Perth Voice Interactive

PERTH’S Afghan community is banding together to help victims of the unfolding crisis in their home country.

One of the aims is to keep alive culture the Taliban has been accused of trying to erase in Afghanistan, with a charity dinner to help women, widows and orphans at North Perth Town Hall on November 27. 

Ziagul Sultani came to Australia as a 10 year old and says a lot of Afghans in Perth are deeply worried for family and vulnerable people back home. 

Ms Sultani says for many Afghan people here “a lot of trauma’s coming back. Mental health has been a major issue because there’s a lot of individuals who are on temporary visas. Their families are stuck in Afghanistan, so you can only image what they’re going through.”

Ms Sultani says the worst effects of the crisis are being felt by children and women, especially widows. Women lost their right to work almost immediately after the Taliban captured Kabul on August 15. 

“Widows have no form of income, nowhere to go, no shelter. So many families have lost their homes and are homeless now,” and the extremely harsh Afghan winter is approaching. 

Ms Sultani is helping organise a Perth for Afghanistan fundraising dinner and cultural night at North Perth Town Hall to benefit Mahboba’s Promise, a charity dedicated to helping women and children in Afghanistan.

The idea came from talks between young Afghan Australians reaching out to each other for support after the fall of Kabul, and then deciding they wanted to take action to help the most vulnerable. 

“Most of us are young girls, we are in our 20s, and when we talk we say ‘imagine if we were back home’. I don’t know if I could survive.

“When I talk to my cousins [in Afghanistan] it’s heartbreaking. They were teachers and engineers, and they’re nobody now, their identity has been stripped overnight.

“You don’t know what to say to them. When they tell you what’s going on, you can’t give them any comfort, because you don’t know what comfort to give.

“We’re trying to find comfort living here, but at the same time there’s a lot of guilt as well… we feel really helpless.

“As much as we can [we want to] financially support the women and children of Afghanistan, who are very innocent and had nothing to do with any of these political movements.

“They can’t do anything, they’re stuck there. The ones who could afford it, and who had connections, have left the country, but the ones who are unable to are stuck and have no way to earn money.

“It took women, girls, 20 years to be able to dream, to even start small things, and it’s been stripped away overnight.” 

Ms Sultani says along with raising funds at the upcoming charity night “we want to maintain our culture, maintain our music, everything that’s banned at the moment. We’re scared of losing it,” and the dinner will feature Afghan music, art, cuisine and poetry.  

“Through this event we want to start a conversation. We want people to remember Afghanistan for its culture, its language, and for its diversity of people, the ethnic groups who live there, for the food, the music, and even the little games that we used to play. And just the freedom. 

“That’s one element of the event: Kites. For us, kites mean freedom. Girls and boys were able to fly kites, and now they can’t.”

Afghans in Australia are from many provinces with different cultures, languages, and ethnicities, but the crisis in Afghanistan has seen them drawn together.

“Unfortunately it took this incident for all of us to come together as one. And through this time we have been supporting each other to heal, to talk about the situation, and look after one another.”

The Perth for Afghanistan fundraising dinner is on November 27 at North Perth town hall, with a live auction hosted by Perth state MP John Carey. Tickets are $80 (search ‘Perth for Afghanistan’ on eventbrite) and all proceeds go to Mahboba’s Promise.

by DAVID BELL

THE WA Cancer Council has backed a ban on smoking in Vincent’s town centres, but the state government has flagged concerns about being cut out of the decision.

Vincent council’s currently lining up a new local law that will give it discretion to ban smoking in town centres, in thoroughfares near facilities for young people, and in ovals or natural areas it controls. 

The rules are an effort to reduce bystander exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, and smoking or vaping in one of those zones will attract a $100 fine, while failure to extinguish when directed by an “authorised person” like a ranger is a $200 fine.

No objections

The proposal’s just finished its first round of advertising for comment and received no objections, and a joint letter from the Cancer Council and the Australian Council on Smoking and Health has praised the plan.

The letter called the smoke free town centre concept “a sector leading and progressive initiative” and noted community engagement and a clear infringement process will be key to making it work. 

Councillors vote on November 16 whether to push ahead with the plan, which will still need state government approval.

The sticking point is that unlike Perth council’s mall ban, Vincent’s policy gives it power to keep declaring its properties smoke-free ad infinitum – provided there’s a community consultation process to weigh up pros and cons.

The department of local government has notified Vincent that state parliament might not approve such powers in perpetuity, as “the power could potentially be used to ban smoking in all thoroughfares, either in one resolution or gradually” and raising concern that once approved the power “would not be subject to parliamentary scrutiny or disallowance, meaning the parliament can’t block a determination if they believe it is inappropriate”.

