Perth Voice Interactive

‘You have got to take this seriously’

AFTER a nightmare fortnight during which they could barely stand, former Voice cartoonist Jason Chatfield and wife Sophie have recovered from Covid-19.

Chatfield says he’s had all sorts of viruses, bad reactions to medicine and gnarly surgeries, but none compared to the coronavirus.

The former Perth lad moved to New York in 2014 and his new home is pandemic central. 

Covid-19 has already overtaken heart disease and cancer as a killer, and in New York the toll is even more grim: The virus has killed one in every 671 New Yorkers.

If WA had the same infection rate as the Big Apple, there would be more than 43,000 positive cases of Coronavirus; we’ve had 550. There would be 3850 deaths; we’ve had 8.

When things were getting bad the Chatfields escaped from New York to a farmhouse in Oklahoma.

A week after arriving, the cartoonist got sick. 

Tingling joints led to a bad fever. By day three he couldn’t control the shaking, and on day four he could barely stand. He got tested on day seven. On day nine, too weak to shower or even change the shirt he’d been wearing since day one, the test came back positive for coronavirus. 

“I’m going to die in a local basketball stadium,” he thought.

He says his lungs felt like they were filled with flour and his breathing sounded like Coco Pops crackling. Sophie nursed him through, and when she got sick, he returned the favour. 

Chatfield tells us he was stuck lying down for “at least a week. There is this very strange warped way the world looks when you stand up for more than a few minutes at a time. I had to time it so I would have enough energy to pee once my energy had built back up from the last time I got up to pee.”

Gloving up Recovered now and back in New York, he’s still being very careful, gloving up and wearing a mask on his rare trips outside. There’s a lot of unknowns about whether you can get reinfected, and even if he is immune he doesn’t want to pass virus cells around some other way like he’s a walking subway handrail.

“We take the dog out twice a day and the streets are pretty much empty,” he says. “It’s eerie and with the addition of a late spring, it’s grey, cold and grim. There are a lot of piles of furniture stacking up on the sidewalk – some from young college students pulling stumps and going back to live with their parents, and others, sadly, from dead tenants. 

“My elderly neighbours have lived here their whole lives and seen everything from 9/11 to Hurricane Sandy… they said they’ve never seen anything this bad, ever.”

He says he’s been chatting with family back in Perth and Melbourne and is relieved it’s been mild here, so far.

“There will definitely be a second spike once you reopen – it’s guaranteed,” he says. “It’s unfortunate that everything has to reopen so soon there, but I’m impressed with how unscathed Perth has been by this.

“I worry that people are being very cocky, and even those who have had the virus are walking around like they’re immune. There’s no evidence that you’re immune once you’ve had it.”

Chatfield says he hopes his comic encourages people to take the pandemic seriously. While the stats show the vast majority of people get a “mild” version and some people are fine, the bad end of “mild” can still be worse than any flu. 

“People should respect that it isn’t just about them getting sick; it’s about their neighbours and friends in the community who are more at risk than they are.”

on social media saying they just want to get the illness to get it over with so they’re immune. After a fortnight of hellish sickness, he says: Don’t.

“1: There’s no guarantee of immunity.

“2: Trying to get it on purpose is impossibly dumb. 

“3: Most importantly, it can kill you. It isn’t just like the flu. The reason I made the diary was to share with people that this thing is no bullshit – it can kill perfectly healthy 30-somethings. 

“You’re not impervious just because you’re young and healthy. I’m sad to have lost people I know to this disease, and the only way I know how to help is to draw cartoons to share my experience and maybe inform people who are having symptoms, and warn people who aren’t.”

His cartoon diary is up at jasonchatfield.com/coronavirus

Illegally dumped, or maybe just a confused punter?

NOT everyone got the memo that Vincent council wasn’t doing bulk rubbish pickups this year, with a couple of garbage piles starting to appear on verges about town.

Verge collections were due to start April 20 but have been cancelled for now because the contractor had concerns about picking up contagious junk during the pandemic, and possible workforce shortages if staff had to quarantine.

A Voice reader wrote in noting they didn’t get anything in the mail alerting them to the suspension of hard waste pickups. 

“I would have thought that a similar pamphlet alerting us to the postponement and the reasons for it should have been distributed by now,” they wrote. 

“If not, many residents will put out their rubbish on the previously stated date to find that their junk will not be picked up and they may have to remove their items or possibly incur a fine for littering.”

The Voice has spotted two junk piles so far waiting vainly for a pickup, one on Carr Place and one on Morriston Street. Both piles have been wrapped up in City of Vincent-branded tape declaring it is “illegally dumped material under investigation”. 

The Vincent council website warns of an enormous $62,500 maximum fine for individuals convicted of illegal dumping under the state Environmental Protection Act.

We asked the council if they might go easy on these dumpers given they could well be out of the loop about the cancellation.

Mayor Emma Cole says “we are asking residents for their co-operation to remove items from the verge until a new collection is announced”.

She says the council didn’t send out a flyer promising any bulk pickup dates “and there are no plans to produce a flyer on the postponement.

“Flyers will be distributed once we have a new date for collection.”

Bulk pickup dates were posted up on the council website in March before being pulled down shortly afterwards. 

The bulk hard waste collection will be resumed once it’s “safe and practical” but the practice might not be around much longer in Vincent.

In the coming months councillors will consider whether to continue verge collections or to move to alternatives like tip passes, skip bin allowances, or some other system, to prevent the massive and unsightly piles of loot.

If you’ve got particularly smelly mattresses or whitegoods you need to get rid of sooner, the city’s still picking those up for a cost (from $20 for a mattress up to $66 for an aircon). 

ARTIST Gareth Price (aka Scroller) has reimagined a classic 20th century photograph with a pandemic-safe rendering of the 1945 photo “V-J Day in Times Square”.

Usually known for his metalwork back home in Somerset, Price was keen to paint a cheery mural. He got onto Vincent council about any empty wallspace, and was hooked up with the Mt Hawthorn cafe Fields of Vincent.

Price’s work “prevails” adds some contemporary PPE to the mysterious kissers, who have never been conclusively identified, and they’re surrounded by spiky coronavirus-spheres that’ve been herded into a love heart. Vincent mayor Emma Cole says: “The Covid-19 pandemic is a once in a lifetime event and it will now be captured in Vincent through this artwork for years to come. This mural will remind us that is it more important than ever to take care of each other, stay safe and look forward to the day when we can hug each other once again.”

FAMILY day care services claim to have been left short-changed by the Morrison government.

The federal government’s Business Continuity Payment package covers 50 per cent of all childcare fees and gets rid of gap charges for parents, and was meant to tide childcare services and educators over until parents return to work after the Covid-19 shutdown.

But Family Day Care WA said its members were losing up to 80 per cent of their income because the previous childcare subsidy and parent gap fee comprised their income.

FDCWA chairperson Gabrielle Crosse said the damage to the family day care sector was huge. 

“Educators want to support the community, especially essential workers, but they are running out of money and they can’t get access to JobKeeper,” she said.

Ms Crosse said there was a lot of “fine print” attached to JobKeeper and the requirements kept changing so the window for day care services to apply for the payments was getting smaller.

She said family day care services were different to normal childcare; they offered flexibility such as overnight and weekend care.  

“Which is why a lot of essential workers rely on these services,” she said. “The package brought in has support for childcare centres, but does not account for family day care.”

Ms Crosse said many family day care centres had already closed and those still operating might only last another month because they had no income to sustain them.

The FDCWA has contacted both state and federal governments with their concerns, and possible solutions, but had not received a response.

by DEANNA CORRIERI

A CONCRETE design is finally out to fix the Green Street/Main Street/Scarborough Beach Road intersection.

The McGowan government has set aside $3 million to fix the spaghetti mess, which contributed to about 30 crashes a year between 2014-2018.

Locals packed a brainstorming workshop in November last year, with a roundabout at Green and Main widely supported. It’s a tight fit, but closing off the one-way access into Birrell Street makes that solution feasible.

State Perth MP John Carey hosted the workshop and has been nudging the project along: “It’s a very difficult intersection to design for,” he says.

Complicating factors include the angle of the roads, the slope of the hill, and existing underground works which make an underpass impossible.

The design’s main aims are:

• Removing the dangerous two-stage road crossing when heading west from Green onto SBR;

• Providing a safe right-turn option from SBR into Green (hopefully cutting out the Merredith Street rat-run); 

• Allowing right turns from eastbound SBR to Brady, reducing rat runners on Eucla Street; and, Improvements to walker and cyclist safety with a new shared path south of SBR, raised pedestrian crossing on SBR, and a lit pedestrian crossing at the main intersection.

“This has been a really exhaustive process,” Mr Carey says, noting there’s been many different opinions on how to fix it. “I am not a traffic engineer or a road design expert, so I rely on the advice from Main Roads and those traffic engineering consultants who have come forward with this proposal.”

Stirling and Vincent councils will consult with residents, and if it’s supported Main Roads will do a final detailed design before starting construction.

An interim measure with some altered road markings is in place in the meantime, so pay attention when driving through.

Step on it

JOHN CAREY  is hoping to capitalise on the extra walkers out getting exercise during Covid-19 to get some of his  pedestrian black spots fixed.

The state Perth MP’s previous surveys led to the Beatty Park crossing and the pending Charles Street crossing near Kyilla Primary, due to start flashing in August.

Mr Carey says pedestrian problems are an oft-raised point when people contact his office and the time’s right for another survey.

“Because of the pandemic, one thing that has been observed is a lot more people are walking, and as a result we think it’s a well timed opportunity to ask people… if there’s other hot spots that need fixing.”

The survey’s at www. surveymonkey.com/r/TNSCDSW or head to our online story at perthvoiceinteractive.com where it’ll be an easily-clicked link.

Stories by DAVID BELL

THE Noongar name Kaal Yimniny (fire here) has been endorsed for Perth council’s upcoming Hay Street public space.

More Aboriginal language names are also on the cards at the urging of state Aboriginal affairs minister Ben Wyatt. 

The draft working name for the space just in front of the district court was “Irwin Street Plaza”. 

The street is named for lieutenant governor Frederick Irwin who ordered the summary execution by firing squad of Noongar leader Midgegooroo, about 250 metres away at the old gaol in 1834. 

Irwin was also in charge of a party of soldiers responsible for the first massacre in the Swan River Colony near Lake Monger in May 1830. While Irwin denied any Whadjuks were killed, the Voice recently discovered an account of the “affray” from a London journal published seven months later, which claimed seven deaths.

“The quarrel commenced in an attempt at theft by the natives at Perth,” the report from the Journal of the Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres recounts, claiming to have picked up the story from “Indian newspapers”.

“The Aborigines made a great shew of courage: they dared the settlers to fight; and one of them advanced and quietly knocked down a corporal with his waddie, a stick about two feet and a half long, and an inch in diameter. 

“The chiefs ascended the trees like monkeys, and chattered to (the newspapers say harangued) their tribes from the tops of the branches. 

“In such situations they were shot at with facility; but they feared not the thunder and lightning of the Europeans; and seven of their number were killed.”

In July 2019 Mr Wyatt wrote to Perth city council encouraging it to use more Aboriginal names in line with a state-wide strategy.

The city yarned with Whadjuk and other Aboriginal elders through its Elder’s Advisory Group chaired by Noel Nannup. The EAG suggested the name Kaal Yimniny. The area was once used for traditional burning.

Perth commissioner Len Kosova said at the April 28 council meeting: “I think it’s a fabulous idea and I look forward to seeing more local places with Whadjuk Noongar naming incorporated in the future.”

Commissioners endorsed it unanimously and Landgate will have to do the final tick off, and they’re most likely to rubber stamp it. Landgate had already been consulted on the name and confirmed Kaal Yimniny won’t have to have a wadjella suffix (like “Plaza” or “Square”).

The new public square’s part of the council’s upcoming East End Revitalisation Project which aims to spruce up the area through more greenery, luxury-width footpaths, outdoor dining and a 20kmh speed limit.