Perth Voice Interactive

Sinbad on the eyes

January 22, 2015

THE old Sinbad’s takeaway in Inglewood has become an eyesore and needs to be cleaned up, says David Lagan.

The Stirling city councillor says in the months since the business shut it’s become a target for vandals and a home for squatters.

“It’s not a good look for the area,” he says.

“The building has several broken windows and is covered in graffiti. The landlord needs to clean it up.”

Council CEO Stuart Jardine concedes the site is “unsafe” and in a state of disrepair.

“There have been four complaints relating to this site regarding squatting and antisocial behaviour,” he says.

• David Lagan

“Officers have visited the site and identified that the site needs to be re-secured and boarded up.

“The city is liaising with the agent and owner regarding keeping the property secure.”

An application to redevelop the building and adjoining properties into units is with the local development assessment panel.

Maylands Labor MP Lisa Baker says police have increased patrols: “This derelict site has long been the subject of community concern,” she says.

“I hope the plans to redevelop this space will see the problem of anti-social behaviour solved.”

Ms Baker and Cr Lagan recently jointly spearheaded a campaign to hold a crime forum in neighbouring Bedford (Voice, January 17, 2014). It will be held February 11 at the RSL at the corner of Grand Promenade and Craven Street.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK
newsclips

January 22, 2015

FIRE damaged four cars at City Motors Holden yard in West Perth around 2am Monday. Two HSV sports cars were destroyed, two sedans damaged and building fascia was melted, bringing the damage bill to around $500,000. The dealership remained smoky but open and the arson squad is on the case. Fire sale soon?

A GROWING trend of people renting out their private parking bays is being monitored by a grumpy Perth city council. It’s against the rules to rent out residential bays for commercial use and council CEO Gary Stevenson says folk risk prosecution. Residents advertising on websites and apps are charging a smidge over $10 a day to park, cheaper than the $15 to $25 the mafia, er, council charges in the CBD and wildly undercuts Mr Wilson’s eye-boggling $18 to $40 a day. As Edward G Robinson might once have said: “The PCC doesn’t take kindly to punks muscling in on its action, see”.

ARTISTS and community groups have until February 9 to apply for $20,000 arts grants the Perth city council is offering to promote art and culture in the city. Lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi days they want to give people with big arty ideas a little push. Head to the arts and culture section on the Perth city website for more.
Complaint dismissed

January 22, 2015

NAILS hammered into a tree at Bayswater’s Halliday Park could have seriously injured contractors employed to cut it down says council CEO Francesca Lefante.

In a letter to pro-trees activist Greg Smith dismissing his claim that a contractor had driven threateningly at him while he protested the century-old trees’ axing, Ms Lefante said the presence of the nails “had the potential to damage machinery or cause injury to the workers”.

While Ms Lefante stated the nails had been hammered in by “unknown parties” Mr Smith regards her inclusion of the statement in her letter as a “backhanded accusation”.

He says he’d known nothing of any nails in any tree until Ms Lefante raised it in her letter, two months after he’d complained about being reversed into.

He wonders why there has been no reference in other council documents to such a serious incident, and why no photos have been published.

“They’re not so keen on investigation, and more keen on accusation,” he sighs. He says the council’s investigation of his claim probably amounted to it asking the contractor whether he’d driven threateningly and taken him at his word.

by DAVID BELL
LETTERS 24.1.15

January 22, 2015

The Ed says…
LAST week’s front page photo, which accompanied the article “A funny thing about rape” had the lines ringing off the hook and our editor’s ears burning red.
Voice readers were—to a woman—outraged by the photo which featured Fringe artist Adrienne Truscott wearing just a denim jacket and boots, sitting legs akimbo with cans of beer hiding her frontal area. It was undeniably confronting, but all who contacted us said it was much more than that: disgusting, appalling, outrageous, filthy and pornographic were just some of the descriptions.
We received no calls from anyone who supported the photo, nor of the point Truscott seeks to make, that women own their bodies and should be able to wear what they like, drink what they like and own the portrayal of their own imagery, without it making them more rapeable.
Mums hated the photo because kids would see it and other women hated it because they believed it exploited women’s sexuality, just as car companies and alcohol marketers do. A few men rang to say they hated it on religious grounds, and that “women should wake up to themselves and not dress like sluts”.
We thank everyone who rang in, emailed or button-holed us on the street, even friends who complained at BBQs. We hear someone even letterboxed North Perth, urging residents to complain to us. We passionately support your right to air your concerns.
We didn’t set out to titillate or outrage our readers. We believed then (and still do) it was a strong story and a confronting photo about a serious subject but we accept we’re in a minority of what looks to be one.

