Perth Voice Interactive

LOCALS noticing a massive die-off of trees around Voiceland have raised fears WA is in the grip of a drought and have called for more government action.

Driving their fears is that many native trees and bushes appear to be affected far more than usual, and they fear climate change means it’s only going to get worse.

Inglewood resident June Winsome-Smith asked the Voice to look into the deaths after noticing the “unprecedented” loss of trees around her suburb.

Ms Winsome-Smith says she’s been on to her local councillors who’ve also noticed the city’s increasingly brown streets.

Bayswater deputy mayor Elli Petersen-Pik said he’d put forward several motions to council encouraging measures to increase tree survival.

 “Everywhere I go around our city, I see dead or struggling young and mature trees,” Cr Petersen-Pik said. 

Back in 2020 Bayswater’s tree canopy was one of the worst in the country, sitting at 10.9 per cent (“Greyswater,” Perth Voice, November 21, 2020).

Cr Petersen-Pik said he’d suggested extra watering and increased budgets, saying the loss of trees was not only costing the environment; he says the lost trees over 2022 alone were estimated to be worth $417,000. 

“Each tree that dies is a significant loss to the city,”

“The City spent $233,815 on tree removals in 2022/23.” 

Cr Petersen-Pik said he’s not aware that the city’s tree care regime has changed in response to climate change; “I’m still advocating for us to look into improving it.”

WA Parks ambassador Simon Cherriman said the issue goes beyond just Bayswater’s borders.

“In the Perth Hills I’m seeing very mature trees that have obviously weathered lots of dry conditions over their lifetime of several hundred years, just deciding they’re going to give up,” Mr Cherriman said. 

Weathered

He says research suggests heat is responsible, not just the lack of rainwater.

“Lots of trees and shrubs are all dying at the same time, which seems to be after these prolonged days of 40 degree heat with no respite,” he told the Voice.

Heat absorbent surfaces such as bitumen, concrete and even natural rock outcrops in the bush are capable of maintaining heat for long periods and have also contributed to mass tree and shrub death.

But Mr Cherriman said the community should not to lose hope, urging gardeners to choose “the right locally native plants which are adapted to these long hot summer periods”.

He suggested Australian species such as Eucalypts with a heat-reflecting wax coat on their leaves.

“They’re more likely to have some kind of drought resistance,” Mr Cherriman said. 

According to a drought statement from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in April, for the 11-month period since last May, rainfall hit record lows across much of WA’s central west and southwest districts, with predictions it will remain below average through the traditionally wetter months.

Rainfall levels are similar to some of the driest periods across the last century and have parallels with the brutal Federation Drought, labelled by the bureau “one of Australia’s worst droughts”.

 The seven-year dry peaked in 1902 and saw loss of livestock, land degradation, and hammered wheat crops.

“The national wheat crop was all but lost, with close to the lowest yields of the century,” the bureau noted in a drought fact Sheed.

The BoM said declaring a drought was a matter for state governments. 

However, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development media adviser Megan Broad said in lieu of declaring a drought, the government was taking a “hands-up” approach to long periods of record-low rainfall, including “significant investment in initiatives, projects and scientific research that builds climate resilience on farms and in regional communities”. 

Ms Broad said the previous practice of declaring a drought had not existed in Australia for more than 20 years. 

A Perth and Peel Urban Greening Strategy recognising the importance of enhancing tree canopy, was introduced by the Cook government on February 9 this year. The strategy recommends a tree canopy measurement program, education campaigns and identifying under-used state government land that could be greened up.

by OLIVIA MINTY

PERTH student Shayla Keane has won the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s 28th Class Clowns grand final.

Class Clowns is one of the festival’s developmental programs, helping hundreds of young people develop their comedy potential with access to workshops and audiences, and cultivating the next generation of funny people and those with unique voices.

The Santa Maria College student says the inspiration for her comedy comes from travelling the world with her family and finding humour in everyday situations within different cultures.

“Culture is a big part of my life,” Shayle told the Herald.

She first entered the contest in 2022 and was a runner-up in the grand final, and says this year she was more prepared.

“In 2022 I had just started out in comedy.

“I was really nervous and had little confidence in myself as a comedian.

“In 2024 I had a lot more confidence, was less nervous and more excited to be on stage.”

Shayla was one of 11 finalists from around the country and walked away with a first prize of $1500, a $1000 workshop package for Santa Maria, as well as the Class Clowns trophy.

Shayla’s comedy routine occasionally references her “brown skin” as she has Indian/South African parents and she gently mocks some of the compliments from well-meaning peers, but says overall race has been “a positive influence on my life”.

“I don’t think I will be focusing on my race as part of my future comedy routines,” she said.

Shayla’s keen to grow a career as a stand-up comedian, but balances that with a desire to obtain a degree at university once she’s finished high school.

“I enjoy making people laugh and forget about their problems for a while.”

She plans on doing some open mic gigs around Perth in the near future but for the long term is considering a move to Melbourne to try out its comedy scene;, which is incredibly competitive but can help launch a career.

Class Clown’s former alumni includes Aaron Chen (Fisk, 2017 best newcomer award and 2019 director’s choice award at the Festival).

by MALAKAI LELIEVELD

AGE was no barrier for Mt Lawley’s Esther Finkelstein last weekend, the 87 year old taking out one of four main sessions at the WA Mahjong Festival.

The one-day competition attracted 88 players from around WA, including a contingent of 13 from Bunbury and one intrepid Queenslander.

Ms Finkelstein said she was hooked on Mahjong because it was challenging, exercised her brain and was a great social outing.

“The first time I went to Hong Kong many, many years ago I saw these people playing in the garden and I was fascinated,” Ms Finkelstein said.

“I tried to play it when I got back, but there was always something coming up, but 10 years ago I went to South Perth and got hooked.”

Ms Finkelstein says there’s definitely an element of luck to the game, which she felt was on her side during the festival.

“I was just lucky; one hand I picked up the last tile, not from the discard pile, but from the wall and got a bouquet of flowers, which helped,” she said.

Mahjong developed in China during the 1800s and was a favourite for the men who’d enjoy a flutter. Its name means “sparrow” and refers to the twittering sound the ceramic tiles make when they are shuffled on the table.

Ms Finkelstein said another great aspect of the game was its appeal to all ages, having taught her granddaughter while she was visiting from over east – and she reckons the young’uns are pretty adept at learning and retaining the rules.

The festival, which is in its second year, had three generations participating this year from the same family; Scarlett James, her mother Rikki and grandmother Lyn Corrigan.

“Our family mahjong tradition is a lively affair,” Rikki said.

“My mum Lyn introduced me and my children, Scarlett and Levi, to the game during our weekly visits.

“Recently I’ve been spreading the joy by teaching friends in Floreat and Wembley, all thanks to my passion for the game.

“Even my husband Nathan joined in and managed to win his first two games, much to everyone’s sore disappointment.”

Festival co-organiser Ivy Branson said they set it up because WA kept missing out on hosting the Australasian Mahjong Festival, which has graced various towns over east since it was launched in 1994, but he never made it across the Nullabor.

“Mahjong is undeniably a beloved pastime, readily accessible to enthusiasts throughout Perth,” Ms Branson says.

“I have personally identified a wealth of opportunities, with no less than 65 public venues in the metro area, including public libraries and community centres spanning from Yanchep to Kalamunda to Rockingham, generously hosting free weekly mahjong sessions. 

“It’s truly heartening to see this tradition thriving within our community.

“Each week over a thousand players in Perth sit down to play mahjong, fostering connections and enjoyment across generations.”

The overall winner of the festival was Cindy Livshitz who scored 52 points, five ahead of her nearest rival Yuk Ying Michelle Ng.

by STEVE GRANT

THE City of Bayswater has become the latest council moved to ditch its annual Australia Day citizenship ceremony.

During an hour-long debate last Wednesday, Bayswater councillors discussed the result of consultation with its Reconciliation Advisory Committee and a survey of 431 Bayswater residents conducted over June and July 2023. 

Councillor Sally Palmer said the advisory committee’s advice to council was to move the ceremony and associated events to three days after January 26.

The RAC also wanted more Aboriginal culture such as traditional food and a welcome to country at the ceremony, saying it would be a “positive experience for new citizens and an integrated approach”. 

“Having it three days after… it’s not a devastation,” Cr Palmer said, encouraging extra weight to be given to the RAC’s advice.

The community survey highlighted the division in the wider Australian community about celebrating Australia Day; 47 per cent voted for Baysater to “retain the status quo” and 44 per cent wanted the ceremony moved. Another 9 per cent indicated they would be satisfied with either option.

Councillor Steven Ostaszewskyj said he wouldn’t be supporting a date change.

“I acknowledge the hurt that is out in the community in regard to the choice of Australia Day… but I also do acknowledge that many people from all over the world want to have their citizenship ceremony on Australia Day.”

Cr Ostaszewskyj said there were other citizenship ceremonies throughout the year that people could choose if they didn’t like Australia Day.

Dismantled

More than 80 councils have voted to separate their Australia Day citizenship ceremony from January 26, including the City of Fremantle. 

That came after the Albanese government dismantled former prime minister Scott Morrison’s 2019 amendment to the ‘Australian Citizenships Ceremonies Code’ which legally required councils to hold a ceremony on January 26, with the threat of losing that power if they disobeyed.

Staff had recommended retaining January 26 for the ceremony and celebration, saying the survey results didn’t justify a move.

Mayor Filomena Piffaretti said this was also her view, but when councillors voted it down, she suggested a move to any time in the three days after January 26.

Deputy mayor Elli Petersen-Pik suggested a six-day window either side of January 26, but the RAC had concerns the time leading up to Australia Day was also distressing for First Nations people. He was the only supporter of this option, and despite voting against a change herself, the mayor’s option was voted in 6 – 4.

by OLIVIA MINTY

ARTAGEDDON is officially over.

The Albanese Labor government this week announced the first Perth recipients of funding aimed at shoring up small-to-medium arts organisations which were hammered under the former Abbott government.

Back in 2015 former arts minister George Brandis blindsided arts organisations when he stripped $105 million from the Australia Council to set up his own “excellence” fund; many had spent months preparing funding applications which suddenly had to be scrapped (“Artageddon,” Voice, June 19, 2015).

Part of the Brandis overhaul was ending recurrent funding, with many in the arts community, such as former PICA director Amy Barrett-Lennard, fearing it would make forward planning difficult and job cuts inevitable. Ms Barrett-Lennard had been seeking a six-year funding agreement to expand PICA’s coverage of all art forms.

When Mitch Fifield took over the arts portfolio in the Turnbull government he rebranded the fund Catalyst and gave the Australia Council back $32m, but Labor made it an election promise to scrap it completely.

Perth federal Labor MP Patrick Gorman told the Voice this week’s $5m for local arts organisations was proof they were living up to that commitment.

Saying it had been an important issue for him personally, Mr Gorman said the new model was “fairer and aimed at more small and middle-sized arts organisations” and would see a bigger share making its way across the Nullabor.

Centre for Stories

The Northbridge-based Centre for Stories received $960,000 over four years, which Mr Gorman said would enhance Australia’s engagement with the Indian Ocean region and beyond.

“It is our premier incubator for literature,” he said.

“They are ensuring stories of the Indian Ocean are captured, which Western Australians can do better than their colleagues over east.

“The Centre for Stories describes their mission statement as: ‘To create a vibrant, inclusive arts and cultural organisation that uses storytelling to inspire cohesion and understanding through rich and diverse programs’,” he said.

“In pursuing this goal, they enrich our local and national arts sectors.

“This funding will give them the security and stability to do so in the future.

“Funding the arts in Western Australia celebrates our unique perspective and the stories that only Western Australians can tell.”

Also receiving funding in the current four-year round was STRUT Dance ($1m), PVI Collective ($1.32m), Barking Gecko theatre ($1.06m) and the Performing Arts Centre Society ($800,000).

The funds will come through Creative Australia, which replaces the Australia Council after its launch in August last year.

Creativity

Federal arts minister Tony Burke said at the launch it was a “body that can be dedicated simply to Australian stories; simply to Australian creativity in all its forms”.

Mr Burke said there had been a long discussion about making sure people outside big cities had more access to arts.

“It’s important we’re going out to the suburbs, we’re going out to the regions, but not simply to perform other people’s stories, but to create together.

