Pelican 2016 (87) Edition 5 by UWA Student Guild

2 0 J U LY 16

S I N C E

1 9 2 9

ISSUE 5 VOLUME 87

Friday 19th August 3pm â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9pm

Saturday 20th August 6am - 5pm

Sunday 21st August 8am - 5pm

Monday 22nd August 9.30am - 6pm

Tuesday half price day 23rd August 9.30am - 8pm

Wednesday Fill a box for $15 University of Western Australia, Stirling Highway, Crawley (Under the Clock Tower)

PREZITO RIAL

MA DDIE M U L H OL L A N D

Congratulations for making it through half of 2016. I say congratulations because the rest of the world seems a little broken. #Brexit, Trump getting the Republican nomination, a very long federal election campaign, the rise of online abuse towards women, the threat of a plebiscite on marriage equality, maybe fee deregulation, maybe not – the list goes on. So what is a young person to do amidst this brokenness? It’s scary knowing that surveys show two thirds of students live below the poverty line. There are high rent prices, casualisation of work, increasing costs of living. You could be really bummed out by world affairs and by this statistic (I am), or you could go … “What free/cheap shit can I get at uni!?” Well, for starters there are BBQs happening around campus all the time that are pretty cheap. Tuesdays on Oak Lawn and Fridays in front of Clough are two good bets. The Guild has a range of welfare priced meals ($5 for something hearty) served at the cafes and in the Ref. Plus you if you’re a Guild member you get up to 10% off food and 35% off coffee! You can get food vouchers from the Guild Student Assist, and grants and loans to help you get through financially. We also employ a financial planning/budgeting expert social worker who you can book an appointment with! The Medical Centre bulk bills, parking is free in the holidays in yellow bays, you can stock on a year’s worth of free pens at Guild O-Day (the Friday before semester 1 starts) and the libraries all stock copies of your textbooks so you don’t have to buy them. You get free student representation, Guild members can access Guild Departments and their activities, free access to Guild events, cheap membership to clubs and societies! Oh and this mag is free! So what are you waiting for? Milk it. Make the most of your broke-ness. It’s the least you can do to forget about the world crumbling around us.

H AY T O RIA L

H AY D E N DA L Z I EL

When we came up with the broke theme I thought “oh nice that’ll tie in nicely with the election.” I didn’t realise it wouldn’t actually have the decency to finish until the day before we went to print, but I thought Broke would fit well with um, budgets, moral bankruptcy maybe? I’m not exactly a student of politics. I couldn’t have possibly predicted that Pauline Hanson and One Nation could get as many as four seats in parliament. That alone stands as a testament to the stronger racist undercurrent in Australian society, one that I hope will be combatted with strength and vigour from a broad anti-racist movement. Though it’s hard to imagine when you hear anti-racist activists labelled in the media as “just as bad” as fascists. I remember my folks telling me about how they would go down to the airport to protest Pauline Hanson’s arrival in WA in the late 90s, and how those were some of the biggest protests they’d ever been to, with the most broad crosssection of Australian society present. That’s what I hope for right now: many folks united as a reaction against some of the most unacceptable and hurtful ideologies festering in this country. I hope UWA students are a big part of that too, especially when we’ve seen hate crimes so close to home only late last year. It’s easy to dismiss this as the result of a temporary reactionary swing or the result of distant, uneducated racists in Queensland, but the fact is that racism, both overt and more subtle, is something that reaches right around the country, across every pay grade and every level of education. So please, have a conversation with your weird uncle or the One Nation voter you unexpectedly still have on your friends list from primary school, because until everyone feels safe from the reach of ideas like that, no one is. x Hay