Appalled
I AM writing to express my deep concern over the cover of the Voice (January 17, 2014).
My three children aged 13, 11 and 8 and I have been delivering this paper weekly since last June. We deliver more than 700 papers and I was shocked and appalled at the picture and the title of your front page.
Whether or not you agree with the statement “A funny thing about rape” I do not wish to know, but I do not want my children or any other children having to post this through other families’ and people’s doors.
The picture was very explicit and left little to the imagination and made a mockery of so many rape victims, both male and female. The article itself may say differently to the title, but most children (and adults) do not read, nor feel the need to read, the rest of the article.
My husband and I feel very strongly that we do not want our children being exposed to this kind of material and we are very careful to teach our children to value individuals and there is absolutely nothing funny about abusing others.
Also on the front cover is an advert for more people to deliver papers “younger folks to stay fit”.
If you are going to be printing more of these type of articles I do not think you should be asking young people to deliver your papers.
Tanya Beaney

Outraged
OF all the insensitive images to have graced the Perth Voice’s front page, to say I was outraged at the photograph on your cover is an understatement. I’ve become used to your lapses in judgement, but this takes the muffin.
Once again you have demonstrated a distinct lack of insight into the values possessed by your readership.
To think of all those quality locally produced beers that could have been used to cover that woman’s genitals, and instead we get that cheap American swill Coors Light. For shame!
Clinton Stanley
North Perth

Deeply disturbed
I AM deeply disturbed by the shocking image you have put on the front cover of the Voice. As a paper that is delivered to families and households with young children I am affronted as the image is bordering on pornographic.
Young people and children should not have to be exposed to these types of images. It is one thing if adults wish to purchase this type of material, but as a mother with young children, I do not want these images to come through the letterbox and into my home.
Also as a woman, I am disturbed by the sexual objectification that is on display through this image.
It is one thing to write an article that adults can read and be informed on this issue of rape, but to put an image like this on the cover of a public paper that will be viewed by hundreds of people whether they want to see it or not, is in my opinion disdainful.
Up until now I have been a great appreciator, and supporter of the Voice newspaper as it can help to build local community, and it is great to have local news. My family, including my sons, deliver the paper weekly, and I also have encouraged other friends to do so. However, I personally feel in good conscience if this is what will be distributed through the paper then I cannot support/deliver or promote this paper.
I understand the image on the front of a paper is to “hook” the readership, and elicit a response from those who view the paper. I understand this picture is trying to do that, because of the topic of rape and sexual assault on women.
However, as a community paper that is delivered to families with young children who will not read the text but digest the photo, I feel you have crossed the line.
This type of image would not be permitted in schools, nor for public display to young people, so why is it on the front cover of your paper?
I do not want my own children to have to be assaulted with these types of images while they fold and distribute, and I feel ashamed to be spreading it through my area and among my friends and community.
Rachel McGirr

Offended
I HAVE just opened my newly delivered copy of the Perth Voice. I usually enjoy catching up with the local news that your paper provides.
Today I am offended by and disappointed in the front page photograph. I am glad you have brought this issue to our attention but am extremely disappointed you need to attach such a photo, especially on the front page.
Your paper comes into our family home via our letter box or I see it distributed in the community where anyone sees it, whether they choose to or not. This is not a picture I wish to see, nor have my family see. Please keep these type of photos out of our newspapers.
I am disappointed in your publication and hope not to see anything like this again, otherwise you will not only be losing my patronage but that of many of my family and friends.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Leanne Farleigh

Disgusting
I FOUND “A funny thing about rape’s” photograph, distasteful, disgusting and offensive! A poor choice. Sometimes children read your paper.
Patricia Meydam
Stirling St, Perth
Bang on tarjay

January 22, 2015

HOORAY for Ben Target! That rhymes, by the way, if you speak its French pronunciation, “tar-jay” (like the department store).

Target is having the last laugh after years of correcting people—and copping jokes, especially during his UK school days—by touring the world with a show that pokes fun at his name.

“I’m fond of it now,” he says on the phone from chilly London, the sounds of breakfast in the background. But he did sound a bit weary of having to tell journalists, “no I didn’t make the name up”. Along with sending up his name Target says, “I like the word hooray”.

