Perth Voice Interactive

LITERARY organisations say a state government review threatens their existence and disadvantages local talent.

Between them the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA, WA Poets Inc, Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre, the Peter Cowan Writers Centre and the Society of Women Writers WA have more than 200 years’ experience fostering writing talent.

They are worried about a writers’ hub at the state library, which was recommended by the government’s Writing Sector Review. It would be run by writingWA, which is partly government funded.

Fellowship spokesman Colin Young says centralisation could decimate their membership and destroy the identity of local writing.

“We have real concerns; we all cater for different writers in different areas, each of us is a peak body,” he says.

In a joint statement the five writers’ centres slammed the government review, refuting its claims that writing in WA is in serious deterioration and that centres only deal with “low level” beginning writers, fail to provide professional assistance and duplicate services.

Empire building

WritingWA was originally set up to support regional writers, but has expanded over a number of years and the report recommends it goes further in operating a writers’ hub.

“The review states it should become a state writer centre modelled on the Victorian equivalent resisted for so long in WA,” Poets Inc spokesman Peter Jeffery says.

WritingWA works with the various writer centres, publishers, libraries and other key players in the industry, which makes it the ‘supply chain’ for writers and therefore the peak body, CEO Sharon Flindell says.

But she scoffed at claims her organisation was empire building: “I think [the writers centres] are jumping the gun.”

Local government, sport and cultural industries spokesperson Ashleigh Rowland says there are no plans to centralise control of WA writing groups.

She says the review identifies barriers and opportunities for sustainable writing and feedback would be considered when the report was finalised.

None of which allayed the fears of the writing centres: centralised hubs in other capitals have been a disaster, Mr Jeffery says.

“Usually, after initial honeymoon periods, there has occurred a sharp diminution in membership…even to the point of killing them off.”

by JENNY D’ANGER

NEARLY 500 protestors marched to parliament house on Tuesday demanding “Justice for Elijah” Doughty, the 14-year-old boy who was run over and killed by a male driver outside Kalgoorlie last year.

The man, whose name has been suppressed by the courts, was cleared by a supreme court jury of manslaughter and sentenced to three years for dangerous driving.

He was out searching for two stolen motorbikes when he came across Elijah riding a small 70cc motorcycle.

The driver followed Elijah hoping it would lead him to the stolen bikes, but he said he accidentally ran the boy down after Elijah swerved in front of him. The driver then called police and attempted first aid but Elijah had died on impact.

There was a heavy police presence around Forrest Place, with about 40 cops including mounted police and cops on bikes on hand.

The crowd was angry, sad and frustrated at the Doughty verdict, the driver, and the long history that’d led to the situation.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder was a tinderbox in the lead-up to the event, with much of the white population at their wit’s end over the frequent petty crime they endured, and the Aboriginal community the target of ingrained racism, from the underlying subtle end of the scale—a lack of opportunity and systemic prejudice—to openly being abused in the streets.

Even the Kalgoorlie-Boulder mayor John Bowler had publicly said each generation of Aboriginal people is “worse than the one before”.

Former premier Colin Barnett had said last year that racism in the area was a problem the state government needed to address.

Last year he’d said he expected the charge in the Doughty trial would be manslaughter rather than the lesser offence of dangerous driving.

On Tuesday Mr Barnett, no longer premier, watched on from the sidelines as the crowd gathered in front of parliament, a number stopping to get selfies with him.

He told the Voice he held out hope that the upcoming $1.3 billion native title agreement—while not covering the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area specifically—would serve as a symbolic turning point and ease some of the tensions that’d led to this situation.

by STEVE GRANT and DAVID BELL

MAYLANDS Labor MP Lisa Baker says the McGowan government will spend $160,000 tackling anti-social behaviour in the suburb, following ongoing complaints from residents and business owners about violence, theft and drug use.

The problems had gotten so bad that Bayswater police recently held a community meeting in Maylands.

An Eighth Avenue resident told The Voice her apartment complex had become a hotspot for homeless people who camped out at night, drinking, taking drugs and arguing until early hours of the morning.

She said she often found used syringes at the entrance to the complex, which was home to several young families.

Cr Catherine Ehrhardt says abandoned syringes, sleeping bags, and shopping trolleys full of clothes are common place in alcoves and doorways in and around Eighth Avenue.

She says police and rangers regularly move on anyone demonstrating anti-social behaviour, but offenders just move to other sites, including the Rise and the Maymont building.

“Maylands is an absolutely fantastic suburb, but the shop’s owners are at their wits ends,” she says.

Henry on Eighth manager Andrew Lillywhite say anti-social behaviour is bad in Maylands, especially on Eighth Avenue.

“Our owner Steve Lavell got punched in the throat when he intervened due to customer harassment,” he says.

“One lady once threatened a man with scissors, and one man has been banned from our venue and many others due to a reputation for violence and inappropriate behaviour towards women.

“Individuals who have become familiar with the venue, often due to coffee donations, have openly admitted to being high on heroin. I have seen one used syringe.”

Following a meeting between Ms Baker and WA police minister Michelle Roberts, the state government has committed $160,000 for more CCTV and improved lighting and public toilets in Maylands.

Bayswater Mayor Barry McKenna said they plan to install the CCTV in September, when they receive the funds.

by JACKSON LAVELL-LEE

MORE than 120 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school girls gathered in Kings Park on Monday to highlight the education gap in WA.

Research published by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre in June shows WA has the worst education gap in the country between Aboriginal and TSI, and non-Aboriginal students.

Only 44.7 per cent of Aboriginal and TSI students who start high school finish year 12, compared to 82.8 per cent of non ATSI students.

The Walk Together event at Kings Park was part of a three-day leadership camp for ATSI girls, run by the Girls Academy, a not-for-profit that aims to improve their academic performance and health.

Tyra Bonney from Coondanup Girls Academy said the organisation was inspirational.

“It gives me a reason to get up and come to school,” she says.

“Now I believe I can be somebody.”

GA was founded by former Olympian basketballer Ricky Grace in 2004, and now 80 per cent of its staff are ATSI women and it works with 14 high schools across WA.

GA participants graduate at a rate 11 per cent higher than the national average for ATSI students and they have a higher class attendance rate.