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  • End media war

    End media war

    PUBLIC relations expert Dianne Bain says the City of Perth needs to end its “war on the media” and she’ll push to restore communication with the press if elected on October 21.

    A former ABC journalist who now runs Bain Media, she says the city media staff need to get on the front foot and start responding to press queries.

    For about two years the Voice has hardly got a meaningful answer to any questions put to the city’s media staff. Mostly they refuse to respond at all. Recently when we asked how much ratepayer money was spent on the city’s “Imagine Perth” campaign, the only answer we got back was that the figure was mentioned at a recent council meeting (but they wouldn’t tell us what the figure was, or which meeting, ignoring all requests for further information).

    • Dianne Bain wants a better relationship between the City of Perth and the press.

    PR blunder

    Ms Bain says the city’s staff “should at all times be responsive and accommodating to media requests. Otherwise what are we paying them for?”

    She says that’d never fly in the private sector, and if she delayed and stymied requests that way, “I wouldn’t be in business”.

    The other half of the problem is that the lord mayor’s relationship with the press is at rock bottom. For many years lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi was happy to publicly comment and answer queries swiftly. But following the Corruption and Crime Commission’s report finding she’d committed 45 breaches of the local government act, she went cold on the media. When reporter Liam Bartlett doorstopped her trying to get an interview, the lord mayor got personal and criticised him over his “bad breath” and “botox”.

    Ms Bain describes the current situation as a “very toxic relationship”. She says one big PR blunder was Ms Scaffidi continuing to accept her lord mayoral allowance despite not performing her duties while she appeals the State Administration Tribunal’s findings which disqualified her from office.

    Ms Bain says a smart move would’ve been to either forgo the allowance, or donate it to charity.

    “That would have been a total PR win. People would think ‘I feel like you’ve done great things for your city—I think you’ve overstayed your welcome, but good on you for doing that.”

    In April councillor Reece Harley put up a motion asking that CEO Martin Mileham investigate the apparent media blackout on the Perth Voice and Post Newspapers, saying “I don’t think it’s good enough that journalists are just never being responded to,” arguing it’s better to respond and “provide better balanced coverage because they hear both sides of the story”. Cr Jemma Green and James Limnios backed the motion but he was outvoted by Ms Scaffidi and her allies and no change occurred.

    by DAVID BELL

  • Rapist jailed

    Rapist jailed

    NORTH PERTH child rapist Vincenzo Mule has been sentenced to 10 years’ prison for kidnapping and sexually assaulting two young children and will be eligible for parole after eight years.

    He lured the four-year-old girl and the five-year-old boy from a now-closed North Perth childcare centre, fined $40,000 for not adequately monitoring children.

    Mule took them to his parents’ home on Grosvenor Road and abused both children in the backyard shed where he lived, slapping the girl when she started to cry.

    Mule, 54, then walked them to Hyde Park and left them there.

    District court judge Simon Stone described Mule as having “evil designs” and said his “brazen, persistent and deliberate” actions “were for your own sexual gratification.

    “You subjected both children to sexual penetration without protection and you abandoned them in the park.” The children had to go for blood tests for sexually transmitted illnesses.

    The judge did not accept Mule’s claims that he couldn’t remember the crime, saying he “feigned amnesia” to “avoid the consequences”.

    Judge Stone said the event had been “frightening” for the children and the boy’s mother said the attack had taken away his independence and curiosity, and “he’s no longer the confident boy he was before”.

    The girl’s mother says she’d experienced “extreme levels of emotional stress” and both children are having nightmares.

  • Betty always delivers

    Betty always delivers

    87-YEAR-OLD Betty Smith has been collecting used stamps for charity for nearly 30 years, recently handing over a record 33kg box of them to help the needy.

    The Inglewood resident is a familiar face at businesses in East Perth, the CBD, West Perth and Subiaco, as she goes stamp hunting twice a week.

    “I don’t even have to ask,” she says.

    After 27 years, all the office staff know her as the “stamp lady”.

    Charity projects

    Ms Smith hands them over to Rotary, which sends them to Oxfam, which then auctions them off to collectors for about $3 per 120 grams (so Ms Smith’s 33kg box raises $825).

