Perth Voice Interactive

INGLEWOOD UNITED legend Siegfried “Siggy” Kramer has died.

Involved with the club for more than 60 years, Kramer played for, managed and latterly was president of the club, retiring from his role just last year.

In recognition of his contribution to the game in WA, Kramer was inducted into the WA football hall of fame in 2002, awarded a centenary medal in 2003 and last year was made a life member of Football West.

IU president Luke Martin says the man everyone knew as Siggy was irreplaceable.

“Never mind the catch cry of a ‘gentleman of the game’, Siggy was the one true gentleman, in a world where they are few and far between,” he says. “Advice was freely given, a handshake was always offered. You will always remain in our hearts, and in this club’s soul.”

When the scrawny Kramer first played in goals for the-then Kiev Soccer Club in 1953, the game was more physical and the water-logged leather ball felt like a cannonball.

“I remember going up for a corner and the opposition striker went right through me, shoulder-charging me into the net,” he’d told the Voice earlier this year.

“Back then it was legal and the goal stood.

“I was only 67 kilos and the game was a lot rougher back then—it was a baptism of fire.”

The club’s goalie for 13 years, Kramer was offered the job of manager in 1967 by the club’s president—his dad.

“You know why he offered me the job?” Kramer asked rhetorically. “Because he didn’t have to pay me.”

He brought success to the club, guiding it to first division and top-four cup titles.

He went on to become club president and reckoned his biggest achievement was the $1 million, 1000-seat stand built at the ground in 2001.

Mt Lawley Liberal MP Michael Sutherland says Kramer was an old- school gem: “Siggy Kramer was a true old-world gentleman with a one-in-a-million personality,” he says.

“He was for many years the mainstay of Inglewood United soccer club who, year in year out, not only gave unselfishly of his time but was also a very generous donor to the club. “He will be sadly missed by the soccer fraternity and his many friends—we have all been enriched by his kindness and friendship.”

Born in Romania in 1937, Kramer was 13 when he and his family immigrated to Australia.

His memory will be honoured by Inglewood and Perth SC at Intiga Stadium on Saturday at 3pm.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

LAWYER John Hammond says the wheels are in motion with a supreme court legal action lodged against the state government over council mergers.

He says the basis for the action is the government failing to comply with the local government act, rendering the merger process invalid. Mr Hammond, a former Cottesloe mayor, is representing Vincent resident (and former deputy mayor) Ian Ker, South Perth and Subiaco councils and the shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale.

“We have a meeting tomorrow [Thursday] with [the government’s] senior barrister,” Mr Hammond said

STIRLING city council has approved a rate rise of 3.48 per cent, one of the lowest across Perth and the lowest in Voiceland.

Perth upped rates by 4.9 per cent, Bayswater 3.8 and Vincent 3.65. Stirling mayor Giovanni Italiano says the council is debt-free.

The domestic waste charge jumps 8.25 per cent, from $278 to $300.93, with the council quick to point the finger at the WA government’s higher landfill levy as the reason.

Security charges go up 3.57 per cent.

The $262.6 million budget allocates $59.9m for capital works, $21.5m on roads, paths, drains and parking infrastructure (with another $7.7m earmarked for new works on parks and reserves) and $8.4m on improvements to council-owned buildings.
The council has also budgeted for several big one-off projects, including the revitalisation of the Scarborough beachfront ($4.9m) and the transformation of Mirrabooka into a regional centre ($3.6m).

No money has been allocated to cover mooted mergers—Bayswater earmarked  $1m—with Stirling CEO Stuart Jardine saying the budget will be reviewed when an announcement is made by the state government.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

A NEW short doco about Weld Square delves into the long history of the park as a meeting place for Aboriginal people.

Our Patch, put together by the Film and Television Institute and the Vincent city council, came about because there are few written records about the park.

They got in touch with Aboriginal filmmaker Mandy Corunna to put various stories about the park on the record.

In the film elder Ted Wilkes explains the park was frequented by Aboriginal people because the southern boundary on Newcastle Street “was the line that people used for the restricted area,” the nightly curfew zone that encompassed the CBD.

“If you got caught by a nasty cop or a nasty official, you were in for a hard time.”

‘We’ve got these move-on notices now, so a lot of people may be arrested if they come here’

Interviewee Jim Morrison, who works across the road at Noongar Radio, recalls “people would come from all over the state, and this would be the park where they’d connect”.

When the exclusion zone was finally abolished in 1954, Assoc Prof Wilkes says “it would have taken Aboriginal people a long time to adjust to go confidently over the line into the restricted area”.