“If we get this right we will see each other – no matter who we are – we will get to see ourselves on stage, hear ourselves in song, read our own stories that reflect our homes, in poetry, in narrative, on the screen,” Mr Burke told the crowd.

by STEVE GRANT

AN enrolment boom in Edith Cowan University’s music teaching courses could help get singing and playing back in Perth classrooms, and even go some way to reversing declining academic outcomes.

A doubling of enrolments in ECU’s postgraduate courses has been driven by a one-year graduate diploma in teaching aimed at aspiring school teachers who’ve completed a three-year degree in another field

ECU music education coordinator Jason Goopy said it showed musicians who’d been through the WA Academy of Performing Arts gaining a bachelor of music were busting to get into classrooms.

“This year the music education major and instrumental music education minor were the largest single subject areas in ECU’s postgraduate teacher education courses,” Mr Goopy said.

“Our students range from graduates who have recently completed their bachelor degrees, to highly experienced instrumental tutors in schools now looking to gain a formal teaching qualification.”

The uni’s executive dean of education Caroline Mansfield said it was good news for schools.

“As the largest provider of graduates to public schools in WA, we are dedicated to ensuring that future teachers experience quality initial teacher education, developing knowledge and skills to support success in the future.”

The boom in enrolments follows a report from June last year that found the teachers are getting less than half the music education in their degrees than they were 15 years ago.

The Fading Notes report by Rachel Hocking was the latest as part of a partnership between Alberts/The Tony Foundation and award-winning educator Anita Collins.

Worsening

“There are insufficient numbers of trained and/or upskilled teachers of music in all education systems, and this situation is predicted to worsen in the future,” the report found.

It said music was worth just 1 per cent of a primary education degree.

“The inadequate provision of music education in primary teaching degrees, along with indifferent attitudes towards music teaching, is having a detrimental impact on the quality and quantity of music education in Australian schools, ultimately failing school students,” the report found.

And that can have implications for academic results, with a 2019 study by the University of British Columbia finding that music students were scoring “significantly better” exam results than their tone-deaf peers in other subjects.

Study author Peter Gouzouasis noted that North American schools mirrored those in Australia by under-funding music education compared to other areas.

“It is believed that students who spend school time in music classes, rather than in further developing their skills in math, science and English classes, will underperform in those disciplines,” Dr Gouzouasis said.

“Our research suggests that, in fact, the more they study music, the better they do in those subjects.”

Magdela Lisek is a new student in the graduate diploma in teaching course and is majoring in music education, but she is no stranger to ECU.

“I completed my bachelor of music (classical performance) and graduate diploma (opera) at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and know the strong reputation of ECU’s School of Education,” Ms Lisek said.

She currently works as a school music tutor and looks forward to gaining her formal teaching qualification.

“I want to share my passion for the art form and make music and musical knowledge more accessible,” she said.

by STEVE GRANT

SMALLER local publishers will be disproportionately affected by Meta’s removal of it news tab from Facebook and Instagram says a lobby group.

Facebook’s news tab disappeared from Australian accounts on Tuesday after Meta thumbed its nose at the federal government’s news media bargaining code, introduced in 2021 to make digital companies pay for news content they share and benefit from through advertising, but don’t contribute to.

Some smaller publishers received funding from Meta through the Walkley Foundation, but most were excluded because of a high revenue threshold.

The Local and Independent News Association says these publishers would lose out through the loss of website traffic driven by Meta.

LINA executive director Claire Stuchbery said government support would be needed to counter the losses and help newsrooms transition to new income streams.

“These local and independent media publishers play a critical role within their communities, combatting misinformation and disinformation, supporting community health and safety (including emergency preparedness and resilience), promoting workforce development and fostering social cohesion and civic engagement.

“They are also key to platforming diverse voices and experiences, as these tend to be the most affected by the closure of larger newsrooms and the rising syndication of content.”

Many small newsrooms formed in response to misinformation about Covid and to fill news deserts with locally relevant updates

during the pandemic, and in the context of rising natural disasters and the advancement of generative AI technology.

Ms Stuchberry said while big news organisations had brand awareness, these hyperlocal newsrooms tended to rely on Facebook and Instagram to find an audience.

“Not only would this affect the viability of existing news publishers, but the ability of new organisations and publishers to start-up and build their audience would be hampered in the future, further consolidating what is already one of the most concentrated m0edia markets in the world,” Ms Stuchbery said.

by STEVE GRANT