    The money’s then used for charity projects like eliminating tuberculosis in Nepal, or setting up an emergency hospital in India.

    Smith started collecting used stamps in 1990 after spotting an ad saying helpers were needed to collect them for charity.

    • Betty Smith keeps busy visiting local businesses to collect their used stamps. Photo by Steve Grant

    The busy work of carefully cutting out stamps from envelopes and packaging them up for fundraising replaced her hobby of knitting.

    The Rotary Club of Perth used to provide her stamps, but she worked too quickly, so she set out to source them herself, going through the telephone book and contacting businesses until she had 600 places that agreed to supply them.

    Her local Rotary District D9455 has raised $1 million so far.

    Smith says the charity work keeps her active.

    “I’m stuck in the house otherwise, my husband passed away 12 months ago,” she says, and when they were both doing it they’d often manage two or three boxes of stamps a year.

    Now Smith’s so well known as the stamp collector, people are bringing them to her.

    “I went out to lunch last Sunday, and when I came home there’s a shopping bag on the doorknob that someone had dropped, I don’t know where they came from!”

    There’s millions of volunteers around the world working on this project, but Ms Smith’s one of their marathon contributors.

    Rotary Club of Perth president Stephen Inouye says “people like Betty Smith are the unsung heroes of our organisation.”

    by DAVID BELL

  • Ward correction

    Ward correction

    LAST week in our Letters page we accidentally referred to Kate Thomson as a candidate for Bayswater’s west ward, but she’s actually running in south ward (that was our mistake: she knows where she’s running). Our apologies, Kate.

  • Historic archive donated

    Historic archive donated

    “MR KIMBERLEY” aka Sam Lovell AM has donated his personal archive of photos and memorabilia to the WA State Library.

    One of the stolen generation, he was taken from his family in 1936 when he was only three years old.

    He grew up working the cattle stations along the Gibb River Road.

    When working as a stockman he had an old camera he carried around with him as he travelled the roads.

    • A young Sam Lovell.

    He’d go on to set up tours through the Kimberley with his wife Rosita, attracting a wider audience to the area.

    “I’ve always been between the white and the black, and I’m still there, in the middle, helping both,” he said when handing over the memorabilia on Friday September 30.

    Perth MP John Carey told Mr Lovell he was a “living encyclopaedia”. He says his tale is “an important story to tell, one of national significance. There wouldn’t be many people who know our great Kimberley region and the land as well as Sam.

    • John Carey (right) and Sam Lovell look at photos he donated to the State Library.

    “On top of that, he has contributed greatly to establishing the Indigenous tourism industry which helps creates jobs and boosts the regional economy.”

    The state government’s also granted $35,000 to film a documentary at Moola Bulla station to tell the story of Mr Lovell’s early life.

    Mr Carey said “there are so many museums and collections about European settlement, but what is important is that we need to keep collecting the stories and histories of Indigenous people in our country”.

  • LETTERS 7.10.17

    LETTERS 7.10.17

    Driven to distraction
    The solution to the problems of Indian Ocean drive is simple.
    Place the local engineers of Vincent Council in charge.
    In no time at all there will be a plethora of roundabouts, street beautifications, no turn this way, no turn that way and various other innovative traffic measures (oops, nearly forgot dedicated cycle paths) which will reduce the amount of roadway available for actual traffic to the point where a motorised wheelchair on the footpath would be the quickest way to travel.
    Tom Goode
    Harold St, Mt Lawley

    Pining for locals
    MY issue is Araucaria heterophylla.
    A recent tourist trip down south guided our mob from Dunsborough north to Guilderton. The ongoing scenery was very pleasant and positive. But yes, they were there. Along every ‘entry statement’ , every marine road, every by-road and even along those pretty roads, they were there – Norfolk Pines!
    In the local government parks menu, they appear to be the plant of choice satisfying some cultural cringe. The cringe I suspect is to create the look of a temperate maritime environment, possibly reminiscent of our eastern sea board . Manly Beach watch out.
    These things, 30m in height offer no value to fauna, they suck up to 1800L of ground water out of our aquifers per day, they are the best lightning rods and when done, cost councils tens of thousands of dollars to remove. Meanwhile they rob residents of views, uplift verges and road surfaces and generally have little aesthetic value.
    Local governments over east are now declaring them a weed.
    We should embrace our local plants such as Rottnest Island Pine, Tuarts and Rottnest Island Tea Tree as verge trees.
    Norfolk Pines have only one place on this earth – Norfolk Island.
    Errol Allen
    Beaconsfield

