INNER WEST INDEPENDENT November 2021

Callan Park Act up for debate

Assaults to police soar in the pandemic

Find out what is happening in Inner West Theatres this month

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YOUR FREE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

N OV E M B E R , 2 0 21

Pauline Lockie and other Inner West Council candidates comment on local concerns

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Inner West Council candidates’ forum Sunday 14 November from 3pm to 5pm

142 Addison Road Marrickville

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INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

IndieNEWS

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Make Google & Facebook support public interest journalism IndieARTS: Inner West

Jigsaw Company

Local company feeding the need for new puzzles in lockdown (See p. 22)

PUBLISHED DATE 28 OCTOBER 2021 Published monthly and freely available throughout the Inner West.

Copies are also distributed to serviced apartments, hotels, convenience stores and newsagents throughout the Inner West local council area.

Distribution enquiries call 9212 5677.

Published by Altmedia Pty Ltd. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy of content, we take no responsibility for inadvertent errors or omissions.

ABN 52 600 903 348 Group Publisher: Lawrence Gibbons Publisher Assistant: Mal Moody Group News Editors: Daniel Lo Surdo, Eva Baxter Contributors: Daniel Lo Surdo, Eva Baxter, Aston Brown, Pip Hinman Arts Editor: Jamie Apps Contributors: Gemma Billington, Mark Morellini, Irina Dunn, Renee Lou Dallow, Olga Azar, Patrick McKenzie, Jarrod Wolfhunter, Lucinda Garbutt-Young, Tessa Pelle, Craig Coventry Advertising Manager: Mal Moody 0484 042 615 Advertising: sales@altmedia.net.au Cover Photo: Mark Dickson. Deep Field Photography. Pauline Lockie hopes her journey on council continues Designer: Nadia Kalinitcheva Mail: PO Box 843 Broadway 2007 Email: news@altmedia.net.au, arts@altmedia.net.au Ph: 9212 5677 Fax: 9212 5633

If you have a story, or any comments you’d like to share with us: news@altmedia.net.au

BY LAWRENCE GIBBONS veryone recalls the great news blackout of 2021. Earlier this year, Facebook prevented Australians from posting news stories on their platform. The move came in response to a proposed new law giving the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg the power to force Facebook and Google to bargain with Australian media companies, big and small.

For several weeks in February, Australians were prevented from posting news stories on their Facebook page. At the peak of a pandemic, while Zuckerberg’s algorithms disseminated misinformation at an alarming rate, no one on our island continent could share fact-based journalism via Facebook.

Despite Facebook’s news ban, the Parliament passed a bill requiring both Facebook and Google to negotiate with Australian media companies. Under the new law, a Register was set up by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) certifying that a publisher produced public interest journalism and could bargain with the tech titans. This publication was accredited by the ACMA to negotiate with Google and Facebook.

Combined, Google and Facebook have done more to erode the stability, authority, and viability of a free press since Guttenberg first invented the printing press in the 15th century.

Their algorithms are designed to distribute information based on a user’s prejudices, beliefs, and personal opinions. You only see what the algorithms think you want to see through a distorted hall of mirrors based on your own existing world view.

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Public Interest journalism seeks to hold power to account, to counter prejudices and to correct mistruths. The Silicon Valley villains undermine our very democratic institutions by increasing our distrust in authority. We live in an opinion-based universe where any position can be proved via Google or disseminated via Facebook.

The only antidote to the existential threat facing public interest journalism and democracy itself is the distribution of digital funds to publishers big and small.

It appeared the Australian government had done what no other nation had the guts to do: hold Google and Facebook to account.

At long last the very companies that had contributed to the decimation of independent media would help us pay journalists to produce unique, vital, and indispensable news content. We sent a letter to both Google and Facebook advising them that we were ready to do a deal. We received no response, other than an invitation from Facebook to apply for a possible grant later in the year.

While the Parliament had enacted a new Mandatory Bargaining Code, there was just one hitch. Josh Frydenberg had chosen not to exercise the option to make the Bargaining Code mandatory for either Facebook or Google.

To placate the Treasurer, Google and Facebook did deals with Australia’s largest media companies. Rupert Murdoch at News Ltd, Kerry Stokes at 7 News, and Peter Costello at 9 Entertainment along with a handful of other fortunate media companies got deals. The rest of us were out of luck.

Rod Sims, the Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC), first proposed a new Bargaining Code to address market imbalances in the national media landscape. But the new code had the perverse effect of only providing further financial advantages to a few media moguls in what has long been one of the most anti-competitive, consolidated media markets in the free world.

In response to being locked out of the digital coffers, this publication has joined forces with other Public Interest Publishers. Together, we will ask the ACCC to allow us to collectively bargain with Google and Facebook. Individually we have little chance of being taken seriously. Together, along with any other interested public interest publishers we will be harder to ignore.

Our group of Public Interest Publishers has also lodged a petition in the Federal Parliament calling on the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to make the Bargaining Code mandatory for both Google and Facebook so they will bargain with small and medium publishers and not just a few mega media corporations. The MP for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek will table our petition in the Parliament.

Support independent journalism and this publication by signing our petition before the 24th of November. You have a right to receive independent, SIGN OUR PETITION HERE: local public interest journalism in a democratic society and we want to keep doing our job by informing, engaging and challenging.

INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

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IndieNEWS

Italian flag back on Norton Street

BY DANIEL LO SURDO nner West Councillors have unanimously supported a motion to raise the Italian flag at Leichhardt Town Hall on Festa della Repubblica, Italy’s National Day (June 2).

Calls to fly the Italian flag on Festa della Repubblica came about on June 11 this year, when the area bounding Norton and Marion Street between Hawthorne Parade and Balmain Road was renamed as Little Italy.

“I think it is a great idea to fly the Italian flag over Leichhardt Town Hall and I hope that the staff will be able to organise that,” said Mayor Rochelle Porteous, who seconded Councillor Lucille McKenna’s motion, told the council meeting.

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 This is fitting recognition

Leichhardt Town Hall will fly the Italian flag on Festa della Repubblica going forward.

Photo: Norton Street Festa

“The Italian community is a very solid, very committed community and while a lot of the Italians themselves may not still live in Leichhardt, they certainly come here and gather here for a lot of their celebrations, so I think it’s fitting that we have that flying from the Leichhardt Town Hall.”

As at the 2016 Census, there were over 174,000 people living in Australia who

were born in Italy. Leichhardt was a hotbed of Italian migration after World War Two, with it now estimated that over 44,000 Italian-born Australian residents are living in Sydney.

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INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

“This is fitting recognition of the Italian community who moved into the area when it wasn’t such an area to be proud of,” Councillor Julie Passas told the meeting.

“I can understand too what the Italian people went through … the racism was rife and my heart used to break for the people, how they used to be laughed at because they couldn’t speak English.”

ITALIAN HERITAGE

Multiple organisations and representatives of the Italian community conveyed their support for

the Italian flag to be raised on Festa della Repubblica, Councillor Darcy Byrne describing that the community would see it as a “nice gesture” from Council.

At the Little Italy reception in June, Italian Democratic Party Senator Francesco Giacobbe, who represents diaspora Italians across Australia, Asia, Africa and Antarctica, felt it was paramount to symbolise the Italian heritage in Leichhardt.

“Our parents and grandparents arrived [in] this country and with their hard work, with their determination, they contributed to not only the lives of their families but also to make Australia a modern and multicultural country,” Mr Giacobbe said at the reception.

Despite the renaming of central Leichhardt as Little Italy, there has been a downturn in Italian culture throughout the area, as second to fourth generation Italo-Australians migrate from the Inner West.

Leichhardt saw its greatest sustained Italian immigration boom in the mid20th century and quickly became an established area of trading for Italian businesses throughout the area.

The Warren in south Marrickville. We still use buildings that were new when those men were here.

This is an extract from Mina Bui Jones’ Introduction to Ten Ordinary Men – The Anzacs of Addi Road, researched and written by Vanessa James, with illustrations by Robyn Chiles and a wealth of photography and archival visual material.

Inside this book are the stories of ten ordinary men. None of them especially distinguished before, during or after World War One. Men who were here at Addison Road — briefly — then gone: to other camps in Australia; to battlefields in Europe and the Middle East; or to early graves in foreign soil.

Ten ordinary men — a fitter and turner, a barman, a 'driver', a clerk at The Sun newspaper, who enlisted for service more than 100 years ago. Why should we, here and now, remember them?

Addison Road Community Centre in Marrickville, Sydney, operates on the site of a former army depot, won for community use in 1976 when the army needed it no longer. It was dedicated as a space for fostering the new, creative and multicultural society being imagined for Australia in the 1970s.

Addison Road Community Organisation, as the current caretaker of this special piece of NSW Crown Land, is mindful of both the opportunities and the obligations we have to its history. This is Gadigal land; a place where tall

Food of Love Things have changed for Brad-Lee and Ethan.

Earlier this year Brad-Lee had a brain haemorrhage. It meant that his life as a musician and working in a hair salon had to come to a sudden stop. Double vision, difficulty walking; there were a whole lot of new challenges to meet.

Brad-Lee’s partner Ethan – “Yeah, it’s spelt like a boy’s name” – explains how “I had to shut down my practice designing graphics for TV and live events.” Ethan needed to adapt to working part-time whenever she could, while fulfilling an entirely new role as a full-time carer for Brad-Lee and their infant daughter Salem, now just a year and a half old.

Ethan acknowledges that “on paper what happened to us sounds like a sad story”. But talk to Ethan and Brad-Lee and what you get is a blast of good will and shared happiness the likes of which it is rare to encounter any time.

And while no one is claiming life has been easy, especially as the pandemic and lockdowns intensified, Ethan says “it’s been so strange that in such unfortunate circumstances a lot of things have gotten weirdly better for us.”

Coming to the Addi Road Food Pantry in Marrickville over these last few months has been a big part of that transformation. “I wish

ironbark and turpentine forest came down to a freshwater creek; a good place for hunting, for gathering reeds to make cord; a tributary of the Gumbramorra Swamp on its way down to the Cooks River and out to Botany Bay. Land that was cleared for timber, for farming, for brickworks and then, just after Australian Federation, drained and repurposed as a military facility.

It was to be a local training centre for the Citizens Military Force, a homeland-defence army of Australian men who had completed compulsory military service and could spring into action when called. As this plan was starting to be realised, however, war broke out in Europe and Australia 'answered the call' of 'Mother England'. The Addison Road depot for the Citizens Military Force became a place of enlistment in the Australian Imperial Force — a division of the British Army — and here volunteers signed oaths to “serve our Sovereign Lord the King”.

The Addison Road depot opened in 1916, after the tragedy of Gallipoli and after the army's needs had outgrown a converted mansion at

Seven buildings and much of the original military landscaping remain and are accessible to the public every day of the year. You can walk around ‘Addi Road’ and see the Drill Halls that bookend the site, like dozens that once existed around the country for the Citizens Military Forces to train in, now so rare. You can enjoy a play by the Hellenic Arts Theatre in a former Gun Park (a garage for artillery carriages); recycle your glass and plastic containers on the edge of the old Parade Ground; view an art exhibition in the former Field Ambulance headquarters.

There is a kind of magic energy that connects us with those whose lives have been swallowed by time but who were once here, too. It connects us to people who had a physical and emotional presence in this place at a pivotal moment in their lives. Being able to access not only the stories but also the spaces inhabited by people who played a part in that momentous, nation-shaping and horrific war is both humbling and inspiring.

