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  • LETTERS 7.6.14

    11. 833LETTERSBe sad no Moore
    SOMEONE needs to buy “Dazzling” Darryl Moore (Voice Mail, May 31, 2014) a copy of Coping With Loss by Anita Naik.
    It has been almost 10 months since Alannah MacTiernan trounced Mr Moore by 8.8 per cent in the federal election, yet we continue to see letters from the failed candidate whining about Ms MacTiernan without making a solitary constructive criticism of her performance as the member for Perth.
    If Mr Moore still holds political ambitions, perhaps he should take a positive approach—and start by writing letters defending the Abbott Government’s hopelessly inept performance and ghastly Budget.
    Giovanni Torre
    Inglewood

    News Corp the big bias offender
    THE topic of media bias (Voice Mail, May 31, 2014) is interesting but picking on the ABC is a small matter compared to the bias by News Corporation towards the Liberal Party.
    The headlines from The Daily Telegraph for instance which encouraged before the last federal election  “It’s Time For Tony” or its description of the March in May  as “The Ferals Are Revolting”.
    Now in reference to Michael Sutherland’s statement (Voice Mail, May 17, 2014) “the Labor Party was working on ways to muzzle the press” I feel it is a double standard to attack a media organisation for supposedly telling a Labor story when there are plenty of media outlets already telling the Liberal side of the story with great support.
    I personally feel Mr Sutherland misrepresents the community and its right to free press when he seeks to single out the ABC.
    Ryan McNiece
    Cedus Pl, Menora

    Howling mad
    AFTER more then 10 years’ engagement with the community, the East Metropolitan Regional Council has shown itself to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
    It has secretly and aggressively pursued a dirty energy technology, highly controversial in terms of pollution, climate change and financial risks but which the community has consistently said it does not want.
    It doesn’t seem to matter that the EMRC previously assured the community it wouldn’t put an incinerator in Hazelmere. The EMRC is so hell-bent on pushing through its dirty energy incinerator that it told the EPA not to assess it when it finally referred it to the EPA after trying to get away with a lesser works approval application.
    How scandalous that our own regional council would attempt to evade a statutory environmental impact assessment process that is required under our environmental protection act.
    The EMRC cannot be trusted to oversee waste management, environmental protection or industrial developments in our region if it is so ready and willing to sell out our health and environment as it has done on this project. Had the EPA taken its advice and not required an assessment of this project then none of the air quality issues or any other matters would have been brought into the public arena.
    Communities in High Wycombe, Bassendean, Guildford, Midland, Hazelmere and Bellevue will carry the greatest pollution, noise and fire risks.
    Despite claims made in the media the project would blow out for another 9-12 months because the EPA required a 12-month air quality study, the EMRC did not undertake any further air quality monitoring for the Hazelmere incinerator, relying instead on data generated at the Red Hill Landfill site on the Darling Scarp, a topography vastly different to that of Hazelmere on the Swan Coastal Plain.
    I urge all residents in East Metro to take this hard-fought opportunity to make a submission to the EPA. We nearly didn’t get it, thanks to the EMRC.
    Jane Bremmer
    Chair, Alliance for a Clean
    Environment
    Guildford

    Still in a Daz
    POOR Daz. He is still sitting in Dalkeith, nursing the wounds of an election loss  (Voice Mail, May 31, 2014).
    Just a word of advice: in politics you must do the big and the little things. While I spend most of my time punching away at national issues, when a school community asks for my help to get a reasonable deal for their kids, I help.
    Alannah MacTiernan
    Federal Labor Member for Perth

    ABC asks the questions
    MICHAEL SUTHERLAND (Voice Mail, May 31, 2014) lists staffers, past and present and their associations with Labor politicians.
    Obviously I do not have the resources to compile a list pertaining to connections to the Liberal and or National parties. In our democracy one can work where there is honest opportunities and vote with privacy guaranteed.
    The important question is, have ABC program presenters and anchors been fair in execution of their job? I believe they have, and are.
    As foundation head of the department of media performance at WAAPA 30 years ago I have always viewed and listened on many levels. It is my conclusion that those criticised by the MLA for Mt Lawley are professional in their work and treat all their interview subjects in the same way—seeking answers to important questions.
    David Hawkes
    Longroyd St, Mt Lawley

  • Still gothic

    FROM roadkill to life—albeit still—isn’t a quantum leap for artist Marian Drew.

    For years the Brisbane-based artist has used dead native animals in her works, to highlight the loss of species from urbanisation.

    “It helps people know what’s actually there living with us,” Drew tells the Voice.

    But the allure of death, however beautifully posed in domestic settings with linen tablecloths, fine china and fruit and vegetables, has palled so for her latest exhibition Centrepiece, Drew moves into more traditional still-life compositions of 18th century Europe.

    It’s a shift not entirely based on the shifting mood of her muse: more, the practical realities of failing freezers.”

    After 10 years and having fridges die on me several times, you exhaust the body of work,” she sighs.

    “I’m stepping away from death in this exhibition…I’m looking for a little more joie de vivre.”

    Drew uses in her works objects found near her central Queensland home, including fruit, hybrid ornaments, shells, coral and plants.

    “I’m looking for a little more joie de vivre.”

    Despite her desire for joy, the exhibition retains a sense of brooding under a veil of playful innocence and the artist’s use of colour.

    “The regenerative image of play provides an instructive alternative to Judeo-Christian guilt,” she says.

    “I believe that, through our own imagination and engagement, we have to find sustaining metaphors for living that reflect an understanding of our own folly.”

    Drew’s still life images are photographed in a studio using a long exposure and torch light to give them a “painterly” quality.

    Her work graces the walls of collections around the world including the JP Getty Museum in the US and the Australian National Gallery, while she’s exhibited solo in France, Germany, the US and Australia.

    Centrepiece is on at the Turner Gallery, in conjunction with Rebecca Dagnall’s In Tenebris.

    There’s nothing playful about Dagnall’s photographs, a series of dark and eerie bush settings that evoke a sense of Australian Gothic.

    “[They] draw on contemporary and familiar imagery of the Australian bush, of dingoes stealing babies and travellers murdered,” Dagnall says.

    “Through creating a menacing visual narrative I explore how removing ourselves from our known surroundings can leave us in metaphysical as well as physical darkness.”

    Both exhibitions are on until June 28, at Turner Galleries, 470 William Street Northbridge.

    by JENNY D’ANGER

  • Die with a smile

    FRIED chicken with buttermilk pancake, peanuts, maple butter and fried egg?

    You’ve got to admire an eatery that can not only come up with the combination, but actually pull it off.

    My lunch companion was in seventh heaven with her huge serve of crispy, fried chicken topping a thick, sweet pancake, runny egg drizzling down through to the maple butter ($21).

    “It’s quite Indonesian,” she opined.

    I tentatively tried a morsel of pancake and was instantly won over—somehow these competing flavours really work.

    The Mary Street Bakery is one of a number of eateries co-owned by Paul Aron and business partner and chef Michael Forde, including El Publico next door and Ace Pizza down the road.

    They transformed the corner eatery into a modern venue, with polished concrete floors and painted raw brick walls—the sort of joint where boiled eggs are served in sections of egg carton and a huge living elkhorn on a steel frame decorates a central wall.

    As the name suggests there’s a great selection of bread for sale, along with a mouth-watering choice of cakes and pastries.

    With a menu dominated by meat and eggs, this non-egg eating vego found the baked ricotta ($15) an enticing choice.

    Served on a particularly delicious multigrain bread, it turned out to be a top lunch.

    The cherry tomatoes were sharp and tasty and the ricotta crumbled and tossed with pine nuts gave the dish a sweet, almost creamy piquancy.

    Purely in the interests of research my mate and I checked out the sweets.

    It was a hard job, but we narrowed it down to a slice of lemony polenta cake for her ($4.50) and a salted caramel tart ($6.50) for me.

    The polenta cake was huge, and wonderfully moist, while my tart was heaven on a plate with its amazing mix of saltiness and sweetness with a soft caramel filling and dark chocolate top.

    But for a delicious long black I could have died from the richness—but I would have died with a smile on my face.

    by JENNY D’ANGER

    Mary Street Bakery
    corner Mary and Beaufort Streets,
    Highgate
    0499 509 300
    open 7 days, 7am–3pm 

     

  • You’ll be Pakenham in

    THICK limestone walls, a trio of cute peaked roof pitches and a bullnosed roof had me wondering whether this Pakenham Street, Mt Lawley abode was a heritage home made new.

    But no, it’s a mere teenager. No expense was spared creating this four-bedroom/two-bathroom home 13 years ago.

    The limestone isn’t cladding but rather huge blocks that form solid and thick walls, the  roof pitches have lovely decorative timber finials, the ceilings are high and the floors are a gorgeous blackbutt, and not the floating kind.

