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THE Friends of Anzac Cottage are putting on a free concert to mark the 102nd anniversary of construction of the little Mt Hawthorn cottage that was donated to Private John Porter when he returned from the Great War in 1916.
The cottage was constructed in one day by 200 volunteers, and it’s been kept going by community goodwill ever since.
To say thanks and to mark the final year of the WWI centenary, the Friends are putting on the concert at Mt Hawthorn Primary Sunday April 15, 5pm to 7pm.
MOUNT LAWLEY senior high school students grilled local pollies at a panel discussion on Monday.
The 100 students from year 10 to 12 served up questions to Mt Lawley Labor MP Simon Millman, Perth Labor MP John Carey, Stirling mayor Mark Irwin and Liberal party federal VP Fay Duda.
“I’m thrilled that so many young people were engaging in the political process firsthand,” Mr Millman said.
“Their questions were challenging and thought-provoking. I hope these students represent our community one day because I’m sure we’ll be in safe hands if they do.”
Mr Carey says they were quizzed on issues such as an Australia republic, terrorism, and the poor public perception of politicians.
“I love these kinds of forums because as an elected official when you get questions that are different or out of left field, it gets you thinking about what you do and how you do it.
“I walked away inspired by the kids, that they were genuinely engaged. It’s a ripper of a school with great teachers and it’s clear that the kids want to learn.
“I put a question to them: How many of you read the news, and just about everybody put their hand up. “
by DAVID BELL
THE call’s gone out again for Vincent residents to help the local council decide how to spend its budget.
Back in 2016 the council ditched the old “here’s the budget, what do you think” method of consultation, which mayor
Emma Cole says didn’t deliver a great deal of community feedback.
Instead the council asked for community ideas before the budget was set in stone.
It resulted in 30 proposals from 50 ratepayers, compared to just three submissions in 2015.
Last year another 64 proposals came in, with 45 per cent making it into the budget and another 28 per cent deferred for later consideration.
Some of the ideas funded include the “Rae Street Play Street” trial of closing off the street to traffic to encourage kids outdoors, a kids’ request for a netball hoop at Menzies Park, upgrades to Forrest Park Playground, and the nature play area at Give Way Park (the local name for the spot at the corner of Scarborough Beach and Anzac Roads).
The layout’s pretty simple; they just want a few hundred words about the idea and how it fits in with the six budget priorities they’ve got this year. You can put in your ideas at imagine.vincent.wa.gov.au/build-our-budget or call 9273 6000
Bayswater council considered doing a similar participatory budgeting plan this year but councillors voted it down 6/5 (with Crs Sally Palmer, Chris Cornish, Brent Fleeton, Filomena Piffaretti, Barry McKenna and Elli Petersen-Pik opposed).
Cr Brent Fleeton said he didn’t want to “pass the buck” on budget decisions, saying the 11 councillors in the chamber were already paid to do that job on behalf of ratepayers.
by DAVID BELL
IN last week’s story (“Historic Letter,” Perth Voice, March 24, 2018) we incorrectly described Mount Lawley MP Simon Millman as being in the Liberal party. He’s definitely Labor, having said in his inaugural parliamentary speech that he’d voted Labor his whole life.
THE Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees had its best-ever turnout in Perth over the weekend, with 1500 people marching in the CBD.
Uniting Church social justice officer Kate Leaney said the turnout demonstrated the community’s growing concern over the Turnbull government’s treatment of asylum seekers.
“I really just think it’s telling of how many people in the community really want to see justice for refugees,” Ms Leaney said. “It’s a response to how our leaders have been treating people on Manus and Nauru and here in the community as well.”
With support from over 50 human rights and religious groups, the protest called on Australia’s political leaders to abandon their current refugee policies and protect those seeking safety.
Organised by the Justice for Refugees WA network, the rally led demonstrators from St George’s Cathedral through to the Murray Street and Hay Street malls in a show of support.
About 1700 asylum seekers who tried to get to Australia by boat still remain on Nauru and Manus Islands despite a deal with the United States. The US under former president Barack Obama agreed to take on an undisclosed number of refugees, but the deal faces opposition from current president Donald Trump who described it as “dumb” and accused Australia of trying to export terrorist bombers to his country.
With a 50 percent increase in the turn out for the walk on previous years, Ms Leaney said the public had taken a stance.
“The crueller our leaders become the more the community steps in and takes on that role of supporting and advocating for justice,” she said.
“We will be launching crowd funding to be able to raise the much needed funds necessary to support these groups.”
by MICHAEL ROBERTS
Unconventional treatment
THE Sydney Opera House is magnificent with its creativity of lighting.
It’s time Perth had an artist paint the rooftop of the bland Perth Convention Centre with either colourful Aboriginal art work or an array of West Australian wildflowers.
Not only would it enhance the beauty of the city, but also entice tourism.
Leeanne McKie
Alfred Cove
Time to change lanes
THE Department of Transport is planning to build a Safe Active Street (SAS) on Shakespeare Street Leederville.
This will link with the SAS that exists on this street north of Scarborough Beach Road. However, cycling data suggests that the return on this investment from this project is likely to be very low. If so, this will be a huge waste of scarce cycling infrastructure funds.