The department says the rule “raises the question of what level of restrictions local government can impose” and  “the state parliament may wish to disallow the local law if they believe that public smoking in thoroughfares is an issue to be reserved for state legislation”.

Mayor Emma Cole says the council’s had the policy reviewed by a legal firm and is confident it’ll be approved because there are still restrictions on where smoke-free zones can apply, and she added health minister Rodger Cooke spoke positively about the plan when it was first announced.

A PARKLAND near Maylands Brickworks will be protected from high density development after being rezoned this week.

The council-owned park between Maylands Brickworks and Peninsula Road had long been zoned “medium and high density residential”, meaning a council short on cash could find it easy to sell off or develop and rent out.

In 2019 Bayswater councillor Elli Petersen-Pik put up a motion to rezone the park public open space. A long rezoning process involving negotiations with various state government departments followed. 

The rezoning motion was supported by locals, and had just two no-votes when it came to the final council vote in July this year: Cr Filomena Piffaretti and Michelle Sutherland.

Cr Piffaretti, now mayor following October’s election, said in July the council needed revenue streams other than rates, and developing the land could help towards the $20m-$30m needed to restore the old brickworks.

“Where are we going to get $20m to $30m to do that?” Cr Piffaretti asked. “This was an opportunity that the city could have had to develop medium and high density living resulting in a new revenue stream for the city that could’ve contributed to the reactivation of the Maylands Brickworks site.”

But the majority voted to rezone and with the approval of state planning minister Rita Saffioti the change was made official in a government gazette on November 5. 

Cr Petersen-Pik called the rezoning terrific news, saying “I am relieved knowing that this area is now protected and is unlikely to be considered for potential sale or development by any future council”. 

He thanked the Friends of Maylands Brickworks for their advocacy on the rezoning and described the area as “long-established parkland which is important to so many people in our community”. 

A MASSIVE overhaul for local government rules promises less toxicity, more consistency, and stronger democracy.

The state government’s proposed changes include preferential voting for councils, stricter financial management, and a “local government inspector” who can be sent in to patch problems before councils become so dysfunctional they need to be suspended for an inquiry. 

Local government minister and state Perth MP John Carey says the rules are designed with ratepayers at the forefront and will also benefit small businesses, community organisations, council staff and councillors. 

“This package is going to create really genuine reform across local governments and will have sweeping powers to prevent dysfunction,” Mr Carey said.

“The minister, at the moment, only has the powers of a standing inquiry to intervene.”

This proved a problem when Mr Carey’s predecessor David Templeman was unable to suspend just one elected member, and instead dysfunction at Perth council bubbled to a point that the whole council was suspended and a lengthy, expensive inquiry followed.

Mr Carey says under the new rules “if we start to see toxic fighting, an inspector can appoint a monitor to go in,” mediating and helping councillors resolve issues or make recommendations to a new and more powerful conduct panel.

Unlike the current local government standards panel, which can only order councillors to make apologies or undergo training, the new conduct panel can suspend or fine a councillor who’s breaching the act.

Inspector

When asked if more regimentation and a powerful new inspector might deter some people from running, Mr Carey told the Voice: “I think it’s the opposite. What turns people off now is they see a dysfunctional local government, they see toxic behaviour in local government, they see toxic behaviour by local residents, and they think ‘I don’t want to do this’.

“This is trying to build confidence in the system.”

Mr Carey was previously mayor of Vincent and said some of the reforms stem from his experience there, recalling the council needed significant overhaul to deal with opaque finances and hefty accounting errors. 

Other reforms will strengthen the rules around being eligible to run for council or vote, which have been an open joke for decades as councillors privately ribbed one another about renting out a broom closet to qualify to run for office. 

The rules are designed to crack down on “sham leases”, when someone takes out a lease without a genuine purpose just to run for council or vote. The inquiry into the City of Perth identified this was “common practice” and recommended several prosecutions.

Charges related to sham leases were laid against three people, and all three prosecutions failed. Proving a sham lease has proved a tricky hurdle in other jurisdictions.

The new rules will make it clearer by requiring a legitimate residency or business to be eligible, and the basis for a candidate being eligible must be publicly disclosed. 

The reforms are open to feedback until February 4. 

by DAVID BELL

MEMBERS of Bayswater’s LGBTI+ community are sharing their personal stories of pride in a Q&A session this weekend.

It’s part of Bayswater council’s first foray into Pride month, part of an effort to make the town more inclusive and safe for LGBTI+ folks.