    The vendor wasn’t happy with the plain white doors when he moved in so he replaced them all with beautiful solid oak, even those of the built-in-robes in the bedrooms and the kitchen pantry—to stunning effect.

    A rose-covered, curved-roofed portico offers cover as you step into the welcoming entry vestibule, where the rich red-gold of the blackbutt leads down a small set of stairs to a sweeping living/dining/kitchen.

    New owners can look forward to cosying up in front of the gas-powered fire over the winter months, watching in comfort as rain hurls itself against the massive floor-to-ceiling doors and windows.

    Come warmer weather and the doors peel back and alfresco dining is a sure winner on the delightful timber deck…

    Come warmer weather and the doors peel back and alfresco dining is a sure winner on the delightful timber deck, with its timber ceiling.

    The expansive, elevated decking has stylish black wrought-iron railings, including on the stairs leading down to a secluded courtyard garden, just the right size to put in a lap pool for the energetically inclined.

    The ground-floor main bedroom forms a parents’ wing, with a spacious bedroom, walk-in robe,  a generous ensuite, and doors to a small atrium garden.

    Off the nearby entry there’s a delightful study for the parents, with a huge picture window onto a side courtyard, and a pleasant study for the kids.

    This close to mum and dad’s room the smaller study would make an ideal nursery.

    This versatile home is great for families, but is also just the ticket for those wanting to downsize without being cramped.

    The river is a short stroll away, as attested by a couple of canoes in the storage area off the double carport.

    Secure, high wrought-iron fencing and automatic gates give peace of mind.

    And when it comes to dining out, Maylands’ vibrant Eighth Avenue precinct is a short drive away, as is the delightful Claisebrook Cove with its lovely parkland and many restaurants and cafes.

    by JENNY D’ANGER

    3 Pakenham Street, Mt Lawley
    $1.345 million
    Toby Baldwin | 0418 914 926
    Acton Mt Lawley | 9272 2488
    home open Sat 2–3pm

  • Sealey with a kiss for council

    18. 832NEWS
    • Ken Sealey

    LOCAL artist Ken Sealey’s plan to run a small hotel from his Highgate home remains alive, with Vincent councillors deferring the decision.

    Planning staff were deadset on refusing the plan, but councillors picked up some oddities in the rules being applied and held off for now.

    Mr Sealey, who crafted the big blue head outside council house (fittingly named Beseech as it gazes up at the chambers) pleaded with councillors to give him the go-ahead, saying “I’m not a developer, I’m just preparing for my impending old age”.

    Family

    He brought his family along to show the council who’d be running the hotel, emphasising it’d be a small boutique operation.

    “I could sell it or develop it, but all of those options mean I’d have to leave and I don’t want to leave Vincent.

    “This [hotel] is a better scenario, in my opinion, than if the property was sold.”

    “I don’t have many options,” he told the meeting, a little choked up at the microphone. “Thanks.”

    Staff wanted to knock it back because it didn’t fit the area, there were 26 objections, didn’t have enough parking, and it didn’t meet some lodging house requirements.

    Cr Josh Topelberg moved for a deferral, arguing it didn’t make sense to apply lodging house rules to what was a small hotel.

    Mayor John Carey pointed out that while Mr Sealey’s application may have been outside the usual rules, someone else could easily build a whopper development on the site: “This [hotel] is a better scenario, in my opinion, than if the property was sold.”

    He said people saw the word “hotel” and came out to lodge objections in force, but it was a small operation and closer neighbours were actually in favour.

    The plan will go back to staff for rejigging.

    by DAVID BELL

  • Clubs unhappy with soccer plan

    THREE Bayswater sports clubs that face losing their grounds are filthy with the Bayswater city council and Bayswater Soccer Club for freezing them out of major plans for Frank Drago Reserve.

    The soccer club is keen for the reserve to become the new $25 million home of soccer in WA (Voice, May 24, 2014) and it’s asked the council to commission a masterplan.

    Soccer club member Greg D’Orazio told the council the plan would “include taking over the lawn bowls, croquet, and tennis clubs to ensure we had the ground space to development [sic] a state of the art soccer facility with the support of Football West and the state government.

    “…this would include taking over the lawn bowls (or part of), taking over the croquet and two courts of the tennis club.”

    Trouble is, no-one asked the other clubs what they thought about the plan. We can tell you they’re none too happy.

    “We are the only croquet club in the city and this expansion by the soccer club is of serious concern,” croquet club president Jacquie Ashby told the council after reading Mr D’Orazio’s letter. “Why weren’t we informed about their intentions?”