The show received rave reviews at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with The Guardian gushing Target, “is one of very few comics who manage to do something new with the art form while keeping an audience thoroughly entertained”. “[His] rare, gentle mind seems peculiarly open to the comic possibilities of the universe,” The Scotsman said.

While there’s plenty of R- and X-rated shows for the Perth Fringe this one is a family affair, aimed at kids, with plenty for adults too.

It’s based around time Target with his eccentric Australian grandfather who, “got into baking and building cork castles”.

Trapping possums in the roof cavity by attracting them with peanut butter sandwiches—and then setting them free in the bush—was a regular event: “It seemed exotic to me coming from London where it’s just people walking dogs.”

Granddad’s baking is part of the show with audiences asked to help bake an imaginary cake.

“The more imagination the better the cake,” Target says.

And he doesn’t mind if kids steal the show: “They are incredibly imaginative, and it feels like an absolute gift when kids want to give something to the show.”

Hooray for Ben Target is on at the Blue Room Theatre, James Street, Northbridge January 23–27. With the 2015 Perth Fringe Festival kicking off this week there’s a feast of theatre, arts and entertainment across Perth and Fremantle until February 22. And with prices ridiculously low there’s no excuse not to indulge.

by JENNY D’ANGER
Love ya pappa

January 22, 2015

by JENNY D’ANGER

DINING out before the theatre is fraught: any delay and you run the risk of the torturous embarrassment of mumbled “sorries” as you stand on toes and stagger into laps while shuffling to your seat.

But if you eat too early there’s the fight with peak-hour traffic and a lot of hanging around and the temptation to imbibe to inappropriate lengths at the theatre bar.

So, discovering Papparich on James Street was heaven sent. Fast service is the name of the game.

The name is a play on founder Rich Tan’s moniker: “Everyone loves the word papa, someone you can easily relate to,” the website says.

The Malaysian franchise rolled into Northbridge recently and, judging by the long line queuing as we headed to the State Theatre, it’s a real hit.

There’s no denying there’s an element of fast food eatery here but the decor is upmarket Asian and the service spot on, and reliably fast and efficient.

And unlike your average fast food joints the fare errs on the healthy side of dining—rice, noodles and steamed vegetables with a choice of meats, rather than chips and burgers.

Freshly prepared dishes are ridiculously cheap, and I rather enjoyed the novelty of filling out a chit numbering the dishes we were ordering, then ringing a bell for someone to take it to the kitchen to be cooked.

My companion and I ordered a couple of fresh watermelon juices ($5.50), which were delicious, and refreshingly cold on a stinker of an evening.

The roti canai ($7.50) we shared was one of the best I’ve had, obviously just cooked it was crisp on the outside and moist on the inside and was perfect to dip into the satay, sambal and dhal sauces it came with (beware the sambal—it’s fiery).

Large chunks of aubergine in my mate’s vegetarian laksa ($13.90) were slightly off-putting—until she tasted them and was won over, voting the huge bowl of noodles and spicy soup “fantastic”.

I’m a sucker for kway teow and Papparich’s would make my top 10, the dish having a lovely char-grilled flavour.

The menu is huge with choices to suit everyone from plain roti to one with beef rendang, a selection of chicken and beef curries, nasi goreng, biryani and laksas including a hearty seafood version.

And for dessert there’s things like the interesting sounding tao foo fa king (try to say it fast without giggling) with gula melaka (an egg sago pudding), to try out.

Papparich
101 James Street, Northbridge
open 7 days lunch and dinner
6361 1766
Where’s the jetpack?

January 22, 2015

THERE’S a touch of the ‘60s TV cartoon The Jetsons about this Bayswater home, with its soaring, space-aged curved-tin roof and matching interior reverse-curve ceilings.

When the cartoon was made computers were in their infancy, and the size of a house, but George Jetson predicted the future of print, reading the news on his televiewer (iPad), and surely his video chat is today’s Skype, while daughter Judy’s digital diary is Facebook.

Modern technology has made this home, sitting on 469sqm, as comfortable as the Jetsons’ gadget-packed abode.

North-facing windows and solar passive design help keep the temperature at a constant, aided by the practical, but oh so beautiful black-and-white polished concrete floor.

“I very rarely put the heater on in winter or the air conditioner in the summer,” the vendor says.

And you won’t need a robotic vacuum cleaner, with the floor, “so easy to clean, especially with two kids and two dogs”.

From the covered alfresco area at the front of the home you step into the open-plan living/dining/kitchen, a sweeping, light-filled space, thanks to floor-to-ceiling glass on two sides.

