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A HIGHLIGHT of this month’s Law Week will be a discussion about female Aboriginal leaders in the legal industry.
Contributing to the panel debate will be Kelsi Forrest, a Wajak Barlardong Mineng Nyungar, who was awarded the inaugural Aboriginal Women’s Legal Education Trust Scholarship in 2012.
She now works in the Indigenous law team at Roe Legal Services, dealing with native title claims and representing a number of Aboriginal Corporations and Indigenous Trusts.
“Education should be the number one priority in terms of ensuring more Aboriginal people are able to pursue opportunities not only in law, but in other professions as well,” Ms Forrest says.
“I also think that having support from within the profession is important to achieve wider representation of Aboriginal people.
“I know that a few Aboriginal school students will be in attendance at our Law Week event and I think the value of hearing from our esteemed panel cannot be underestimated.
“It is important to show the younger generation that roles in the law are not too far out of reach if you work hard and set your mind to it.”
Ms Forrest grew up in Geraldton before moving to Perth to study at UWA in 2011.
She says that scholarships were an invaluable help while she was at university.
• Kelsi Forrest
“Financial issues should be the least of your worries whilst at university, and unfortunately that is not the case for a lot of students, but having scholarships allows you to focus on studying and ensuring you can achieve the best results,” she says.
“These scholarships not only assisted financially, but networking opportunities also arose though each of them…”
Ms Forrest was admitted to practice in the WA Supreme Court in December last year and the High Court of Australia in March, and says time is now her biggest enemy.
“One of the main challenges I faced and still face is juggling a number of commitments that have arisen because of my interests in fostering reconciliation and mentoring young people,” she says.
“There are many opportunities for young Aboriginal people to be involved in their community and engage with initiatives and I have found that it is really easy to overcommit yourself.
“Sometimes you need to sit back and realise that you need to look after yourself and ensure your mental health and wellbeing are prioritised.”
There’s loads of other interesting events in Perth for Law Week, including free legal information sessions, wills day, cyber safety for teachers and the family law property session.
“Law Week is an annual opportunity for the legal profession to engage with the Western Australian community to build a shared understanding of the vital role of the law in our society,” says a spokesperson for the Law Society.
“The law affects each of our daily lives—from knowing our rights under the law, creating employment contracts, how a mediation works, setting up a business, having a will prepared or simply knowing what to do or where to go for legal assistance.”
My culture my story: Aboriginal women leaders in law is at the Old Court House Law Museum, Stirling Gardens, at 11am on Friday May 18. Update: this event is now fully booked.
VINCENT council CEO Len Kosovo stopped a community group from running the city’s biannual plant sale because he thought one of its members—former councillor Dudley Maier—was too negative about the city.
In a February 3 email to staff about the plant sale, Mr Kosova said; “I absolutely will not tolerate participation in our events by persons demonstrating those negative attitudes and behaviours”.
The Claise Brook Catchment Group was allowed to have a stall at a sustainability pop-up beside the plant sale, but were excluded from their usual organisational role for the April 7 event.
The group came up with the idea for a native plant sale 14 years ago and has since helped organise and run the event.
Mr Maier and his partner Sally Lake have also judged the local history awards for years, but have been told that their services will not be required in 2018.
Mr Kosova says the review of how they do their judging is “unrelated” and “is not personal to Mr Maier or Ms Lake”.
• Dudley Maier in happier times with his fork, with Jenny Hopwood and Adele Gismondi. File photo
After he found out they wouldn’t be helping to run the sale this year, Mr Maier submitted a freedom of information request to the city.
An internal email from Mr Kosova to staff stated: “I would like to better understand the nature of Claise Brook Catchment Group’s involvement in this and all CoV events.
“I expressed my disappointment to Jeremy and Craig last year that on numerous occasions in the past a member(s) of the Catchment Group has/have spent their time at these events openly criticising the City and undermining our work to other community members. I absolutely will not tolerate participation in our events by persons demonstrating those negative attitudes and behaviours.
“I’d be disappointed if my clear message on this from last year wasn’t adhered to.