    Following lengthy debate the council agreed to add a specific clause to include input from all four clubs in the development of the $60,000 masterplan.

    “This master plan has been triggered by a letter from the soccer club and we haven’t even asked the other clubs to deputise or what they think?” Cr Barry McKenna fumed in disbelief.

    “We need to protect them. We can’t be foolhardy and allow the soccer club to just take over the reserve—we are here to represent all clubs’ interests.”

    by STEPHEN POLLOCK

  • 52 in race

    FIFTY-TWO people have applied to be Vincent CEO.

    The job is vacant after councillors decided 7-1 not to renew veteran CEO John Giorgi’s contract. Following that decision some of Mr Giorgi’s supporters reckoned the council—which may disappear in mergers—would have trouble filling the role.

    “In fact it’s been quite the opposite,” says mayor John Carey. “And the advice from our recruiting company is we have a strong field with some very strong candidates.”

    Interviews start within the week. Meanwhile Mr Giorgi wasn’t long out of a job: He’s picked up a six-month gig at nearby Cambridge council handling amalgamation and standing in when the infrastructure chief goes on hols.

  • Clarity & apology

    A WOMAN quoted in last week’s story about smoking accessory merchant Cloud 9 was not the “old lady” alleged to have racially abused the shop’s owner. The woman quoted—who was also unhappy to see her name published—says she has never spoken to the owner. The Voice apologises to the woman for causing her distress, and to readers who may have inferred the two people were one and the same.

     

  • PCC chief gives premier a serve

    01. 832NEWS
    • Gary Stevenson

    PERTH city council CEO Gary Stevenson has taken WA premier Colin Barnett to task over council rates.

    The premier has criticised councils for raising rates too high but Mr Stevenson says WA government cost-shifting is forcing councils’ hands.

    At Tuesday’s finance committee meeting of the council, Mr Stevenson pointed out that while “the premier went on talkback radio talking about councils with high rates…three out of the first five items in our agenda are to do with the state government budget”.

    One was parking fees being driven up by the government’s parking levy hike, rising 27.5 per cent per year. The PCC had budgeted for it to go up only six per cent—still nearly twice the inflation rate—leaving its books in need of frantic updating, which takes the PCC’s total parking hike this year—funded by motorists—from six to 10 per cent.

    In a report to councillors, PCC staffers advise the public will blame the council for parking increases “unless it is explained that the bulk increase relates to a state government tax”.

    Staff advise that ratepayers should be made aware of why the costs are going up.

    Another item that saw the WA government cop the blame was the 7.5 per cent increase for waste management fees, partly due to the doubling of the landfill levy.

    by DAVID BELL

     

  • Heavy on the levy

    02. 832NEWS
    • John Williams outside the waste transfer facility used by Bayswater council. Photo by Matthew Dwyer

    BAYSWATER ratepayers will “likely” pay more for waste collection following the doubling of the WA government’s landfill levy, mayor Sylvan Albert has conceded.

    With the fee skyrocketing to $55 a tonne, Bayswater’s bill for the 18,000 tonnes of waste it sends to landfill every year jumps from $495,000 to $990,000.

    “It’s likely that it will result in increased waste disposal charges to residents,” the mayor concedes.

    “However at this stage, the city can’t specify by how much.”

    The government says the fee is going up to encourage councils to recycle more but some doubt its sincerity.

    John Williams, president of the Friends of Lightning Swamp, says if the government was serious it would be doing more.

    “My concern is there is no state holistic scheme that coordinates all waste from householder/business responsibility through to local government accountability in waste disposal to landfill,” he says.

    “Investment and encouragement of down-scale recycling initiatives is poorly supported by state governments and the non-committal by this government to introduce returns on glass/plastic is beyond logic.

    “Ratepayers will endure the increasing cost burden for an inefficient and economically unsustainable current landfill policy that is dealing with all aspects of rubbish disposal.”

    Bayswater provides ratepayers with three bins and recycles 380 tonnes of green waste and 410 tonnes of recyclable materials.

    In neighbouring Stirling, virtually all kerbside waste has gone to landfill since August’s closure of the Atlas recycling facility.

    The council is scrambling to implement a three-bin system to avoid being slugged by the new levy in seven months time.

    “The city of Stirling is currently looking at all options including the state government’s preferred choice of a three-bin system,” council director Geoff Eves says.

    by STEPHEN POLLOCK