NOD TO THE ’90S AND YOUNG LOVE
A NEW show at HOTA is celebrating all things ’90s nostalgia.
The masquerade rock show is fresh from sold-out performances in Sydney and Melbourne.
Young Hearts Run Free is a tribute to Baz Luhrmann classic Romeo + Juliet, which this year marks its 20-year anniversary.
The show features a number of local and national performers, all taking on the iconic soundtrack to deliver “a night of pop-culture magic”.
Local performer Rhea Robertson got involved with the show when its creative director reached out to her via social media, and said she jumped at the chance.
“He’d been looking for some Gold Coast talent to have in the show and he found me through Triple J Unearthed,” she said.
“I was pretty excited from the get-go. I’m a big fan of Baz Luhrmann and this is one of my favourite movies and soundtracks of all time.”
Ms Robertson will be taking on The Cardigans classic Lovefool, which has also been featured in another ’90s film, Cruel Intentions. VANDA CARSON
A GOLD Coast lawyer has won her claim of sexual harassment against her former boss with a judge ordering he pay $170,000 compensation for “relentless attempt to woo” her.
Owen Hughes, principal solicitor at Beesley and Hughes in Bangalow, was ordered to pay the sum to his former employee, recently qualified lawyer Catherine Mia Hill, who now works remotely from Canberra for a Coast firm.
Federal Circuit Court judge Sal Vasta included $50,000 in aggravated damages because he found that Mr Hughes attempted to stop Ms Hill making a complaint of sexual harassment.
Ms Hill sued Mr Hughes, claiming he sexually harassed her by pressuring her to “be in a relationship with him” if she wanted to keep her job.
She told the court she was “intimidated or threatened” by Mr Hughes and believed he wanted a sexual relationship and for her to live with him when she worked for him between May, 2015 and June, 2016 – when she quit.
Ms Hill claimed she made it clear she wasn’t interested in a relationship with him.
Mr Hughes told News Corp he intends to appeal the decision “as overall my emails were respectful and professional in the sense that they were sent outside of working hours for the most part and were therefore not sexually harassing.”
Judge Vasta found that Mr Hughes made “utterly outrageous” claims that Ms Hill “encouraged” him with the perfume she wore, or because he “could see her bra and part of her breasts when looking at the neckline in her dress.”
“It is the mark of a bygone era where women, by their mere presence, were responsible for the reprehensible behaviour of men. The Sex Discrimination Act was enacted to help eliminate this sort of thinking,” Judge Vasta ruled.