    Second opinion
    THOUGH this matter might have gone off the boil, it is something that still has currency for any new council, which would be wise to learn from it.
    It was a costly matter that continues to have relevance.
    I refer to the appeal against the decision by the State Administrative Tribunal in respect of the concrete batching plant.
    It was an appeal that ended up costing well in excess of $100,000, an amount that might well have been expended elsewhere.
    The stated claim was that the appeal was in the interests of ratepayers whose interests were being served and this should not be challenged.
    However, in mounting that appeal the council ignored recommendations from its own officers and legal advice.
    Surely a more prudent course of action might have been to seek second or even third legal opinions or advice.
    Surely it would have been the cheaper course of action and possibly the wiser.
    Vincent J McCudden
    Almondbury Street, Bayswater

    Congratulations, Tom Goode! You’ve won our letter of the week competition and a $50 lunch voucher from The Terrace Hotel Restaurant, 237 St Georges Terrace.  We’ll be in touch soon. If you would like to be in the running for letter of the week, make sure you email us your ripper at news@perthvoice.com.

  • Misbehaving members

    Misbehaving members

    ]MICHAEL SUTHERLAND was speaker of the WA Legislative Assembly from 2013-17 and Mount Lawley Liberal MP from 2009-17. He is a candidate for the City of Perth at the upcoming local government elections. In this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER he tramples the corn around MPs behaviour in parliament, in the wake of the federal government announcing it wants harsher penalties for MPs who lose the plot in chambers.

    IT was reported in the West Australian recently that the federal parliament wanted to toughen up penalties for badly behaved MP’s.

    Currently extensive use is made of the “sin bin”, where members are excluded from the chamber for one hour .

    Members can also be excluded for longer periods of 24 hours or more depending on the circumstances of their misbehaviour.

    A parliamentary committee is now  considering hitting badly behaved members, in the hip pocket, by levying fines of $285.00.

    This will  beef up sanctions available to quieten members down and make the control of the house easier for the Speaker.

    • Michael Sutherland, as speaker, in 2013. File photo

    A hit in the hip pocket might be more unpleasant than being given a “rest from parliamentary duties”.

    Some members for whatever reason may relish the prospect of being thrown out.

    I was pulled up, sometimes with tongue in cheek, by more than one country member for not throwing them out on a Thursday afternoon which would have enabled them to leave parliament and head for home early!

    Parliament must be the only workplace where work “colleagues” are encouraged to publicly abuse one another.

    The bedlam which can ensue in the chamber, more particularly during question time, often leaves those in the chamber gallery or who are watching TV shaking their heads in disbelief.

    Very often the “wall of noise” drowns out what is being said, the Speaker has to bob up and down like a yo-yo trying to keep order and the Hansard reporters, who take the record,  look back at the Speaker for help in desperation, as they cannot follow what is going on.

    The theory is that once the Speaker gets onto his feet every other member must keep quite.

    In practice this does not always work or takes some time to work.

    There is no truth in the story that one of the Speakers died in the chair; he had a heart attack in the chair but died in the corridor outside the chamber!

    I have very often heard people say to me that the members of parliament are more unruly than a  group of schoolchildren.

    More often than not there is a group of schoolchildren in the gallery watching the antics and histrionics.

    Talk about a bad example.

    This bad behaviour in the chamber only adds to the disquiet in the community about politics and politicians.

    The theatrics that go on in question time is all that many ever see of parliament on TV.

    This increases the number of people in the community who  have little if any confidence in parliament, which bodes ill for our democratic system and institutions.

    The precedent for the configuration of our parliamentary chambers, where members face one another and which is confrontational, was the result of the parliament being held in choir pews of St Stephens Chapel at the Palace of Westminster in  1547.

    One might ask where the answer to the problem lies.

    The problem could be largely solved by changing the layout of the chambers.

