GLEN SPEERING enjoys birds, wildflowers, Simpsons quotes, and umpiring grassroots footy. In this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER he addresses the racism in AFL from the top of the league to the grassroots games. LIKE most Western Australian boys, I played football as a kid. But as a kid, in a middle class suburb of Perth, I was largely…

TIM MUIRHEAD is a Fremantle resident who specialises in community and cross-cultural relations. He is the author of Finding Heraan and Weaving Tapestries: a handbook for building communities. In this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER he argues that we should change the date of Australia Day. January 26th. Have we no pride? What date Australia Day? Truth is, most Australians I’ve spoken to,…

SURESH RAJAN is a past president of the Ethnic Communities Council of WA. In this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER, he reveals the forgotten history of Harmony Day and its roots as a solemn commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa. OVER the last day or so and today I have seen a number of posts about Harmony Day and related…

NIC HAYES is the founder of Media Stable, an online directory of media experts. Well versed in the PR world, in this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER he argues that if we can’t have our old Lisa Scaffidi back, we need a new lord mayor.  RECENTLY, in WA, we hear the name of the lord mayor of Melbourne, Robert…

MANDI PARKER has been running markets around Perth for more than 10 years, but says lately the scene has become over-saturated as every fundraiser and their dog thinks it’ll be easy to casually throw one together. Sometimes there are up to six markets running on the same weekend. In this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER Ms Parker…

EDITH Cowan University’s JESSE J FLEAY researches ways of integrating Noongar knowledge into school curricula to keep Aboriginal youth engaged. He works at the Kurongkurl Katitjin Centre for Indigenous Australian Education and Research. In this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER, he argues that One Nation will actually divide Australia. A  VOTE for One Nation not only endangers…

WITH bookies predicting his seat could go to Labor at the March 11 election, Mt Lawley’s Liberal MP MICHAEL SUTHERLAND writes a midnight lament against the wonky vagaries of the preference system and the “horse trading” that’s let bizarre microparties slip into power with a minuscule sliver of the vote.  THERE has been a lot said…

David Bell (pictured here drinking in a whiskey bar in a completely legal and civilised manner) usually sticks to the hard facts in the news section of the Perth Voice, but in this week’s Speaker’s Corner he argues the ability to participate in that long-held Australian tradition of street drinking without police intervention is a…

MICHAEL SUTHERLAND is the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and MLA for Mt Lawley. In today’s SPEAKER’S CORNER he reflects on the disendorsement of two candidates in the last federal elections and says they were harshly dealt with. ONE of WA’s greatest premiers Sir Charles Court is reported to have said, “Parliament should be made…

TIM MUIRHEAD is the author of Finding Heraan, a ‘philosophical fable’ that explores the themes in this article. His writing is based on 30 years professional experience in building understanding between different groups.  I HAVE long felt frustrated that we in Australia, with all our benefits, are not able to realise our extraordinary potential in nourishing…