Tango-gate, Paul McDermott Vs. Gympie!

[Playm8]

GUD walk in through the swinging doors. The piano player stops. Tumbleweed (or some kind of weed that they have in Gympie) blows past. Then there are men in spurs - did your version have that too?

[Munchkin]

This just keeps getting funnier and funnier!

No joke for Gympie
By Glenis Green
Courier Mail
24/12/2004

Maligned and miffed, a southeast Queensland community is fighting back, writes Glenis Green
A CITY of bean pickers -- or has Gympie been the most picked-on city in Australia?
Just what is it about the pioneering gold-rush town north of Brisbane that seems to bring out the worst in the armchair critics in a way that no other Sunshine State town or city does?
Seven years ago it was dubbed ``Hell Town'' by high-profile criminologist Paul Wilson who also labelled it ``Queensland's murder capital'' in a savage seven-page article in Australian Penthouse magazine.
His remarks, calling the city ``a place of dark and sinister forces'' and the home ``of rabid right-wing gun worshippers'', came on the heels of a national controversy surrounding the city's so-called redneck image.
That had been sparked in part by a rancorous campaign opposing the Federal Government's proposed gun control laws, driven by outspoken Gympie local and Firearm Owners' Association of Australia president Ron Owen.
In what must be the ultimate sequel, Owen was elected as one of the city's councillors at this year's local government poll.
The redneck image probably wasn't helped by the election of Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party candidate, newcomer Elisa Roberts, to State Government at the height of the Hanson phenomenon.
Then with the furore of the ``Hell Town'' tag fading came yet another swipe from Brisbane-based radio station FM104 Triple M which nominated a holiday in Gympie for its ``Worst Weekend Ever'' promotion.
And now there's the ``Can't dance/picks beans slowly'' row being cultivated by ABC-TV's Strictly Dancing host Paul McDermott.
Known for his tongue-in-cheek acerbic humour, McDermott bagged Gympie during recent episodes of the reality dancing show, calling its residents ``damn slow bean pickers'', then adding that Gympie residents wouldn't know a tango from a salsa.
Ah yes, but would McDermott know his flat beans from his butter beans?
Probably not, according to the Gympie district's biggest bean grower Peter Buchanan, who has come out swinging at McDermott's perceived denigration of what he says is a physically demanding and honourable vocation.
And with only some 150 bean pickers in the Cooloola Shire's current population of almost 35,000, it is hardly the region's premier occupation.
Buchanan says he's sick of the sniping at Gympie and the way ``so-called professionals'' are always looking down their noses at people on the land.
``We don't bag them -- so why are they always bagging primary industry and the employers and everyone else?'' he asks.
``If you haven't got a university degree . . . it seems you're good for nothing. That's the attitude that's stuffing this country.''
Buchanan says such workers use their extra pay from working the fields to upgrade their cars, buy new carpet, pay school fees or buy new television sets ``to watch jerks like him (McDermott) open his mouth.''
``Gympie has never been an area that's boomed or busted. It's been a steady growth, stable area,'' he says. ``I grew up here and went away for a while. But we all come back here to raise our families.''
Buchanan says Gympie has an impressive record of sons and daughters who have become high achievers in a range of fields from music and the arts to education and other high-level professions.
AS A member of a family partnership working 607ha of freehold crop land, and leasing an additional 283ha in the Goomboorian area east of the city, Buchanan is part of the Gympie Packhouse co-operative.
A second-generation bean farmer, he is one of between 25 and 30 bean growers in the Gympie region producing up to 300,000 10kg packs of beans a year.
He also grows pineapples, sugar cane, tomatoes and capsicums.
Gympie Business Association chairwoman Sue Spork, who runs the city's haberdashery store, Craft Knits, surmises Gympie might not be flashy but rather, a grassroots community with a very solid core.
She admits that because of the redneck image the city gained during the gun control debate, and its ``big dairy farm'' mentality, there is a certain ``Gympie cringe''.
``Not long after I moved to Gympie I remember seeing Daniel Lightfoot, the fashion designer, when I went to Brisbane and he called out across the road, `I hear you've moved','' she recalls.
``I said, `Yes, to Gympie', and he said, `You mean Noosa West, darling, no one lives in Gympie'.
``It's too easy to take a shot at us,'' Spork says, adding that in reality Gympie is a vibrant, friendly, diverse, well-educated and cultural community with a ``terrific quality of life''.
``It's really a best-kept secret,'' she says. ``We eat the freshest fruits and vegetables and meat, we're 1 1/2 hours from Brisbane, 45 minutes to the beach, one of our schools topped the state in the Senior results, you can leave your house unlocked and where else could you buy a decent home for under $200,000?''
Spork, who grew up in Bundaberg and lived for 30 years in Brisbane and five years in Melbourne before moving to Gympie, says: ``If we didn't like it we wouldn't be here. Everyone knows everyone else's business (in Gympie) but nobody cares because they (the people) do care about you.
``It's a close-knit community and if a house burns down everyone rallies and fixes it up . . . like when it floods . . . everyone comes to help.''
However, Spork says it is clear McDermott simply has been ``having a ball'' with his ``digs'' at Gympie and people should not take offence so easily.
Certainly the state member for Gympie, Roberts, who defected from One Nation and was successfully re-elected as an Independent, isn't taking McDermott's slights to heart.
``The guy's a comedian -- it's his job to write people and places off,'' she says, adding that the city clearly was shaking off its ``Hell Town'' tag if the worst that could be thrown at it was that its residents did not know their dances and picked beans slowly.
``We've shrugged off worse,'' she says.
But Cooloola Regional Development Bureau tourism marketing officer, Trischa Schapendonk, accuses McDermott of taking cheap shots, and says he should spend time in the area ``and tell it like it is''.
``The first time (on TV) I didn't take too much notice but when he made his comments on radio he took it too far,'' she says. ``We can tango, salsa and we can belly dance as well. We could show him a thing or two.
``And beans are just a small part (of what we do). We've got macadamias, handcrafted furniture, timber and forestry, gold mining, beef and dairy farming, a red-claw industry, wineries and even a barramundi farm.
``There's a wonderful sense of community in Gympie. That's why I moved there from Cairns.''
COOLOOLA Mayor, Mick Venardos, also is miffed, but manages to quip in an aside to The Courier-Mail that as a politician he is more used to tap-dancing than the tango or salsa.
``Gympie is the golden city in the Sunshine State,'' he says. ``We have the proud reputation of being the town that saved Queensland from bankruptcy in 1867 (through the discovery of gold).
``In our democracy everyone is entitled to express their opinion . . . in this instance this fellow McDermott has got it all wrong.
``His views are misguided and he is certainly misinformed. It is sad that he is attempting to make a name for himself by maligning the good reputation of the community and all the honest and respectable citizens of Gympie.
``All of us in Gympie are extremely proud of our achievements and our golden reputation and people have come to this city to enjoy the friendliness and hospitality that we are so famously renowned for.''
Venardos says that Gympie, along with its rural and coastal communities, enjoys an amazing quality of life attracting more and more people from other states.
``People who earn an honest living by whatever means should not be put down by a person who doesn't know what goes on outside a TV studio,'' he says.
For the record, the Cooloola region -- of which Gympie is the main business centre -- has an annual growth rate of 2 per cent with a strong retail sector and large manufacturing base.
Real estate agents in the city report that the market is still surprisingly buoyant with a lot of Sunshine Coast-based inquiry.
``Sunshine Coast people are finding they can sell out for a good price and re-position themselves and enjoy the quieter lifestyle that the Cooloola Coast can offer them,'' one agent comments.
Nestled between Noosa and Fraser Island, Cooloola marks the Sunshine Coast's northern boundary and has a steadily growing tourism industry fuelled by a wide range of major annual events. There are about 144,000 visitors each year, with an additional 200,000 passing through visiting friends and relatives.
Events include the annual National Country Music Muster which attracts some 65,000 people each August; the Gympie Gold Rush festival which celebrates the district's rich gold-mining heritage; and the Rainbow Beach Family Fishing Competition.
Major attractions include the award-winning Mary Valley Heritage Railway (with its Rattler steam train), the Gympie Historical Gold Mining Museum, Woodworks Museum and the Cooloola Coast with its famous coloured sands and quick access to World Heritage-listed Fraser Island.
And Gympie's crime rates compare more than favourably with other policing regions, with its estimated policing district resident population of 68,885 recording 666 offences against people and 2899 offences against property in 2003-2004, plus 3338 other offences.
This compares with Brisbane Central District of 53,130 residents with 1740 offences against people, 15183 offences against property and 9872 other offences.