“I look forward to learning more about exactly what is proposed so that I can decide if and how it needs to change.”
Mr Maier is often critical of the city’s operations, routinely attending council meetings to raise his concerns, but he doesn’t feel he’s been “negative”.
“I have been critical of the way the city is being run, but I have not been negative, and I’ve done it in the open, at council meetings, not at community events,” he says.
“This seems like a clumsy attempt to silence legitimate criticism by a member of the community. It could be seen as a form of intimidation or bullying. An active and vocal community is fundamental to a healthy democracy.
“It is totally unacceptable and illogical to punish a community group because of the personal views of one of their members. This sends the wrong signal to other community groups like P&Cs and town teams.
“I know he was unhappy when I tried to stick up for staff members and suggested an independent staff survey to see if there was a morale problem. The sort of survey that has recently identified cultural problems at the City of Perth.
• The 2006 plant sale, partly run by the Claise Brook Catchment Group.
Tarnishing
“Irrespective of the fact that the CEO has resigned, I hope the council will take some action against the CEO to make it clear that this sort of behaviour is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated in future.”
Mr Kosova responds: “In recent years, I have received unsolicited feedback from attendees of the city’s native plant sale that a member(s) of the Claise Brook Catchment Group have been criticising the city and undermining our work to other community members in attendance, despite those person(s) participating in the event on behalf of the Catchment Group and as a volunteer for the city.
“Members of our community are entitled to air their opinions about the city but should, out of common decency and respect, refrain from doing so when they are actively participating in and partnering with the city to deliver a community event.
This behaviour can also adversely reflect on the community group that the person is representing because their negative views can be perceived as the views of the group, thus tarnishing the group and distracting from its core functions and focus. This is the message that was previously provided to staff.”
AN events management company that went bust owing Perth Fringe artists $200,000 was the subject of a string of complaints stretching back to last year’s festival.
Fringe World organised the overall festival, and confirmed to the Voice this week that it cancelled the last week of one of this year’s shows at Noodle Palace following a large range of complaints from artists and punters about JumpClimb.
A Fringe World spokesperson told the Voice there were complaints about JumpClimb dating back to last year.
“In 2017 the Festival received complaints regarding Fringe shows at Noodle Palace being compromised when audiences who had paid to see shows couldn’t get to them due to Noodle Palace party crowds being over-capacity,” the spokesperson said.
“Formal warning was shared with JumpClimb management about these issues at the time.”
The problems continued at this year’s Fringe.
“FW formally removed Noodle Palace from the Festival before its final week, after the Festival received a large range of complaints from artists and patrons about Noodle Palace that indicated mismanagement of the site and events was leading to compromised patron and artist safety,” the spokesperson said.
The Voice understands artists weren’t happy that the Noodle Palace events were effectively a big piss- up, and not arty enough to be considered “Fringe”.
• A Fringe event at Noodle Palace. Photo from Noodle Palace Facebook page
Downturn
Organisers say the festival is “open access”, like the Edinburgh Fringe and others worldwide, and any venue or independent producer can present a program.
JumpClimb directors Aaron Rutter and Paul Fletcher didn’t respond to our questions, but on April 27 they posted on the company’s Facebook page:
“After 7 years creating, running and promoting events for the people of Perth, it is with great sadness we announce JumpClimb will be closing its doors. Unfortunately, a combination of factors including a downturn in ticket sales on recent projects, debtors going into receivership and the general economic slow-down, has led to a financial predicament wherein it is no longer viable or responsible we continue to operate.”
Any criticisms of the company posted were quickly deleted by the page administrator, and by Tuesday May 1 they’d removed both their Facebook and Twitter accounts, following a tsunami of negative comments.
Fringe World had a contract with JumpClimb to manage some parts of the festival, including the Noodle Palace venue at Elizabeth Quay. In March it transferred proceeds from ticket sales to JumpClimb to pay artists, but in a letter to performers said it believed close to $200,000 didn’t get passed on.
Artists left out of pocket include Adelaide magician Matt Tarant, who is owed $30,000, and lighting specialist Michael Algeri, who is owed $25,000.