    They could be reconfigured to auditorium  type chambers as is seen in the US and many European parliaments which are less confrontational.

    The personal attacks, vitriol  and nonsense would  largely be  removed if instead of members looking across at each other from two sides of the chamber, they sat facing the front.

    Members would have to go to the front of the auditorium to speak.

    This would largely stop the, “screaming, wailing and gnashing of teeth”,  that ensues when the one side is staring down their adversaries on the other.

    Winston Churchill supposedly said, “Your adversaries sit opposite you, your enemies sit with you!”

    There is an even greater problem where chambers are small.

    In the Western Australian Legislative Assembly opposing members sit in very close proximity to one another.

    The desk that currently separates the two sides of the Chamber was supposed to be “two swords and two armlengths wide”, wide enough  to stop those sitting at or speaking from  the table from “running each other through” with their swords.

    Our table is that small that it would be as easy to strangle the person on the opposite side!

    Unruliness leads to time wasting, the serious business takes a back seat to the theatrics and often nastiness.

    Name calling, snide remarks, the imputation of bad motive demeans the whole process.

    We however follow  precedent set by Westminster and by Federal Parliament.

    Any change, will if at all be slow and a long time in coming, I suggest that nobody holds their breath!

    Let the biffo and insults continue.

  • No common tart

    No common tart

    IT wasn’t that long ago the area around Lake Street, Northbridge was a hangout for undesirables and street walkers, but these days people cruising the streets are looking for interesting cafes to have something to eat.

    Which is what I was doing when I rediscovered Tarts Cafe—not named after the ladies of the night—but after the tempting assortment of sweets on offer, including a topical batch of rainbow-coloured cakes.

    There’s a terrific mix of vegetarian and carnivore dishes on the menu, from the pork bagel ($17.90) and steak panini ($19.90) to the vegan Buddha bowl ($15.90) and vego house-made gnocchi ($22.90).

    Feeling all pescetarian, the grilled barramundi burrito bowl looked like a healthy option, and how right I was.

    The burrito-lined bowl was brimming with perfectly cooked barra, a generous serve of fresh avocado, lime cauliflower rice, rocket, and one of the best coleslaws I ever eaten (and I’ve had a lot of them).

    A good slaw is really down to the mayo and Tarts’ coleslaw, made in-house, is a creamy cracker and has a nice lime tang.

    I looked askance at the chunky mango and strawberry salsa.

    Fruit salad and fish seemed incongruous, but the contrast of sweet and savoury was a real winner in this dish.

    The people at the next table had ordered the same, as they do every time, Tarts owner John Vallini said.

    There’s only so much healthy eating one can do, so I headed to the sweets cabinet to agonise over the mouthwatering selection.

    Doubling my chances of sugar-overload, I ordered a couple of raspberry and rhubarb cakes ($6.80) to go, and a lime slice to eat there.

    I’m often disappointed by the lack of lemon/lime sharpness, but this slice was piquant, and so delicious I nearly shoved the whole lot in my mouth at once.

    But then I would have missed the pleasure of sipping a very agreeable earl grey tea between bites.

    The rhubarb and raspberry was pretty good too, winning me best-wife points for taking it home.

    by JENNY D’ANGER

    Tarts
    212 Lake Street, Northbridge
    9328 6607
    open 7 days 7am–5pm

  • A hue over blue

    A hue over blue

    THREE diverse Australian artists will showcase their distinctive styles at Turner Galleries this month.

    Lucas Grogan’s Skies includes works using YInMnBlue, a vibrant shade of blue accidentally discovered in 2009 by Oregon University professor Mas Subramanian.

    Grogan, Turner Gallery’s final artist in residence for 2017, is renowned for his blue and white works, spanning a variety of disciplines, including hand stitched quilts, murals, and gallery paintings.

    • Discordant Landscape number 8 by Robert Ewing.

    WA artist Robert Ewing’s exhibition Floration, conjures memories of John Wyndam’s The Triffids, or perhaps Little Shop of Horrors’ flesh-eating plant Audrey, with strange trees and plants rendered in bold, almost harsh colours, and twisted shapes.

    The imagined landscapes have an anthropomorphic quality, but Ewing says the works are not meant to be science fiction horror, and represent change as hope.

    “These are imaginative places that combine recognisable elements to create images that invite us to consider new and exciting opportunities and discoveries,” he says.

    • Cross Country by Melissa Boughey.

    Ewing has been exhibiting extensively since the 1980s, winning a number of awards and his works can be found in several regional and Perth collections.

    For Floration, Ewing abandons his usual water colours and instead uses acrylics on linen.

    “Which gave me a more painterly play with colours and texture,” he says.

    Melissa Boughey’s Cross Country is equally abstract, but a very different take on the Australian bush, and she describes her work as “an annotation of landscape, a shorthand writing, a synthesis of experience”.

    • Bridges by Lucas Grogan.

    En plein air is a fancy way of saying an artist painted outdoors, and Boughey did just that, taking a four-metre canvas on a camping trip for one of her works.

    The trio of exhibitions is on October 6 to November 4, with artist talks Saturday October 7, 2pm, at Turner Galleries William Street, Northbridge.

    by JENNY D’ANGER

  • ASTROLOGY Oct 7 – Oct 14, 2017

    ASTROLOGY Oct 7 – Oct 14, 2017

    ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
    Though conditions aren’t traditionally optimal for you, there is a unique pattern of planetary influence that has you sailing forth anyway. Saturn in Sagittarius is exerting a certain steadiness on you that is proving to be very helpful. Set your aim. Work at it – together with good friends.

    TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)
    If there are any unresolved relationship issues hiding away in your life, now is the time to sort them out. The asteroid Chiron, is in a particularly forceful mood around the healing journey. It is where our wounds lie that we are destined to find healing energy – so don’t fear your sore spots!

    GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)
    Though Mercury is in a fellow air sign, Libra, this is proving to be quite a befuddling time. Decisions are proving to be troublesome. There seems to be too many options and they all look as good as each other. This is the agony of over-choice. Wait. The clouds of confusion will part.

    CANCER (June 22 – July 22)
    Other people’s indecisiveness is beginning to drive you spare. The agony that comes with over-thinking things, is not a neurosis that you presently have time for. Your intuition is alive and clear in your belly. You are just going to have to trust it without waiting for others to come around.

    LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)
    This is a particularly idealistic time for Leos. You are sharing powerful ideas with fellow members of your tribe. Finding an extended family that holds to common ground, gives birth to an exhilaration that fills you with pride. Change is on the agenda. Your rationale is rock solid.

    VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22
    Venus and Mars are one in front of the other in Virgo. They are being powerfully opposed by Chiron in Pisces, who is making an unmistakeable case for clarity and healing in relationship. Whatever tangles you are in around gender, sort them out. Be totally honest with yourself.

    LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)
    In the midst of all sorts of squabbles around independence, co-dependence and interdependence in relationship, you have a powerful moment of clarity. You are not remotely interested in tangling yourself in intellectual discussions around intimacy. Your intuition is soft, strong and right.

    SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)
    Jupiter arrives in Scorpio this week. Jupiter doesn’t come around all that often, so you’d best get to know him. On a positive note he brings expansiveness; the good fortune that comes through embracing wider horizons and jollity. He can also make one prone to over-reach. Be aware.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
    Life is offering you a rip-roaring scenario in which to exercise your capacity for meaningful communication. Those who want the world to be purely logical are getting more hard-line. Those with a poetic bent, are heading further into magical thinking. Offer optimism and resolution.

    CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
    A raft of positive outcomes arrives on the table the moment the truth, felt sincerely, is spoken. Whole-heartedness can have an astonishing alchemic effect, especially in relationships that need to shift to a new level. Be an instigator and maverick midwife. You will be transformed too.

    AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
    It’s becoming clear that if you are to make your mark in the world, you will need to sort your own story out along the way. It’s easy to see that all the problems are ‘out there’. But what’s out there is only a reflection of what’s ‘in here’. This is as good a moment as any to do your homework.

    PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
    The Sun’s passage through Libra is lifting you out of the kind of depths that have becalmed you in the past. Life is offering you challenges, but not so severe as to throw you off your trail. Those ordeals that are presently on your plate, are forcing you to be resilient, resourceful and creative.