There’ll be stories from:

• Nat Latter, who runs Rabble Books & Games which has sought to showcase storytelling from the margins with shelves dedicated to LGBTI+ fiction, Noongar books, and kids stories by First Nations authors. Ms Latter tells the story of setting up the Maylands business as a safe space for the LGBTI+ community;

• Carl Gopalkrishnan, a visual artist and policy consultant who’s worked to bring together multicultural community leaders and faith leaders with the LGBTI+ community. Mr Gopalkrishnan currently chairs a working group investigating how LGBTI+ people are targeted by the far right for both abuse and recruitment, and how some multicultural LGBTI+ people experience racism from within their own local LGBTI+ communities;

• Cougar Morrison, Maylands’ own ‘gender illusionist’, a drag star, singer and comedian. Morrison’s presented to grownups as a TEDTalk presenter and to kids as a host of Drag Queen Story Hour at local libraries;

• Emery Wishart, who’ll share his story of grappling with his identity as a teenager, the difficult search for self-acceptance, and how finding the queer community helped him embrace being trans;

• Kaya Ortiz, an emerging writer and poet who’ll talk about her experience of marrying a young man, later realising she was queer, navigating it together, meeting her current partner and accepting her sexuality.

The storytelling and Q&A session is on Greenslade Lane behind Rabble on November 13 at 4.30pm, it’s free and all ages but register a spot by searching Stories of Pride on eventbrite. 

STREAMING companies like Netflix and Disney+ should have to pay 20 per cent of their local revenue into making new Australian content, federal Perth Labor MP Patrick Gorman says. 

Mr Gorman is on the parliamentary arts committee which has just released 22 recommendations for digging the arts economy out of the Covid doldrums, including fairer pay for authors whose books are in libraries, art to get more of the spotlight in the school curriculum, and the local content funding rule for streamers.

Mr Gorman says if adopted “that’s going to be amazing for the film and TV industry that’s really firing here in WA,” building on recent state government funding announcements like a proposed international film studio in Fremantle. 

“The European Union has done similar initiatives in terms of streaming companies, so it has been done, and indeed in Australia we’ve had local content obligations obligations on radio and television stations for decades,” Mr Gorman said. 

“So actually we just need to drag these international streaming services who think they’re above the law and say: ‘If you want to pump your stuff out over the internet here, then you have to also invest in the artists, actors and production teams that work here in Australia’.” 

Netflix opposes quotas but Mr Gorman told the Voice: “If they want to pick that fight, I’m very happy to have it.”

With the arts industry particularly wrecked by Covid and a significant slice of artists ineligible for JobKeeper, the report also recommends a national cultural plan to get a better picture of what the sector will need in the medium and long term. 

The committee’s report has been tabled in parliament and the 22 recommendations which had bipartisan support get sent to the relevant ministers to decide what to adopt.  

by DAVID BELL

A WARMING vision of two Italian friends has taken out the major prize at this year’s Bayswater Art Awards.

Judges selected Louise Clarke’s oil-on-canvas “Ciao-Amici’ for acquisition and the $5,000 major prize. Judges were Sharon Tassicker, an experienced curator and exhibitions manager, and former arts minister Sheila McHale. 

They selected Ciao-Amici for its strong representation of the stories and lives of migrants.

This year’s exhibition had the most artworks on display ever, with near 300 entrants and the final works curated by local artist Leo Flavel.

The exhibition is on display at The Rise in Maylands, 10am – 4pm until November 20, and votes are still open for the peoples’ choice award.

A PLAN to ban scattering ashes on Vincent council land has been revived, despite some hesitancy from elected members. 

In May Vincent staff recommended the ash-scattering fatwa as part of an update to the council’s memorial policy, arguing there were plenty of “specialised facilities” offered in Perth’s cemeteries.

Currently ashes can be scattered in places like Hyde Park, Smith’s Lake or Banks Reserve. Technically approval from the council CEO is needed, but no one in living memory has asked.

Councillors deferred 

the policy as there was no evidence it was harmful to the environment or anything else to suggest the pressing need for a ban.

Five months on and the memorial policy’s back, with the ashes ban still in the draft but lacking a solid explanation.

At this week’s council briefing mayor Emma Cole queried whether there was even a problem to solve, extracting an admission from infrastructure director Andrew Murphy that no one could recall a single application for ashes scattering in the city.

Ms Cole foreshadowed an amendment to omit the ashes ban unless some rationale could be provided before councillors vote on November 16.

“At the moment I don’t believe there to be any major problem,” she says. While the staff report states ashes could be scattered at cemeteries instead of council land, Ms Cole noted that option wasn’t free. 

It costs a minimum $190 to have the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board scatter ashes on the grounds of any of the six metropolitan cemeteries. The MCB also tries to sell the bereaved physical memorials to mark the scattering spot, emphasising “a memorial plays an important role in the grieving process”.

Those cost anywhere from $700 for a bronze plaque to $11,000 for a large granite rock. It’s even more if you want to actually attend during placement of the ashes: Monday to Friday it costs $228 to attend, and Saturday rates are $384. 

by DAVID BELL