Through the 1960s and 1970s support agencies like the Aboriginal Advancement Council drew a new generation of Aboriginal people.

“There was always a fight over in the park,” Assoc Prof Wilkes says. “There was always a couple of blokes fighting over a family dispute or fighting over a woman or a young yorga.

“I remember one night I got challenged in this park and had to stand up to defend my honour. And there were always people there to properly adjudicate. It was always: stand up, use your fists, fight with your fists and when the first guy drops and says no more, that’s it, the fight’s over.”

While the official exclusion zone’s gone, elder Albert Corunna says it lives on in another form: “We’ve got these move-on notices now, so a lot of people may be arrested if they come here.”

“It’s quite a traumatic experience for us Aboriginal leaders to see that happening to our people,” Assoc Prof Wilkes says.

Ms Corunna says there’s so much history to the park she’s now planning a longer feature.

For now you can see the short film Our Patch screening alongside Freeload (a tale about the secret subculture of young travellers) until July 13, head to http://www.revelationfilmfest.org for tickets and times.

by DAVID BELL

A ONE-ON-ONE theatre festival has turned to crowdfunding to raise cash for its productions.

Crowdfunding through sites like Pozible or Kickstarter let supporters donate cash to see a project get off the ground, providing a bolster for artists usually surviving on government grants and two-minute noodles. Plays, movies and books have been funded through the platforms.

The upcoming Proximity Festival has embraced it in a big way, with seven of its 12 artists using Pozible to fundraise for their shows, bringing in $10,000 in donations all up.

The cash raised was matched by Creative Partnerships Australia, and organiser Sarah Rowbottam says “what it means for our artists is they have a really solid budget to be able to use for materials for props, to pay a sound designer … their work will have a higher production value”.

Proximity’s the only one-on-one theatre festival in Australia, and it’s a medium with pretty high costs with only one ticket-holder at a time.

The first time the festival was run it crowd-funded a more modest $1500, “but it was enough funding for us to start,” Rowbottam says. It’s now in its fourth year.

If a stated funding  target isn’t met the money collected is automatically refunded. Just under half the ideas posted on Pozible don’t meet their mark, and that makes for a nervous wait as the counter fills up.

Artist Emily Parsons-Lord says during the fundraising period “I got so obsessed with money! I was checking all the time!”

Her work Different Kinds of Air is a tour through time, exhibiting air from different ages throughout Earth’s history. She needed $3000 to buy airplants and gasses (half from crowdfunding, half from Creative Partnerships’ donation-matching).

“It’s all or nothing. We had to make our target, otherwise we got nothing,” Parsons-Lord says.

Friends were quick to donate, along with people who knew her previous works, but there were also a few strangers who took a liking to her idea and threw in a few lazy bucks.

“That blew me away,” Parsons-Lord says.

Once she reached her target “I felt amazing, and then it kept growing,” filling up another $315 past the target.

“I was overwhelmed with gratitude, I was so touched by the people who donated, I want to repay it somehow.”

For the Proximity artists, they’ve got until October to hone their works.

by DAVID BELL

ALANNAH MacTIERNAN says WA Labor reforms hail the start of a more mature union movement in WA.

At WA Labor’s state conference last weekend, delegates passed rules to give rank-and-file members more say on leadership and pre-selections.

The changes follow the severe embarrassment of Labor’s senate election re-run. A well-publicised deal between two powerful unions resulted in arch conservative “shoppies” union boss Joe Bullock being handed the top spot on the Senate ticket, relegating gay-rights champion Senator Louise Pratt to second.

Labor’s vote was so abysmal Ms Pratt lost her seat.

“I was impressed by the number of unions that wholeheartedly supported the reforms, including people like [Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Union secretary] Peter O’Keefe ,” Ms MacTiernan says. “They were amenable to the idea that we needed a culture that was open and transparent.

“Most of the unions have come to a mature realisation that we need to change some things to make the Labor party successful.”

Inordinate influence

Ms MacTiernan adds the modernist reforms are appropriate in WA where “because of a number of structural factors, a small number of people have an inordinate influence”.

“There’s more work to be done, but there’s no doubt there has been a seachange in the structure of the party.”

Fremantle state Labor MP Simone McGurk, formerly head of the ACTU-affiliated peak body for unions in WA, says union leaders are comfortable with WA Labor’s changes and unfazed by waning influence.

“Unions will still continue to have a strong say, but so will rank-and-file members,” she says.

“We need to engage with the rank-and-file more: we expect them to volunteer a lot and do a lot, so it’s only reasonable they get to have a say on a number of elected positions.

Martin Drum, Notre Dame University politics academic, says ”factional leaders will find it harder to influence votes under the reformed model.

“They will help the party function more effectively, which should help it perform better at future elections.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

MT HAWTHORN residents are gathering a petition to oppose a small bar planned for the ground floor of their apartments block.

Paul Parin is keen to convert his Red Dust photographic gallery, at the foot of St Elmo, into a bar for arty types.

Planning rules allow for a cafe but residents say the building is so poorly insulated they can hear neighbours switch lights on and off through the walls.

Annie O’Callaghan says neighbours can also hear each other being “intimate”.

“Putting a small eatery or bar into that area is going to be a bit of a problem, as there will be noise of up to 72 customers at a time, you will have staff on top of that.”

Mr Parin promises to install top-notch acoustic insulation to keep things quiet for the neighbours and because he’s aiming for a classy, quiet joint where patrons can enjoy a glass of wine while discussing artworks.

‘We want to keep the whole thing quiet and ambient, it’s the kind of place where you come for a quiet conversation.”

Resident Michael Gismondi’s unit has a cavity wall adjoining the proposed bar, and he says no amount of acoustic treatment will stop noise vibrating through it. He also fears patrons sucking on cigarettes outside will result in both smoke and drunken conversations drifting up to his balcony.

Residents are also concerned there’s no room for extra bins, and emptying empty bottles and broken glass will be a migraine waiting to happen.

Troy Clarke recently moved in to the complex. With two small kids in tow he says he wouldn’t have chosen the area if he knew a small bar was on the way.

Mr Gismondi says if Vincent council wants to encourage high-density development along major roads, it must ensure residences are liveable and attractive, and not permit noisy, small bars that chase buyers away.

Council officers have recommended approval as the bar ticks nearly all the planning boxes, save a lack of parking (which Mr Parin must pay $20,160 cash-in-lieu to make up for) and a lack of bike racks.

It’ll go back to council sometime in August, having been deferred once because of lacklustre community consultation that described it as a change of use to “eating house” rather than a bar.

Even if approved it’ll have to pass an acoustics test before getting a building licence, then the state’s racing, gaming and liquor department has the final say on a licence.

by DAVID BELL

 

A NEW cafe is planned for the corner of Beaufort Street and Central Avenue.

Stirling city council approved the development application Tuesday night.

Joshua O’Donnell wants to open in the vacant antique store on the corner, in a strip with two antique dealers, two hairdressers and a nail salon.

“The cafe will enhance the area and bring more business to the strip,” he told Stirling council.

“It is hoped that we will capture many people going to work in the mornings. The building is also opposite the Good Life Gym and we would expect to receive a large amount of patrons from there.

“It is also hoped that by refurbishing it may encourage other businesses to move into the two vacant tenancies.”

The 230sqm cafe will fit around 70 and Mr O’Donnell is planning to open 7am-4pm weekdays and 8am-4pm weekends.

He’ll employ up to eight staff and may also open at night for small functions, depending on demand.

Councillors voted to waive a cash-in-lieu contribution for a seven-bay shortfall, despite staff warning of complaints “from residents and businesses within the area concerning the lack of suitable parking in this area, including unauthorised parking within private commercial developments”.

“A number of complaints have also been received in the area regarding the spill-over of parking into nearby residential streets.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

 

THE label says not to use glyphosate in winds above 8km an hour, but the King’s Park Botanic Garden Authority was spraying the weed killer with abandon Monday morning, ahead of a fearsome storm.

The label also states the product isn’t effective if there’s “rainfall soon after application,” because it simply washes off, is diluted and disappears.

While authorities insist the weed-killer is safe, particularly in the low concentrations approved for general usage, it continues to have its critics.

Jane Bremmer from the Alliance for a Clean Environment says it’s “unbelievable that during these wild storms here in Perth that King’s Park, on the first day of the kids’ school holidays, would be out there spraying glyphosate”.

She’s led a campaign to replace spraying with hand-weeding near her home, but if the King’s Park authority is going to spray she at least wants it to abide by the label on the bottle.

Authority executive officer Liz Suttie says the spraying “was done for only a very short period early on July 7 to control weeds along a road verge in King’s Park and Botanic Garden, using a low-pressure knapsack sprayer.

“Site weather conditions were assessed prior to application to minimise the potential off-site effects. Signs advising the public of the activity were prominently displayed.”

The Voice pointed out the label said not to bother ahead of rain (a downpour was forecast for Monday) but Ms Suttie says a surfactant was used to increase the plant’s uptake of the herbicide.

by DAVID BELL