Perth Voice Interactive

A BEECHBORO man has been charged with robbing two pharmacies in Mt Lawley and Highgate.

On March 10 the accused allegedly entered McKenzie’s Chemist on Beaufort Street and threatened staff—intimating he had a weapon—and stole medication.

On March 13 he allegedly threatened staff and stole medication from Superchem Pharmacy on Beaufort Street.

The 33-year-old has also been charged with holding up a pharmacy at knife-point in Darch, allegedly absconding with cash and medication.
He is due to appear at Perth magistrates court April 22.

MAYLANDS cultural icon Old Bakery on 8th shuts the doors for good this Sunday.

Four friends started the gallery in the old bakery building 17 years ago to showcase local artists. But Kath Lymon says she, Anne Butorac and Ross and Rosemary Cant “felt that we’d taken it as far as it could go”.

“We just thought it’s time I moved on and retired.”

Ms Lymon says there have been many changes since 1997 with Maylands transforming from a sometimes scary part of town to an upmarket strip with boutique shops and cafes.

Curious characters

“It was quite a different place to be,” she says, recalling days when curious characters would peer in the windows.

The four friends often wondered if they’d chosen the right spot for a gallery: “Now the streets are busy all the time.”

Over the years more than 200 WA artists have exhibited at the Old Bakery: “We were all interested in art, and we decided we’d open up an art gallery that encouraged WA artists,” Ms Lymon says.

She’s clearly proud that many artists told her over the years, “you got me started, you were the first ones to take my work”.

“So that’s really satisfying. If we could live on accolades we’d be rich,” she smiles.

Legacy

Seven years ago the partners opened up the cafe side of the business and in 2011 the bakery was reactivated, continuing a legacy that dates back to the 1910s.

The Rossbach family used to run a bakery out of the site: the building’s heritage listing entry says between the world wars the German-origin family had to close, the building damaged by protestors. Ms Lymon recalls there were also many locals in favour of the Rossbachs who missed their daily bread when baker Georg and son Werner were imprisoned in an internment camp.

Originally from a farm in Narrikup where she used to take care of orphaned lambs, Ms Lymon plans to move back to the country.

by DAVID BELL

Bigger means cheaper
PAUL COLLINS of Coolbinia is critical of the proposed amalgamation of councils (Voice Mail, March 8, 2014).
Mr Collins refers to “community of interest” locations (eg, Inglewood’s community of interest location being centred on Beaufort Street towards Mt Lawley, not Morley).
With all due respect to Mr Collins, the concept of an area of local interest went out with button-up boots, or more specifically the motor car. If you look at the beautiful old houses in Mt Lawley/Inglewood, many had either no garage, or the garage was an afterthought. People didn’t, as they now do, travel far from home to undertake their daily business.
In the old days there was a strong sense of local community as people shopped locally and dealt with local trades and service people. There were no supermarkets and the corner shop reigned supreme.
For better or for worse, we have moved on. It is called “progress”.
To promote the view that somehow ratepayers will be disadvantaged through an amalgamation of councils and that for some unexplained reason it will create inefficiencies in service delivery is fatuous; using that logic we would be better off with more councils than we already have. There will always be those who resist change, and for those 184 concerned Stirling residents who attended the community rally in Inglewood and the 200 in Dianella, I acknowledge their concerns because change is confronting. However, the benefits of an amalgamation are obvious; one doesn’t need a degree in economics to understand that getting rid of duplication of services and to have smaller local government would ultimately result in lower council rates.
Kelvin White
Dianella
The Ed says: We’ll hold you to that Kelvin…when you get that lower rates bill, you let us know. But forgive us if we don’t hold our breath.

Strike against unions
LAST November I had published a book, Australia’s Secret War: How Unionists Sabotaged our Troops in World War II (Quadrant Books, Sydney).
It deals, as the name indicates, with instances of strikes and sabotage in strategic industries, including wharves, dockyards, coalfields and munitions plants. I received a great deal of information from ex-servicemen and others, and interest has been such that the publishers inform me it is going into a fourth printing after only three months.
This has encouraged me to try to compile a second volume, probably taking in the Korean and Vietnam wars, as well as World War II, and I therefore ask any ex-service personnel, unionists and others with information in this area, whether from first-hand experience, unit histories etc, to contact me, giving their name, branch of service, rank and serial number with an account of the relevant incident. All material printed will be acknowledged.
Dr Hal Colebatch
Portland St, Nedlands

Can you hear the people sing?
READING the Voice over recent weeks one gets the clear impression governments are not listening to the people. But are  the people not being vocal enough?
If you only have a twice-daily bus there are naturally fewer passengers (Voice, March 8). But that is no excuse for no shade. Maybe a couple of trees would help. Replace those being removed by greedy councils for more rates.
As for the supposed staff plan walkout (Voice, March 15) I suggest the sackings continue—take the councillors too. What has CEO John Giorgi done? Years ago they played these games in local government. It’s called ‘musical chairs’, more moves the higher the salary. Do we really want to merge with Lisa Scaffidi as mayor? Maybe our mayor has his eye on the position (I won’t call it job). So the staff plan to stop work—what’s different?
Why are Libs allowed stalls at other festivals (Voice, March 15). And how many actually voted in the south ward by-election and when will we get compulsory voting?
Robert Hart
Anderson St, Mt Hawthrorn

Big is better
STIRLING council and its acolytes like Paul Collins are wrong, deliberately ignoring the main point of the proposed local government reform.
They need to be reminded the purpose of the reform is to enable all Perth citizens to have the benefit of living in a large council. This means everyone in Perth will benefit from economies of scale that produce the financial capacity to deliver more services and keep rate rises lower.
Stirling will remain a large council even if some parts of it are moved to other council areas and its ratepayers will continue to enjoy benefit of living in a large council. The reforms do not result in a subsidy from Stirling to other councils, as claimed by Paul Collins.
The council and its supporters are plainly wrong to adamantly argue for no change at the expense of the wider public benefit the reforms will deliver.
Chris Stafford
Rookwood St, Mt Lawley

Limitations on display
PEOPLE who choose to wear t-shirts with rude words emblazoned thereon prompt in me an engulfing sadness.
Long ago, while an office slave, I endured regular good-natured ridicule for refusing to swear.
Eventually, I came up with an effective response: “My vocabulary is limited enough without drawing uninvited attention to it.”
The Voice’s red-letter warning to parents over the article “Rude to a tee” (Voice, March 22, 2014) might have also included to the aged.
As soon as possible I disengage myself from any company that even casually uses the f-word. It will continue to offend; and otherwise—here comes irony—serves only to expose the limitations and vulnerability of those who resort to such.
Ron Willis
First Ave, Mount Lawley

A great feat
THANK YOU Vincent council for a fun day last Sunday celebrating St Patrick’s Day in Leederville.
Lovely weather, lots of people and lots of good fun. The Irish dancers were beautiful but, given footwork is a major part of the dancing, the placement of the big speakers along the front of the stage—hiding the girls’ feet—needs more thought for next year.
Donelle Phillips
Barlee St, Mt Lawley

LAUGHTER was the last thing I expected from Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, a play full of dark themes including domestic violence.

But Australia’s Sigrid Thornton is such a superb actor that her comic timing is perfect as faded southern belle Blanche Dubois, in this Black Swan production at the State Theatre.

Director Kate Cherry brings many layered nuances to the fore, none more so than the power play between desperately genteel Blanche and brutish brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski.

“[They] are like magnets, they compel and repulse and ultimately, they destroy one another’s future happiness,” she says.

The play shocked when it opened in New York in 1947 with its realism and psychological study of human nature.

Almost 70 years later, the Pulitzer Prize winner remains relevant with its poignant character study and sexual tension.

‘like magnets, they compel and repulse and ultimately, they destroy one another’s future happiness’

Blanche arrives unannounced to live with her sister Stella and husband Stanley in their cramped, dingy apartment in the poor quarter of sweaty, repressive New Orleans.

Seedy claustrophobia

Smith’s largely one-room set perfectly conveys seedy claustrophobia—only a sheer curtain shuts off the bedroom and every sound is audible to neighbours.

