Perth Voice Interactive

MOUNT LAWLEY playwright Doreshawar Khan was partway through her latest work about three Muslim siblings when news broke of the Christchurch Mosque shooting.

She says it was a fearful time for Muslims in Perth as they faced prejudice in the aftermath.

“I’ve had friends who’ve stopped wearing the hijab after this, because they were abused in Forrest Chase days after the attack happened. They were told; ‘I hope someone shoots up your mosque’.

“We had a vigil in Forrest Chase, and there were people yelling at other human beings who were just standing there with candles in silence.

Obscenities

“They just walk by and yell horrible obscenities.”

Khan says seeing the attack in a place like New Zealand, with its progressive prime minister, made her fear what could happen in Australia given Parliament’s lineup.

“If places like New Zealand aren’t safe, then how do you survive in a country that’s starting to get more right wing day-by-day?

“It makes you feel really unsafe.

“The fact it happened in a mosque, on a holy day … to have that defiled in such a way, it made me question; ’if there is a God, why is this happening?’”

Her play Sharbat deals with three migrant Australian siblings with differing levels of faith (housewife-turned-influencer Shaz, punk medical student Batty and anxiety-ridden middle child Roo)  struggling to find the right mix of religious and cultural makeup.

Sharbat is a sweet cordial diluted according to personal tastes which is popular in many Islamic countries.

“Just like every person thinks their ratio of cordial to water is the correct way, there’s a lot of opinion as to how you be a proper Muslim, or how you be Australian,” Khan says.

Coming from a family of three kids, Sharbat was already a personal story, but Khan’s experiences in the aftermath of Christchurch were woven in to give it added poignancy.

In the living room dramedy, three estranged sisters reunite when the Muslim holiday Eid coincidentally falls on Christmas Day. They debate racism, Australian identify and Islamic feminism.

Khan says she wanted “to showcase the diversity within a very misunderstood and typecast community and also to normalise the Muslim Australian experience.

“I’m hoping [audiences] see their own families reflected in our space. They’ll see the meddling sibling, the bratty sibling, they’ll see their anxious selves in the middle child,” she says.

Sharbat runs to November 2 at Blue Room Theatre, tickets $20-$30 via blueroom.org.au

by DAVID BELL

WHILE Perth city council’s staffing costs soared to unprecedented levels last year, its executives couldn’t even tell how many employees they had.

An accounting consultant commissioned by the official state government inquiry into the council appeared at public hearings last week and said nearly half the PCC’s total expenses last year were taken up by staffing costs. 

“The City of Perth’s labour expenditure has been growing at a much faster rate of growth than any other jurisdiction,” John Nicolaou told the inquiry.

But Mr Nicolaou said because the council couldn’t tell him how many staff it employed, he couldn’t tell if the increasing costs were from having more employees or from increasing wages.

Key input

“[Staff numbers are] a pretty key input into any budget setting and it’s an important indicator of the efficiency or otherwise of how an organisation’s running,” he said.

Mr Nicolaou had been asked to report on council finances between 2011 and 2018 and said during that time its position had “deteriorated” as the expenses closed in on its cash reserves.

When commissioner Tony Power asked Mr Nicolaou whether this should have prompted someone to query the exact “head count” at the council, the economist agreed but noted that the sheer amount of parking cash flowing into the council had masked the emerging problem.

Mr Nicolaou also told the hearing the city didn’t have a business plan for its parking operations for years, despite requiring one by law.

When that was discovered in 2017, he said the resulting business plan was best described as an inadequate “brochure”.

Commissioners standing in for suspended councillors signalled in June this year they’d be weaning the city off parking income, confident it was viable now the council was running more efficiently. A proper business plan for on-street parking is in the pipeline.

Former council corporate services director Robert Mianich also appeared at last week’s hearing, where he was grilled over a letter from current CEO Murray Jorgensen criticising the Corporate Business Plan he’d prepared for the city.

Mr Jorgensen complained the plan “contains no financial projections” and no information about the council’s long-term financial position.

“[That] may be appropriate for a small, unsophisticated shire; a business plan that does not contain any financial information is clearly not appropriate for a large undertaking such as the City of Perth, turning over some $200 million per annum,” Mr Jorgensen wrote.

by DAVID BELL

TWO residents whose sit-in protest earlier this month prevented a 30-year-old tree in their strata complex being cut down, fear they’ve been the victim of an oddly macabre payback.

While James Kozak and June Winsome-Smith’s appeal against the removal of the grevillea robusta grinds its way through the State Administrative Tribunal (“Tree warrior,” Voice, October 12, 2019), the pair discovered this week that a Buddha statue they’d put in the complex’s common garden had been decapitated.

They believe it was a deliberate act and have reported it to police.

Breach

Meanwhile the complex’s Council of Owners issued a breach notice to Ms Winsome-Smith on Monday, claiming her protest signs on the grevillea were stuck up without approval and breached the complex’s by-laws.

The CoO threatened it might take further action if the signs aren’t removed, but that’s prompted Ms Winsome-Smith and Mr Kozak to submit two contempt of court applications to the SAT.

They’re arguing the threats undermined the jurisdiction of the SAT, which is arbitrating the matter.

The SAT’s involvement has also unwittingly dragged Bayswater council back into Ms Winsome-Smith’s dispute with the CoO.

The council had previously given the CoO the go-ahead to remove a verge garden she’d planted, but has now retracted that advice.

CEO Andrew Brien said there’s now uncertainty over who can act on behalf of the property owners.

“The city understands that this matter has been referred to the SAT,” Mr O’Brien said.

Ownership

“The city has since advised the strata company that it does not support the redevelopment of the verge garden until the issue of ownership is resolved.”

Mr Kozak and Ms Winsome-Smith have also petitioned the SAT to sack the CoO.

A PILATES studio in Maylands has been one of the first small businesses to benefit from Bayswater council’s red tape war.

Under Bayswater’s new rules, which are designed to tackle high shop vacancies, cafes, pop-up shops, galleries and even community markets can operate for up to six months without requiring planning approval. 

Pilates with Bec moved into the vacant shopfront at 67 Eighth Avenue and now has a permanent lease. 

Council CEO Andrew Brien says the relaxed rules help entrepreneurs and landlords. 

“Budding entrepreneurs may want to take the opportunity to try out a new business idea without committing to a long-term lease while shoppers are treated to a new experience – it really is a win-win situation. 

“Pushing the requirement for planning approval out to six months will also take the pressure off landlords who are often out of pocket during the hunt for a new tenant. 

“Pilates with Bec in Maylands is a wonderful example of how cutting red tape has resulted in a positive outcome for the local business, landlord and the community.” 

The city has also allowed alfresco dining without an application, and made it easier for businesses to install parklets and planter boxes.

AN innovative new podcast about Perth’s hidden history has been launched by Perth council.

Untold Stories of Perth examines themes of identity, discrimination, and prejudice, with the three 10-minute episodes already uploaded looking at the Ugly Men’s Association which raised money for returned soldiers, a colourful snake charmer, Italian and Chinese communities and the segregation of Aboriginal people.

The podcast was created by local broadcaster Barking Wolf Productions, using the council’s cultural collections such as oral histories.

City of Perth chair commissioner Andrew Hammond said the aim was to allow “some of Perth’s important but less publicised stories to emerge… Indigenous and multicultural stories were high on the list of those the city wanted to explore and make available.”

The first episode examines the Ugly Men’s Association and the amusement park White City it helped set up on the river foreshore, which was eventually shut down over concerns of immorality. 

One of its most colourful attractions was snake charmer Rocky Vane, who used to let his reptilian stars bite him in order to promote the snake bite remedy he had on sale. Sadly, it proved ineffective when his wife was bitten during a show and she died.

Undeterred, he was back on stage almost immediately, but within a year his business partner was also killed during a performance and the authorities told poor Rocky it was time to pack up.

He put his snakes into a rowboat and dumped them on Carnac Island, and many believe the scaly infestation he caused haunts the island to this day.

The episode also addresses the moralistic streak which dominated city life at the time, and the rampant discrimination and segregation of the Perth Prohibited Area.

That segues neatly into episode 2; the Coolbaroo Club. It was a vibrant social community developed by Aboriginal people, including founding member Helena Clarke (nee Murphy) – who at the age of 18, defied discriminatory legislation by hitchhiking to Perth.

The third episode explores the lives of Perth’s early Italian and Chinese communities, and the tensions they felt living in a new community but trying to maintain cultural connection to their former homeland.

Researcher Steve Kinnane features in the podcast and is pleased with what the project has achieved. 

“The City of Perth has been doing some amazing work in recent years, revealing the Noongar and wider Aboriginal histories of the city, and it’s a very mature and healing approach to our shared histories in WA,” Mr Kinnane said.

Comm’r Hammond says the podcasts have proved popular.

“The response to the podcasts has already shown the great depth of interest in these stories and this style of podcast in general. It’s important that these lesser known stories from Perth’s history – such as the Prohibited Area – are becoming better known.”

Untold Stories of Perth episodes can be found at: community.perth.wa.gov.au/historycentre/?page_id=2673.

by MIREILLE CHRISTIE

VOTING is open for the most popular photograph at this year’s Vincent’s local history awards. The awards attracted a record 205 photographic entries, with voting for the most popular open at http://www.vincent.wa.gov.au/library or in person at the library on Loftus Street until October 27 (the winning voter gets a framed copy of their favourite pic). Judges will choose another two photographs as well as a written entry for awards.

This 1980 pic by Terence Mathews of boys at the Matlock Street Deli is one of the entries, but the Local History Centre is keen to find out more: If you recognise any of the boys in the image they’d love to hear from you.