[unfrufru]

THE GUY FROM ONE NATION IS ON PAUL'S SIDE


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

the four beans of the apocalypse are upon us

[pixieDAAS]

That's freaky!

doesn't paul love this sort of thing happening?

[Alisso]

Originally Posted by Munchkin

Gympie Business Association chairwoman Sue Spork

Heheh, Spork *giggles*

And it's very clear why people pick on Gympie. Cause it's a country town that has "gimp" in it's name!

[Mythor]

Dude, I'm totally changing my last name to Schapendonk!

The Mayor seems to be a bit of a dick. McDermott probably just tossed the Gympie line out there for fun, it's them that's making a big fuss about it, Paul's just goading them.

OMG! Paul's a troll!

[Sllej]

Barry from Gympie,
His bum's not so limpy.

:lol

[Spawn of Satan]

Don't these people have lives, get over it you hick town. Have they no real news to report that they have to keep dredging up the same old article and rewording it, not that anyone outside of gimpie gave a damn the first time it was published. After reading all their windging and whining even adalaide is starting to look apealing compared to those screwballs that have too much time on their hands.

[sooty]

Aaaaww *tear* SoS, you're just too kind.

I cant believe this slipped under my radar, this is solid gold. oooh I hope gud book an appearance, I'm sure Gympie has many fine venues, or saloons which the lads can further defile.

[awaywithfairies]

Originally Posted by sooty

oooh I hope gud book an appearance, I'm sure Gympie has many fine venues, or saloons which the lads can further defile.

Aren't they going to be in Queensland in February anyway? I'm sure they could make a side trip on their way north. All they'd need is a loudspeaker attached to the roof of the Tarago or, alternatively, a Mr Whippy van. A cruise up the main street of Gympie and Paul could finish the job properly!

[Sllej]

I'd pay any money to be there if that ever happened.

[awaywithfairies]

Just spoke to a friend from school in our annual 'catch-up' phone call. She's been living in Brisbane but has just gotten a new job. In a couple of weeks she's moving... to Gympie. Spat water all over the phone before explaining to her how the residents love being called 'bean-pickers'!

[Gutter Monkey]

Originally Posted by awaywithfairies

In a couple of weeks she's moving... to Gympie.

Send her a packet of beans as a house warming present. Rig the packet so that when she opens it the beans spill everywhere - and she has to pick them all up.

Welcome to Gympie!