Addison Road Community Organisation is committed to documenting, conserving and sharing the site's heritage with our community.

Learning about people who have been here before us is a major activity of our Living Museum program which was launched in the Anzac Centenary year of 2014.

This year, coincidentally, the theme chosen for History Week by the History Council of NSW was 'From the Ground Up' and was proposed

by Addison Road Community Organisation. We hope that by publishing the war stories of these ten men, we might inspire others to investigate and interpret the past from the perspective of local places and 'ordinary' people, too.

Copies for $30 from addi.road.org.au.

Available from 11 November

we’d known about it sooner. We’re eating better than we have in a year,” she says, “and we’re spending more time together with one another and with our baby.”

Ethan admits “I am more of a diva in the kitchen.” As a result, Brad-Lee has become the de facto chef at home. He says shopping at the Addi Road Food Pantry has made him more creative with meals. “What’s available here often changes. It’s actually exciting to go to a grocery store and think about what to buy – and what I can come up with,” he laughs.

“The cognitive impairment caused by my stroke makes cooking more of a challenge for me,” Brad-Lee adds. “But having to be creative about what I can manage has actually made me a better cook than I was before!”

It’s not just the variety of food, or how much the low-budget shopping at the Addi Road Food Pantry helps them make it through each week.

Ethan says “the staff here are sweethearts”.

Brad-Lee agrees. “Because we usually come on a Monday, it brightens the rest of the week for us.” He laughs again about “some of the interesting characters we get to chat to while we line up. The people here really make it.”

The couple will go home fully loaded after their shop. Spending $5 can get you something like $25 worth of groceries, fruit and veg, and

Addi Road Food Pantry Marrickville is open Monday-Friday, 12-4pm.

Addi Road Food Pantry Camperdown is open Tuesday-Friday, 12-4pm.

sourdough bread. Ethan says that “although Salem is only sixteen months old, she’s a size 3 and eating like a six year old! The Addi Road Food Pantry has been an absolute godsend.”

It’s time for a photo. Brad-Lee steps around Ethan so he can stand beside her and balance himself with the walking cane in his right hand.

They embrace one another at the hip and stand tall.

Story by Mark Mordue

addiroad.org.au

INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

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IndieNEWS

Inner West wants climate action

BY EVA BAXTER n July this year, a campaign by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) Together We Can conducted a poll of 15,000 Australians in all 151 federal electorates on their opinions on climate change.

According to the poll, nationally, 67% of voters want the federal government to do more to combat climate change.

Across NSW, 65% of voters want the federal government to do more.

In the electoral division of Grayndler, 82% of voters believe the federal government needs to be doing more to address climate change.

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VOTING COUNTS

 67% is a majority Nicola Burford, a co-founder and leader of ACF Inner West, said the group brings national campaigns to the local level.

“We decided that we wanted to create a space where people can come together to stand up for a healthy environment in the inner west and Australia,” she told the Independent.

“We wanted a place that was going to build on positivity that wasn’t radical

on sport and recreation and more solar power and community batteries.

Burford said engaging with MP’s is important to the group, “the only way we can make change is by raising our voice to our leaders.”

The group has met with the office of Anthony Albanese, Tanya Plibersek and Jenny Leong.

According to a poll by the Australian Conservation Foundation, Australians want climate action now.

Photo: Supplied

or confrontational, something for everyone, inclusive, diverse and as rich as our inner west area.”

ACF Inner West has increased its membership from 3 members in June 2020 to 131, and a further 8,000 have signed petitions or joined the mailing

list and database. Burford said the group welcomes anyone, no matter their level of commitment.

Locally, they are pressing to get more EV’s and charging stations, protect Callan Park from commercialisation, get action on pollution and heat effects

The poll found 67% of national voters say Labor and Coalition plans for climate action will influence their vote.

ACF is working on the People’s Voice campaign over the next six months, which is a platform for people to share their concerns and stories regarding the climate and climate justice.

The People’s Voice will be presented to politicians at the end of the year before the election.

“The thing is, 67% is a majority. It’s two thirds of the country and we’ve got an election coming up. That speaks volumes,” said Burford.

On November 6th Inner West ACF is hosting a painting party in Sydney Park aiming to create more messages to get climate action now.

Breaking the myths around retirement living

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the various options available to you and help minimise the stress of navigating a system that can often be complex.

retirement village might not be for everyone, for some it is the opportunity to meet new people and find companionship, for others it’s about enjoying the freedom from maintaining a large house in a secure and safe community. Those who made the move do agree they wish they had done it sooner.

However, there’s a few common myths about village life that we’re here to clear up.

A retirement village is for older people.

Retirement villages offer the independence of living in a welcoming community in your low-maintenance apartment or villa. You maintain your autonomy while reaping the benefits of village life.

Maxine is a Uniting retirement living resident who shared, “It’s the best of both worlds. You have your own home, which you love and furnish in your way, you have all the necessary facilities, and you’re free to make any social arrangements you want. I mean, what could be better.”

I’ll lose my independence.

For many, a retirement village offers a safe and secure environment 6

INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

A financial planner who specialises in the aged pension and superannuation can help to ensure you’re getting the maximum benefits and assist you with planning for the retirement you envision.

Before moving in, we’ll calculate the exact amount you can expect to pay before, during, and after your stay.

There’ll be no unexpected fees or charges.

that gives them more time to enjoy hobbies or the company of friends. A move to a village means eliminating the worry of maintaining a large house and garden while still enjoying the privacy of your own home.

Uniting retirement living resident Joan shared, “What I like about it, I move in, everything is taken care of, I’ve got my independence, I’m not living in

some isolated house on my own and I must say I’m surrounded by very nice people.”

Retirement villages aren’t good value for money.

Retirement villages are an affordable way to downsize from the family home and free up equity. Seeking guidance from a financial adviser will determine

Ask yourself if your current home is suitable right now and moving into the future. Consider rightsizing into a retirement village to minimise your home and garden maintenance.

Carmen, a Uniting retirement living resident, explains, “Moving to a retirement village was one of the best decisions we’ve made. We have more time to focus on the things we enjoy.”

You can decide if a retirement village is right for you by visiting one near you.

Book a tour by calling 1800 864 846 or by visiting www.uniting.org/retirementliving.

Inner West Council candidates’ forum Sunday 14 November from 3pm to 5pm 142 Addison Road Marrickville

To celebrate the City Hub’s 26th anniversary, we will host a forum for candidates in the upcoming Inner West Council elections.

• Meet select candidates from across all four wards • Bring your questions • Participate in the democratic process

Special screening of Rats in the Ranks Sunday 14 November 5:30pm 142 Addison Road Marrickville Following the candidate’s forum, we will have a special screening of Rats in the Ranks Shot and screened around the time of the City Hub’s launch in 1995, Rats in the Ranks is a classic look at local politics in the Inner West.

“An astonishing combination of suspense and humour.. Five stars” David Stratton “I agree. Five stars from me also. It is about democracy and the flaws of human beings. Love it” Margaret Pomeranz

TO REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT SCAN:

INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

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IndieNEWS

Tempe locals fight Bunnings plans

BY ASTON BROWN empe residents’ opposition to the traffic plan for a proposed Bunnings development has received $25,000 in support from Inner West Council as the grassroots campaign builds momentum.

Tempe residents have opposed the proposal for years, which would see the amount of traffic more than triple on nearby narrow streets. Locals are fighting to amend the Development Application and to add a set of lights on the Princes Highway which are said to relieve the anticipated congestion.

The Tempe Bunnings superstore will be the largest in Sydney and under the current plans will see its traffic funnelled through local streets, with the most concern for Smith and Union Street – where Tempe Public School is located.

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MEETING THE CHALLENGE

 The residents need our help Jack Breen, who lives on an impacted street, recently launched a GoFundMe fundraiser which has so far amassed $2700 to pay for posters and banners which he has begun to distribute.

“I saw the data myself and saw that this was going to triple the amount of cars doing down these streets, at a minimum,” Breen told the Independent.

“I can’t sit here and know this is going to happen and just say it’s too hard…and then hear about some kid getting run over on his way to school.”

Jack Breen and the Tempe community have been campaigning against a Bunnings traffic plan in their area. Photo: Jack Breen

Inner West Councillor Victor Macri put forward a motion this month to allocate $25,000 for the campaign, which was supported unanimously.

Council will run ads in major newspapers, send a letter to all Tempe residents and put up banners in high

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INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

visibility locations to raise awareness on the issue.

“Bunnings only has to deliver us one set of traffic lights, that’s all they have to do.

All the way down the Princes Highway every large-scale operation has a set of traffic lights,” Macri said.

Breen has lived on Union Street for only two years but said he couldn’t be a bystander on such an important issue. Breen works in social media and saw this as an opportunity to use his skills to get involved and make a difference.

“This latest iteration of the campaign, and really when my partner and I came into it … it’s really about making sure the community has one voice, because I think there are so many passionate people, but we needed a way to quickly educate others on this issue,” he said.

Council has praised the community’s efforts and their willingness to fund the campaign themselves.

“It’s really important that we make clear this is unacceptable, this is a safety issue, this is a well-being issue, and the residents need our help,” Inner West Mayor Rochelle Porteous said.

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SPONSORED CONTENT

THE BEST EATS IN MARRICKVILLE RETURN WITH A DELICIOUS BANG N ow that lockdowns have lifted, we no longer have to suffer through another mundane and repetitive home cooked meal. For residents of the Inner West the easing of restrictions also coincides with the reopening of one of the most bountiful dining precincts in Sydney, Smidmore Street at Marrickville Metro.

The past three months have been incredibly tough for hospitality operators across NSW, with the lockdown draining the spirit and life out of our beloved and diverse dining scene. Operating for less than three weeks before restrictions forced several of their dining venues shut, the resilient and ever-creative restaurateurs on Smidmore Street have been developing, innovating, and preparing to reopen with a delicious bang.

More than a dozen of Smidmore Street’s restauranteurs have come together to bring back their mix of family-run businesses and nationally recognised concepts to the Inner West community.

With the reopening comes even more outdoor alfresco eating spaces at the center, in addition to the alfresco dining along Smidmore Street. Diners can truly enjoy a meal with friends and kick the lockdown blues all within a COVID safe environment.

If you are missing out on securing bookings to celebrate post-lockdown, the venues at Smidmore Street have you covered. Most venues are taking walk-ins only, so you won’t have to worry about booking a table. Better yet, you won’t have to worry about parking either. Marrickville Metro’s new carpark off Edinburgh Rd is best for dining at Smidmore Street.

For those seeking a lunchtime pick me up, Smidmore Street’s dining retailers will be offering a $15 dine-in lunch special from Monday to Friday for a limited time*. Visitors can be treated to a $15 Buttermilk fried chicken burger from Firestone, Nonna’s Spaghetti Meatballs from The Grumpy Italian, and a Vegan Satay Nasi Kunyit and soft drink from Nanyang Malaya Café.

Smidmore Street offers all day dining and is home to an eclectic and diverse range of offers with the local community in mind.

Nanyang Malaya Café is the second incredible collaboration between renowned Sydneysiders Kaisern Ching of Chefs Gallery and Billy Chong of

Ipoh Town. The team created a dining experience that transports diners to Singapore’s early British Colonial days, known as British Malaya. The birthplace of Kopitiam café, the menu brings a culinary fusion of Hainanese migrants and Malaya people adopting their British employers’ cooking style.

There are plenty of Malay delicacies – including classic Hainanese Chicken Rice, laksas, soft flaky roti, fragrant curries and you can’t forget the Singaporean Chilli Mud crab. In true Sydney-style, diners can also indulge in an all-day breakfast menu that includes Asam Smash Avocado toast, Rendang Beef Burgers with savoury rendang slow-cooked beef and Roti Char Siew wraps. With all of this, Nanyang Malaya Café transports you to the streets of Malaysia.

Nanyang Malaya Café is currently taking bookings and accepting walk-ins.

Inner West favourite, Rice Pantry, is ready to continue their celebration of the notion that everything goes well with rice!

Owners Cecilia and Jackie, along with

Head Chef Bryan Zhu have spent the past few months working hard on new and exciting dishes that showcase their modern take on the unique flavours of Asian cuisine and pays homage to their Vietnamese and Chinese backgrounds.

With the reopening, the team will showcase even more bold, delicious, and distinctive flavours of Asian cuisine in fun, creative and unexpected ways, including Okonomiyaki Loaded Tator Tots, Vietnamese Cured Beef with Puffed Rice Crisps and even a Hainan Rice-Cream with chicken fat caramel and brown butter puffed forbidden rice.

Rice Pantry is currently taking bookings and accepting walk-ins.

Marrickville locals are in for a treat as Dennis Oh and his dedicated team at Izakaya Tori fires up the Robata grill again, and we are treated to the smell of charcoal cooked Yakitori skewers.

The team can’t wait to bring back their authentic Japanese Yakitori and Izakaya experience with friendly and inviting service.

While visiting the back alleys of Tokyo is still off the table, Izakaya Tori will surely bring the same energy right to the heart of Marrickville and create a unique

experience that’s bursting with flavour.

Izakaya Tori is currently taking bookings and accepting walk-ins. t’s no surprise that before lockdown, Karl’s Charcoal Chicken was an instant hit on Smidmore Street, with Inner West locals drawn in by the smell of their crispy chicken goodness, Shish Plates and the welcoming personality of owner Khal Fayed.

So many of us have missed dining with friends, and Karl’s Chicken are encouraging diners to take a seat and catch up with friends while enjoying some seriously good food and drinks.

Think flame-grilled chicken (or falafel, cauliflower, eggplant for a vegetarian option) mixed in with generous amounts of hummus, tabouli, baba ghanouj, garlic, pickles and bread.

Karl’s Charcoal Chicken are accepting walk-ins.

Known for their premium wagyu steaks served on heated hot stone, Head Chef Jay of Firestone is heating up stones and ready to treat Marrickville locals again to all day dining in a colourful and casual atmosphere.

Eggs are 100% free-range and are delivered daily from the River Gum Egg farm in Glen Immes. You won’t find waffles and maple syrup on this menu – instead, a house-made waffle stacked with buttermilk fried chicken, kimchi, avocado, maple aioli and Furigake.

For dinner, a selection of 100% Australian farmed wagyu beef rump steak, tenderloins or rib-eye are served on simmering hot stone with vegetables and hot crispy chips. Firestone is bringing back the flames with their fiery menu and flame-grilled dishes for some post-lockdown flair and excitement.

Firestone are accepting walk-ins.

COVID-19 Update Marrickville Metro is focused on keeping the community safe with all retailers and the centre adhering strictly to COVID-safe measures. This includes ensuring high use touch points are routinely sanitised, personal hygiene signage and hand sanitising stations and retailers will use workplace infection control practices for their staff and visitors. The centre will continually monitor developments and modify measures where required.

*T&Cs apply, see www.marrickvillemetro.com.au/15lunches FOR INFORMATION ON ALL THE DINING RETAILERS SET TO REOPEN AT MARRICKVILLE METRO HEAD TO:

www.marrickvillemetro.com.au/dining

INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

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IndieNEWS

Local clubs to receive fee support

Inner West sporting clubs will be aided by Council after the winter season was abruptly ended earlier this year. Photo: Facebook/Newtown Breakaways FC

BY DANIEL LO SURDO estimated to result in $200,000 of lost revenue. nner West Council will prepare a report on waiving ground hire fees “We could do nothing else but waive for sporting clubs whose seasons the fees,” Councillor Julie Passas, were cancelled after Sydney entered a who seconded the motion, told the mandatory lockdown on June 26. meeting.

The report will be prepared after the Throughout the lockdown period, neighbouring Canterbury-Bankstown sporting grounds have been and Canada Bay Councils both waived maintained and a full spring similar ground hire fees due to the renovation programme has also COVID-19 lockdown. commenced.

Councillor Victor Macri, who moved the motion at a council meeting this FOLLOWING SUIT month, had raised the idea of waiving The call to lessen the financial burden fees in the past after most clubs could on Inner West sporting clubs came not continue with their competitions in after Canterbury-Bankstown Council’s the latter half of the year. decision to waive winter ground hire “What I’m seeking is a report … [in] costs, whereby over $261,000 would crediting the whole season for the remain with local organisations. next season because of Cr Macri initially the disruptions,” Cr Macri  We need to look suggested a report told the meeting. detailing Council at that possibility assistance to Inner West “I think we need to look at that possibility … to local sporting clubs in a credit them for next season because September meeting as an amendment of the lack of ability to play in this to a COVID-19 community support season, if we have the capacity to do motion moved by Councillor Darcy that.”

Byrne.

Council’s Sporting Ground Allocation After discussion with Mayor Rochelle policy requires that winter sporting Porteous and Council officers, the clubs are invoiced one month proposed amendment was deemed not relevant to the subject matter and after the commencement of their ruled out of order. Council advised respective sporting season. For most Cr Macri to move a separate motion winter sporting clubs, this was in relating to the waiving of sporting mid-April, with Council disclosing that ground fees at a future meeting. the majority of clubs have “paid the full amount of their season winter Macri’s motion was supported allocations”. unanimously by councillors and will mean that a report will be prepared by Council officers have advised all Council officers to convey the ability to winter sporting clubs that they will be waive the fees for sporting ground hire issued allocation credits for the 2022 to assist Inner West sporting clubs. season, with the financial impact

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INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

Aquatic centre fees reduced

BY DANIEL LO SURDO nner West councillors supported a motion last month to reduce aquatic centre entry fees for social security recipients.

With overwhelming approval from councillors, Council will immediately adopt the proposed Social Security Recipient Concession, which will instate a $1.20 fee in all Aquatic Centres in the Inner West. The move follows the pensioner rate employed at Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre since 2008, where the price of admission is $1.20.

Councillor Tom Kiat, who moved the motion, felt that affordable entry was a matter of urgency ahead of Sydney’s reopening later this month.

“We are going see the pools open, we’ve seen some open and we’re going to see some more open very shortly, and as we do that I think we want to welcome everyone in the community,” Cr Kiat told the meeting.

“There are so many people in our community who really need a break now and we can give it to them.”

Cr Kiat first raised the concept of reduced entry fees in early April but struggled to gain traction in the community.

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Australian Council of Social Services and the Australian Unemployed Workers Union.

“It means that job seekers, people on the disability support pension, people on the aged pension, will be able to access the pool when it might have been previously inaccessible,” Mr Griffiths told the Independent in August.

Councillor Darcy Byrne, who seconded the motion, believed the move would offer better outcomes for the entire Inner West community.

 We want to welcome everyone “This is an example of how the amalgamation can work and should work, that is, the best services and programs that exist in any one of three councils be exported to other areas, and this has been a very successful program over a long period of time at Leichhardt Council, it’s now being improved upon and exported to other facilities,” Cr Byrne told the meeting.

Cr Byrne successfully incorporated an amendment to the motion which

Councillors have supported a motion that will reduce aquatic centre fees for social security recipients.

Photo: Inner West Council

Pensioner rates at most Inner West Aquatic Centres have been valued at $4.70 previously, with Council receiving resounding support from the community for a lowered admission price.

GROWING SUPPORT

requests Council officers to prepare a report “outlining the transition to aquatic and recreation services being brought in house”. The report has been asked to include a plan for establishing a new Inner West fitness pass, which would allow members access to all Inner West aquatic and fitness facilities for the cost of a single membership.

Greens candidate for Council’s Ashfield The motion was supported by all Ward Dylan Griffiths joined Cr Kiat in campaigning for the price reduction and councillors present at the time of voting. was able to garner support from The

IndieNEWS

$640k parking meter decision

BY DANIEL LO SURDO

P

arking meters across the Inner West will be turned off once again after they were reactivated last Monday in a move that could cost $640,000 in loss of Council revenue.

Throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns this year, Inner West Council elected to turn off their parking meters to support the local businesses and residents throughout the period but had been turned back on once the NSW Government eased restrictions after the state hit 70 per cent double-vaccination numbers earlier this month. With restaurants, cafés and bars reopening, Council turned the meters back on in retail and commercial centres to begin a transition period whereby warnings would be issued for metered or timed parking breaches.

“People have become very upset … and very concerned that they see parking rangers going around our main streets in Balmain, Rozelle and Leichhardt,” Inner West Mayor Rochelle Porteous said in her Mayoral Minute at last week’s council meeting. “[It’s] causing quite a lot of distress in that councillors are not listening to the community; the community needs

time, the businesses need time, and the best way to help at the moment is to do things like leave those parking meters off for a longer period of time.”

Mayor Porteous proposed that Council extend the period where parking meters are turned off until the end of the year, to allow businesses and the community time to recover and be reacquainted with their local retail and commercial centres without the “extra impost of paying for parking”.

MAKING AMENDMENTS

With Christmas shopping set to begin, Councillor John Stamolis suggested that parking meters may be important to recovering businesses and main streets that will be reliant on high turnover for survival.

Parking meters will be turned off again in the Inner West. Photo: Creative Commons

 People have become very upset

there the most attractive or cheaper way to get there it will only encourage more cars in the area,” Cr Lockie said.

“City of Sydney have parking meters, I don’t think they have any intention of turning them off, and so we’d end up in a situation where we’d have one set of rules, the City has another, and it’ll end up pushing a lot of the traffic, the

Deputy Mayor Pauline Lockie echoed Stamolis’ turnover concerns and added that turning off parking meters may create congestion and confusion on the Inner West borders.

“Newtown is really well serviced by public transport, but if we make driving

parking demand onto our side of the LGA and the residential streets going forward.”

Cr Lockie put forward an amendment suggesting that further consultation be taken with affected businesses about the status of parking meters in the coming months, which was adopted into the successful motion.

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INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

11

IndieNEWS

Council against privatising Callan Park

BY EVA BAXTER new draft Bill from the state government has proposed a series of amendments to the Callan Park (Special Provisions) Act 2002.

The Act disallows any private or commercial uses on the site.

The Bill’s amendments to the Act include permitting 50 year potentially commercial leases in the heritage buildings, removing council as the consent authority and giving the minister those powers.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the proposed laws would make it easier for arts, culture and food and drink premises to operate at the 61-hectare Callan Park as well as temporary structures such as a marquee to be put up.

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Robert Stokes said the Act is “restrictive.”

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The Act allows for health, educational and community facilities to be carried out at Callan Park, but they must be provided on a not-for-profit basis.

