Perth Voice Interactive

THE Vincent community has launched a campaign to reduce the speed limit across all the city’s residential roads to 40kmh.

Cyclist Geraldine Box and pedestrian advocate Andrew Main have started the “Our Streets at 40” group and are collecting signatures for a petition they will lodge with the state parliament.

In May 2016 Vincent councillors endorsed a plan for a two-year trial of 40kmh in parts of South Ward, but it’s stuck in governmental limbo, and Our Streets is now calling for a 40kmh speed limit on all residential roads in Vincent.

The campaign is modelled after Britain’s 20’s Plenty movement, which has succeeded in getting many local councils to drop speed limits to 20mph (32kmh).

Our Streets at 40 had a stall at Sunday’s Mt Hawthorn Streets and Lanes festival, and Ms Box says the general attitude was supportive and it feels like they’re on the brink of change.

She says people were telling her “we want residential streets to be more than just car sewers or rat runs”.

Fewer accidents

International research shows that when speeds are reduced, pedestrians are more likely to walk, or even use the street to kick a ball around.

It also means the “car is king” mindset changes and motorists start driving more safely.

The statistics vary slightly from one study to the next, but when a pedestrian is hit by a car at 50kmh they’re about twice as likely to die than at 40kmh, and fewer accidents happen at this speed.

Perth state MP John Carey was Vincent mayor when the council endorsed the 40kmh trial and supports the new push.

Last week he held a community safety forum with police minister Michelle Roberts, where crime was expected to be the main topic of discussion, but Mr Carey says “the first issue raised by residents was speeding on local streets.”

Ms Roberts asked for a show of hands supporting 40kmh on local roads.

“Think it’s fair to say 75 per cent supported it,” Mr Carey says.

The group has a Facebook page “Our Streets at 40”, and they’ll be circulating their petition at local shopping centres before presenting it to parliament.

by DAVID BELL

CANCER COUNCIL WA and the Australian Council on Smoking and Health have joined forces to help the growing number of apartment dwellers living next door to heavy smokers.

Following the Voice’s recent story about an ex-nurse driven out of her house by the chainsmoker next door (“Smoked out,” Voice, April 21, 2018), ACOSH got in contact to say they’ve just developed a guide to help strata residents to introduce non-smoking by-laws.

“We get lots of calls about it and this issue is going to be more and more important as the government introduces its planning policies, which is really about high density living around transport nodes,” says ACOSH president Maurice Swanson.

Mr Swanson said the guide gave a run-down on the dangers of secondhand smoke and potential solutions for people in strata complexes, from simply knocking on a neighbour’s door and asking them to butt out, to imposing a full smoking ban.

Full bans through a schedule 1 bylaw are difficult to achieve because they require the approval of all owners, but less complete bylaws can leave set areas free for smokers and be gradually implemented.

Landgate is currently reforming WA’s strata laws, but an appeal from ACOSH to take its lead and introduce a ready-to-go, non-smoking bylaw has fallen on deaf ears.

Dragging its feet

“[Planning minister] Rita Saffioti and her parliamentary secretary John Carey through Landgate said they have so much on their plate they are not going to include this standard bylaw,” Mr Swanson said. He says given Landgate could have lifted much of what was needed from ACOSH’s guide, he’s not buying that as an excuse.

He also criticised the state’s housing authority for dragging its feet on smoking reform. He says while in Opposition housing minister Peter Tinley seemed keen to tackle the issue, but since coming to power had been “seduced” by the department’s bureaucrats who say it’s too hard and will be unfair on the state’s less fortunate.

“We have a case of a grandmother who is looking after her granddaughter and has a smoker living next door. She’s really worried about the health impact of her granddaughter,” Mr Swanson said.

ACOSH was formed in 1976 and Mr Swanson has been involved since joining the board in 1982.

“ACOSH has led all the main legal reforms on tobacco control, including higher taxes, plain packaging, money for mass media campaigns, both locally and nationally.”

He says one of his highlights came with the victory of former Alfred Cove independent MP Janet Woollard, who had a background in health having been a cardio nurse and married to a heart surgeon. Holding the balance of power in parliament, she came to ACOSH and asked what more needed to be done to tackle smoking.

That led to WA introducing the country’s first non-smoking alfresco laws, which are now applied across the country.

For a copy of the non-smoking strata guide, get in contact with ACOSH at 6365 5436 or http://www.acosh.org

by STEVE GRANT

A BROKEN toilet fixed with a paperclip, a cracked bathtub patched up with gaffer tape and renters forced to give up their pets after being told they could have them.

These were just a few of the issues raised at the renters’ rights forum at the City of Perth library on May 2.

“The unfortunate reality for so many people in our community is the Australian dream is dead and the prospect of a lifetime renting is a reality,” says Greens MLC Tim Clifford, who organised the forum.

“It’s not about bashing home owners, it’s about fixing an unbalanced and rigged system that negatively impacts so many people’s lives.”

Mr Clifford says he held the forum after reading troubling stories from some of the 754 people who responded to a rental health check survey he ran earlier this year:

“The toilet stopped working–we were told a plumber would come but the landlord fixed it with a paperclip,” one renter said.

That wasn’t the only bathroom problem: “the bath cracked and cut my foot. We thought the bath would be fixed/replaced but it was only taped up with gaffer tape.”

Another reported a broken oven door that was listed on an inspection maintenance request form for three years before it was replaced.

Others reported being told they could have pets, but once the lease was signed and they were about to move in, the request was turned down.

More than 50 per cent of renters in the survey said that they put up with maintenance problems because they were scared their lease might not be renewed if they complained.

Mr Clifford said, “The turnout to the event made us realise how much people care about this issue.

“We heard from people of all backgrounds and from all around Perth who brought their ideas and concerns to the conversation.

“We are even more committed to making sure that renters are given a fair go.

“We even had landlords along who, after hearing both sides of the story seemed to be able to see how they could implement the proposed changes to renting legislation.”

At the forum, Tenancy WA’s principal solicitor Kate Davis said renters were being refused requests to make even minor modifications.

She cited the 2015 case of the death of 22-month-old baby Reef Kite, who was killed when a chest of drawers tipped over on him. His mother had asked to the landlord previously if she could attach the bookcase to the wall. The request was turned down.

“We shouldn’t have to wait to get to a coronial inquest before improving renters rights,” she said. “Tenants should be able to make reasonable minor modifications.”

She said her organisation’s website showed a lot of renters were in need of help: they had 100,000 downloads of their fact sheets last year.

Tenancy WA also wants an end to a landlord’s right to terminate a lease without grounds, and they want minimum standards for the condition of properties that have to be met before they can be leased, which is also part of Greens WA policy. Tasmania brought in a minimum standards law in 2016 requiring properties be weatherproof and structurally sound, clean, in good repair and secure.

The Residential Tenancies Act WA is up for review by parliament later this year.

Mr Clifford says given the turnout; “I will be opening up my office in the coming weeks to offer people the opportunity to come and continue the conversation.  I will also be running locally-based forums in suburbs in the East Metro to make sure everyone gets a chance to have their say about renting and how it can be made fairer for everyone.”

by DAVID BELL

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What renters are saying

• 60 per cent of people believe they’ll never own their own home

• Almost half have needed assistance from a tenancy advocate service

• 90 per cent of renters have a lease of less than 12 months, but 80 per cent of them would prefer to have a longer lease

• Nearly half said they didn’t consider their rent affordable

• More than 30 per cent said they did not feel safe in their own home, but about the same number reported landlords turned down the requests for improved safety.

• More than half said their home is neither cool enough in summer or warm enough in winter

IT’S more frontispiece than full novel, but hopes for a dedicated Vincent Writers Centre have at last turned a page.

Starting later this month, WA Poets will be holding a 16-week trial of workshops in the subset of the North Perth town hall, courtesy of a cultural grant from Vincent council.

It’s been a long journey for the project’s champion, Peter Jeffery, who’s been chair and committee member of WA Poets for more than 13 years.

During that time he’s been searching for a permanent home for the organisation.

Mr Jeffery says WA’s three other writing centres—located in heritage buildings—have been remarkably resilient, and if Vincent could establish a centre it could become a cultural landmark.

“The writing centre can offer something for everyone,” he says.

“This will allow a day session for retired seniors, skill enhancement courses for the unemployed and migrant groups, and self-worth therapy for individuals needing such.”

The daily workshops start on Thursday May 24 from 9.30am-12.30pm and 6.30pm-9.30pm.

Mr Jeffery says the evening sessions will benefit those who are earning a crust during the day.

The WA poet grew up on Oxford Street and says his love of language grew out of necessity.

“As a young boy with a deaf mother I could read before I went to school, for I had graduated through sign language to using the one-hand and two-hand manual alphabets that were developed by a priest and his deaf gardener several centuries ago,” he told the Voice.

He says he and his mother visited the New Oxford cinema—now Luna—three to four times a week.

“For us it was the equivalent of 24-hour television and we would escape into that fantasy world with me interpreting scene by scene. No wonder I fell in love with words and became an English teacher.”

by STEVE GRANT