JumpClimb, who were based on Beaufort Street for some years, also ran the Beauvine Food and Wine Festival, which was acquired by other operators in 2017, and they ran the Beaufort Street Festival, until it was discontinued after the 2015 event.
by DAVID BELL
————————
EVEN before JumpClimb went bust and left many artists out of pocket, a few performers had raised concerns about the Fringe World model.
Most are happy: A Fringe survey reveals “86 per cent of artists were satisfied with their experience in 2017”.
But some of this year’s performers were complaining about low ticket sales, disorganised management and too many acts diluting the quality of the festival.
Fringe World, a not-for-profit registered charity, said the collapse of events management company JumpClimb had not put the future of the festival in doubt and that box office receipts rose from $9.3 million in 2016 to $10.2 million in 2017.
A report last year by FW stated that they had kept the same number of shows as 2016 to avoid “market saturation” and to “increase the chance for all shows in the festival to better perform”.
As for artists burned by JumpClimb’s closure, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance said they’d “work with the voluntary administrator on behalf of artists to ensure contracts are respected and artists are paid”.
FW is meanwhile issuing all affected artists “an information pack prepared by our legal sponsor K&L Gates that includes a pro-forma letter of demand that they can issue to Noodle Palace Pty. Ltd and Jump Climb Pty. Ltd”.
The FW website already has dates lined up for the 2019 festival, and event registration is slated to open in July.
THE federal MP for Perth Tim Hammond has announced his resignation, saying he wants to spend more time with his wife and three young children.
“As much as I have tried desperately, I just cannot reconcile my life as a federal member of parliament with being the father I need – and want – to be to my three children, whom are six years, two and a half years and seven months old.
“This is a decision that I have privately agonised over for many months and reflected most deeply upon. It is not taken lightly.”
The barrister, elected in July 2016, was considered by Labor to be one of their top prospects and was immediately given three shadow assistant ministerships.
Just two months later he became a shadow minister, taking on the consumer affairs portfolio and railing against scammy ticket scalpers and predatory payday lenders.
• Tim Hammond hopes to spend more time with his family.
Obligations
Mr Hammond said Wednesday May 2: “Even from opposition, life between parliamentary, portfolio and local community obligations has meant being away from home even more than I had anticipated.
“The reality is that I thought I had an appreciation of how to manage my duties as a federal member of parliament in a way that did not have such an impact on my family.
“I got that wrong: I just did not anticipate the profound effect my absence would have on all of us.
“As a direct result of me being away from home, the strength of the relationships that I have built with my children have suffered in a way that is simply unsustainable for us as a family, and me as a dad.
“I am not saying that the life of a WA federal MP is unmanageable. Many of my colleagues make it work. But it is time to be brutally honest and admit that I am not one of them.
“My wife Lindsay and I have tried incredibly hard to make this work. As well as having relied upon support from family, friends and colleagues, I have actively sought out professional advice and assistance to try and preserve our family unit in a way that I felt confident would not suffer from my absence.”
He’ll stay on for a short time to tie up loose ends, and his standing down will likely trigger a by-election for the hotly contested seat, won by Labor in 2016 with a 3.3 per cent margin. Liberal candidate Jeremy Quinn won the primary vote that year with 42.3 per cent, but preferences from the Greens voters carried Labor across the line.
IT’S not the first time Tim Hammond has put family ahead of politics.
In 2013 he was considered a likely choice for the Labor party to preselect for the federal Perth seat.
Since being elected he’s talked openly about how he and wife Lindsay Fletcher-Hammond had been trying for a baby, but experienced three miscarriages.
By the time the opportunity for preselection came around in 2013, he now had that young family they’d been trying for, and so he decided not to run.
Alannah MacTiernan would go on to keep the seat warm for one term, and when she didn’t recontest, Mr Hammond took the party’s nomination for the 2016 election.
Eight months into his term, his wife told him she was pregnant with their third child. “Except it isn’t our third child,” Mr Hammond wrote in a 2017 opinion piece reflecting on the three miscarriages. “It is actually our sixth child.”