Mayor Porteous tabled the issue in her Mayoral Minute on October 5th and opposed any changes to the Act. “It’s absolutely critical that we protect the Act. It has protected the park, we need to protect it.

 It’s not for plundering “We’ve probably never seen a risk so great as the risk that we are currently facing.

“Don’t be fooled by coffee carts and the benign proposals that the minister puts forward, this is really a gutting of the Callan Park Act which is being proposed,” she said.

CAFE SPIN

Cynthia Nadai, Secretary of Friends of Callan Park, said that the Act is “broad.”

She said it already allows for restaurants, cafes and temporary structures.

“It has to be by a not-for-profit or social enterprise, which sets the right tone for the site, and which could provide good resources back into the community which is what the site is all about,” she said.

President of Friends of Callan Park Hall Greenland said the focus on cafes is “misleading spin.”

He said the Laneway festival operated for many years in Callan Park in accordance with the Act. “Contrary again to what the minister says, lease’s longer than 10 years are possible at Callan Park under the Act, but such leases must lay on the table 12

INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

Community group Friends of Callan Park has fought for the park to host not-for-profit services only, which a new state government draft bill is proposing to change. Photo: Eva Baxter

of both houses of state Parliament and either house can disallow them by majority vote.

“The Bill would abolish such protection.

“Under the Act all DA’s at Callan Park must be determined by the local council.

This is a further level of protection, residents get a say, and DA’s are decided at arm’s length from the minister.

“The Bill seeks to abolish this protection, too,” he said.

Nadai said the amendments allow the DPIE board the ability to rezone the land, the ability to undertake or facilitate business activities with the GSP estate, to commercialise the properties, to acquire and own supplementary land and enter arrangements with Property NSW.

RESTRICTIVE OR PROTECTIVE?

Councillor Byrne said the Mayoral Minute proposing that there can never be any change to the Callan Park Act is “black and white.”

“It’s just a piece of legislation that can be improved upon through close, close analysis and public engagement and negotiation,” he said.

Councillor Byrne proposed three amendments to the Mayoral Minute. The first proposed that council request an urgent briefing with the minister instead of opposing all changes to the Act. Byrnes second amendment proposed seeking clarification from the government about whether a cafe can

operate within Callan Park under existing legislation and whether the Saint Jerome’s Laneway Festival constitutes a commercial use.

“The fact is that there is no Café operating within Callan Park now.

“I don’t consider it a matter of principle that a cafe that turned a profit shouldn’t be located in Callan Park,” he said.

Byrnes third amendment proposed looking into the feasibility of having a high school or TAFE at the Kirkbride site.

The Act allows for an educational facility defined to be a university or any other facility providing educational services on a not-for-profit basis, but does not include a secondary school or a primary school.

Mayor Porteous revealed We Help Ourselves, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation organisation already located in Callan Park is the successful tenderer for Kirkbride.

She said Byrne’s amendment would jeopardize the tender.

Councillor Byrne’s three amendments were tied 7 to 7 and defeated by the mayor’s casting vote.

The Mayoral minute was supported 13 to 1 with only Councillor Passas voting against.

Council opposes any changes to the Callan Park (Special Provisions) Act 2002, any commercial uses at Callan Park and 50-year leases (potentially commercial leases) on Kirkbride, Broughton Hall and the Convalescent Cottages.

Council calls for the retention of council as the consent authority and the establishment of the Callan Park and Broughton Hall Trust.

Council will write to the minister outlining council’s strong opposition to the Bill, make a submission on the bill and convene a public meeting to explain the Bill and the impact it will have on Callan Park.

Council will also fund $6000 worth of corflutes and banners to read: “Not for Sale: Hands off Callan Park.”

HEALTH HISTORY A spokesperson for Friends of Callan Park told the Independent FOCP are not preservationists and have been fighting since 1998 for the buildings to be utilised for mental health services.

FOCP’s vision incorporates more than cafes and restaurants.

“The place was bought for mental health services in 1874 and from 1876 until 2008 that was its core business.

“It’s not for plundering. It has a history.

It has a past; it has a present and has a future and that future has to have more.

“There’s a dire need for additional modern community mental health services in the community today. We have long advocated for such services at Callan Park and the need has become more urgent as a consequence of the pandemic,” the spokesperson said.

IndieNEWS

Council endorses halving Cooks River rubbish

BY ASTON BROWN he Cooks River is set to get cleaner under a new strategy that aims to coordinate clean-up efforts across council, community, and local authorities to target litter at its source.

The Inner West Council unanimously voted to endorse the new plan that aims to halve the amount of rubbish in the river by 2025.

“What we have seen is an increasing awareness of the things we need to do to have those rivers improved for us and everything that relies on them,” Councillor Mark Drury said.

“It’s the water going down these stormwater drains, that is a very key aspect of carrying litter into our rivers.”

The Cooks River Litter Prevention Strategy aims to meet community and council expectations for a cleaner river, improve the health of the river’s ecosystem and reduce the amount of plastic entering the ocean.

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CLUBS CLEAN-UP COOKS

The plan has been pioneered by the River Canoe Club; a Marrickville based community group. President of the group Simon Wilkes said the strategy is a

milestone in the decades long clean-up effort of the Cooks.

“Everybody has been focused on pulling stuff out of the river, and cleaning it up, this is actually trying to stop stuff going in there in the first place,” Wilkes told the Independent.

“There’s never been a coordinated effort, just a lot of ad hoc, really wellmeaning efforts, but no one has ever pulled it all together.”

The strategy outlines a range of

We’re here for the community ... it’s a privilege initiatives that local groups and councils can become involved in. It also includes a litter monitoring program.

In partnership with the Cooks River Alliance, the River Canoe Club secured a $90,000 community grant from the NSW Environmental Protection Authority late last year to fund the project. They say it will be crucial to securing funding into the future.

“It provides an overall direction for the whole catchment, which then enables a clear direction for everybody to work towards and attract funds…having a

The new strategy endorsed by Inner West Council focuses on stopping litter at the source.

Photo: The River Canoe Club

strategy unlocks funding opportunities,” Wilkes said.

The strategy is set to officially launch on November 14 once it has been finalised and endorsed by all local councils in the catchment area.

Marrickville ward Councillor Victor Macri is glad to see the river’s health improving from its lowest point in the 70s.

“In the 70s you couldn’t get near the river, because it stunk, it really did,” Macri said.

“It’s really a credit to everyone involved, from the Cooks River association to the Alliance, to the Canoe Club, the Mud Crabs, all the volunteer bushcare groups, all the clean ups that we are slowing bringing the river back.”

Cooks River health improving

BY EVA BAXTER he Cooks River Community Values survey closed earlier this month. The survey is part of a range of studies being undertaken as part of the development of ‘A Whole of River Plan’ known as the Cooks River Catchment Coastal Management Program (CMP).

The public consultation period was 30 July to 5 September and almost 1,200 people participated.

Indigenous people used the river, what they used it for, how they’re associated with the river.

“They’re asking for places to celebrate Indigenous culture and heritage,” Ratnayake said.

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38% of participants were aged 35 to 49, 19% were 25 to 34 and 6% were aged 12 to 24.

Ratnayake said it was “very good to see that we were able to engage a population that going forward will impact the river and will be key decision makers over the next 10 years.”

 Residents want to see more Indigenous representation 812 survey participants said that their boating or kayaking would not change if conditions were to improve around the waterways, and 101 people said they would do it more often.

Anston Ratnayake, Senior Community Engagement Officer of the Cooks River Alliance, told the Independent the results of the survey indicate that the community are seeing a positive, progressive move to it becoming a river that can one day be swum in.

a positive impact and that through the pandemic, people have been able to use it more in various ways.

50% visit the parks, playgrounds, and sports fields on a regular basis.

The survey found the community has been using the river more, and the regular use has meant the community is noticing the changes of the river.

INDIGENOUS ASSOCIATION

The survey indicated the work the Cooks River Alliance has done to change the health of the river is having

Out of approximately 1,200 participants, 895 or 85% walk, run or cycle along the river. 623 people or

The survey found the community has been using the Cooks River more and noticing the changes of the river. Photo: Flickr/Martin7d2.

Nearly a thousand respondents said they want to see more Indigenous cultural representation along the river.

“They want to see more Indigenous cultural representation, stories being told, telling them more about how

The CMP is being coordinated by the Cooks River Alliance and its partners, Burwood Council, Bayside Council, City of Sydney, City of Canterbury Bankstown, Inner West Council, Strathfield Council and Sydney Water.

The NSW government’s 2016 Coastal Management Act (CM Act) requires local councils with land within coastal zones to prepare a coastal management program to set a long-term strategy with a focus on achieving the objects of the CM Act. The objects of the CM Act are to manage the coastal environment of NSW consistent with the principles of sustainable development for the social, cultural, and economic well-being.

INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

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IndieNEWS

Parks kept locked over Sydney Park Junction improvements criticised lockdown

BY EVA BAXTER n Ashbury resident’s petition questioned the council practice of keeping large open spaces such as athletic fields and ovals locked behind fences over the course of Sydney’s lockdown.

Local resident Luke Buckle started the petition asking Canterbury-Bankstown Council to “open up our locked down spaces, Campbell Oval and Blick Oval.”

Luke told the Independent despite the fact that the ovals are always locked and only opened if booked, it wasn’t until lockdown that he realised how much wasted space there is.

“We have been locked in houses only allowed to exercise within five kilometres.

“We’ve got two ovals right behind our houses.  It’s really It’s really alarming that they think that’s a great way to handle the community and public assets,” said Luke.

Luke wrote in his petition that Lees Park, Pratten Park, Marrickville Park and Petersham Park “all cope with being open at night and some parks are even lit up late for exercise. Why not our local ovals?”

“These are public spaces restricted to a few booked sporting groups, at a time when most sports are cancelled and the health and wellbeing of our community are at great risk.”

A spokesperson for CanterburyBankstown Council called Luke’s petition “unnecessary,” “as Blick and Campbell

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The Sydney Park Junction proposal reimagines road space as recreation and entertainment, but reducing on-street parking will impact small businesses. Photo: NSW government

BY EVA BAXTER he state government’s Sydney Park Junction project is a pedestrian friendly, traffic calming initiative aiming to extend the look and feel of the southern end of King Street into a new St Peters square.

Transport for NSW proposes reducing traffic lanes and creating new walking and cycling links from Princes Highway to St Peters Station, King Street and the green open space of Sydney Park.

The proposal  It becomes a reimagines road space as al fresco impediment dining, recreation and entertainment, but the reduction in on-street parking will impact small businesses.

The removal of the right turn in and out of May Street where it intersects with Princes Highway has raised concerns.

The deadline for Transport for NSW’s consultation process was Labour Day, with the consultation period over the school holidays.

Councillor Macri told the Independent the consultation process has been questionable.

“When you’re going to push more traffic down Railway Parade, you think you would have had a conversation with the people of Sydenham and Tempe who’ll be the users of it,” he said.

Transport for NSW plans to remove traffic signals and reconfigure May Street to left in and left out only movements.

Councillor Vic Macri said removal of the right turn on May Street will force people to make challenging manoeuvres to get into the St Peters triangle.

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INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

Saxon Strauss, a resident of St Peters, told the Independent, “it’s not an inconvenience if it’s removed, it becomes a total impediment to living in the area.”

BIG IMPACT ON SMALL BUSINESS

Strauss operates an art gallery and an art transport business. He said visitors will be discouraged due to the complicated access routes.

Transport for NSW said the project will reduce on-street total parking access to local businesses for customers, and staff and deliveries would be reduced along King Street, Princes Highway and Sydney Park Road.

“This has the potential to impact customers, staff and delivery drivers of businesses with no or limited onsite parking and may reduce the convenience of businesses for some customers, particularly where visits are for a short duration.”

Strauss said Oxford Street, Darlinghurst Road, and Norton Street are all cautionary examples of what happens when parking is removed.

“All traffic is inevitably funnelled into Westfield and other shopping centres, rather than towards small business on the surface streets,” he said.

Strauss is asking for further examining of impacts on the local area.

“The work hasn’t been done to really understand what the true local area impacts are and how this proposal’s going to change them,” he said.

Inner West Councillors were granted an extension to give feedback on the project until October 20th.

Ovals were closed because of the health orders prohibiting community sport.”

“Some of our top facilities, including Blick and Campbell Ovals, as well as others like Belmore Oval, the Crest Sporting Complex, and Jensen Park are kept locked when not in use.”

“This is to ensure the facilities remain in optimum shape for their hirers, which use the grounds for amateur and professional training and competitions,” the spokesperson said.

SECURITY ISSUE

In correspondence with CanterburyBankstown Council Luke was told that the police requested Blick Oval be fenced years ago due to anti-social behaviour, and the security issue and vandalism potential.

Luke was told Campbell alarming Oval has special athletic equipment and facilities, which they can’t risk the public having access to.

“I find both reasons completely inadequate,” Luke said, “many other parks are open 24 hours and there are other security measures put in place.”

He said those particular facilities should be protected, not the entire park.

“It’s been many years since people in this area were a threat to our own facilities and I think it needs to be looked at,” said Luke.

The petition asked for the opening of the parks to be trialled during lockdown, with a view to being open beyond COVID restrictions.

Campbell Oval and Blick Oval are fenced off from public use except for bookings. A local resident started a petition to open them. Photo: Justin Ly

IndieNEWS

Assault to Police grows in pandemic

Dibble Ave Waterhole restored

vicinity of the golf course sent a letter

BY EVA BAXTER to the Minister for Local Government tabilisation and preservation seeking to overturn the council works at the Dibble Ave decision to grant the club a 21-year Waterhole in Marrickville are lease. almost complete and revegetation of the stabilised banks has commenced. For any lease of community land, council must seek approval if there is The project coincides with the plans one or more objection, and legislation for Marrickville Parklands including states the council must not grant the Marrickville Golf Course which in the lease, licence or other estate August was contentiously granted a except with the Minister’s consent if a 21-year lease by Inner West Council. person makes a submission by way of The waterhole has a further objection to the proposal. connection with the Golf Club. It is “Handing over such a used to irrigate the clubs greens, and  We should have much large parcel of green space (25 hectares, in August council vaster spaces including 1.6km of the amended the Golf Cooks River frontage) to Course Plan of one club with relatively few members Management to permit the club to for such a long time is a poor strategic undertake water extraction for the decision for the community and the purpose of irrigation at a fixed level.

The waterhole was listed as a heritage environment.

“It will mean a baby born today in item in 1999 as Marrickville’s last Marrickville will effectively be deprived remaining unfilled brick pit but its of accessing this space for their entire significance now lies in its value as a childhood,” the letter states. rare inner city refuge for waterbirds.

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Assaults to police has grown 31.9 per cent between July 2019 and June 2021 in the Inner West. Photo: Aman Kapoor and Matilda Fay

BY DANIEL LO SURDO Moorebank was charged with assaulting, ata from the NSW Bureau of Crime resisting or hindering a police officer in Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) the execution of duty after the 20-yearold struck a female officer in the face and has revealed the Inner West as chest on Marrickville Road. the highest and only grower in police assaults across Greater Sydney.

“We need to be doing more to ensure The Inner West recorded a 31.9 per cent that violence against women isn’t tolerated … and ensure that victims of surge in assaults to police officers from July 2019 to June 2021 and was the only sexual assault and violence get justice,” State Member for Balmain Jamie Parker Local Government Area (LGA) in Sydney said. not to record a trend that was either stable or with a population too small to “Violence of any kind isn’t tolerated in our compute. community.”

It also recorded the highest police assault rate per 100,000 people among COMPARATIVE DATA its LGA neighbours from July 2020 to The recent surge has levelled the Inner June 2021.

West’s most recent annual cases with “Thousands of police officers go out every the nearby Canterbury-Bankstown day, putting themselves in harm’s way Council, despite containing a population to protect the community,” Inner West half the size of its southwest neighbours.

Police Area Commander Incidents of Inner West Superintendent Samuel police assault grew Crisafulli said.  Violence of any kind 62.9 per cent in 2020 “Violence against any from the previous year’s isn’t tolerated in our emergency service figure, while the rate per community worker is totally 100,000 people also unacceptable, and we saw similar increases will continue to do all from 2019. During this we can to put these offenders before the period, the Inner West’s neighbouring courts.”

LGAs remained consistent with their prepandemic figures, despite CanterburyWhile recognising that the vast majority Bankstown, Burwood, Canada Bay and of people treat emergency services Bayside being subjected to identical with “great respect”, Superintendent stay-at-home orders.

Crisafulli describes the last two Reports of domestic violence-related years as “challenging” while working assault in the Inner West have remained under COVID-19, which has strained stable while sexual assault, intimidation, relationships between law enforcement stalking and harassment have all been and the community. on the rise.

In March, a plainclothed police officer was treated for a concussion and swelling “The Inner West is a very safe place to live with relatively low crime rates at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital after he attempted to detain an offender accused compared to other LGAs across Sydney,” Mr Parker said. “Neighbours and friends of breaching his bail on Station Street in Newtown. Two months earlier, a man from tend to look out for one another.”

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Marrickville Parklands, including the golf course and the waterhole are recognised for their high biodiversity value. Photo: Inner West Council

Over 63 native fauna species have been recorded at the site.

A spokesperson for Inner West Council said the ecosystem restoration is ongoing and the waterhole will be managed as part of council’s natural areas program which aims to restore pre-European invasion vegetation communities, improve soil health, and provide habitat for native wildlife.

BALL TO THE HEAD

Council has resolved to conduct a safety audit of the public walking paths through the golf course.

This comes after residents in the

Justine Langford, a Greens candidate for Midjuburi/Marrickville was a signatory of the letter.

“Kids are so restricted these days and spend so much time indoors, unfortunately because the golf course is in use every day, it does really limit public access,” she told the Independent.

“I think people have this perception, it’s a very utilitarian perception of what land and open space is, it’s either a sports oval, a golf course or a children’s playground.

“Ideally, we should have much vaster spaces and not just little pockets.”

INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

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IndieNEWS

Opinion

State should pay for de-amalgamation

BY PIP HINMAN n response to a seeming concern by Labor councillors Darcy Byrne and Mark Drury that rates would rise in any demerger, the majority of councillors on September 14 tabled a letter from the Office of Local Government which again stated that the cost of any demerger of Marrickville, Leichhardt and Ashfield Councils would be the state government’s responsibility.

Under section 218CC of the amended Local Government Act (LGA), Clause 6 states that, under section 620, the minister must “ensure that the cost of any de-amalgamation of the new area resulting from a business case under this section is fully funded”.

Since the May 24 decision to have a poll of residents about the forced amalgamation, Labor councillors have been running a scare campaign about the costs of any deamalgamation being borne by residents.

They have seized on the Morrison Low (ML) cost benefit report which projects possible rate rises to justify their campaign. This is despite the ML report not being able to provide sources for these projections.

Therefore, the Labor councillors’ scare campaign in rate rises is based on unsourced figures.

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REAL RATE RISES

However, in the last month, most of us were hit with the reality of rate rises – from a “rate harmonisation process” which is a direct result of the forced amalgamation under the NSW government’s now defunct “Fit For Future” council merger policy.

In some cases, unit owners have been slugged more than those owning houses. No one seems to be able to answer the question of what calculations were used in harmonising the rates across the three former councils.

Rate rises in the forced mergers of 20 councils were predicted in 2020. A report

by LSI Consulting found it was due to

Pip Hinman is the Socialist Alliance candidate for Damun ward in the Inner West Council.

Photo: Peter Boyle

losing $1.03 billion in three years. Some decisions about spending would not have helped, such as the Inner West Council’s decision to spend almost $10 million on an IT project without going to tender.

Councillor Byrne’s unsuccessful motion at the last council meeting, “Opposing Rate Increases to pay for de-amalgamation”, was designed to confuse by jumping over the next important step, which is the NSW Electoral Commission-conducted poll on de-amalgamation on December 4.

 Labor councillors’ scare campaign ... is based on unsourced figures The poll is designed to gauge residents’ views on the question of de-amalgamating. If a majority decides they do want to demerge, the incoming council will have to prepare a business case to put to the Office of Local Government and the NSW Boundaries Commission.

It is the new council that will have the job of preparing the case, along with input from residents, if a majority votes that way.

Byrne has repeatedly stated publicly that the poll is “not a priority” for him.

Under his mayorship, residents have not been informed of the arguments for and against de-amalgamation.

It is now nearly October and confusion reigns as the council’s recent Feedback survey on the Morrison Low report and poll question reveals.

This online survey asked for feedback about the poll question, which had already been agreed by council and approved by the NSW electoral commission. Who decided then to ask this “question about the question”?

Councillors certainly did not.

Reading the feedback it appears that many residents who responded thought they were being asked if they supported de-amalgamation: about three quarters of respondents said “Yes”.

Feedback on the Morrison Low report

also revealed that only specialists will read a 65-page report, which is in itself confusing because it claims to be impartial but, in fact, mainly puts the case to stay merged.

DEFINITIVE RESULTS

No-one, not even Morrison Low, can say definitively that rates will rise in a de-amalgamated council because estimates of the financial gains from the sharing of services have never been made. This is despite council asking the ML firm to investigate this aspect.

Residents urgently need councillors to sign off on the “Yes” and “No” cases for de-amalgamation. They need the brief argument — minus the spurious figures – in their letter boxes now so the discussion can take place around the kitchen table, free from spin and scare campaigns.

[Pip Hinman is the Socialist Alliance candidate for Damun ward in the Inner West Council. She favours a democratic poll to give residents the opportunity to have their say on the forced amalgamations of 2016.]

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INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

IndieNEWS

WestConnex activist to Deputy Mayor

BY EVA BAXTER ndependent Deputy Mayor of Inner West Council Pauline Lockie never planned on becoming a political representative.

As her first term on council comes to an end and she campaigns for reelection for Damun/Stanmore ward, she told the Independent it’s the work of local government that makes life in the inner city great.

“Whether that’s making sure we have great parks, great pools, footpaths that we don’t trip over, roads that don’t have huge potholes in them, to knowing that we have grants programs that allow local artists who are just starting out to build a career and really thrive here,” she said.

“It’s something that, as a councillor, I can really have an influence on and help make them as great as they can possibly be.”

Lockie’s journey in local government began with a great big roadway.

She moved with her family to St Peters in 2014, and quickly learned that WestConnex was about to impact her new neighbourhood. Her newly purchased home was set to be acquired by the state government as part of the controversial toll way project.

“I realised that I can either sit back and take that, or I can step up and stand up for my community,” said Lockie.

