Perth Voice Interactive

THE Perth Big Walk 4 Refugees drew about 70 people to Hyde Park last Saturday (March 23).

The event was part of a national campaign launched on February 13 this year – the one-year anniversary of the Albanese government’s announcement of permanent pathways to permanent residency for 19,000 refugees who have been on temporary visas for a decade or more. 

Speakers called for the government to expand the program to include another 9,000 refugees who have also spent a decade waiting for a chance to settle in Australia, but were left in limbo by a system advocates say the government knows was unfair.

Many folks across Australia have been walking to support this call for permanency, and have now collectively walked a distance that spans more than 3 times around Australia.

Ahwazi refugee Hossein arrived in Australia in 2012 after fleeing Iran and remains on a temporary visa.

Since then, he has completed a diploma of ICT Networking while learning English, and is a freelance journalist and human rights advocate.

“As a person who went through the Fast Track process, I can tell you how complicated and confusing it is,” Hossein said.

“We had no legal representation to complete the 40-page protection claim form because the government would not provide us with a lawyer, and we could not afford to pay one as we were not allowed to work at that time.

“I was lucky my English was good enough to at least understand the questions, but still the form was so confusing. 

The “Fast Track” process rejected many people, including my dad and I, and there is no way to get an independent review of our claim.

“I have been in Australia for over 11 years after my dad and I fled Iran to try to find a safe place to live. 

“Ever since I got the right to work here, I have been employed and contributing to society. I am helping Australia to fill the skills shortage.”

Curtin University Centre for Human Rights associate professor Caroline Fleay also spoke at the rally and called on the Labor government to bring 50 men languishing in Papua New Guinea, onto Australian soil.

“And along with the 1,000 others who are here after enduring years of being locked up on Nauru and Manus Island, a pathway to permanency must be provided for them,” Prof Fleay said.

“There must be an end to the dreadful uncertainty so that many are forced to live with. 

“It is time for the Australian government to finish the job and provide a pathway to permanency for all people seeking asylum.”

Other speakers included eye surgeon and writer Hessom Razavi, who visited Manus Island and Nauru in a professional capacity.

“Australia only stands to gain by allowing this small number of people to stay,” Dr Razavi said.

“We’ll gain morally, by ending their unnecessary suffering. 

“We’ll gain culturally by their enriching our communities. 

“And we’ll gain financially by allowing them to contribute even more to the economy. 

“It should be a no-brainer for our government to enact immediately.”

Centre for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees general manager Suha Ali urged the crowd to support his organisation with donations so it can continue providing refugees with welfare and advocacy support.

CARAD’s March appeal can be found at: givenow.com.au/caradmarchappeal

BAYSWATER council is helping youngsters reconnect with nature in a series of workshops for Youth Week, April 5 – 124. 

The workshops are being held in the city’s green spaces and are aimed at inspiring young people aged 12 to 25 to express their creativity, learn sustainable life skills and connect with others. 

Deputy mayor Elli Petersen-Pik said the City’s Youth Week celebrations aimed to create a sense of belonging in local young people. 

“These workshops are a great way for young people living, studying or working in the City of Bayswater to meet like-minded people and explore the City’s picturesque natural environments,” he said. 

“Young people can choose to enjoy a photography workshop at Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary, a birds of prey meet and greet with an after-dark walk through Lightning Swamp Bushland, or learn how to create their very own take-home veggie garden. 

“By fostering connections with other local young people and the environment, the City is working to encourage mental wellbeing and civic engagement in our younger community members. “

BAYSWATER councillor Sally Palmer has won the North Ward by-election comfortably, saying political manoeuvring before the vote probably worked in her favour.

Friday’s by-election was forced when mayor Filomena Piffaretti resigned from her ward seat just five days before last October’s general election, robbing Cr Palmer of an opportunity to take the vacancy as the runner-up (“Shock resignation,” Voice, October 19, 2023).

While Ms Piffaretti posted to social media that the move would help her achieve a “clear mandate” and an opportunity to lead in her own right, Cr Palmer said not all voters saw it that way.

