Perth Voice Interactive

THE Voice has seen an artist’s impression of a $720,000 sculpture set to be installed in Maylands, and it’s absolute junk. Literally.

The artwork is earmarked for the entrance of the new $72 million Finbar development on Railway Parade and will be built with auction-sourced materials “synonymous” with former site tenant Ross’s salvage.

As well as the sculpture there will be corner elements and giant feature screens facing Tenth Avenue, Railway Parade and Kennedy Street.

Measuring 6.2m high and 4.5m wide, the giant sculpture was designed by Stuart Green at Big Spoon Art Services.

Green has been commissioned for several major public art pieces in Australia, including the facade artworks for the new Perth Children’s Hospital, large sculptures for Fiona Stanley Hospital and the Droplet, a large-scale sculpture in Canberra.

In his brief to Bayswater city council, Green promises spatial intrigue.

“The work offers intriguing views from all angles as two continuous and interlocked loops flow through space.”

The Worst Of Perth blog—which casts a cruel satirical eye over various post-modern abominations in Perth’s cityscape—is apathetic.

“TWOP website, which has a keen interest in both Maylands and public art, are not reviewing the piece, as we feel it was at the same time not bad enough or good enough to be interesting to fans of the site—and that is sad,” founder Andrew McDonald wrote.

The proposed artwork, part of the council’s per cent per art scheme, will be voted on later this month.

The mammoth 17,259 sqm Finbar development, bounded by Kennedy Street and Tenth Avenue, includes 347 units, two offices and a restaurant.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

LISA BAKER was booted out of parliament for the first time this week.

The Maylands Labor MP was ejected from the legislative assembly for interrupting police minister Liza Harvey during an answer about the number of full time staff in the women’s policy office.

Ms Baker claims Ms Harvey quoted incorrect figures regarding the number of women in WA Police and failed to explain why WA has the lowest rates of female participation in the police force.

“The gender pay gap is the most formidable barrier facing women’s economic security in this state,” Ms Baker says. “We have a state government that has done nothing to advance the economic standing of women, and a minister who has failed miserably to bring the advancement of women to the forefront of any policy discussion.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

A BODGY press release from Perth city council claims it’s spending the most on its cyclists.

In the statement, lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi boasts of a $3.4 million spend on cycle infrastructure across the city.

“That is the highest per capita spend for any capital city in the nation, and more than double that of what other local WA councils are spending.”

The Guardian Express bought the spin hook, line and sinker, faithfully repackaging the release.

But the vast majority of the cash was from the state government: the PCC’s contribution for cyclists from its $190 million budget was a relatively paltry $500,000.

The capital’s claim of being number one on bikes left neighbouring Vincent mayor John Carey a little baffled: he’d pushed for his council to spend $2.4 million on bike stuff this year, from a total budget that’s three-quarters smaller.

by DAVID BELL

ARANMORE primary school is greener than a Prius-driving Incredible Hulk.

The Leederville school has just been accredited as waste- and water-wise and for the past few years has been establishing a sustainable vegetable garden.

The garden now boasts a worm farm, apples and olive trees and herbs (that’s erbs for American readers).

Garden co-ordinator Lynn Raschilla says fruit and vegetables are on the way too.

“The garden is used for various lessons involving all year levels from kindy to year six with the children involved in planting, weeding and picking,” she says.

“Our little kindy children recently went on a mini-beast hunt and they were delighted with their discoveries.

“Year three classes have used the produce to cook herb scones and make orange slushies.
“The worm café has been established and food scraps from the crunch-and-sip program and the school canteen are used to feed the worms which then are added into our composting system to nourish the garden.”

Science coordinator Morgan Foster says the school sends ring-pulls to “Brother Ollie”, who uses them to build wheelchairs for kids.

“Once we get a crusher we’ll be able to send him the cans as well,” she says.

“The kids are all educated on recycling and after lunch put cans and plastics in the correct bins.

“Left-overs from the school canteen and kids’ lunches are put into the worm farm, but you need to be careful what you put in there—worms don’t like citrus and onions!”

The school also has half-flush toilets and taps that turn themselves off.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

IT’S a rare thing to hear in East Perth, but resident Terry Maller reckons the situation’s vastly improved down at the trouble-ridden Wellington Square.

The former Perth city council candidate says he’s at the park every morning, and the number of people sleeping around the toilet block has dwindled to near-nothing over summer. Police patrols are up and officers on bikes are often seen pouring out illicit grog.

Some locals want the toilet block demolished (at a cost of $500,000 including a self-cleaning replacement that you can’t loiter in).

The old building’s seen as a magnet for trouble but is often used as shelter by Aboriginal people, many of them in town for dialysis at nearby Royal Perth Hospital.

Mr Maller, 70, has come out of activist-retirement to call for the block to stay.  He can’t understand why people would still want to knock it over, unless they just don’t like blackfellas being in the park.

“Wellington Square is a public space, and there for all to use,” he says. “If they are not breaking the law there is no basis for a complaint unless it is based on an aversion to a particular cohort of people using the square.”

Perth Liberal MP Eleni Evangel has presented a petition to parliament calling on the toilet block to go, but says there’s no room for racism in the debate.

by DAVID BELL

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PROMINENT US atheist Matt Dillahunty is coming to Perth with a warning for Australia’s atheists and secularists: don’t get complacent.

The magician and TV host of the Atheist Experience was raised in a southern Baptist home and spent 25 years as a fundamentalist.

He says the complacency of American atheists at the end of the 1800s has had disastrous results, with the country retreating ever further into religious extremism.

“There was this intellectual elitism, where some folks said ‘oh we’ve got evolution, we’ve got this thing licked, let’s let the peons have their religion,” he told the Voice. “And it backfired.”

The irreligious became more insular and made little effort to advance debate with theists. By the time the 1950s rolled around and the godless communists became the enemy, US evangelism underwent a resurgence. Church attendance figures skyrocketed and “one nation under God” was slid into the pledge of allegiance.

And so a republic founded by people escaping religious persecution—with a constitution written to separate church and state—became a nuclear-armed soldier for Christ. Now, even leading contenders for the Republican party’s 2016 presidential nomination are creationists who believe humans and dinosaurs shared the planet at the same time, less than 10,000 years ago, and state education departments across the US south and midwest are throwing out books that teach evolution.

“If we get lackadaisical we will regret it,” Mr Dillahunty says of Australia.

Evangelism here is on the rise, particularly with new age “cool” churches like Hillsong. Religious leaders play prominent roles in public debates including marriage equality, abortion and euthanasia, Catholic and “independent” (ie, protestant) schools are showered in public funds, taxpayer-funded chaplains in public schools are required to be sourced from religious organisations and the proportion of MPs who attend parliamentary prayers is far in excess of the number of Australians who declare themselves actively religious.

Mr Dillahunty says atheists must engage and encourage people to think for themselves, but not by looking down on people of faith: “Nobody’s going to be a perfect thinker, not even the hardline sceptics and atheists,” he says. “No-one has a monopoly on perfect thinking.”

He believes atheists can learn lessons from the gay community: staying in the closet does nothing but reinforce the status quo, it’s only by coming out loud and proud and working at it that change will occur.

“When you know atheists are people who deliver your mail and replace your kidney and share a fence with you, it’s hard to say those people are the terrible baby-killing monsters,” he says without irony (given the Old Testament is full of stories of God’s armies putting babies to the sword).

The atheist movement’s also often criticised for its “tone”. Religious leaders tend not to refute Richard Dawkins or the late Christopher Hitchens’ words, but they do complain about how mean they can sound.

“There’s something else we learned from the gay movement,” Mr Dillahunty says.

“Thirty years ago, you had two different groups: the gay men in business suits with briefcases, and then you had the folks in assless chaps who were doing the pride parade.

“And you need both of them, because they are both working in different spheres. We need diplomats, and we need firebrands.”

For his Perth visit he won’t just be bashing on God, he’ll also encourage people to apply sceptical thinking to areas such as health products, psychics, superstitions, and how to source quality information, not quackery.

“Teaching people how to think is more important than teaching them what to think,” he says.

Mr Dillahunty is at UWA on Monday March 23, along with internet atheist AronRa. Tickets and info from goo.gl/KPvl4m

The Voice contacted God for comment. We’re waiting to hear back.

by DAVID BELL

THERE were some unhappy faces among North Perth’s traders as word spread they may never be getting light rail up Fitzgerald Street.

The Liberal government went to the last election on the platform of building MAX (Metro Area Express) light rail from Perth CBD to Mirrabooka, across to QEII hospital and to Victoria Park.

Now it’s been deferred for at least three years and WA transport minister Dean Nalder is looking at starting a rapid bus transit system instead.

Knocked

That’s an idea Troy Buswell had knocked back when he was transport minister, but Mr Nalder reckons it’s worth another look since the train-like buses with fixed stations could provide the same experience for passengers. It’s also massively cheaper.

For Leon Berthelsen and Lee Draman, two firefighters who own the Engine Room Espresso on Fitzgerald Street, it’s a disappointment.

“We were really looking forward to it,” Mr Berthelsen says. The promise of light rail had played into their decision to seek an extended lease.

Rosemount Hotel venue manager Calvin Hook says light rail would have been great for punters who shell out a lot on taxis.

Perth Liberal MP Eleni Evangel—whose office is on the street—stresses it’s a deferral, not a cancellation.

She says unpredictable financial problems after the election—such as a drop in GST share, forced the government to re-examine its commitments.

“I’m all for getting good public transport for my electorate but I’m very open to looking into a rapid bus transit systems,” she says.
“There are some examples of how it works well, so why not look at it? Let’s do our homework and let’s see if we can do things right.

“They’re a lot more cost-effective to run so once you’ve got it in place the maintenance of the facility is a lot more manageable than light rail.”

Vincent mayor John Carey says he hasn’t seen evidence that buses trigger the same urban renewal that light rail hubs have been shown to, and which he says North Perth needs.

“They made a commitment and then walked away from it,” he says, matter-of-fact. “No wonder people become cynical about politics: people make commitments and then say ‘we don’t have money any more’.”

Curtin university sustainability policy institute’s Jeff Kenworthy says light rail has better capacity than buses.

Development is also more likely to flourish around a rail line given its permanence compared to a bus route: knowing a train line is within walking distance can make an apartment block more economically attractive to build, whereas “bus lanes can be removed with political whims”.

by DAVID BELL