She became one of the spokespeople and organisers of a community driven campaign against WestConnex, which got her involved in wider ideas around sustainable, liveable cities, particularly in an age of climate change and high density.

The compulsory acquisition process was brutal, “I dealt with a lot of people who were suffering real mental health issues as a result of what the government was putting them through and finding myself in a position where it was hard for me too, but I could speak out, not just for us, but also all of these other people who felt like they didn’t have a voice in that process.

She wouldn’t rule out another tilt at the mayoralty, either.

“We’re a progressive community in the inner west, and I think people expected there to be a progressive alliance, and not one that tilted towards a conservative aspect.

“My key concern is to make sure we can have the most progressive and collaborative and collegiate leadership that we can possibly have, because I think that will deliver the best outcomes for the community,” she said.

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“Seeing the value of being able to support other people who really needed it and force change at that government level ended up being one of the reasons I put my hand up to council.”

As an activist, Lockie saw how much independent voices were needed in local government.

WestConnex was “an example where I think genuinely the Labor representatives we had in our local community were also opposed to that project, and also horrified at the

EQUALITY EFFORT

Pauline Lockie is campaigning for re-election, and is not ruling out a bid for mayoralty in the forthcoming new term of Inner West Council. Photo: Mark Dickson

impact it was going to have on the local community.

“But because the party had supported the project, that was always going to put the brakes on how hard they could fight against it, so I think being freed from having to abide by party rules, by party platforms and just being able to make decisions based on what will be in the best interest of the local community is absolutely what people should be looking for at local council level.”

MAYORALTY MISHMASH Local government elections were postponed from September 4 to December 4 due to lockdown, but the mayoralty vote took place as per usual.

Lockie was voted in as Deputy Mayor last month, with Greens councillor Rochelle Porteous winning the mayoralty. They will hold their positions

until December when another mayoralty vote will take place with the new pool of elected councillors. Porteous is not running for re-election.

In 2017, a bid by Lockie for mayoralty was defeated by Labor councillor Darcy Byrne, and Liberal councillor Julie Passas was sworn in as Deputy Mayor, which was seen by critics as a move

by Labor to reward Passas for her backing, and activating a Labor/Liberal alliance on Inner West Council.

 As a councillor I can really have an influence Lockie said despite it being only a short period of time that progressives have taken the top spots on council, she’s seen a positive change which she hopes will continue.

Lockie is proud of addressing big issues at the grassroots level, such as racism, supporting the LGBTIQ+ community, banning sales of animal fur or skins from council properties, and leading the push for council to develop its first gender equity strategy to help address domestic and family violence.

The #RACISMNOTWELCOME campaign she worked on with the Inner West Multicultural Network has been rolled out to councils across Sydney, with the Australian Local Government Association endorsing the campaign and calling on councils across the country to adopt the initiative.

Fighting for equality is a passion for Lockie. She said the diversity she loves so much about the inner west was missing when she was growing up.

“I grew up in the Central Coast as an Indonesian Australian kid who did not have a lot of people around me who looked like me or sounded like members of my family did.

“Growing up as a mixed-race kid, you’re very conscious of the horrible, corrosive effect discrimination has on people, so fighting back against that has always been a passion of mine.”

In terms of her disappointments on council, she names the tree DCP, which has seen a loss of 14 hectares of tree canopy across the inner west and is something she is committed to fixing if re-elected.

Other improvements she hopes to make include councils consultation and basic services, continuing to support local businesses and creative industries and making sure development delivers on affordable housing.

Her message for constituents: “if you want an independent voice representing you on council, then that’s what you’ve got to vote for, that first preference vote is so important for Independents because we can’t rely on having that name recognition,” said Lockie, “because it’s just me.”

INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

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WARD BY WARD

Ahead of City Hub’s Inner West Candidates’ Forum on 14 November, the Inner West Independent has profiled the candidates and issues in all five wards of Council

Pauline Lockie. Photo: Mark Dickson

Greens Liz Atkins for StanmoreDamun. Photo: Greens on Council

BY DANIEL LO SURDO AND EVA BAXTER STANMORE-DAMUN amun/Stanmore Ward includes Camperdown, Newtown, Stanmore, Enmore, Petersham and Lewisham and is currently represented on Inner West Council by Labor councillor Anna York, Greens councillor Louise Steer and Independent Pauline Lockie. Lockie is the only councillor bidding for re-election.

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Pauline Lockie Lockie told the Independent that despite the difficulty of campaigning as an Independent with the lack of party backing, “opposed to the last time around, I’ve now got four years of having been an Independent councillor […] and I hope that is enough to convince people to support me again.”

Lockie said she is fortunate to represent an area that includes Enmore Road and King Street, one of the inner west’s most vibrant retail and entertainment cultural precincts.

She said making sure those local businesses and creative communities are supported by council will be a priority for her in the next term.

Liz Atkins Greens candidate Liz Atkins has been an active campaigner and volunteer in the LGBTIQ+ community and said supporting live music, arts and culture is significant in the Ward.

She also mentioned climate and reversing the loss of tree canopy.

“Ensuring our suburbs are easy to get around for everyone, which includes fixing our footpaths, safe places for pedestrians to cross roads, better connected clear bike routes and clean, accessible public toilets, affordable housing, an accessible Stanmore 18

INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

Labor Chlor Smith for StanmoreDamun. Photo: Facebook

Station, revitalising local main streets like Victoria St, Lewisham,” she told the Independent.

Chloe Smith Labor’s Chloe Smith told the Independent, “the priority for StanmoreDamun Ward must be supporting locals and businesses to recover from the impacts of lockdown. We need to support our hospitality venues and arts scene, by expanding outdoor dining, making it easier for local musicians to perform at more venues, and a strategy to revitalise our main streets and drive foot traffic.”

The Inner West Local Labor team’s plans for Damun/Stanmore Ward include having council fund a coordinator for the LGBTIQ Pride Centre in Newtown Town Hall and creating a rainbow crossing at the intersection of King St and Enmore Road.

Labor also implemented Little Portugal in central Petersham as part of their main street strategy to fund new murals, public signage and cultural events to precincts in the inner west celebrating multicultural history.

Pip Hinman Pip Hinman, Socialist Alliance candidate told the Independent, “I think the most important issue for this ward is to put the local back into council.”

Hinman has pioneered the movement to demerge Inner West Council.

“I also believe we need to go beyond community consultation to community empowerment.

“Empowering communities is going to be an essential part of addressing the challenges of the climate emergency.”

Marrickville-Midjuburi Ward The Marrickville-Midjuburi Ward of

Victor Macri for Marrickville-Midjuburi. Dylan Griffiths for AshfieldPhoto: Inner West Council Djarrawunang. Photo: Facebook

Inner West Council promises to be an intriguing battleground come election day on December 4. Neither incumbent councillors Sam Iskandar and Colin Hesse will be seeking re-election, with only Independent and former Deputy Mayor Victor Macri seeking to retain his seat in Marrickville.

Victor Macri Cr Macri has been a long time Independent member for Marrickville and Inner West councils and will hope to extend his stay on December 4.

Since the council amalgamation in 2016, Macri has campaigned for issues concerning both the Marrickville and Inner West community.

Earlier this month Macri tabled a successful motion requesting council officers prepare a report on waiving ground hire fees for sporting clubs whose seasons were cancelled after this year’s COVID-19 lockdowns. At council’s meeting two weeks ago, Macri also presented a motion to commence a campaign lobbying a proposed Tempe Bunnings to improve traffic arrangements in the area.

Melinda Dimitriades Melinda Dimitriades is a first-time candidate for the Marrickville-Midjuburi Ward and will run second on Cr Macri’s ticket.

For over a decade, Dimitriades has been the proprietor of the Marrickville-based CHOP SHOP carnivorium and has also consulted as a chef at The Great Club in Marrickville. She also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political, Economic and Social Sciences from the University of Sydney.

Mat Howard Mat Howard is a Marrickville local who has worked in the arts and non-profit

Jack Robertson for Balmain-Baludarri.

Photo: Supplied

sector for over a decade and will seek to represent Labor on council.

Howard has campaigned and fought for issues concerning the local environment, arts and culture, the LGBTIQA+ community and diversity.

Recently, Howard has been active in the Tempe community’s campaign for safer traffic conditions around the proposed Bunnings and has supported new outdoor dining for hospitality venues after COVID-19.

Justine Langford Justine Langford will run as the Greens candidate for the Marrickville-Midjuburi Ward.

Langford believes that amalgamation has turned the Inner West away from prioritising community and into a council dominated by party politics.

Langford is concerned that high rise development in the area is unsustainable, and has backed affordable housing and sustainable development as strategies to preserve the area’s arts, creative and live music sectors.

The Marrickville-Midjuburi Ward covers the southeastern corner of Inner West Council, including Marrickville, St Peters, Sydenham and Tempe.

Ashfield-Djarrawunang Ward There will be at least one new face representing the Ashfield-Djarrawunang Ward following the Inner West elections, with Greens councillor Tom Kiat not seeking reelection. Liberal councillor Julie Passas, as of writing, has not yet announced her plans for reelection.

Mark Drury Mark Drury is an incumbent Inner West Labor councillor looking to retain his seat in the Ashfield-Djarrawunang Ward

Greens Kobi Shetty for BalmainBaludarri. Photo: Greens on Council

John Stamolis for Balmain-Baludarri. Philippa Scott for LeichhardtPhoto: Supplied Gulgadya. Photo: Inner West Labor

this year. Cr Drury has worked for social and economic justice for the past 30 years and has lived in the Inner West for decades.

Cr Drury has been on either Ashfield or Inner West Council for 15 years with the intention of representing the most disadvantaged in the community.

Drury hopes to make housing and rental properties more secure, address Inner West urban issues in partnership with the State and Federal Governments, as well as ensure the sustainability of council-run facilities, including aquatic centres and swimming pools, for the community to enjoy.

Drury is also a representative of the Sydenham to Bankstown Urban Renewal Working Party and the Parramatta River Catchment Group.

Dylan Griffiths Dylan Griffiths will seek election in the Ashfield-Djarrawunang Ward for The Greens after incumbent Cr Kiat announced he will not be seeking reelection.

Griffiths has lived in the Inner West for 25 years and today is a resident of Ashfield, having also lived in Dulwich Hill.

Griffiths aims to build on the work of Cr Kiat in affordable housing should he be elected in December, with Griffiths promising that he will campaign for inclusionary zoning to ensure that developments in the Inner West contribute to greater housing stock, as well as working towards a levy for long term vacant properties.

Earlier this year, Griffiths partnered with Kiat to reduce aquatic centre entry fees for social security recipients across the Inner West. During this campaign, Griffiths garnered support from The Australian Council of Social Services and the Australian Unemployed Workers Union. Council supported a motion to reduce entry fees for social security recipients in September.

The Ashfield-Djarrawunang Ward covers the southwestern corner of the Inner West and occupies Dulwich Hill, Summer Hill and southern parts of Ashfield.

Darcy Byrne for Balmain-Baludarri.

Photo: Mark Dickson

Marghanita da Cruz for Leichhardt-Gulgadya. Mat Howard for Marrickville-Midjuburi.

Photo: Inner West Greens on Council Photo: Inner West Labor

Leichhardt-Gulgadya Ward The Inner West’s Leichhardt-Gulgadya Ward will also have at least one new occupant after December 4, with Labor councillor Lucille McKenna opting to not seek reelection. Leading Labor’s campaign in the Leichhardt-Gulgadya Ward will be Philippa Scott, while incumbent Greens councillor Marghanita da Cruz will be campaigning to retain her seat.