P R E N D IT OR IA L

KAT E PRE NDE RGA S T

Everything’s looking a bit shit at the moment, isn’t it. Perth mosques are being terrorised by knuckle-dragging shrew-brains who want to Make Australia Even More Racist Again. We have an orange nincompoop rolling into the White House, and Pauline Hanson riding into parliament, and nobody can unplug their earholes to anything other than their contemptible squalling. A Current Affair gets to gawk inside Nauruan detention centres where refugee lawyers don’t even get to talk directly with their self-harming clients. The (only just) victorious Libs pre-election Budget is putting a $1.4M p.a. chokehold on Community Radio so that we, as a nation, can sing along to whatever Shane Warne’s #realmusic #rightnow is on 96FM. A heartbreaking number of the publications (Voiceworks, Meanjin) that nurture and give seed to new-spangled thought have similarly been squashed by Turnbull’s big business boots of ‘pragmatism’. Going greenside, the Great Barrier Reef is looking ever more like a bucket of week-old KFC chicken left outside after several dirty rainstorms. Armando Iannucci says a fifth season of The Thick of It is out of the question – modern-day politics is already too much its own vile, back-throatgag of a joke. Britney Spears’ comeback single “Make Me” was disappointing. So was the Woolworths profiterole I bought the other day. Oh and death! Oh death. We have death bundling all the world’s beloveds under his black cloak, and we can only hope to someplace kinder. When the Orlando shooting occurred, I appalled myself by almost being glad Bowie, Prince, they weren’t around to know about it. It’s a cruel post-election, post-Brexit, post-Harambe world. 87% of Facebook conversations over the past month have contained the message “everything is fuuuuukt” at least once. It’s true. We’re in pieces. But the West no longer advertises with us. And there’s the silver lining. x Prendy

x Maddie

THE talent EDITORS

CONTRIBUTORS

Hayden Dalziel

Bradley Griffin ᵒ

Hugh Manning ᵒ

Samuel J. Cox ᵒ

Kate Prendergast

Bryce Newton ᵒ

Jade Newton *

Shannon Lively *

Caitlin Carr ᵒ

Jaimee Wright*

Sophie Harwood ᵒ

Caterina Pagani *

Janey Hakenson ᵒ

Sophie Pezzutto ᵒ

Clara Seigla *

Jaymes Durante ᵒ

Sureyya Kose ᵒ

Clare Moran (more_ankles) *

Josip Knezevic ᵒ

Taylor Brown *

Kate Prendergast *ᵒ

Tess Burton *

Laurent Shervington ᵒ

Tess Bury

Luke Trevenen ᵒ

Tom Rossiter ᵒ

SECTION EDITORS POLITICS Brad Griffin FILM Jaymes Durante MUSIC Harry Manson BOOKS Bryce Newton ARTS Samuel J. Cox LIFESTYLE Thomas Rossiter

DESIGN Elise Walker

ADVERTISING Chelsea Hayes

chelsea.hayes@guild.uwa.edu.au

Daniel Hu ᵒ Danyon Burge * Dennis Venning ᵒ Diana Batchelor ᵒ

Maddison Howard ᵒ

Eamonn Kelly ᵒ

Mark Acebo ᵒ

Ed Smith ᵒ

Michael O’Leary ᵒ

Emily Wallis ᵒ

Nathan Shaw *

Gabby Loo *ᵒ

Pema Monaghan ᵒ

Harry Manson ᵒ

Pia Fucile ᵒ

Harry Peter Sanderson ᵒ

Prema Arasu ᵒ

Hayden Dalziel *ᵒ

Reece Gherardi ᵒ

Heather Blakey ᵒ

Rose Stewart ᵒ

Holly Jian *

Ryan Suckling ᵒ

Wade McCagh ᵒ Xin Lan Xie * Yvonne Buresch ᵒ

FEATURE ART COVER Gabby Loo INISDE Ben Yaxley

ᵒ Words

* Illustrations

CORRECTIONS Pelican made an ‘aw feck’ and got the attribution wrong on the ‘Cherished Art’ interview with Spare Parts Puppet Theatre on pp.36-37 of the Vo.87 Ed.4 ‘Trash’ Issue. This interview was in fact conducted and written by Samuel J. Cox.

offer applies to large pizzas only

INSIDE

PELICAN EDITION 5 : VOLUME 87 BROKE REGULARS Editors’ Notes

Campus Spot

Is Green Is Good

Broke Art Page

FEATURES Adventures in Broke

Breaking Points

Watch Your Words

Carmen Lawrence Interview

Queer on Campus

Aussie Animal Rights

A Letter About Recovery

Barker’s Delight

SECTIONS Politics

Film

Music

Books

Arts

Lifestyle

GET INVOLVED! ~~all students welcome ~~

pelican@guild.uwa.edu.au

pelicanmagazine.com.au

Above the ref! Post to M300 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009 WA

@PelicanMagazine @pelicanmagazine

The University of Western Australia acknowledges that its campus is situated on Noongar land, and that Noongar people remain the spiritual and cultural custodians of their land, and continue to practice their values, languages, beliefs and knowledge. The views expressed within are not the opinions of the UWA Student Guild or Pelican editorial staff, but of the individual writers and artists.

SPOTLIGHT ON CAMPUS SPOT Pelican

W H AT ?

The UWA Boat Shed

WHERE?

At the northern end of Hackett Drive, nested on the Matilda Bay waters.

BOUGHT FOR $1?

Look Book: Broke

The UWA Boat Shed has a secret little shenanigan existence, known only to the iron-armed, cold-resistant, early-morninged tribe of rowers that skims, otter-like, up and down Matilda Bay when most other students are bug-snug in bed. A two-tiered little thing, equally cute and dust-mote creepy, it has a kitchen up top (the fridges mostly have mustard in them) and a base filled with tremendously handsome rowboats, hanging like fibreglass papooses from the ceiling, up and away from the coffee-stained floorboards and the plagues of mice that occasionally descend. But now here’s the interesting bit. In the early 1960s, the Shed found itself in a state of all-over decrepitude, with both its interior and exterior in shambles. Dunston McKee was Boat Club Captain at the time, as well as Guild President. Current Boat Club President Adam Feilding told us that despite this, the Guild wouldn't assist in the repairs. “So it was decided to sell the Boat Shed to put the obligation on the university.” The payment UWA made? One whole buck. But “it didn't really work, as subsequently when more work was required, then-captain Robert Rowell (1967) said he could not get the university to fund additional necessary repairs.” The maintenance of the venue, and who should foot the bill for it, apparently remains a point of contention. The UWA Boat Club remains the largest rowing club in the state. It offers programs for beginners all the way up to championship level fit people.

Questions 1. Who has Trump named his Vice President?

4. Where will we all go when UWA floods?

2. What can we do to build a better society?

5. Why can’t I find decent women’s shirts past a size 16?

3. When will the dolphins take over?

1. Mike Pence, but only on this planet. 2. Any number of things, such as a shift towards a hummus based economy or letting queensland drift off into the Pacific (stopgap measure though it may be). 3. Assuming their rise parallels that of humankind, once they start some sort of sea-brewery they can create a form of currency, then start forming their own cities. Give it a few thousand years. 4. Hovea is nice, and situated on high ground. 5. You’ve got broad shoulders. 6

PERTH FACT WINNERS OF SENATE VOTING LAW CHANGES: MAJOR PARTIES. LOSERS: THE NUMBAT ENTHUSIAST PARTY

WORDS BY ED SMITH ART BY KATE PRENDERGAST

t seems fitting that the theme for this issue of Pelican is ‘Broke’, as it coincides perfectly with my own struggles to keep my bank balance above single digits. As I sit here writing this, I have five days left to come up with a week’s rent, and can once again sense the rising aura of anguish, frugality, and dubious life choices swirling around me. Although that could just be my Mie Goreng burning on the stove. This is by no means the first time I’ve found myself frantically trying to rustle together some cash, but with severe allergies to both waiting-on-hold-with-Centrelink and doing-actual-work, accumulation and maintenance of wealth can be a tricky business. But as all good bludgers can attest, necessity is the mother of invention (read: desperation), and so as I turn to hardship, I cast my mind back to find comfort and inspiration in my previous triumphs of fiscal ingenuity. Many moons ago, during my first brush with long-term unemployment, I decided to become really good at poker, which I’m sure we all agree is a pretty watertight way to make money without resorting to getting a job. And it’s much less strain on the body than other sports (if golf counts as a sport, then poker gets to be one too). I signed up for an online poker site and made my first $20 deposit. The lowest stake games had big blinds of 2c, so (after looking up what a “big blind” was) I played these tables for a while, attempting to read the virtual poker faces of my Russian opponents. After finally getting around to watching Casino Royale however, I felt perhaps my i n c re d i b l e skills were destined for greater glory, a n d turned m y attention to tournaments. The tournaments

were in many ways lower risk; you pay an entry fee for your place, and then everyone starts with the same number of chips. Generally, to break even, a player only needs to finish in the top 50%. My first tournament was my greatest poker triumph to date. 360 players entered the competition, each assigned to a table of eight. As competitors were knocked out, the number of tables fell, and the chips piled up around the lucky punters who remained. More than five hours after the beginning of the competition, I found myself at the last table, the final eight. Then the final two. My one remaining opponent went all in. With sweaty palms, I matched his bet, and won. It quickly dawned on me that of 360 people, I was the one who had emerged triumphant, and the first place, the grand prize, all eight dollars and sixty cents, was mine. While that might not seem like much it was a cool 8600% return on my entrance fee of 10c. If I reinvested those winnings and replicated my performance in higher-stakes games, my bank balance would be into triple digits in no time! As it happened, I did, I didn’t and it didn’t – respectively. And so ended my illustrious professional poker career. Eventually I got a job loading milk trucks, working 6pm to 2am, which while categorically awful, unpleasant, and souldestroying, did see my dairy intake reach a record high. Sitting in the pub one day, as my bank balance bulged under the weight of Yogos and SupaShakes (or maybe it was just a bit gassy. You never can tell with lactose), I had a revelation: the best way to avoid being broke is to make good, sound, economically responsible decisions when you are in a safe financial position. And so I sold my soul, became a filthy capitalist, and invested in oil. If you look at the richest people in the world, what do they all have in common? That’s right, they don’t have jobs. At least, they don’t have jobs like the ones you or I have, jobs that you find in the paper where you go to a place and actually generate goods and services and then pay taxes

and contribute to society. No, the richest people are rich because they own things. Therefore, in order to be rich, one must own things. And what could be worth more than oil? I mean it’s what half the world’s bombs are spent on. I invested $100, and within 24 hours that had tripled. This was it. Without having the slightest clue what I was actually doing, I was making the big bucks. After five days, my initial investment had become $1100, the most money I had ever made from doing no work. This must be what it’s like to be a landlord. As it turned out though, the bit about not having a clue what I was doing was actually quite important, and for reasons I still don’t entirely understand, I did end up losing all my money, although in my defence, I was quite drunk and the stock market is really boring. My most recent windfall was rather unexpected, and took place over in Sydney as I took a holiday from my job as a professional flâneur. (Technically I’m a “gas meter reader”, but that’s just employment jargon. Whoever said a BSc and a BA with first-class honours won’t get you anywhere?) As I was perusing through the local online meat market (browsing Grindr), a middle-aged business man made a rather attractive offer. Now, the number one rule in making money (and surely, in life), is never turn down an opportunity. When opportunity knocks, grasp it firmly in your hands, swallow (your pride), and bathe in the glorious spoils. Metaphorically speaking of course. And while this may seem disheartening to current students who are worried about future career prospects, and yes, I may languish for some time eating lentils for every meal and looking for spare change in public telephones, I’m also quietly confident that my seven years of study at UWA has furnished me with the skills and resources I need to continue to pursue impossible.

PERTH FACT DEAN ALSTON IS A HUMOUR-CONFUSED INK-SPRAYING OLD DOUCHE BRO

WORDS BY RYAN SUCKLING ART BY HOLLY JIAN

erhaps an endless stream of salty tears, perhaps not. Bulging hot veins. Twitchy fingers and heart palpitations. The wrecking of anything within one’s reach; somehow the kitchen and bedroom predominate as far as home-plan victims go. The ripping off of cabinet doors, along with a pit of bent cutlery and shattered plates. Why not mount the stairs in three stomping strides, enter the bedroom, then command the vanity mirror into pieces, and tear up the bed sheets? A spectacle of outward human emotion, so intense and concentrated to baffle the most ardent of observers. You're a fool for consoling or interpreting, as if you can have their eyes, arteries, fingers, and heart. They’ve reached breaking point. Or a breaking point conventionally imagined. Is it an attempt to translate inward human emotions into some gladiatorial performance? In this case, the witness of another’s breaking point is a lonely one. For the sufferer, you exist prior to and well after the breaking. You are strongly advised not to touch, stroke, speak, mumble or go anywhere near the ‘breaking one’. Your attempts to do so may result in an aggressive shrug of the shoulder, a whack round the earhole, or worse, eviction. It’s bleak, but possible. Admittedly, when thinking about human breaking points, my mind leaps to these wild, thrashing actions; what is seen is privileged. Am I not just conflating breaking points with so-called boiling points? When shit hits the fan sort of stuff. Boiling points are outbursts, invariably aggressive, propped up and theatricised for an audience. Whereas reaching one’s breaking point, as I understand it, differs from outbursts, or the fortnightly(?) break-downs so stubbornly characteristic of being pre-25. Breaking is disintegration; an untenable compression the individual can no longer endure. A breaking point can be cumulative, the residual build-up of neglect, disappointment, ceaseless let-downs; or a sudden break, triggered by an unpalatable revelation, unforeseen loss, the striking hand of misfortune. Often, they go hand in hand, the former acting as facilitator, the latter the trigger. Invariably – in film, literature, and culture – any breaking crucially hinges on the character’s gender. To be a male character means getting quickly ushered into the feminine-free zone, where the only permit for breaking is under the weight of your own institutionally inflated ego. From the brooding violence of Tennessee William’s Stanley to Jacob’s shirt-ripping tantrums out of Twilight, his only outlets are an incendiary string of boiling points. Whereas at all other times, they present to be in full command of their emotions (the ‘hysterical male’ is, within the western canon, an almost obscene configuration), these outbursts legitimate themselves in their masculine excess; their violence dresses their ‘loss of control’ in signs of power. In female characters, breaking is often framed as either a hissy fit or a humanising quality – yet to break is conditional and relational. The break can only be justified if tragedy awaits you, and the man is no doubt the author of that grim finality. Is this