Cycling usage data suggests that Shakespeare St is not a popular route with local cyclists. For example, in a 30-minute period on the morning of Tuesday March 13, not a single person rode past me. Further up the street where the SAS has been in existence for two years, I counted three riders.
So even the argument ‘build it and they will come’ does not seem to apply in this case.
Compare this to Norfolk St, North Perth. On Tuesday March 6, I counted 12 riders using this street in an equivalent 30-minute period.
In addition to Norfolk St having higher numbers of cyclists, it is quite noticeable that the volume and speed of vehicles using the street is much higher than Shakespeare St.
Furthermore, the availability of cycling infrastructure in the vicinity of Norfolk St is deficient when compared to Shakespeare St which has the Oxford St bike lanes, as well as the shared path along the freeway nearby.
As such, for the reasons outlined above, there seems to be a very strong case for a Safe Active Street to be built on Norfolk St.
Spending further money on Shakespeare St has the potential to create another under-utilised white elephant.
I hope that the Department of Transport reconsiders its current expenditure proposal and bases its decision on evidence and obtaining the greatest return on its investment.
Andrew Main
Alfonso St, North Perth
Is there a PCC vaccine?
I am most concerned with the recent health problems at the City of Perth.
First the CEO Mileham went down closely followed by senior administrators Mianich, Barrenger and Moore.
It seems to be extremely contagious. As I live within walking distance of Council House it is a worrying phenomenon.
If it were to spread to the garbos, causing rubbish to pile up in Perth streets with subsequent spread of disease, the results could be catastrophic.
This matter is causing me much stress. Perhaps the first symptoms have already got me?
I pray that the newly appointed commissioners will take the necessary prompt action to save the citizens of Perth.
Paul Griffin
via email
A HORDE of drummers in garish outfits were looking for somewhere to satisfy their taste buds after a gig at the WA Deaf Society.
No it’s not a scene from a new Zucker brothers’ comedy, but another episode from my wacky life, and we ended up at Hawker’s Cuisine in Northbridge.
The food is great, the restaurant caters for large groups and there’s enough Malaysian dishes to suit every palette, said one of our drummers.
The no-nonsense waiter didn’t bat an eyelid at our colourfully-painted faces, and shortly after taking our orders was back with mountains of food.
Two drummers wanted something light and opted for spring rolls ($6) and wonton soup ($7.50).
“It’s beautiful—very flavour-infused,” Flo said of her soup.
She was pretty impressed by her jasmine tea too ($1).
The rest of us hoed into the meatier dishes, including a beef rendang ($19.80), bakar (barbecued) fish ($30), salt and pepper squid tentacles ($21), vegetarian claypot ($22.80), and fried rice ($13.90).
“The beef is tender and it’s a great marriage of flavours,” Paquita opined.
Her hubby generously shared his chunky squid tentacles, which were tender and delicious, with a delicate star anise flavour.
“We come here frequently and the squid is a favourite,” Graham said, noting it perfectly complemented his Tiger beer ($9.50).
The tofu in the claypot was soft and silky, and the mushroom- laden broth had a lovely salty, nutty taste.
The grilled whole fish went down a treat with everyone—the flesh was moist and firm and the sambal sauce had a terrific chilli bite.
The fried rice was the only disappointment. It was a lacklustre dish that needed some spicy oomph.
Hawker’s Cuisine was given the thumbs up by our motley drum corps and is well worth a visit.
by JENNY D’ANGER
Hawker’s Cuisine
40 Francis Street, Northbridge
9328 9668
A FIVE-minute pitch with Penguin books in Sydney turned two years of rejection around for Perth author Anthea Hodgson.
The Romance Writers of Australia conference was swarming with hopeful novelists when the Mt Hawthorn resident spruiked her first book The Drifter.
When a letter arrived four weeks later offering a two book contract, “I said yes immediately. In 78-sized font,” the former journalist laughs.
Sizzling chemistry
Her books, including recent novel The Cowgirl, are unashamedly chick lit.
“I’m writing for women: they have so much drudgery and dirty underpants in their day,” Hodgson tells the Voice.
“Sick kids, ageing parents … it’s women who carry the invisible load.”
Set in a Wheatbelt farming community in WA, The Cowgirl is predictable—girl meets boy, where an instant dislike masks a sizzling chemistry, and then there’s plenty of toing and froing.
The book is a good holiday read, but running through the pages are dark themes, including rape, domestic violence, heartbreak, betrayal and abandonment.
Central to the plot is the archeological dig of a mysterious farmhouse that was flattened decades ago.
Hodgson grew up in the Wheatbelt and draws on family and friends to populate her novels, including “strong quirky women I have known … Mum is in both books.”
In The Cowgirl, heroine Teddy Broderick has returned home, but she still dreams of a life beyond the farm gate.
She’s tough enough to slaughter a sheep for dinner, and deliver a baby, but too damaged by her recent past to explore the big wide world.
Adding to the family trauma, her grandmother Deirdrie is haunted by regrets and a sad childhood at the hands of a violent, alcoholic father.
It’s a cross-generational tale that zips between the 1950s and the present, but there are commonalities, Hodgson says.
In 50s Australia there was no law against wife-beating “and in 2017 one in three women suffer physical or sexual violence at the hands of someone close to them.”
Hodgson says the 50s was a time when a lack of education, and few employment opportunities and family responsibilities, meant women were relegated to domestic roles, despite yearning for something more.
In 2017 women make up almost 50 per cent of the workforce and more women have bachelor’s degrees than men, but “the gender pay gap still hovers between 15 to 20 per cent.”
Cowgirl is available at all good bookshops (yes, they’re still around).
by JENNY D’ANGER
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
The Scorpio Moon provides you with the kind of emotional intensity that often derails you, but this time you turn befuddlement into creativity. You have been a little starved for creativity of late, so it comes as a welcome change to have the capacity to find new solutions to old problems.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)
Venus is in Taurus, providing you with balance and perspective when it’s most needed. It’s your job in life to make practical things beautiful. You have a golden opportunity. When events seem a little hard-nosed and lacking in compassion, your task is to bring a warm heart to the table.
GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)
The presence of three planets in Aries is ensuring that a certain amount of trouble is brewing. Aries demands action where there is stasis and that inevitably ruffles feathers. As the cat is amongst the pigeons; so life gets interesting and you get curious. Learn positive things in difficult times.
CANCER (June 22 – July 22)
The Moon starts the week in fellow emotion-focussed sign, Scorpio; and then she passes in front of commanding Jupiter, also in Scorpio. You are stepping out of shallow waters into powerful new depths. Life is triggering enough feeling in you that you ask the right questions and grow.
LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)
The Aries Sun is giving you all the energy and permission needed for you to get into action with your plans and visions. Saturn, Mars and Pluto in Capricorn, are providing you with just enough resistance that you will have to come up with solid practical solutions. Know well that you can.
VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)
Potter away at the projects and pastimes that are dear to your heart. No-body is on your case. You have all the room to move you need. Mercury in Aries is presenting you with energy to burn – and a willingness to step beyond caution into experiment and innovation. Sing your own tune.
LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)
Hopefully all the Aries people in your life are busy with other adventures, leaving you free to do friendships, relationships and partnerships, in your own time and your own way. You are actually quite fond of Ram people but need the occasional break from skirmishes and adrenal rushes.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)
The Moon begins the week in Scorpio and then refracts some of Jupiter’s vast energy a day later. Jupiter is that energy within us that persists with expanding, growing and living fully, even when we feel like we have come to the end of our tether. Be amazed by your resilience and fortitude.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
With Jupiter passing through Scorpio, coming to grips with your emotional reality is going to be the main focus of your days. Your feelings contain messages that are vitally important to listen to. Ask your habit of analysis to back off for long enough that you can truly feel what you feel.
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
It troubles you that your authority is being put under the microscope. The Sun, Mercury and Uranus in Aries, are sending emissaries to question your moves just as you are coming to feel that they are beyond reproach. Check your feelings and your reactions. There’s something to learn here.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
How you handle your history will determine how smoothly you enter your future. This is a good week for untangling knots. Your intuition and your adventurousness are operating as one. You can see where to go and have all the energy required to get there. Stay present to the task at hand.
PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
The Moon gifts you a smooth ride early in the week. She helps you ride your feelings in such a way that you achieve a lot, with minimal effort. You know where you are going better than you may be letting on. You are also a whole lot more shrewd and practical than you care to show.
A MIX-up in viewing times to see this Perth apartment sparked a love affair with fantasy author Terry Pratchett.
Rather than while away the time in the lobby, I went to the bookshop across the road, where a delightful young shop assistant steered me towards Mort.
The novel is screamingly funny and I can’t put it down, so this inner-city apartment is perfect if you’re old-fashioned like me and enjoy perusing the local bookshop.
In fact there’s a mind-boggling array of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars nearby.
The smells wafting around me as I stood on the pavement had my mouth watering, and I reckon you would be eating out every night if you lived here.
But if you want to whip up something at home there’s a well-appointed kitchen with a half pantry, plenty of cupboards and drawers, attractive granite benchtops and a dishwasher.
A huge window over the sink ensures plenty of natural light, and the mix of grey tones and white tiles is functional and funky.
Freshly painted in the same hues, the light and airy open-plan has floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open onto a balcony.
The two bedrooms are a good size, and the main has a walk-in-robe, is semi-ensuite and also has a balcony.
There’s a pool, sauna, spa and a gym in the complex, along with an entertainment deck to socialise with fellow apartment dwellers, or invite your mates over for a dip before hitting the nightclubs.
This apartment wouldn’t be out of place in an episode of Sex in the City or Seinfeld.
It’s a cool pad in the thick of it, and Perth Arena is two minutes away by foot, and Shafto and Wolf Lanes are virtually next door.
by JENNY D’ANGER
27/418 Murray Street, Perth
$359,000
Joseph Lai
0433 664 575
Conrad Surin
0423 501 181
Century 21 Grand Alliance
6230 2488
Perth Voice Interactive 