Perth Voice Interactive

MUMBLINGS of “demolition by neglect” reverberated around Perth city council’s planning committee as councillors pored over an application to knock down three rapidly deteriorating buildings on Beaufort Street.

Westop Investments wants to demolish 108–120 Beaufort Street without a replacement plan. That’s usually a no-no, but it’s arguing it’s necessary because the places are dangerous and attract vagrants.

Cr Reece Harley wasn’t happy with the way the owner had let the properties fall into disrepair: Just months ago two of the buildings had been inhabited by the People for Animal Welfare Society. Cr Harley says they would’ve been maintained if the landlord had allowed the PAWS folk and their vegan cafe to stay.

He says too many owners allow properties fall to pieces in order to pressure the council into permitting demolition.

“I’ve got not one iota of sympathy for the owner of this building because they evicted the tenants,” he told colleagues.

“What did they think would happen?”

Crs Rob Butler and Judy McEvoy lodged “yes” votes to Cr Harley’s “no” and it’ll now go to full council for a decision.

The buildings could date back as far as 1897 but aren’t heritage-listed. Their connection to animal welfare is long-lived: Henry Edwards was a vet around the turn of the century and an early campaigner against animal cruelty, and was a key witness in cases where farmers were accused of abusing their stock.

by DAVID BELL

 

BAYSWATER city council’s refusal to deal with 10 issues passed by the annual general meeting of electors has infuriated residents.

The council says it makes more sense to put off debate on issues including a tree register, recording of meetings and heritage status for Halliday Park till after the merger with Bassendean.

But residents’ association president Tony Green is “disgusted”: “There is not transparency,” he said.

“Ratepayers are being treated in a rude and illogical manner.

“We went to the effort of preparing all these motions and getting them tabled, only for them to be ignored.

“I told councillors and the mayor to their face how I felt after the meeting.”

Four councillors—Terry Kenyon, Chris Cornish, Mike Anderton and Martin Toldo—opposed the officers’ recommendation to delay debate on the issues until after the first elections of the merged council, likely to be October at least.

Councils are obligated to “consider” motions passed at electors’ AGMs but are under no obligation to adopt them.

Urban Tree Network member Branka Radanovich says the issues deserved debate.

“This shows a real lack of integrity and a contempt within the city for ratepayers and for all the people that turned up with great passion to put forward these recommendations forward at the AGM,” she says.

Mayor Sylvan Albert maintains the council is not “side-stepping” residents and says he understands their concerns.

“This is not a usual year, we are in the middle of a local government reform which will be finalised on July 1,” he told the Voice. “A lot of the motions were big picture stuff and we cannot commit or guarantee we will have enough staff or finances to deal with them.

“It is best to wait until after the reform and the elections when the picture will be clearer and we can deal with everything in a holistic fashion.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

A TOILET BLOCK at Wellington Square in East Perth may be demolished as part of a bid to deal with on-going anti-social behaviour.

Homeless people shelter under the block’s eaves but fed-up nearby residents say they also engage heavily in illicit drugs use, fight, harass passers-by and defecate in their front yards.

The sturdy but dingy block is listed by Perth city council as having “zero value”. Staff recommend the PCC spend $500,000 replacing it with a smaller automatic loo, a compact, time-limited facility that “automatically cleans”.

Nearby residents are all for moving on the homeless, saying they’ve endured hell living near the park.

The Clean Up Wellington Sq Facebook page features videos and photos that document drug use, fighting and harassment.

Drugs paraphernalia such as empty nitrous oxide vials and bongs are scattered around, and people have been photographed defecating in front yards.

But for those who stay in the square their options are limited: many are visiting the city for dialysis treatment at the Royal Perth.

The WA government provides vouchers for hostel accommodation, but the affordable options have conditions attached considered to be worse than sleeping outdoors. And when patients bring a number of family members with them the tiny hostel rooms are too small.

Many of the problems are outside what the Perth city council can fix: its staff pick up rubbish and clean the toilets daily, but illicit drug use and fighting are up to police to sort out, and accommodation for patients the responsibility of the WA government.

The government is in the early stages of establishing dialysis facilities in the Pilbara so many don’t have to travel to Perth. They’re expected to come online over the next couple of years.

Replacing the square’s block has the support of police, the Aboriginal Affairs department, local Liberal MP Eleni Evangel and Greg Johnson, a member of the group Citizen Advocates at Wellington Square.

Cr Rob Butler is sceptical of the plan: he doesn’t think tackling anti-social behaviour is a good enough reason to spend half-a-million dollars, especially given “I don’t think it’ll deter it”.

He says the WA government should put up some money.

He’s also concerned about the reliability of auto-toilets, having personally run into problems with the one across from Russell Square.

“I tried to use that the other night: It didn’t work!”

by DAVID BELL

RON WALLEY, left, is one of the people who shelters by the toilet block and uses the threadbare facilities there.

Most of the rough-sleepers stay here while in town for medical care, but Mr Walley’s been in Perth a few years now, and homeless for about six months since his brother and mother died last year.

Mr Walley says he doesn’t like sleeping in the hostels: he prefers to sleep under the stars, and suspects that’s the case for many other Aboriginal people. Nearby affordable hostels have pretty dire standards, with reports of bedbugs, dirty conditions and fighting through the night.

A member of the stolen generation, Mr Walley says he doesn’t have many friends and spent Australia Day lonely, and alone. Last week his pillow and blanket were stolen and he relies on the Salvation Army for food.

The PCC has also looked into getting the Salvos’ food van moved to another park, but the Salvos say they go where the need is greatest, not the other way round.

by DAVID BELL and MATTHEW DWYER

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GERRY MAIO is Bayswater’s Mr Soccer and on Monday was made the city’s citizen of the year.

When his kids starting playing the roundball game 40 years ago he didn’t have a clue. For the past 10 years he’s been president of the Bayswater city soccer club: “My kids started playing and they asked me to coach the team, but I was an Aussie Rules man and didn’t know anything about it,” laughs the now-68-year-old. “I remember going to a Liverpool game in the UK, and cheering on the opposition Italian goalkeeper who played for Chelsea—I nearly got lynched.

Since taking over the once-ailing club’s reins, Mr Maio has transformed it into a trophy-winning team: last season, under the management of Chris Coyne, the team clinched four pieces of silverware.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

ART venues across Perth are closing at an alarming rate but wife and husband artists Liz Marruffo and Campbell Whyte are taking a punt on a new space in Bayswater they’re calling milktooth.

They’re soon to start kids’ art classes there, but long-term they want to offer it as a space for emerging artists who can otherwise struggle to find venues.

Amidst the recent closures of galleries such as Venn, Greenhill Galleries, and the uncertain fate of Kurb, Mr Whyte says “all creative industries are in turmoil at the moment”.

“Everything is being flipped on its head, all the old walls crumbling,” he says. “It’s anybody’s game and it’s up to individual creators to make of it what they will.”

Ms Marruffo says “people have to act courageously, to do things that matter, to try to make their communities stronger and better”. “This could be a slow, quiet death or it could be a change and artists have to find new models and new ways of engaging and communicating with the audience.”

With kids’ classes to start in February, Ms Marruffo says, “I hear anecdotally that a lot of art is not there in our primary school system any more, in public schools,” and they want to provide another avenue for kids’ artistic development

“It’s just about being playful, and if art is missing from schools, the creativity is being lost.”

They’re starting off with primary school and high school ages, keen to maintain the love of creativity through a person’s life. “When people get older they develop a fear, there’s a fear of drawing, a fear of being crap at art. It’s really sad.

“Creating is so much fun. Any type of making, I think, is good for wiring that connectivity in the brain that helps with problem solving skills. It’s about being a really well rounded person.”

Their classes start on February 5 and there’s more info at http://www.milk-tooth.com

by DAVID BELL

BRUNO MRKIC is tired of drinking the dirty water that comes from his tap.

The Mount Lawley man says he pays first-rate fees for water but gets a third-world product. Two months ago he was getting consistently murky water every morning for days in a row.

Getting on the phone to Water Corporation results in the usual game of phone tennis, with no result.

Eventually the water seemed to clear so he let it go, but on Monday the brown water was back with a vengeance and he had no luck getting through on the hotline.

“My wife’s just done a whites wash and it’s all gone yellow,” he tells the Voice. “It’s almost the colour of Lucozade.”

The Water Corp says an “outage” from a leak in Yokine caused the discolouring, and reckons Mr Mkric’s earlier problems could’ve been down to a sudden increase in local water use a couple months back, which can stir up the sludge.

Perth regional manager Mike Andrews says it’s harmless sediment: “However, we understand discoloured water is unappealing, so bottled water was made available for affected customers.”

The corporation has apologised and is keen to make good on any washing that turned the colour of tea, inviting the brown-clothed to call the faults line on 13 13 75: “A laundry cleaning agent is available for customers if their washing is affected by discoloured water, which is delivered within two hours of Water Corporation receiving the request,” he said.

Mr Mrkic says he’ll try to get some—if he can get through.

by DAVID BELL

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Time to grow up
I READ with interest, and more than a little disappointment, the community response (Voice, January 24, 2015) to the cover picture on your paper a couple of weeks ago.
Your editorial last week listed responses ranging from prurient to straight up sexist, and none agreeing with the right of the woman to portray herself however she wished. Well, let me be the first. Pity that attitudes in inner-city perth are so stagnant.
Universal condemnation of the photo’s publication in a “family” paper was also a surprise. Do families not have children who by the time they are 16 have viewed heavily sexualised graphic nudity of many kinds? This, despite parents’ attempt to censor this one publication whilst happy to allow access to TV, advertising and the internet, all places that children might conceivably be exposed to similarly sexualised images of female and male swimsuit and underwear models. This is no longer ’50s Australia. It’s time for “adults” to grow up.
A picture of a near-nude woman is not disgusting, immoral, reprehensible, nor a reason to apologise, and children will not be damaged by viewing said picture, but could conceivably benefit from a clear understanding that naked or near-naked bodies are natural and nothing to be ashamed of. Ensuring that children grow up without a distorted view of human sexuality might be a better use of a parents’ time than attempting to prevent such images being accessible.
As a regular reader I applaud the Voice for printing such contextually appropriate material. Please continue to do so.
David Klove
Harborne St, Wembley

Fumbling over feet
WA’s health department exudes an excellent impression of chaos.
My life-long mobility has, one foot being considerably bigger than the other, depended on surgical shoes. I have a regular need for new shoes. This need is confirmed by an orthotist who fills in a form that I sign and is then faxed to my shoemaker who offers an appointment for a fitting.
The entire procedure starts with a prescription from my GP. In this instance, way back last October. In December I received advice, first from the Royal Perth Hospital, then from the health department and finally from the Fiona Stanley Hospital. All advised that I  am to be sent 30 days’ notice of examination by an orthotist.
I await the notice. What a blessing that my patience can always outlast my shoe leather. Without such shoes I am soon subject to adverse chain reaction from my ankle, knee, hip and spine.
Ron Willis
First Ave, Mount Lawley

Keep it up
I JUST saw your article on the front page of the paper and you mentioned you hadn’t received any support (“The Ed says,” Voice, January 24, 2015).
Well, here’s one at least!  I did read the story (“A funny thing about rape”) the previous week and thought the show sounded like a breath of fresh air and that I will most likely go see it.
It seems people are more outraged by this show which brings the issue of rape to the forefront than they are about rape itself and rapists! How backwards is that? And the exact reason shows like this are needed. Having obviously not seen the show but read your article (I wonder if many of the angry people actually did the same, or if they just saw the picture and freaked out?) it sounds perfect. “Antidote to the rise of men making rape jokes” was I believe roughly what was said and yet it is more persecuted than the people actually making the bad taste rape jokes!? You didn’t hear about any support I imagine because those like me thought it was absolutely fine and necessary so didn’t feel the need to write in.
Not to mention the woman in the photo is actually wearing more than, say, a model in a Target catalogue or in the posters down in Northbridge advertising strip/sex shows. I’m sure any children will have no more questions about the Perth Voice than those, yet this article actually contains important content unlike the other two.
I liked your column on the front page, I believe I sensed some excellently placed tongue in cheek and I am relieved you didn’t back down, but said you continue to believe in what you did. There needs to be more people like you out there.
Keep up the good work!
Zoe Barczyk
Harwood Pl, West Perth

At least one
YOU now have at least one supporter for your article and photo “A funny thing about rape” (Voice, January 17, 2015).
Your incensed correspondents (Voice Mail, January 24, 2015) fail to grasp that while rape culture permeates our airwaves and social mores, Fringe artist Adrienne Truscott is making the point that women should be able to wear what they like in public and be safe to do so.
The fact that this artist chose an exaggerated, outrageous and provocative way to make this point is what cutting edge art is about. Bravo the Perth Voice and Adrienne Truscott.
Anne Burns
York St, North Perth

Marvellous Moore
YOUR article “Come back for Moore” (Voice, January 10, 2015) demands a response.
As a regular reader of the Perth Voice, I am familiar with your idolisation of Alannah MacTiernan. However, your views should not lead you to spin stories to protect nor promote her.
To say Darryl Moore was “trounced” at the last election is patently false. The facts, as can be checked on the electoral commission website, show the swing against Labor in Perth was the biggest in the three seats Labor holds in WA.
The final result makes it difficult to understand how you can publish that the wheels fell off the Liberal campaign. Being a long-time student of numbers, I thought I’d get the facts and put them down for all to see. Ms MacTiernan polled 34,215 votes. Mr Moore polled 33,021. I wouldn’t exactly call that a “trouncing”. I’d call that damn close. Before the Greens’ preferences were distributed, Mr Moore had closed the gap considerably, increasing his vote to 35,864, only 572 behind Ms MacTiernan’s 36,436.
Labor’s winning 2PP margin was reduced from 5.88 to 4.35 per cent. That electoral performance for the Liberals was better than the other two Labor-held seats, and even better than some sitting Liberal MPs. The margin had been whittled away to its lowest since 1980. Perth is no longer Labor’s safest seat. I think Mr Moore did a sterling job out there door-knocking many thousands of local residents. They hadn’t had any attention in decades. We are always forgotten living here in a safe Labor seat. It will interesting to see what happens in 2016.
Christopher Stafford
Rookwood St, Mount Lawley