some crude reductionism? Historically, and indeed canonically, I tend to think not. But I’m less concerned with tracing a sociology of breaking points (as I’m sure distinguished others have) and more interested in how cultural production seeks to portray or reimagine this binary, and its conditional attachments. By no means does all culture perpetuate these gendered tropes. Luca Guadagnino’s film I Am Love (2009) is a testament to the subtle workings that precipitate a breaking point, and the emotional trigger that can set a character free from the trappings of the hindered self. Emma Recchi, played by Tilda Swinton, appears subdued and composed in the opening scene. As hostess, she makes congenial but little conversation to the guests at a birthday dinner party. She has married into a Milanese family of wealthy textile manufacturers, placing her in the upper-crust of bourgeois society. She is secure, yet lives without passion, stuck with an estranged husband in a big empty house.

The discovery of her daughter’s love for another woman foregrounds Emma’s sexual and emotional awakening; her dormant plea for passion and youthful love. She eventually falls in love with her son’s friend Antonio, a chef, who initially seduces the elegant Emma with his impeccable exotic food. Indeed, the best sex in the movie, if that’s what you go for in European film, is with the food – and more specifically, a prawn. In convenient melodrama, Emma ends up at Antonio’s home in San Remo, where they make love under a baking sun in a lush overgrown garden. She tells Antonio of her Russian origins – a land and language more distant than a faint memory. Emma hardly knows a word of Russian, and struggles to recall her birth name, sharing with her lover the previously unshared. She feels displaced, summoned to a lucrative marriage and adopted identity. Yet she must return to Milan, put on a nice dress and a pearl necklace, and act as demurely as before. The death of her son, Edoardo, is Emma’s breaking point. In another slip into melodrama, Edoardo’s freak accident takes place after he discovers his mother’s affair with his friend. Returning from the hospital Emma crawls into her son’s bed, still in her nice dress and necklace – only to be awoken by the housekeeper the next morning, and have a black dress childishly put on her. After the funeral, Emma runs through the pouring rain to the nearby church, walking through the cavernous space in quiet grief. Her husband comes after her, anxious after her

PERTH FACT KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE, AND YOUR HEATERS CLOSER #HOTTIP

desperate state, but no doubt concerned for her spot beside him in prestige too. The scene is beautifully shot, the grey lonely walls reaching up beyond the frame of the camera, every sound followed by dramatic reverberations. It is here where silence speaks, and Emma’s only words to him: “I love Antonio”. This is Emma’s breaking point. Although infused with unexpected grief, it allows her to disentangle herself from an impinged identity, and secure her own. In the very final scene, as we see Emma frantically gather a few of her belongings and make to leave her chamber-like house, she locks eyes with her daughter. They share a mutual, emotion-filled gaze of recognition and understanding, before Emma runs out the door, and to Antonio. Breaking points, breakdowns, and break-aways are crucial for understanding character and narrative. But apart from simply being formulaic or structural must-haves, breaking points – taking note of their frequency and intensity – indicate who is most susceptible to a breaking point. Thus subtly prescribing normative emotional expressions across intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and so on, our cultural scripts also prescribe who is ‘permitted’ to break, and how. Also revealing is the degree to which the filmmaker or writer exploits this tethered, worn, and exposed facet of their characters. It might be helpful to think of characters in terms of break-ability. How breakable is a wealthy Milanese wife and mother? As a female character, Emma is immediately more breakable than say, her husband or her son. Her break, in combination with the film’s tone and narrative arch, is expected, or at least, something the audience feels is being worked towards, in quiet complicity with her gender. In this sense, to break is to be feminine or enact an element of dominant femininity. To break under circumstantial pressure and become exposed, an unpretentious defrocking. On males this is perceived as oddly transgressive. Effemimania, which describes a cultural obsession with male femininity, possesses many uncomfortable insights into how breaking is culturally produced and received through gender. Anne Enright’s novel The Forgotten Waltz (2011) also traces the marshy topography of an affair; two lives, or one rather, in mutual, distant acquaintance tip-toeing further into the breakable. Gina Moynihan meets Sean at her sister’s housewarming party, where she sits at the kitchen table, feeling deflated by whining, whirling children and the blatant domesticity of her sister. Her break is initiated simply by a curious desire, pure intrigue in a sharp, handsome, slightly older man; his contrast to her hairy fuzz-ball for a husband, who’s good with the kids. What emerges – in Enright’s spare, poetic prose – is a story that “be[comes] a desolation of boredom, rage and betrayal”, with Gina thrown out of security and familiarity, and into a world of suspicion, sneaking around: a lover’s paranoia.

A technique, or phenomenon, emerges here. The filmmaker or writer constructs a familiar domesticated setup for the central female character – a well-trodden house, a safe partner – only to remove said female character from that environment through the supreme allurement of humanity: desire. Only then is the character plausibly susceptible to breaking. They end up disfigured or fractured by adolescent shards, far away from adult enclaves. These recent works form part of a loose, yet traceable tradition. Too multifarious to be impressed with a straitjacketed genre, uniformly depicting a central female character, constrained by a passionless marriage, bored and hindered by pervasive patriarchy, and desperate to break away. Traditionally, for the artist to grant her the objects of her desire, she must reach breaking point, serve her dues, and endure the tragic consequences of leaving that big, empty house. The pinnacle of this tradition would have to be Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Steeped in the decorum of Russian aristocracy, socialite Anna is constrained by her marriage to Karenin, yet pursues a soonto-turn paranoid affair with Count Vronsky. Her breaking away is complicated by a whole set of social norms, by religious orthodoxy, and by aristocratic lip service. The tale of Anna, brimming with hypocrisy and passion, ends in tragedy – the grimmest of breaking points. Tragedy is indicative of this tradition, as it is for others. Queer love stories are no stranger to tragedy. No doubt the writer is striving for flawless aestheticism, pathos without respite. Yet, for Emma and Gina, tragedy isn’t an inevitable chimera bracing itself to swallow them up at the end. For Gina it’s self-estrangement, a de-familiarisation. Whereas, Emma transcends tragic tropes, accepts her breaking point for what it is, and breaks away. The film doesn't shy away from tragedy and its place in breaking a person, but refuses to make her a victim of her own femininity; something to which retribution is auto-prescribed. Breaking doesn’t have to be essentially and finally tragic, nor does it have to be confined to one gender. In Guadagnino’s rendering of Emma’s love story, tragedy results in her self-actualisation; a set of realisations and actions leading her to what she wants. In this sense, breaking gives Emma agency, and the strength to declare her love. In the empty church, Emma’s husband drapes his suit jacket around her shoulders, telling her “we must keep a hold of ourselves”. He is admonishing her, as he senses her breaking away. His final words are “you don’t exist” – if you break, you don’t exist. Emma shrugs off his words as readily as he removes his suit jacket from her. After all, where’s the art – or the humanness – in having it together all the time?

Gina and Sean’s burgeoning affair seems convenient, with not a great sense of scandal. How they both end up working together in IT, relishing in the distance and privacy afforded by attending European conferences in ‘communications’. For Gina, her breaking away doesn’t follow from a single breaking point, or a string of breaks, but rather a cumulative despondency. An explosive row with her husband, and the death of her mother, form part of Gina’s internal estrangement. In the end she is neither with nor without Sean, only spending the afternoon with his daughter Evie, thinking about her own mother, “feel[ing] misplaced and odd”.

PERTH FACT I DON’T WANT TO RENT ANYTHING OTHER THAN YOU MR. RENTAL

WORDS BY LAURENT SHERVINGTON ART BY XIN LAN XIE

he language we choose to utilise serves an integral role in allowing self-expression, with the 21st century vernacular we speak now being the subject of various changes over thousands of years. Looking at the diction of today’s average English-speaking Australian, many aspects of novelty ‘exotic’ lingo, pseudo-foreign expressions or linguistic appropriation can be seen. Stuff such as Ebonics and Mock Spanish; all of which are commonplace in everyday language and have the potential to construct a toxic ‘White Public Space’. In other words, a social environment that allows white speakers of English to be the primary beneficiaries in public discourse. Perhaps the most popular form of linguistic appropriation in mainstream media and society is the use of Ebonics or ‘Black English’, a style of language originating from enslaved Black Africans. Ebonics is often incorporated satirically in the media; think the jive scene from Airplane (1980) or more recent comedy sketches, which exaggerate the style in order to highlight differences between it and Standard English. In 1996 the Board of Education of Oakland made the decision to legitimise Ebonics for their students in order to facilitate African-American students’ acquisition and mastery of language skills. The decision was backed by TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) who stated there was research to prove that children learnt better if teachers acknowledged their home language and used it as a bridge to wider society. Despite this, critics responded that Oakland University was promoting “laziness of speech”, “disorders of language” and other unwelcoming sentiments. In a broader sense, Ebonics is noticeably common among the today’s youth, with phrases such as ‘cool’, ‘hip’ and ‘yo’ being prime examples of how it has assimilated into common language. This assimilation can be attributed mainly to urban pop culture, of which hip hop and rap music play a strong part. At its core hip hop represents a music genre that hasn’t been completely ‘whited out’ and over its history has reflected the attitudes and values of the black community. Hip hop/rap music gave marginalised black communities a voice amongst the white noise, in a genre founded on the creative expression of black artists. In society today, the cultural significance of Ebonics has diminished in its absorption and use by a white audience who have the privilege to cherry-pick their favourite phrases into the conversation, which has resulted in the perpetuation of negative stereotypes. Another example of linguistic appropriation is Mock Spanish, a term popularised by anthropologist-linguist Jane H. Hill, who in 1993 traced a trend among “middle- and upper-income, collegeeducated whites” who incorporated pseudo-Spanish terms such as ‘el cheapo’, ‘no problemo’ and ‘hasta la bye-bye’ into their casual speech. Hill found the strong majority of these subjects considered the practice completely harmless or even believed it flattering to Hispanic speakers. Whilst the incorporation of such language may indeed seem innocuous to the everyday Australian

does that excuse it? The use of Mock Spanish often carries with it stereotypes that endow Spanish-speakers with gross sexual appetites, political corruption, laziness and mental incapacity to name a few. Needless to say, these stereotypes go beyond being justified by humour, and restrict Spanish-speaking populations to lower sectors of regional and national economies. By setting the precedent that it’s completely fine to push negative stereotypes, the use of Mock Spanish has the potential to cause a lot of harm to other marginalised groups with a language other than Standard English. Additionally, by using chosen parts of other languages incorrectly we’re running the risk of creating a hierarchy of languages. As mentioned before the ‘White Public Space’ idea has the potential to take away any sacred meaning an original language is allowed to hold, and index the minority who speaks it a demographic to be made fun of. Take for example popular internet domain engrish.com, a website dedicated to finding errors in translations from foreign languages (typically Asian languages) to English. The resulting high traffic web page offers a huge selection of images and jokes whose primary focus is to make fun of non-English speakers, simply because they’re unable to fluently speak the language they speak. The reality is, if a website making fun of English speakers trying to navigate other languages existed, it wouldn’t have a quarter of the following. The popularity of various forms of linguistic appropriation is undeniable, I myself am a white speaker of English and I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I start conversations a lot of the time with ‘yo’, or throw out a ‘no problemo’ at least six or seven times a day. Personally, I believe the perceivable solution to linguistic appropriation lies in respect. Are you using the words you’ve chosen to undermine a minority or perpetuate a stereotype? It really pays to be aware of both your audience and how your diction can immediately affect others. After all, acceptance is something everyone can understand.

PERTH FACT MR JIFFY’S WIFE IS TRYING TO GET HIM TO DO COUPLE’S THERAPY

INTERVIEW BY KATE PRENDERGAST AND HAYDEN DALZIEL WORDS BY KATE PRENDERGAST

“The majority of Australians do not approve of asylum seekers being indefinitely detained on offshore islands. They don’t,” states Carmen Lawrence, former WA Premier and current UWA Psychology Professor, who caught up with Pelican in her office in June. Here she is citing the Scanlon-Monash Index, which demonstrates that – whilst “they are not particularly keen on people coming over here without ‘prior notice’” – the public do not support the border protection policies currently touted by both major parties.

year, the extreme remoteness of the island means that there is literally no means of escape, with few places where women can feel safe. For those forcibly situated there, the entire landmass can be a prison.

around’”. She asserts that Australia, along with New Zealand and the UK as former administrators, “bears great responsibility for the failure to develop the necessary infrastructure.”