The kitchen is a modern chef’s delight. The vendor came up with the layout and shape, and “the architect came up with the fine details,” she says.

The result is a practical, spacious area that is also good to look at with plenty of gorgeous black stone tops, including an expansive breakfast bar, and a huge double pantry.

A huge window is almost at eye level with the terraced lawn outside, which is perfect for keeping an eye on the kids at play.

The builder had wanted to take a chainsaw to the huge old gum tree but the vendor stood her ground, and it now casts dappled shade over the adjacent, elevated cubby house, and the rich expanse of lawn.

You’ll find all the bedrooms upstairs, including the spacious main—which is accessed down a corridor that ends in a stunning, massive curved window.

Living here you’ll be a stone’s throw from the Beaufort Street cafe and shopping precinct.

And there’s plenty of parks, along with schools and public transport options, while Perth’s CBD is just 7km away.

by JENNY D’ANGER

64A The Strand, Bayswater
from $849,000
Carlos Lehn
0416 206 736
Acton Mt Lawley 9272 2488
A funny thing about rape

January 16, 2015

ARE jokes about rape acceptable?

American comedian Adrienne Truscott puts the question to the test in Asking For It.

Wearing a pair of anything-but-sensible shoes, a jacket and nothing in between, her one-woman show debunks the lamentably still-fashionable notion that women who are raped are “asking for it”, whether it’s because of what they wear or how much they drink.

Her show offers an antidote to a disturbing rise of rape jokes by men.

US comedian Daniel Tosh recently responded to a female audience member, who’d heckled that rape is no joking matter with, “wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by five guys—right now?”.

UK comedian Jimmy Carr sparked fierce debate over what he regards as a comedian’s freedom to send up any subject following his hilarious joke, “what do nine out of 10 people enjoy? Gang rape”.

• Adrienne Truscott makes no apology for her Fringe comedy show about rape. Photo supplied

Truscott says for jokes to work they need to be intelligent and skewer the rapist, not the victim: “I find [Carr’s] to be a gross joke,” she says. “I’m more likely to make jokes about someone being moronic and making a joke about that.”

She admits her edgy show pushes boundaries and makes people wince, but says it goes a long way to opening up discussion about rape and getting people to question their assumptions.

“[When] people hear the combination of the words rape and jokes it can be confronting. But it’s a satire and burlesque for understanding this topic. Having a discussion…is a way to move forward.”

Her show mixes stand-up, video and nudity, “while undoing and doing in the rules and rhetoric about rape and comedy”.

Truscott wouldn’t be drawn on whether she’d been raped, saying “the power of my show is lessened if anybody says, ‘she’s been raped, that’s why she says this’”.

But the 40-year-old says most women, including herself, can lay claim to having experienced some level of sexual assault.

Asking For It is on at The Stables (Perth Cultural Centre) February 7–13. tix at http://www.fringeworld.com.au

by JENNY D’ANGER
Royal unicorn loses its head

January 16, 2015

A VANDAL has severely damaged the royal coat of arms above the Perth GPO, decapitating its unicorn and pulling bits off.

Perth city councillor Reece Harley tipped us off to the damage, having just returned from Paris where he’d proposed to partner Rebekah ‘neath the glow of the Eiffel Tower, making all other Perth men look bad by comparison.

The GPO has two coats of arms: the left side features the kangaroo and emu of the Australian coat, while the one on the right has a mythical unicorn and lion, the royal coat of arms of the UK.

• The royal coat of arms at the GPO has been severely damaged by a deranged vandal. Photo by Reece Harley

The unicorn has been beheaded and the lion had its head near ripped off in the attack, and it now droops menacingly over pedestrians below.
Online chatter narrows the time of the incident to 3.30am Saturday when a vandal was spotted molesting the insignia. He ran off when yelled at and the incident was reported to police. The broken coat of arms is due to be taken down for restoration this Sunday.

Cr Harley’s asked Perth city council staff to scour CCTV footage to find the culprit.

by DAVID BELL
Firebugs caught

January 16, 2015

POLICE reckon they’ve caught the pair who started a small bushfire in Coolbinia on January 4, but won’t lay charges as they’re two boys, aged eight and nine.

While too young to face prosecution the pair will be referred to a juvenile program run by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

The fire started around noon near the Coolbinia primary and Sir David Brand schools, beside Glick Road (Voice, January 20, 2015).

Locals were evacuated and Bradford Street closed as 11 fire trucks and four water bomber helicopters arrived on the scene. It took around an hour to extinguish the blaze.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK