Perth Voice Interactive

“MEN are afraid that women will laugh at them, women are afraid that men will kill them.”

This Margaret Atwood quote has been repeated like an anthem of solidarity by women across the country following the murder of 22-year-old comedian Eurydice Dixon in Melbourne last week.

Ms Dixon was walking home through Princes Park after a successful stand-up gig when she was raped and murdered, with 19-year-old Jaymes Todd turning himself into police the following day.

Hundreds gathered in Hyde Park on Monday night for a vigil memorial, coinciding with services Australia-wide, to “remember Eurydice and other women killed whilst going about their everyday lives.”

Event organiser Evangeline Douglas says many women feel too afraid to walk through Hyde Park alone.

Fear

“Hyde Park is our Princes Park, it’s the place women avoid at night for fear of what did happen to Eurydice and it was chosen for that reason.”

Ms Douglas says the police response to Ms Dixon’s death is rhetoric we’ve all heard before.

“I think all women do recognise that it is our responsibility to look after our safety, but there’s great disparity between what those reasonable safety measures are considered to be for a man and a woman.

“Women have to go above and beyond reasonable expectations and that’s what makes us all so frustrated.

“I am more than willing to take responsibility of my safety just as much as any man my age.”

Perth Greens candidate Caroline Perks addressed vigil attendees, asking “what more do we have to do to be safe?”

“Women shouldn’t feel afraid to walk our streets. Women shouldn’t have to change our behaviours and still live in fear for their lives. Maybe it’s time the focus changed.

Safe

“What more can the greater collective do to keep us safe? What more can governments do? What can policy-makers do? What more can men do?”

Fremantle musician Stella Donnelly, backed by a female choir, sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

She says the police’s response to Ms Dixon’s death was disappointing.

“I think a police officer telling people to have more situational awareness and take responsibility for their own safety is just such a different rhetoric for what you hear when there is a one punch attack on a Sydney street from a man to a man.

“I don’t understand how the responsibility can be placed back on these women when they are walking home,” she says.

Twenty eight women have been murdered by men in the last 24 weeks in Australia, according to The Red Heart Campaign, and Ms Donnelly says the argument “it’s not all men” has to stop.

Both women said they were heartened by the number of males attending the memorial.

“One of the first men who rocked up was a tradie who finished work and came straight to the park and handed in a candle, that was quite special,” Ms Douglas says.

She told the Voice she walked through Hyde Park at night for the first time after the vigil.

“As tragic and awful as what happened to Eurydice was, seeing 1500 people light up Princes Park and 400 people light up Hyde Park, along with vigils in Albany, Hobart and in Launceston; it shows that we share the same fears and frustrations but we are not defeated by it.”

by MOLLY SCHMIDT

A CONTROVERSIAL anti-vaccination billboard advert on Brisbane Street has been replaced after being defaced by scornful graffiti.

The ad, which directs people to US anti-vaccination group Learn The Risk, asked; “Do you know what’s in a vaccine?”.

The Australian Medical Association WA labelled it “appalling” and “promoting lies and conspiracy theories”.

Last weekend the contentious ad was vandalised with someone painting over the website address and replacing it with: “A: Common Sense.”

The Voice understands the ad was supposed to be up for four weeks, but by Tuesday (June 19) it had been replaced by an advert for scented candles.

Concerned

The billboard is managed by APN Outdoor, and its standard policy is to remove vandalised signs for re-printing, so the anti-vaccination ad may return.

After concerned locals contacted Vincent mayor Emma Cole, she issued a statement Friday: “We have thoroughly investigated whether we have the power to get the advertising on the billboard taken down.

“Unfortunately we don’t have that authority.

“The billboard structure has permanent approval and our regulatory authority does not extend to the content of the advertising on the billboard.”

However the city did submit a complaint to the Advertising Standards Bureau.

by DAVID BELL

ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour at Weld Square is not getting any better says Brika owner Simon Psaros, after diners were attacked with pepperspray at his Greek restaurant last weekend.

He opened Brika opposite the park about five years back, hoping that it’d help improve the area.

Three years ago Brika hosted a meeting with police and other concerned business owners, calling for action to curb the anti-social behaviour at Weld Square.

“I think it’s gotten worse,” Mr Psaros told the Voice this week.

On Saturday night at about 9.30pm a woman pepper-sprayed diners in the restaurant’s alfresco area, resulting in one woman being admitted to hospital.

Evelyn Mogridge, 39, was charged with possessing a controlled weapon and two counts of administering poison.

She fronted the magistrate’s court on Monday with The West Australian quoting her as telling the magistrate “you are not a very wise woman. You have no authority to speak” and pulling out both the F and C word mid-hearing.

Mr Psaros says more needs to be done to curb violent and threatening behaviour in the area.

“Certainly from what I can see there’s a lack of action from the top,” he says.

Three years after that crisis meeting, he says; “I don’t think enough is happening at all,” and added that grievances fall on “deaf ears”.

The park is a gathering point for the homeless and for those going to Manna Inc’s free hot meal service, running five days a week.

“I’m sympathetic of what the disadvantaged are going through, but the behaviour is not acceptable,” Mr Psaros told the Voice.

Aside from the anti-social troubles, his restaurant is excellent. Check out the Perth Voice’s food review in our May 26 edition at http://www.perthvoiceinteractive.com.

AN Iranian photographer detained on Manus Island has used his mobile phone camera to showcase “the beautiful corners of my prison” for an exhibition at the Perth City Arts Space.

Still imprisoned indefinitely and unable to attend his own exhibition, he will try and Skype the opening night on Wednesday June 20.

For most Australians the words “Manus Island” bring to mind pictures of barbed wire fences, protests and desperation, but ‘Kaaveh’ Maleknia’s works are of wide open skies mirrored in glass-like waters.

The Voice spoke with Mr Maleknia on the phone from Manus Island.

“I really like clouds because it kind of represents freedom for me, being in the sky and flying,” says the 34-year-old who had a gliding licence back in Iran.

“My main message is please set me free, don’t kill me. Please set me free, I am human.”

Stuck on Manus since August 2013, Mr Maleknia has found beauty in his “Australian-made hell”.

“We need some beautiful, transient distractions to help us tolerate continuous tortures.”

He says photography was a hobby of his, but Australian guards confiscated and broke his camera.

“The three first years we were forced not to have any picturing devices so I was using simple cell phones to capture all aspects of my prison and imprisonment.”

Mr Maleknia worked as a logistics manager for a Chinese oil company in Iran.

“I had one of the highest paying jobs in Iran, but it was nothing compared to having freedom. Iranian citizens doesn’t have personal freedoms. You cannot wear the clothes you like, you can’t go outside with your girlfriend, you can’t be happy outside.

“If you meet with a girl in your car and if the girl is not your wife and you can’t prove that she’s your wife, you will both be arrested and they will bust your car.

“Police arrest you for having fun,” Mr Maleknia said.

He describes being “kidnapped and smuggled” to Manus Island less than a month after arriving at Christmas Island by boat and being detained there.

He says he spends every day in his bedroom as Australian guards and local police have threatened to kill him.

Twelve men have died in PNG and Nauru under the policy of offshore processing since 2012, including the 2014 killing of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati. Two people were convicted of his murder, one a security guard.

Without a policy change, Mr Maleknia won’t ever be able to settle in Australia.

“My only aim is to set free from here, but all the world seems against this, me as an Iranian being free.”

The exhibition, organised by Refugee Rights Action Network WA and Paper Mountain, runs till June 27, 10am to 4pm daily at Perth City Arts Space (Northbridge Piazza, corner of James St and Lake St).

Mr Maleknia’s works are available for purchase at http://www.society6.com/maleknia.

He’s not the only Manus detainee turning to art to cope, with fellow Iranian refugee Mohammed Ali Maleki publishing a poetry book that will be launched in Fremantle at Saga Bookshop on June 22.

by MOLLY SCHMIDT

A NEW town square at North Perth is edging closer with Vincent councillors set to approve the design on Tuesday night (June 26).

Dubbed “North Perth Common”, the new $750,000 open space at the corner of View and Fitzgerald Streets has been two years in the making, with the state government kicking in $250,000.

It’s been designed to hold events and as a place to just hang out and chill, according to the city.

The centrepiece is a public lighting installation with three rings of coloured light hovering overhead, with the interactive lighting changing as people pass though the space.

There’ll be matching circular designs on the ground, and the road will be narrowed and raised so it’s flush with the pavement.

It’s hoped the changes will make the square feel more pedestrian friendly and encourage motorists to drive slower.

One ficus tree will be removed – years of pruning to keep it away from power lines means it’s probably not healthy enough to be transplanted – but it’ll be replaced by 14 new trees creating 370sqm of canopy. Currently there is about 100sqm.

Bike friendly

Vincent mayor Emma Cole says; “North Perth Common is unique in that a public art piece was central to the development of the design from the very beginning.

“The circular lighting installation provides light to the area after dark, it invites people into the space and creates a cohesive whole with the circles carried throughout the design.

“It will also include a projector which will be used to ‘cast’ artworks on the street.

“Our community told us they wanted more shade and less space for cars and parking.

“Whilst cars will continue to use the space, it will be much more pedestrian and bike friendly and a slower speed environment.

“It is a very green space that is flexible and able to be adapted for a variety of community uses.”

The Common is part of a push to create new focal points in town centres, like Mary Street Piazza, which won a commendation from the Planning Institute of Australia award in 2017, and Oxford Reserve, which won a couple of gongs in 2016.

If the design gets the thumbs up from councillors on Tuesday it’ll progress to the detailed design and tender stage.

by DAVID BELL

THE BEAUFORT Street Network has been “recharged” in a bid to turn around the flagging fortunes of the street.

The network, a group of locals and business owners passionate about their area, held “Beaufort Street Recharged” on Monday (June 18) to recruit flesh blood and revitalise the organisation.

Over the last 10 years the network has completed dozens of projects, ranging from small street art installations to running the mammoth Beaufort Street Festival, which grew to become Perth’s biggest street party.

Usurped

But after the festival wound up the network lost its focus, and founder John Carey says Leederville has usurped Beaufort Street as the premier inner-city destination.

“For a long time it led the way, but I think it’s fair to say that Beaufort Street is having some significant struggles,” the Perth MP says.

“And this is said kindly, but it has lost its crown as the premier town centre in the inner city to Leederville.

“Leederville is pumping most days of the week and has that great mix of retail, restaurants and cafes.

“It has that eclectic mix, whereas Beaufort Street … foot traffic is way down, there are vacancies and there’s been a large number of franchises move in.”

Crossroads

The network was the state’s first “town team” and the model has now been replicated across Perth, from the Noranda Activation Network to the Vic Park Collective.

Vincent mayor Emma Cole says “town teams” like the network have been extremely helpful in guiding the town centres’ futures. The council’s place manager works with the town teams and has been a major funder of a lot of their events, with more money on the budget next year for infrastructure and events.

“It’s a model we definitely want to see continue … it’s led to really great things,” she says.

“As a town team, they’ve recognised that they are at a bit of a crossroads.

“They’ve had people involved that over time have left and they need new blood.”

Network executive member Simone Robeson says that lately “there seems to be a lot of interest in the area; it seems to be coming around again”.

They’re restructuring the network to have subcommittee leaders for business, not-for-profits, events, infrastructure, marketing and finance, rather than one bloated executive.

Ms Robeson says the amount of interest in the leadership positions was encouraging and they received a healthy number of nominations.

If you want to still get on board, or just be a member, you can nominate at hello@beaufortstreet.com.au

The network will have its AGM on Wednesday July 4 at the Queens Hotel, 6pm.

by DAVID BELL