A solitary saxophonist (Ben Collins) on the dimly lit balcony, or in the shadows of the street, adds to the moodiness as a segue between scenes.

Thornton’s petite frame embodies the fragile Blanche, with her nervous, fluttering hand movements and incessant chatter, while Jo Morris is great as Stella, a woman torn between her passion for Stanley and love of her sister.

Blanche is shocked by the bestial Stanley, who knocks her sister around, and urges Stella to leave him.

But following a beating the night before a besotted Stella drawls: “There are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark—that sort of make everything else seem unimportant.”

Blanche is a mix of contradictions, both feisty and fearful, proud but in desperate straits.

A mature woman, she flirts coquettishly with men, constantly seeking approval and courting desire, while maintaining a facade of genteel refinement.

Stanley and Blanche each fights in their own way to dominate Stella but Blanche the dreamer is no match for the crude Stanley, who has no time for her pretensions. Their collision course destroys Blanche’s tenuous grip on reality.

Nathaniel Dean has a big job taking on a role the magnetic Marlon Brando made his own in the 1951 movie, but he amply holds his own, aided by his buff physique and distractingly tight t-shirts.

Luke Hewitt is convincing as Stanley’s mild-mannered friend Mitch, whom Blanche hopes to marry as a way out of her penniless state: the scene in which he confronts her about her many sexual liaisons is heartbreaking.

A Streetcar Named Desire is a must-see and, due to sell-out shows, has been extended to April 6 and possibly longer. For more info go to http://www.bsstc.com.au

by JENNY D’ANGER

PUBLIC housing tenants have been told to remove car shelters and carbay markings they’d installed to help manage carparking at their Smith Street complex.

The WA housing department has already brought in contractors to remove numbers from the bays, saying the three-year-old enhancements were unauthorised.

Julius Re, 82, says the improvements help “make life a little better”. Without shade, cars turn into summertime ovens and the bay numbers had overcome parking chaos.

‘Here we are trying to solve our own problems’

Instead of calling the department to come and spend money, the tenants had banded together in a spirit of community teamwork to do the jobs themselves.

“Here we are trying to solve our own problems, and Homeswest … told us to get rid of them,” Me Re told the Voice.

Department service delivery manager Steve Parry says residents “erected illegal structures without the written consent of the department of housing”. 

“No approval has ever been granted to erect them,” he told the Voice. “The structures were deemed by department officers to be unsafe and the tenants who erected them have been requested to remove them.”

As for the numbered bays: “There is no ownership of a particular bay at the complex.”

Mr Re says the numbers made life easier: “We’re trying to bring some harmony to the place, which is very hard with old people,” he chuckles.

As for the shelters being unsafe, he points out they’ve been there three years without incident. 

 by DAVID BELL

DECISIONS made in secret have skyrocketed at Vincent, with the council tripling the number of times it went behind closed doors in five months.

Till October the average number of secret items was a smidge over one per meeting, but CEO John Giorgi has recently been putting many more on the for-your-eyes-only list.

Mayor John Carey and his councillors are now debating three or more per meeting in their cone of silence: on one night alone a whopping seven items were deemed too risky to be trusted to the ears of the press and public.

Rules apply to what can be made confidential under the WA local government act, most commonly when the item deals with an employee, personal affairs of a person, a contract, legal advice or a trade secret. Depending on the interpretation of the item, the latitude can be pretty wide.

Before he went on leave the Voice questioned Mr Giorgi about which part of the law he was relying on when making several items confidential, including:

• the council’s new redundancy policy;

• transport assistance grants for the elderly and disabled;

• employing new ‘placemakers’ and ‘place managers’ (fancy names for people who jazz up town centres);

• a review of the amount spent on festivals.

Mr Giorgi refused to answer, simply stating “there is nothing untoward in the matter, however I will not be providing any comments”.

Shortly after that he learned he wasn’t getting his contract renewed at the end of the year and he has rarely been back to work since.

Deputy mayor Ros Harley recently told colleagues she was “concern[ed] about the overuse of the confidential list”: “I think the use of confidential agendas should be limited,” she said.

That night she moved that two items—a debate over a public art contract, the other about transport grants to the elderly and disabled—be heard in public, and her colleagues unanimously agreed.