Incumbent Liberal councillor Vittoria Raciti’s election status is still unclear as of writing and did not respond to the calls and emails from the Independent inquiring about her plans for December.

ensure that the Inner West remains a vibrant and accessible community for all members of the community.

The Leichhardt-Gulgadya Ward covers Haberfield, Leichhardt and areas of Ashfield and Annandale.

Marghanita da Cruz Marghanita da Cruz is a Greens councillor who has represented the Leichhardt-Gulgadya Ward since its inception as part of Inner West Council in 2017.

In council, da Cruz has worked to deliver facilities and infrastructure that helps the community lead active lives and promote the use of public transport, community centres and green spaces.

She is a representative on the Local Traffic Committee, the Eastern Region Local Government Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Forum and the Parramatta River Catchment Group.

Should she retain her seat, da Cruz hopes that she can grow relationships between council and the community, and promote “heritage, clean air, clean water, walking and public transport”, elements which she believes is integral to connecting residents across the Inner West.

Darcy Byrne Byrne is the spokesperson of Inner West Local Labor and was the inaugural Mayor of Inner West Council until he was defeated in September by Greens Rochelle Porteous who will hold the position until December. Byrne has been campaigning for residents to vote for mayoral positions.

Byrne told the Independent in July, “people care about their waste and recycling, they care about the quality of local infrastructure, they care about getting basic services like customer service and cleaning and maintenance right and they definitely care about the council taking a strong stand to defend the community against attacks from the state government in particular.”

Local Labor policies direct to BalmainBaludarri include revitalising Balmain Town Hall Precinct through a $2 million commitment and protecting and improving Callan Park by fighting for the creation of the Callan Park Trust as well as allowing the opening of a café.

Philippa Scott Philippa Scott is an Inner West local who is hoping to retain Labor’s presence in the Leichhardt-Gulgadya Ward.

Scott has a background in law and has worked in migration, including as a refugee lawyer, in Australia and abroad.

She is the President of Leichardt’s Sydney Secondary College P&C and is a board member of the Metro Assist Migrant Resource Centre.

Should she be elected, Scott hopes to

Balmain-Baludarri Balmain-Baludarri Ward covers Lilyfield, Rozelle, Balmain, Balmain East and Birchgrove and is currently represented on Inner West Council by Labor councillor Darcy Byrne, Greens Mayor Rochelle Porteous and Independent John Stamolis. Porteous is not standing for re-election.

John Stamolis Independent John Stamolis is a professional statistician seeking his fourth term on council. He told the Independent in the next term he hopes Inner West Council can move forward, “the overwhelming party-political grandstanding and political battles on Inner West Council has been divisive and unproductive.

“Inner West Council manages a huge $1.2 billion of revenue over a term.

Sound management of ratepayers’ money and quality services are a priority.

Council must demonstrate openness and accountability in managing ratepayers’ money.

“We have the 5th highest population density and second lowest open space ratio of all Councils in NSW. Good planning is vital and the need for additional open space will be critical as our population continues to rise.”

Kobi Shetty Greens Kobi Shetty told the Independent, “I think the most important issues to the Balmain Ward are either preventing the Western Harbour Tunnel, or at least getting better outcomes for the community if it goes ahead.

“Parking is always problematic on the peninsula. Many people are frustrated about the scheduled bulk rubbish collections being cancelled and would like to have them reinstated so that more stuff can be reused.”

She said recovering artists and local businesses from the impacts of COVID and the environment are other concerns.

Jack Robertson Jack Robertson is running as an Independent for the first time. He told the Independent that the last six months of Council has been “utter nonsense.”

“I just think local voters in our ward ought to be under no illusions that our three Councillors between them cop a big share of culpability for the wider dysfunction at Council level of the last five years.”

In terms of local issues, he said “hard and likely unpopular decisions” need to be made, and mentioned successive council failures on the Tigers site insulting the “older Balmain” cohorts.

He said it’s time to solve the problem of trailers, caravans and boats choking the peninsula, accelerating EV transition, and having local social housing assets “which prevent Balmain from turning fully into Mosman.”

City Hub will be hosting its Inner West Candidates’ Forum on the 14th of November at The Gumbramorra Hall at 142 Addison Road, Marrickville.

You can register for the event at Event Brite or the link below. https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/inner-west-council-candidates-forum-tickets-162508253561.

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COFFIN ED’S NAKED CITY

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NIGHT OF THE LIVING SHRED

hen Banksy’s Girl With Balloon was sold at auction for around a million pounds in 2018, the work of art self destructed, courtesy of a shredder, the instant the deal was done. It was a typical Banksy stunt, but who would have thought a few years later the same work would realise a staggering 18.6 million pounds. That’s the absurd sum that the retitled work Love In The Bin brought at a Sotheby’s auction earlier this month.

At a time when the economy is supposedly suffering because of COVID and the lockdowns, and many people are doing it incredibly tough, it seems almost an obscenity that somebody would shell out this amount for what is essentially a piece of shredded paper. What it does say is that the super rich, despite any economic downturn, are probably getting richer and will continue to invest their billions in grossly overpriced works of art.

The Banksy phenomenon is very much a creature of the modern internet with its instant celebrity and viral spread of information via social media. With eBay, influencers and millions of online merchants, everything has a

large and too elongated for anybody to take in during a gallery viewing. The solution would be to chop it up into about 2000 or more smaller pieces, making a giant jigsaw which members of the public would be encouraged to reassemble during their National Gallery visit. You can already buy a much smaller Blue Poles jigsaw (hey, I put one together during lockdown) and this would simply be a much larger version.

When the novelty wore off the individual pieces could be flogged off at Sotheby’s in London, reaping a massive return on the original $1.3 million purchase price.

global price and Banksy is one of the market’s most valuable commodities.

The intrinsic value of his works pales into insignificance when it comes to the dollar figure that defines them.

Compare Banksy to another so called street artist Keith Haring who emerged as part of the New York graffiti subculture of the 1980s. Haring was arguably a far more original and interesting artist than Banksy, although many might disagree. There was no internet at the time to propel any fame he might have garnered and sadly he

PROPOSAL TO UPGRADE MOBILE PHONE BASE STATION LOCATED AT COCKATOO ISLAND - ROZELLE Telstra plans to upgrade an existing telecommunications facility located at Cockatoo Island, Parramatta River, Cockatoo Island Rozelle NSW 2039 (Lot 1/DP549630) www.rfnsa.com.au/2041002 1. Telstra are currently upgrading existing mobile network facilities to allow for the introduction of 5G to Telstra’s network. As part of this network upgrade, Telstra proposes the installation of NR850 (5G) and NR/LTE2600 (4G/5G) technologies at Cockatoo Island. Proposed works at the above site will involve the removal of three (3) existing panel antennas, the relocation of three (3) existing panel antennas, the installation of three (3) new panel antennas (each no more than 2.8m in length), the removal of ancillary equipment and the installation of associated ancillary equipment. All internal equipment will be housed within the existing equipment shelter located at the base of the facility.

2. Telstra regards the proposed installation as maintenance works under Schedule 3 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 based on the above description.

3. In accordance with Section 7 of C564:2020 Mobile Phone Base Station Deployment Code, we invite you to provide feedback about the proposal.

Further information and/or written submissions should be directed to Max Peel, Aurecon Australasia via email to: max.peel@aurecongroup. com or via post to: Max Peel, Aurecon Pty Ltd, Locked Bag 331, Brisbane QLD 4001 by COB 11 October 2021.

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INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

died in 1990 long before he enjoyed any real reward. Today his artworks sell for millions and he is regarded as a major 20th century innovator.

Nevertheless there could well be something when it comes to the deconstruction of artworks as both a statement and a means of enhancing their value.

The acquisition of Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles was considered a major coup for the Whitlam government at the time, when they snapped it up for what is now considered a bargain basement price.

I have always thought the work is too

Like him or hate him, Banksy has shown the way when it comes to deconstruction and shredding. Shredded artworks could soon become as common as shredded cheese or the contents of an office just prior to a raid by ASIC. Unsuccessful entries in the Archibald Prize could be shredded and return to their artists with a greatly enhanced value. Galleries throughout the country could shred off their most unpopular works and the very rich attending the next Sotheby’s fine art auction could have the option of shredding their millions of pounds before the auction even starts.

PROPOSAL TO UPGRADE MOBILE PHONE BASE STATION LOCATED AT ROZELLE Telstra plans to upgrade an existing telecommunications facility located at 1 Somerville Road, Rozelle NSW 2039 (Lot 1 on Plan DP1065973) www.rfnsa.com.au/2039003 1. Telstra are currently upgrading existing mobile network facilities to allow for the introduction of 5G to Telstra’s network. As part of this network upgrade, Telstra proposes the installation of M700, NR850 (5G), and NR2600 (5G) technologies at Rozelle. Proposed works at the above site will involve the removal of eight (8) existing panel antennas, the installation of three (3) new panel antennas (each no more than 2.8m in length) and associated ancillary equipment. All internal equipment will be housed within the existing equipment shelter located on the building’s rooftop.

2. Telstra regards the proposed installation as a Low-impact Facility under the Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 2018 (“The Determination”) based on the above description.

3. In accordance with Section 7 of C564:2020 Mobile Phone Base Station Deployment Code, we invite you to provide feedback about the proposal.

Further information and/or written submissions should be directed to Tim Beck, Aurecon Australasia via email to: timothy.beck@aurecongroup.com or via post to: Tim Beck, Aurecon Pty Ltd, Locked Bag 331, Brisbane QLD 4001 by 5pm on 11 November 2021.

IndieARTS

INNER WEST THEATRES REOPENING ROUND-UP

BY JAMIE APPS ew Theatre: The Lovely Bones Newtown’s New Theatre will return to the stage on November 23 with the Australian premiere of a stage adaptation of Bryony Lavery’s book The Lovely Bones.

Award-winning British playwright Bryony Lavery has taken Sebold’s beautiful novel and created a visceral performance text, both sparse and dense, that also surprises with its humour and verve.

New Theatre will be operating at 75% capacity with mandatory mask wearing, QR code check-in & vaccination checks.

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Factory Theatre: Sydney Comedy Festival - Sam Wade’s Mind Cave After moths locked away at home we could all se a good laugh. Luckily the timing of theatres reopening just so

happens to coincide with the annual Sydney Comedy Festival.

Marrickville’s Factory Theatre will play host to range of fantastic evening of comedy. We here at the Inner West Independent have one show in particular that we highly recommend though, Sam Wade’s Mind Cave on Nov 4 & 6.

After a sold-out Sydney Comedy Festival debut last year, Sam now invites you to join him on journey as he attempts to survive a covid haircut and become a self-actualised aquatic messiah.

Flight Path Theatre: My Naughty Dad Returning to the stage on Nov 12-13, Lily Starr’s brand new show My Naughty Dad is an enlightening and heartwarming show highlights the importance family and friends when life throws unexpected adversity at you.

The Red Rattler: Gemini Rising Halloween Demons Celebrating Halloween on Nov 5 when The Red Rattler plays host to Halloween Demons, a cabaret showcase of queer talent of the macabre nature.

Enmore Theatre: James Reyne - Boys Light Up 40 On Nov 27 head on down to the Enmore Theatre to commemorate one of Australian Crawl’s most loved songs when The Boys Light Up turns 41. To celebrate

the occasion James Reyne will take to the stage to pay homage to this enduring tune.

Old 505 Theatre: Greg Coffin Trio Perhaps you’d like to mark the return to stages with something a little more classy and classical. If so then the Old 505 Theatre has just the show for you on Nov 6.

Exquisite contemporary Jazz pianist Greg Coffin and his trio have made a name for themselves creating sublime original music for the last decade.

THREE WINTERS GREEN RETURNING TO THE STAGE

BY LINC JENKIN hree Winters Green first premiered in Sydney in 1993 at the Stables Theatre amid a tense global environment familiar to us living in the times of COVID-19. The shows themes are striking in their relevance to 2021, which makes the new production of Three Winters Green more relevant than ever before.

During his chat with the Inner West Independent, playwright and codirector of this latest production, Campion Decent, first talked about the struggles to get the original play produced in 1993.

“It was very difficult. Basically, I had developed this play over a couple of years with little drips and drabs of funding. At one stage I was an affiliate writer with the Sydney Theatre Company’s New Stages Project, which was their development wing and we had a bit of development there and did a reading but then when it actually came to finding an outlet for production, it wasn’t possible. So we did what so many groups do, we formed a co-op and it was, ‘let’s just get this done.’”

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While talking about the 10 year anniversary of the play in 2003 and the opportunity he had to revisit his work, Decent was happier with how the updated version turned out, saying that the play itself ended up being much improved.

“I think the themes were consistent but what happened was I’d learnt a lot in terms of craft in that 10 years and so I’d fixed up things that I just wasn’t happy with. I remember the late, great playwright Nick Enright saying to me at the time how wonderful it is to have the opportunity to go back and revisit a piece of work because we so rarely get the opportunity to do that in Australia. It was really terrific and I feel like I got a lot closer in that 10 year remount than I had 10 years earlier.”

Three Winters Green is an epic Australian play featuring a cast of talented LGBTQI actors playing LGBTQI roles, including a real life couple, playing a couple in the play!

Nov 10-20. Fringe HQ (Formerly Old 505 Theatre) – 5 Eliza St, Newtown. $50+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.sydneyfringe.com/events/ three-winters-green INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

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IndieARTS

INNER WEST JIGSAW COMPANY

#BOYSAREPOETICBEINGS

Photo: Johnny Barker

BY MARK MORDUE believe in the beauty of boys, their grace, their poetry, their bicycles, their secret worlds in lanes and back streets, the rush of their lives beneath trees and on concrete, their scraped knees, their chipped skateboards, their prayers and their lies, I believe in their shouts c’mon to one another, cursed graffiti in the air, I believe in their daily heroism, I believe in their string, the stones and chocolate wrappers left in their pockets caught up in the washing, I believe in their Thrasher mags, I believe in their recipes

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picked up off the internet and the songs they write that do not have a real-life melody, I believe in the heart inside them, I believe in the way they kick a ball, I believe in them hugging a dog’s neck with tenderness and love, I believe in all their good intentions, their dreams radiating from YouTube, their eye for facts and details, their head in the clouds, I believe in them laughing, I believe in them walking streets and not wanting you to know anything about them, nothing at all, I believe in the chains they like to wear, I believe in their running shoes, I believe in their ways of seeing, I believe boys are poetic beings.

BY OLGA AZAR new Sydney-based jigsaw company has attracted attention of the puzzle community: Pennywinks, founded by IT professional Phillip with his wife. A reluctant devotee of jigsaws, he was lured to the pastime several years ago by his wife, and during lockdown, found not only a “side hustle” (as he calls it), but also a way to channel his creativity.

“I wanted to create characters of different worlds to get absorbed in,” says Phillip, which led to the creation of The Pennywinks, a mischievous character who serves as rambunctious guide through the puzzle, and uses his signature purple top-hat as a portal to the multiverse.

The first puzzle the company has produced is The Witches Lair, in which The Pennywinks visits a world of witches. Non-jigsawers can skip the next bit, as it involves some of the joys and frustrations of completing a jigsaw puzzle of 1000 pieces.

As Phillip explains, the puzzle art is specifically designed for jigsaws, offering a colour palette across three panels and the occasional clue, such as a spider leg here and there. And there is also a narrative, explaining the backstory of the Pennywinks as an accompanying leaflet in the puzzle.

Phillip hired artists to bring his puzzles to life, and says it took about 100 hours to refine the images into his imaginings, from prototype to design and onto manufacture. “My vision of the art was quite specific,” he says.

“We had to find some good artists and make it happen.”

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Phillip and his wife, who also works in IT and works more on the business and marketing side of the enterprise, searched for the right manufacturer to create solid puzzles. “The feedback is that the quality is up there with the best brands.” The process took about a year from concept to box design. For now, the puzzle retails online, with three more planned, and an eventual move towards retailing in shops.

Working from home during lockdown, Phillip used jigsawing as a nonmindless distraction. “It’s a nice way to take a break; you’re still sorting problems out, but still in a mental space to be creative. It’s nice to have time away from the screen.”

Also during lockdown, the couple accumulated “a hell of a lot of puzzles.

The house is full of them. We’re running out of space, we have about 20 to get through.”

More info: www.pennywinks.com

JESS CHALKER GOES SOLO ON ‘HEMISPHERES’

BY LUCINDA GARBUTT-YOUNG n her debut album as a solo artist, Jess Chalker defies genres and presents poignant lyrics. Hemispheres documents Chalker’s global adventures, pulling listeners into her musings.

With her Leslie Feist-eque voice, Chalker offers a hybrid of folk and gentle pop. The album is driven by simple rhythm. It feels clean- an easy listen.

Electric guitar compliments vocals.

The second track, Dance In The Rain, feels like a nostalgic call to old lovers.

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INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021

Chalker’s impressive range is clear in the song, which begins as a reflective piece before bouncing into pop.

The more intimate West Hollywood seems as if you’re watching the same old lovers, dressing them for your favourite downtown bars.

Chalker’s ability to weave continued narrative through the album is striking. We join her in a nomadic lifestyle.

Hemispheres is an album for dreamers, for those who aren’t scared of change and evaluating their own life. It’s beautifully reflective, yet palatable and strong.

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IndieARTS

UNHEARD BECOMING COUSTEAU

BY JARROD WOLFHUNTER ecoming Cousteau is the beautiful documentary that follows the incredible life of legendary French ocean polymath and adventurer, Jacques Cousteau.

Cousteau pioneered oceanography and captivated the world with his groundbreaking films and TV series that gave an entire generation a front seat to a neverbefore-seen, under-the-sea kingdom.

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Becoming Cousteau was created

by Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Liz Garbus, who has made a name for herself through her intimate portraits of complex figures like, Bobby Fischer, Nina Simone, and Marilyn Monroe.

Garbus has succeeded again in this extraordinary and immersive documentary that is steeped in the original footage created by Cousteau from his famous ship, The Calypso.

This documentary offers a nostalgia, and perfectly captures the exciting impact the Frenchman had on the world in a time when so little was known about the submarine environment.

Rivalled only by land-lover Attenborough in his legacy, Cousteau will be remembered long into the future; not only for his contribution to the science of the ocean by his prescient activism towards Climate Change.

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LOVE YOU LIKE THAT W

BY MARK MORELLINI hat is pure love? Love can be ugly, mean, sad and lonely. Love is about challenging each other during the good times and the bad times as depicted in this highly original Aussie feel good romantic comedy that should have audiences returning for encore screenings.

A naked lady is swept on the beach.

She has no recollection of who she is, but the inhabitants of the seaside town of Seafront Sands are mesmerised by her charm and contagious personality. She’s on a quest to help those who are having emotional issues regarding that dreaded emotion ‘love’. But who is this mysterious woman? A muse?

A ghost? And why does the town’s most handsome young man share the same abilities?

Making audiences joyous, laugh and cry may generally be an arduous task for filmmakers, but the producers of this

film have seemingly achieved this quite effortlessly with a fine script and a very capable young cast that includes Allira Jaques, Mitchell Hope and Steph Tisdell, with veteran performers John Jarratt and Chris Haywood.

Comedienne Steph Tisdell who plays a vivacious and very outspoken character is a breath of fresh air providing memorable comical interludes throughout the film. John Paul Young also makes a welcomed appearance singing his signature song Love Is in the Air in the finale.

Sugar sweet and sudsy, the story unravels quickly in the second half with a romantic twist that no moviegoer will see coming and the mystery of the woman with amnesia is revealed which hardened audiences may find laughable and underwhelming.

Do you believe in love? You will after watching Love You Like That. A sheer joy to watch.

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BY LUCINDA GARBUTT-YOUNG Last year, when Australians took to the streets in their thousands to demand better coverage of racial injustice, Shahn Devendran and his team at LADBible asked a simple question; “Why do most Australians know who George Floyd is, but not that many know the names David Dungay Junior or TJ Hickey?”

LADBible began an initiative to bolster support for anti-racism and discrimination groups in our country. Organisations like the National Justice Project, the National Aborginal Torres Strait Islander Legal Service, the Islamophobia Register and Deadly Connections are heavily involved.

The Unheard Campaign has reached over 100 million people worldwide since it’s launch this February.

For Devedran, a documentary series by the same name was a natural next step to the campaign’s success.

“We saw an opportunity to reach a global audience. Speaking with those partners, we identified emblematic cases of the issues that each of these organisations face…

We began to build out the Unheard documentary series,” Devedran as the Unheard producer said.

“Partnering with Amazon Prime... we really saw a great opportunity to put a global focus on these issues here at home.”

The six-part series follows key stories of racism in Australia, with a focus

on the legal decisions made after each case. It aims to engage broader audiences in critical discussion of racial violence.

“The more focus we have on the decision makers, the more chance there is for a positive change,” Devedran said.

Racial injustice has been well documented on a case-by-case basis in Australia, but Devderan explained there’s been no system to collate all the data in one place. Stories fall through the cracks as a result.

“There is a paragraph of an article here, there is a 60-second, 90-second clip on the news, there’s CCTV footage, there’s radio, there’s podcasts, but nobody seems to be listening,” Devedran said.

“These are actually quite common statistics that you’ll see out there, but it’s not often that they are put into one place to tell a cohesive story.

“One of the stylistic choices we made with the documentary was to include all these sources to show that these things are being covered but no change is being made.”

And Devedren found that getting to know the participants was the most powerful sign that the documentary was important.

“It’s about having the human connection… If we can explain that this is about a mother who’s lost her son, or this is about a daughter who tried to take her mother to the theatre and was assaulted, people then start to realise that this could have happened to [them].”

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BEFORE

r u o e v a Let’s un-p creeks and canals AFTER

Johnstons Creek naturalisation before and artist impression of after.

Old ideas about water management have seen most waterways in the inner west paved over.

SIGN THE PETITION

After the successful naturalisation of Johnstons Creek in Annandale, I want to transform all our local waterways back into wild places that beautify our neighbourhood, support native plants and animals, and better mitigate flooding.

CONTACT 112a Glebe Point Rd, Glebe | 9660 7586 | balmain@parliament.nsw.gov.au Authorised by Jamie Parker MP and funded using parliamentary entitlements. October 2021.

Independent V1.indd 1 INNER WEST INDEPENDENT NOVEMBER 2021 24 Inner West

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