“A lot of people could see through what was going on, and to have an election in January and February was a killer, and that had people offering to help,” she said of her campaign.

“I was upset because when you are walking the streets in 40 degrees, you start to wonder ‘why am I doing this’.

“We had people in their 80s walking the streets and they’d come back and they were covered in perspiration, but you’d say they’d done enough and they’d just say ‘no, give me some more pamphlets’ because they believe in working for goodness.”

Cr Palmer said despite the controversy around the election, she wasn’t harbouring any bitterness and would be happy to work with the mayor and her political allies.

Dynamic

“We have a good dynamic and variety, with young people, different genders and different ages, and that should be used for healthy decision-making for the community, not for factions.”

Cr Palmer said being voted onto council was an honour and she hoped to set a “mature example”.

“Maybe this nonsense has been like a couple who have a row, but learn from it,” she said.

Keeping spending down so rate increases could be kept to a minimum was high on her agenda for the next term, saying she’d like to see the end of council-organised mini activities like yoga in the park that attracted only a handful of people, preferring the funding be spent on showstopper festivals that attracted thousands and gave them a good impression of the city.

by STEVE GRANT

THE mayors of Vincent and Cambridge have banded together to try and convince the Cook government to overhaul the Leederville train station.

Vincent mayor Alison Xamon and Cambridge mayor Gary Mack have written to premier Roger Cook, transport minister Rita Saffioti and planning minister John Carey saying the aged station is holding up the revitalisation of the surrounding precinct.

Ms Xamon said there had been a big focus on the Leederville town centre after her council’s decision in November last year to sell its Frame Court and The Avenue carparks for a transit oriented development.

“One of the things we are keen to do is to tap into the state government’s interest in supporting transit oriented developments and ask that key consideration be given to prioritising an upgrade – not just an upgrade, but a complete re-do of the Leederville train station,” Ms Xamon said.

“People would know that the Leederville train station is pretty old; I would say that the disability access is pretty woeful.

“At the moment it really doesn’t serve the precinct very well, particularly in terms of providing an attractive option between the Town of Cambridge and connecting up with the City of Vincent.

“At the moment the pedestrian overpass at Leederville doesn’t have any shelter, it’s not particularly safe, and as I say the lack of disability access is a particular concern.”

Ms Xamon noted there was another state election in one year’s time, and said she’d love to see “duelling announcements” from Labor and the Opposition about upgrades to the station.

It’s not the first time the two councils have teamed up to try and improve their linkage, as they’re split by the Mitchell Freeway and only have the spaghetti loop of a footbridge that takes some serious effort to cross.

Back in 2011 Cambridge produced plans for a $5.5 million pedestrian decking or a $13m viaduct bridge which could later be upgraded to allow traffic to cross as well.

The plans were rubber-stamped by Vincent councillors despite the concerns of then-councillor, now-state planning minister Carey, who described them as “pie in the sky”.

by STEVE GRANT

VINCENT council has called on the Cook government to do more to protect trees on private land.

Mayor Alison Xamon championed the cause, raising a notice of motion at Tuesday’s council meeting aimed at tackling the City’s low canopy cover.

“Our inner-city suburbs, and the rest of WA, are literally feeling the heat from very low canopy cover and the increased loss of trees on private land,” Ms Xamon said.

“Urban canopy contributes significantly towards local biodiversity, visual amenity, community wellbeing and reduces the impact of urban heat island effect.

“It is also an important contribution to addressing the impacts of climate change.”

Private land

While recent changes to the state’s R-Codes recognise the importance of retaining canopy on private land, Ms Xamon said the Cook government hadn’t gone far enough in requiring development approval for removing mature trees.

“This is contributing significantly to the decline of canopy cover within our suburbs and shows that the current system is failing,” she said.

“Local governments are facing increased challenges in retaining trees as they tackle the need to accommodate increasing housing density and the infestation of the polyphagous shot-hold borer.

“The council will be continuing to plant hundreds of trees on public verges, parks and carparks, as part of our annual winter planting season, and will be planning for more replacement trees in areas impacted by the PSHB,” Ms Xamon said.