In November, councillors Matt Buckels, Josh Topelberg and Julia Wilcox wanted an item about Beatty Park’s new logo to be heard publicly but they were outvoted.

Mayor John Carey says the CEO decides what is to be listed for confidentiality, and councillors can dispute it on the night.

He says the festival expenditure item should have been heard publicly, and he’ll be keeping a close eye on any future items the CEO wants kept from public scrutiny.

“We’ll be looking carefully at any recommendations and where we think it should be public, we’ll move it to public,” he told the Voice.

“Where I think [the confidential section] is appropriate is where it’s dealing with employment matters, for example creating new roles or shifting positions or making positions redundant. Clearly they’re sensitive matters.”

by DAVID BELL

P A R E N T A L   W A R N I N G   A D V I C E

The following story includes a naughty word, the sort of word young Tristan or Chelsea probably hears every day in the playground, or catches on TV where it’s said with gleeful abandon. But just in case you’re prone to faint when seeing naughty words in print, we thought we’d better warn you. Think of the children!

POLICE have clarified that it is not an offence to wear a t-shirt saying “Fuck Tony Abbott”.

At Sunday’s March in March protest a police officer ordered a protestor to remove his t-shirt.

Witness Sam Cavallaro, co-convenor of Equal Love WA, says “they told him he needed to take his shirt off and turn it inside out, and that it was a criminal offence to be wearing the shirt”.

“I think [the charge] was along the lines of disorderly behaviour. They were saying that by wearing the shirt he was acting disorderly in public.

“He put up a bit of a protest, there was a bit of to and fro I think… he was talking about free speech, that he has a right to protest and have political opinions on his shirt.

“He ended up taking his shirt off after a while.”

It’s not an isolated incident, with Mr Cavallaro running into similar problems at an Equal Love protest. Socialist Alliance senate candidate Chris Jenkins told the Voice that at a protest in Forrest Place last year he was wearing a shirt that said “unfuck the world”. A police officer told him kids could see it and be offended and he should buy a new shirt from Myer.

“I said, ‘what, a shirt made by kids?’” Mr Jenkins says.

Police media acting senior sergeant Naomi Smith says a swear word on a shirt is “not actually an offence”.

“It doesn’t constitute a disorderly conduct under the act.”

She says the word wouldn’t constitute obscene material either, “so technically someone wearing ‘Fuck Tony Abbot” on their t-shirt is not an offence”.

She said an officer could ask someone to remove the t-shirt, but couldn’t force them or threaten a charge.

“It’s one of those things as a copper, you’d hopefully use a bit of discretion, a bit of tact.”

by DAVID BELL

STIRLING residents annoyed at rubbish cluttering their verges could end up paying $45 for a skip, as the council canvasses residents on new waste collection services.

The council came under fire last year when it switched to one annual verge collection, resulting in a slow pick-up and piles of trash sitting on verges for weeks.

It is now gauging public support for replacing verge collection with a skip-bin system, where residents add $45 a year to their annual waste levy and are able to order in a skip. Additional skips could be booked at a discount.

The council is also consulting on:

• providing one, two bins or three bins;

• how ratepayers receive their tip pass each year;

• introducing a free collection service for mattresses, white goods and e-waste items; and,

• what are residents prepared to pay for the change in service.

The review has been prompted by the closure of Atlas recycling, which the council had used to achieve a 65 per cent recycling rate over 10 years, using just one bin.

It is now sending most domestic waste to landfill and needs to move to a multiple-bin system. The council estimates a second yellow-lid bin will cost ratepayers around $35 a year, and a third green waste bin another $30.

Mayor Giovanni Italiano says the survey will help guide the council’s decision-making.

“Residents and ratepayers have very strong opinions when it comes to waste and recycling and we want to hear all of their views in this online survey,” he says.

“This is a great opportunity to have your say and help set the scene when it comes to the future of waste and recycling around Stirling city council.”

A $7.5 million WA government program will provide funding to councils to set up three-bin collection systems.

Visit http://www.stirling.wa.gov.au/yoursay until March 27 to comment.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK