Perth Voice Interactive

YOU’D think floristry would be a pretty green game all round, but many flowers rack up huge carbon miles being imported from overseas and are packaged in nature-strangling plastic.

Northbridge florist Stacey Lenstra has just picked up a Switch Your Thinking award for her greener approach.

She sources flowers locally, cutting down on fuel and the refrigeration needed to keep them fresh. Some florists import stock from as far away as Kenya, Vietnam or Ecuador, and along with hogging jet fuel they’re treated with chemicals during quarantine.

“Most things are grown commercially … in bulk in hothouses and farms, and in other countries the labour costs are lower,” Ms Lenstra says of the lure of purchasing cheaper flowers.

Vases

She also chooses earth-friendly alternatives such as vases over foam flower settings, hiring them out for functions and then using them again.

Ms Lenstra opened Beans & Bunches in the little arcade off William Street in 2011 and decided to go the earth-friendly route shortly after.

“It’s something I realised when working for myself how much waste there is.

“As a business owner I took ownership of my responsibility there.”

The awards are run by the South East Region Energy Group with Perth council.

by DAVID BELL

THE Multicultural Services Centre WA is planning to move its wellness centre in North Perth to Morley.

MSCWA wanted to move the centre from an existing council-owned building on Woodville Reserve to a bigger one it was planning to build, but negotiations with Vincent council have broken down and it’s now looking to buy elsewhere.

Last week letters were sent to users of the facility, who are mainly the elderly and disabled and their families, seeking their feedback on the move.

“… unfortunately the City of Vincent is yet to grant us a building permit for the $1.3 million building that we proposed,” MSCWA’s letter states.

“They also advised us that at the end of 15 years we have to give them full ownership of this building despite no contributions from them and they will not guarantee us the opportunity to continue the services we deliver, even if there is a continuing need for them.”

Vincent CEO Len Kosova says the city was prompt in dealing with MSCWA’s request and had tried to facilitate the redevelopment. In-principle support for the development was given in June.

Mr Kosova says the lease length could have been discussed further when the item came back to the council.

Another sticking point is that the new development affects vehicle traffic to the tennis club on the park and no one wants to pay to fix the problem.

Not supported

“The city advised that those costs would not be supported as the changes to the existing vehicle access are a result of MSCWA’s proposed development,” Mr Kosova says.

“The city is … not forcing MSCWA off Woodville Reserve — quite the opposite in fact — the city has been actively working with MSCWA in line with council’s in-principle support for the proposed wellness centre development,” he said in response to one user’s claim in a letter to the Voice last week.

“One day you [Vincent] also will need centres like this and I hope they close the door in your faces,” Larry Arrigoni had written (“Uncaring about those who care,” November 12, 2016).

Mr Kosova says it was “unfair and untrue” to claim the city didn’t support its older residents and the multi-cultural community and that any move was entirely the decision of the multicultural association.

The multicultural centre was contacted but did not return calls.

by TRILOKESH CHANMUGAM

A UNITY PICNIC organised by the WA Greens has been staged in Hyde Park to combat a rise in racism.

Greens senator Rachel Siewert says; “there’s been quite a lot of negative talk about multiculturalism, and hate speech, and so we thought it was an opportunity to show we are a strong multicultural community, to show how faiths do work together and come together.

“Particularly from the Muslim community we’ve had quite a lot of feedback about them getting negative responses, people being rude in the street.

Intimidated

“[Muslim] people are feeling quite disappointed, but also some are feeling intimidated.”

She said during this year’s federal election a car outside a mosque in the southern suburbs was firebombed, the building was targeted with graffiti and there was a report about a pig’s head being left at the front door.

“Our candidate Muhammad [Salman]… was telling me about how women wearing the hijab when they’re out walking their kids in prams will frequently get yelled at, abused, and this is when all they’re doing it taking their kids for a walk along the streets.

Perth Mosque imam Mohammed Shakeeb says many in his community are “wary of what’s going on”.

He says the recent waves of anti-Muslim sentiment have been more severe: “I’ve been here since the 70s, I grew up here… I don’t think they had any bad, negative fear about Muslims back then.

“I was chatting with a friend today, he’s a mechanic, he was telling me of an incident where his cousin went to a footy game. It was an Eagles game, and he brough this wife with him. After the Eagles won someone from the opposition supporters said ‘why don’t you guys eff off to your country’.

“Some positive news came out of that,” he says, and the couple found many supporters who spoke against the xenophobe.

He says events like the picnic are vital to combating fear.

He says the fear evaporates “when you get to know who they are”.

by DAVID BELL

MT LAWLEY Liberal MLA Michael Sutherland will host a meth forum this week following concerns raised by constituents about family members or others in the community using the drug.

Some outer-lying suburbs have been plagued by meth labs (which occasionally blow up) but Mr Sutherland says “it’s not an overt problem” in his electorate. Instead the forum’s intended to educate families on how to spot the early signs and deal with meth use.

“Last week I had a constituent come who’s got a problem with her son; the bloke’s totally lost the plot,” Mr Sutherland says, adding it got bad enough the family “had to get restraining orders”.

“I heard another case from one of my constituents who went around to fix a door, and the son was a meth addict and started beating up the parents in front of him.”

He says in the early days of use people think they can handle the drug.

That’s when families need to be able to spot the “telltale signs” and intervene.

Mental health minister Andrea Mitchell will be at the forum and a release from her says while fewer people are using the drug than a decade ago, its potency has increased meaning a “greater level of harm to the community”.

In response to “the meth scourge” the Barnett government is bringing online 52 dedicated residential rehab beds and eight low-medical detox beds across the state. Cyrenian House and Palmerston in Perth will get 28 beds.

It’s part of a $15 million strategy aimed at tackling meth as a health-care issue rather than a straight policing problem.

“The Liberal National government is ensuring that the entire spectrum of treatment and prevention options is supported and available across the state,” Ms Mitchell said.

The meth strategy forum is on November 23 at the Mt Lawley Tennis Club from 6pm, rsvp at michael@michaelsutherland.com.au or 9473 0800.

by DAVID BELL

A NEW “common sense” measure to reduce red tape in Bayswater allows green thumbs plant verge gardens without needing approval.

Councillor Chris Cornish first floated the idea a year ago, hoping to encourage people to grow their own “edible verges” to cultivate herbs, veggies and small fruit trees. Previously homeowners needed approval to plant on the verge and the hassle was a big discouragement.

Now as long as they’re not planting poisonous plants or thick, thorny hedges that block sight lines, they’re free to go ahead and get gardening.

Awesome

Mr Cornish says; “after my first blog post in March last year when I put it out… I’ve had oodles of people saying ‘awesome, it’s a great idea’ and people saying ‘I tried to do this but got shut down’.

“I’m a believer in a small government which minimises interference in people’s lives and I think this fits that to a tee.

“The concept of allowing people to make productive use of public land is a no-brainer.”

Mr Cornish has his own edible verge and wife Della says it’s been good to teach the kids about growing their own food, and they’re “often caught up in conversation with people who need a few herbs to cook dinner with”.

The only rules are that if there’s no footpath you’ve got to leave room for pedestrians and within 1.5m of a crossover the plants have to be below 75cm. Also no poison plants or super spikey ones with inch-plus-long thorns, and manmade raised bed structures will still need approval.

To encourage people to plant native, waterwise and edible plants the council’s providing funds to Environment House for a “plants to residents program,” similar to how Vincent gives away cheapy natives to its residents twice a year.

by DAVID BELL

THE Barnett government’s decision to relocate 1500 pubic servants from Perth to Fremantle has been welcomed as a new era of economic growth in the port city, but it’s less popular in the abandoned capital city as it grapples with even more vacant office space.

Lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi said the announcement was “counter-intuitive”, and contrary to the City of Perth Act.

“I could understand the decision if this was during the height of the economic mining boom, but to implement it post-boom will further prolong the recovery of office vacancies, which currently stand at 22 percent,” Ms Scaffidi said.

“Taking into account current economic predictions, it’s anticipated it will take several years for the office vacancy rate to normalise, and the strategy of decentralising is contrary to the City of Perth Act.”

“Specifically, decentralising government agencies will impact on the functional efficiency, innovation and growth of the capital city.”

The strategy was formulated during a period of strong economic growth in 2010, but Perth’s office vacancy is now at its highest rate in more than 20 years.