AUGUST 22, 2017 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + PROPERTY GUIDE
(Shawn Smits)
A production with bite There will be no room for wallflowers as Staughton College students step up rehearsals for their upcoming stage production Little Shop of Horrors. The adaptation of the 1986 American rock musical horror comedy follows a meek flower shop owner who discovers a carnivorous plant during a total eclipse. Production manager Abigail Grace said Little Shop of Horrors was a quirky change to previous years’ performances. “We wanted to experiment with a style/ genre quite different to our previous productions of Grease and The Wizard of Oz Oz,” Ms Grace said. “Little Shop of Horrors opened up opportunities for us to incorporate for the first time a live band and allowed us to work with a smaller cast to refine and showcase students’ skills of acting and singing.” She said students and staff have been busy rehearsing, making sets and costumes and planning for the August 31 curtain-raiser. “The most exciting element of preparing this show was working out how to make the performance our own with moments where the audience are immersed into the story,” Ms Grace said. “Since auditions, students have been blowing us away with their talent, hard work and dedication to the whole production process.” The production runs until September 2. Tickets are available at bit.ly/2vIcrHY. SHAYLYN, AS AUDREY, AND OLIVER, AS ORIN
Esther Lauaki
Tip hotline ‘on the nose’ By Alexandra Laskie A 24-hour complaints hotline set up by the operator of Melbourne’s biggest tip has been described as a ruse designed to artificially lower the number of complaints about foul smells coming from its Ravenhall site. Over the past few weeks residents in Deer Park, Caroline Springs and suburbs near Cleanaway’s Melbourne Regional Landfill have received letters from the company informing them about its new “odour monitoring program”, which it says is being conducted
by independent consultants. The letter also urges people to contact Cleanaway’s “24/7 community hotline” about smells believed to be coming from the tip. Western Metropolitan Region MP Bernie Finn said the hotline was an attempt at “fiddling the figures” by diverting people away from lodging a complaint with Environment Protection Victoria’s (EPA) pollution hotline. “Some people will fall for this unfortunately,” he said. “You only need a 5 or 10 per cent drop in complaints so they can say ‘we have improved the situation’. They’ve pulled a very cheap and
nasty trick on the community,” Mr Finn said. He is awaiting a response from Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio about the state government’s policy on what he describes as Cleanaway’s “attempt to subvert a system designed to protect my constituents”. In June, Planning Minister Richard Wynne approved a permit that allows the waste giant to expand its 133-hectare Ravenhall site by 96 hectares, despite vocal objection from nearby residents and developers. Deer Park resident Marion Martin, who
lives three kilometres from the tip, was among those who received a letter about the odour monitoring program and community hotline. Ms Martin said her calls to the Cleanaway hotline have been met with lies. “I’ve got calls back saying the smell was coming from the back of Coles in Burnside, or an Indian or Chinese restaurant in the area,” she said. A Cleanaway spokesman said the hotline was set up four years ago in response to feedback from the community that complaints lodged with the EPA weren’t actioned upon.