STATE Perth MP John Carey has paid tribute to his federal counterpart, saying he could understand the pressure the job places on your personal time.
“I sincerely want to thank Tim Hammond for his work and public service to the federal electorate of Perth, following the announcement of his resignation. He’s also been a great support to me personally.
“I think people often forget being an MP, whether state or federal, is now a 24-hour job. Wherever you go, people stop you, ask for assistance, contact you on social media from early morning to midnight, call you, text you and you have little to no personal time.”
He told the Voice he went to Beatty Park gym recently and across a 45-minute workout three people approached him to raise issues.
Single
“I’m honoured, and I’m not whinging or complaining … I want to be accessible and I want people to feel comfortable coming up to me. That’s the job and I love it.”
He adds it’s easier for him to handle because “I’m single: I’ve got a dog and that’s it. With three young children, and that trip to Canberra? It’d be very difficult.”
“Tim had an even tougher role – young family, three children travelling back and forth from Canberra, it’s gotta take a toll … I respect his decision entirely.”
Seasoned political reporter Peter Kennedy told the ABC this week he’d seen the toll being a federal MP took across the years.
“It’s extremely difficult, particularly for young families,” Mr Kennedy said.
“The political landscape is strewn with failed marriages from all over the country, but particularly from WA.
“The casualty rate is very high and that’s the tragic side of the political equation.”
Former federal Fremantle Labor MP Melissa Parke also raised the tyranny of distance in her decision not to recontest her seat in 2016, saying her new husband at the time, developer Warwick Hemsley, gave her a bit of stick about how much time she spent over east.
“There is absolutely no leeway for people from WA and other remote areas like the Northern Territory,” Ms Parke said at the time, calling on Parliament to be modernised so remote MPs could do more of their duties at home through innovations like teleconferencing.
VINCENT council has given its in-principle support to a sector-wide climate change policy which elevates the threat posed to an “emergency”.
The WA Local Government Association has been working with councils over the last year to update its climate change policy and in March released a policy statement incorporating their feedback.
Apart from elevating the risk factor, the statement affirms that human activities are the main cause of climate change and calls on the federal government to adopt a “greenhouse trigger”.
WALGA says local governments are already taking some action, but the effort needs to be co-ordinated by the federal and state governments.
Inconsistent
“Given the inconsistent climate change policy approach and lack of leadership at state and federal levels over the last decade, this issue is emphasised in the draft policy statement,” a Vincent staff report read.
WALGA pulls no punches in its assessment of the efforts of the WA government: “There is a particularly significant policy vacuum within the Western Australian government, with negligible demonstrated and co-ordinated leadership and long-term planning across all areas,” it says in a discussion paper.
The heavy-handed statement made some councillors cringe, though, with Josh Toppelberg saying it made it difficult for him to fully support the statement, so he convinced colleagues to water that down to “in-principle support”.
The Mt Hawthorn Streets and Lanes Festival returns this Sunday May 6 with organisers anticipating up to 70,000 people. Event director Jimmy Murphy says “opening up the strip really lets it come to life. People can walk down to see and do things they might not do on other days of the year.”
There’ll be three stages packed with local music, exhibition matches from the Street Roller Hockey League, the yearly canine show, roving performers, live art and outdoor restaurants. It runs 11am to 7pm and the full program is up at http://www.mthawthornstreetsandlanes.com.au
JANET STREET in West Perth is to become Vincent’s next designated heritage area.
The listing was triggered by a nomination signed by 47 per cent of the street’s residents, and despite there being slightly more objectors, it was adopted at this week’s council meeting.
A staff report says that an architectural consultant assessed Janet Street in 2014, finding that its early 20th century streetscape was mostly still intact. A row of modest inter-war bungalows along the southern side of the street sealed the deal.
Although the report shied clear of commenting on whether the heritage protection would affect land value, it said ensuring future development respected existing homes and contributed to the area’s preferred neighbourhood character “serves to enhance the intrinsic value of the area”.
Perth Voice Interactive 