MARCH is Women’s History month, and although the women being profiled are not historical, they are certainly making history. Environmental engineer Carolyn Oldham was one of the 2024 inductees to the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame this month.

CAROLYN OLDHAM has been in the environmental engineering field for more than 30 years, witnessing first-hand the changing landscape of gender equality in the scientific and academic world. 

When Prof Oldham started at UWA, there was one important detail about her that was at risk of derailing her career. 

“I arrived three months pregnant,” she said with a laugh, “and it was like all of their worst nightmares happened. 

“They got a woman, and a pregnant woman at that.” 

At the time, it was common for pregnant women to stop working, so it was a lonely endeavour for Prof Oldham to begin her career, working up until the weekend before she gave birth to her son. 

“They just weren’t used to having pregnant women in the workplace,” she says. 

Pollution

Throughout her career, Prof Oldham has focused on the protection of water, and addressing the growing problem of pollution. 

“Whether it’s groundwater, rivers, streams, estuaries, or coastal water,” she lists. 

She’s worked on research projects which address major environmental concerns such as mine closures and wetland contamination, adopting a “trans-disciplinary” approach which integrates environment and infrastructure, among many other fields. 

These include a “pioneering” study into the importance of Western Australian wetlands, and she’s also collaborated in studies on the east coast and Europe. 

Prof Oldham was the only woman among the 82 who studied engineering in her year, and only one of a small number promoted to Professor of Engineering in the country. 

The experience of being an anomaly in her studies led her to be a champion of women in engineering and STEM subjects.  

“It was obvious from the day I started I was what they called an ‘affirmative action appointment’,” she said. 

“It was also obvious right from the beginning that the gender questions in engineering needed to be worked on.”

As Chair of a UWA women’s leadership planning group, Prof Oldham acted as a mentor in engineering, stressing the importance of gender equality in the field. 

“We need women in all forms of engineering so that they bring different eyes to understanding the world’s problems,” she said. “Therefore designing technology that works and meets the needs of all the population, not just half of the population.

“Engineers make the world we live in, and if everyone who does the design and the thinking around that is a man, we’re not serving half the population.”

All diversity is key, Prof Oldham says, because each perspective offers a “different way of thinking to design the world’s technology” with a “sensitivity” that more than just one gender, ethnicity, or class can offer. 

She is all too aware of the lack of gender balance in STEM fields too, which she says applies to anyone in an “extreme minority”. 

“When you’re the only woman, it puts a huge burden on you,” she said. 

“It puts a burden on you to not just what you think, but everything you say gets labelled as ‘oh, that’s a woman talking or that to black person talking or that’s a Chinese person talking.’

“So somehow you take on the identity of your whole gender, in my case.”

The unnecessary pressure of being in an “acute minority” doesn’t help the experience of women in STEM, which are already often demanding environments. 

“You take one step wrong, suddenly, that’s just ‘what happens’ when you have women in the workplace,” she said. 

Changing

Slowly but surely, Prof Oldham says, this is changing, especially in STEM fields, where gender equality contributes to organisational function. 

“There’s fewer and fewer places where there’s just a single woman,” she said. 

“Numbers do matter.”

Prof Oldham is “very much” proud of her induction into the Hall of Fame, which she says came as a surprise as someone who “likes to work behind the scenes”. 

“It’s good for young women, particularly, but also young men to see that there’s women doing amazing things in our in our world,” she said.

“The inductees are faces of the women who have achieved amazing things, so to have those faces recognised when for so long they were in the shadows, is really good.”

Times have changed since Prof Oldham first walked into UWA three months’ pregnant. 

“No one blinks now when you see pregnant women in the workplace,” she said. 

“It’s just so normal.” 

Now, it is also normal for women to be in STEM professions: something that Prof Oldham is proud to have helped changed over her career. 

“My grandfather said over his dead body would a daughter of his go to university,” she said. 

“He was an engineer. 

“It’s so ironic that his granddaughter is a Professor of Engineering and in the Hall of Fame, so I wonder whether he’s turning in his grave,” she laughed. 

“We’ve come a long way in two generations.”

by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER