Canberra and, upon becoming adults, most assumed nothing had changed since.

It was just one of numerous image problems which dogged Canberra for decades. “It’s full of politicians,” Aussies whinged, ignoring the dual reality that first, parliament only sits for 18 to 20 weeks a year and second, those politicians come from other parts of the country.“It’s so organised,” detractors said, leading one to wonder: why would disorganised be good?

Even Canberrans themselves weren’t selling the city’s benefits, a fact not lost on the Australian Capital Territory’s leadership. “We didn’t necessarily have the greatest level of endorsement from many people, particularly younger Canberrans,” says