Perth Voice Interactive

FORMER Vincent deputy mayor Warren McGrath has traded in eight angry councillors for Twelve Angry Men.

Mr McGrath, an environmental consultant who retired from council in October to spend more time with family, is using his new-found free time to star in a local production of the classic teleplay about 12 jurors who must decide the fate of a young man accused of murder (the movie starring Henry Fonda is a cinematic tour de force).

“I wasn’t able to do a lot of [acting] when I was on council, and certainly not in the past couple of years,” Mr McGrath says.
He reckons there’s a lot of parallels between the way jurors convince each other of arguments and the way councillors talk each other around. He admitted to “channelling a few experiences from council” during rehearsals.
One upside of acting compared to his days in office is “once you know your lines you don’t have to read agendas before every rehearsal”.

The troupe is currently busy learning American accents, though Mr McGrath is worried he sounds more Canadian, ay. The play runs at the Melville Theatre throughout May. Dates and bookings 9330 4565.

by DAVID BELL

INTERNATIONAL artists have come together to create the exhibition Dear William, a dedication to William Street.

Stemming from a Vincent council project to showcase the street’s history and culture, artists visiting Perth for Form’s public art festival put their interpretations of the street on show.

The street is steeped in culture, housing the Perth mosque, the Vietnamese Buddhist temple, the Aboriginal Advancement council, the Socialist Alliance HQ, and the gay and lesbian Freedom Centre.

Artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah projected a moon onto the side of the mosque: the moon being significant to Islam, but also associated with the virgin Mary in Christianity, and he uses it to show the way many different cultures live side by side on the street.

His brother Abdul Abdullah, who worked at the old Domino’s Pizza on William Street, displayed a self-portrait where he wears a mask from the Planet of the Apes in the Moon Cafe (several other businesses refused to show it). The work parodies the stereotypes Australians hold about Muslim culture.

Chinese roots

Casey Ayres tapped into the street’s deep Chinese roots, teaming up with the community centre lion dance troupe, getting it to silently creep around the streets, following pedestrians and vexing people as he shot the video.

Meanwhile, the final stages of Nigel Bennet’s work (“William, yes, you are really something,” Perth Voice, March 15, 2014) are now housed at a pop-up studio at 248 Newcastle Street. He’ll be there each afternoon and wants locals to bring him objects from the area to photograph, adding their memories and images to a giant map of the precinct.

The artworks are up around William Street until April 21, see the locations at http://www.form.net.au

by DAVID BELL

Western Power slugs locals with $419 fee

WESTERN POWER is threatening to charge residents who fail to trim their own trees “a minimum of $419” to do it for them.

One Voice reader describes the threat as “absolute extortion”.

He’d received a note in the mail warning him to trim his trees within 30 days or Western Power’s contractors would do it for “a minimum of $419”.

“If it’s a 10-minute job is it still going to be $419?” he asked, gob-smacked. “I reckon if you got a pruner into do that job, he’d charge you $100.”

The reader ended up tying a pole to a handsaw and lopping off a few branches himself in a few minutes.

Jon Dodd from Arborcomm tree management solutions says “it’s a complete bloody rort”.

“Their prices are always going to be two or three times what a normal contractor would charge.”

He says there’s a conflict of interest because the contractor who inspects the trees and warns residents is the same company that picks up the work down the line.

Mr Dodd says he’s seen Western Power’s contractors nominate trees for compulsory pruning that don’t need work and aren’t going to grow any bigger.

“It’s a complete rort, I’m constantly telling people to ring up their local member.”

Western Power’s head of field operations Brad Lacey says the number was arrived at after consultation with the WA Tree Guild. He says the fee includes three site inspections, cutting, chipping and debris removal, administrative costs and, where necessary, a cherry-picker.

“About 95 per cent of our customers follow advice from Western Power and remove vegetation from their property that could cause damage to powerlines and the remaining customers who do not follow our advice are invoiced for pruning services.”

by DAVID BELL

A SUNSET service will be held at the Anzac cottage in Mt Hawthorn to honour fallen soldiers.

The cottage was originally built as a memorial to those who died at the landing at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, but now serves as a salient reminder of soldiers who also died in subsequent conflicts.

On February 12, 1916, 4000 turned out to witness 200 workers construct the Mt Hawthorn cottage in one day.

At the time, no soldier had been selected to live there: Private John Porter was the lucky one.

“He was wounded on the 25th of April, 1915 and he was in the 11th battalion, one of the first groups of soldiers to hit the beaches in the first wave,” says local historian Valerie Everett, a member of the Friends of Anzac Cottage.

Twelve months later Porter was back in Perth, living in the cottage.

Marjorie Williams, Porter’s daughter, was born in the cottage 93 years ago and is still going strong.

Her own daughter Anne Chapple, a Friends member, helped organise the sunset service.

The cottage was handed over to the Vietnam veterans in the early 1990s and through voluntary work and fundraising they have painstakingly restored it to its former glory.

Richard Williams, WA president of the Vietnam Veterans Association, served in Vietnam from 1970-1, when he was 21.

He says the friendships and bonds formed in the paddy fields and steaming jungles were unique.

“It’s strange, but even if you didn’t know someone personally from back then, you still have this amazing bond because you both went through the same common experiences,” says the 64-year-old. “I was a mechanical fitter and helped clear minefields in Vietnam.

“Before going out we spent three months training in the Queensland jungle.”

Williams estimates there are around 3250 Vietnam veterans in WA and around 200 VVA members. Around 500 Australian servicemen—50 of whom from WA—died in the 1962-75 conflict.

The cottage will be open from 3–6pm on April 25. Prior to the 5.15pm service there will be talks about the history of the cottage, a wreath-making workshop and afternoon tea.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE man who gashed his arm open on one of Beaufort Street’s near-invisible bladed bike racks has been denied compensation.

Vincent council’s insurer LGIS knocked back Russell Merriman’s claim saying the council wasn’t liable and the onus is on pedestrians to watch where they’re going.

But after reading the article in the Perth Voice where the council conceded the racks required removal, Mr Merriman says the insurer’s claims have been completely undermined by the council’s report.

In denying Mr Merriman’s claim LGIS said “the rack itself and its installation complies with all relevant Australian standards”.

But that’s not true according to the council report, which says it only meets those standards when placed in visible clusters or against a wall “where there is less foot traffic”.

The insurer also claimed there’d “been no other reports of incidents or accidents on this rack or any others that have been installed along Beaufort Street”.

However Mr Merriman points out the council’s report refers to “numerous complaints” about the racks. The Voice has heard locals refer to the racks as “the nutcrackers,” and cyclists on online forums have taken aim at the sharp-edged designs.

Mr Merriman first lodged a claim for $480.

“It’s not like I wanted the money, I just wanted to make it safe for society,” he says.

He eventually upped his claim to $10,000 after realising the extent of the scarring (and meeting with the insurer’s brusque investigator).

The claim was denied outright the first time around. When Mr Merriman read the Voice article he wrote to LGIS again, with the story attached, pointing out the inconsistencies in its argument.

LGIS still denied liability, but this time offered to “consider a refund of your out-of-pocket medical expenses”.

But Mr Merriman’s fed up with dealing with the company. For now he’s just happy the blade racks have been removed.

Vincent’s acting CEO Mike Rootsey referred our queries regarding the inconsistencies to LGIS, but no-one called us back.

by DAVID BELL