“You see your own perpetrator of abuse as you walk to the local supermarket,” says Lawrence. “And this is why some of them retreat and are refusing even to take the necessary actions to get food and water. In one instance, one woman barricaded herself in her own house because she was so traumatised.”

Professor Lawrence is also a member of the human rights organisation Australian Women in Support of Women on Nauru (AWSWN). The group formed last year in response to the “unconscionable” handling of the case of Abyan by the Australian government, which needlessly delayed the refugee woman’s abortion through rape, and saw her “pushed and pulled between various political forces”. In June, AWSWN released a report on the abuse of asylum seeker and refugee women detained indefinitely on Nauru. Entitled ‘Protection Denied, Abuse Condoned’, the report gives grim, detailed evidence that Australia’s offshore detention – beginning with the Tampa Affair in 2001 and legislated now in its most brutal iteration – is inefficient, taxpayer-costly, and inhumane. Holding a group of desperate, traumatised people hostage, just to send a message to another group of desperate, traumatised people is, Carmen says, “morally bankrupt”.

Obtaining sufficient and reliable data for the report was a procedure fraught with difficulties, given the Nauruan state’s media blackout (relaxed recently, bizarrely, for the Channel Nine Current Affairs film crew) and the Australian Border Force Act’s criminalisation of whistle-blowers. Yet – risking a jail sentence of up to two years – many health workers and security guards chose to step forward. Despite “obvious indications these people will continue to be investigated”, Carmen judges it unlikely a conviction will be moved. She believes that “if that were to ever occur, it would be a cause célèbre. There would be enormous community outrage.”

When it comes to the question of developing a more empathic alternative to offshore detention, Carmen puts forward several important points: “You can identify what is wrong with a particular policy – but that does not mean you have to immediately say what the solution is. The resources are simply not available to the non-government sector to do this. We don’t have the knowledge – that’s part of the story here. We don’t know precisely what’s happening within government; we don’t know what the relationship is like with Indonesia on these questions; how many boats have actually left from Indonesia, how many have headed off in other directions.

The report’s focus on women is an important one. It forces recognition of the unique and ubiquitous violence routinely faced by women both within and outside the centres – from a police force and judiciary indifferent to rape, a corrupt security which exploits the camp’s open conditions without penalty, and a reporting system which operates mostly as a denigrating sham. Countless incidents of abuse are believed to go undocumented on the island, by both local women and detainees. The disincentives are strong. Complaints are routinely dismissed, and victims made to feel as though “they are the ones who have brought it upon themselves, and should just get over it.” Although the Nauruan centre was opened to the community earlier this

Significantly, the report also sheds light upon the sociopolitical history of Nauru – an aspect often overlooked in conventional media reportage. Exploited for its rich phosphate deposits over several colonial administrations, with negligible return for the Nauruan people themselves, the island was left ravaged by the turn of the 20th century. With corruption seeded into its uppermost politics and business (Russia used it as a tax haven in the 90s), “at one point Nauru was even declared a ‘failed state’. Australia was going to move the entire population to an island off the coast of Queensland because the economic and physical circumstances were so poor.” So when its former coloniser approached Nauru offering a fortune in return for helping them implement their “stop the boats” campaign: what real choice did they have? “In many ways, the pressure placed on Nauru now is reminiscent of the colonial administration of the past,” says Carmen. “It’s almost as if the Australian government has said, ‘Well, you’re not really a true state, so we’re just going to push you

What we can do, she says, is to close the centres –immediately – and bring those detained into community detention. “This is a complex, ‘back to source’ question. At the very least it requires careful work with the people in Indonesia and Malaysia – who face their own problems relating to asylum seekers, and are far poorer than we are.” With the PNG Senate ruling detention centres unconstitutional in April, New York Times writers denouncing the policy in oped columns, and the U.N. declaring that what Australia is doing to these people is “torture”, it seems our nation on this issue is under some kind of callous obliviousness. As yet to face economic sanctions by international allies, it also seems the current state of foreign affairs continues only by the obstinacy of our elected leaders, the complicity of mainstream media, and the failure of us, the public, to adequately vocalise, mobilise and express our dissent. “It is about awareness-raising,” says Carmen. “More effort into advocacy and direct contact with decision-makers – these are some of the best things that can be done. Everyone has worked hard on this, and so far we have not seen any kind of result we would’ve wanted. But I don’t think that means we should stop. It’s one of those things you’ve just got to keep doing.”

PERTH FACT 63% OF WA CITIZENS WANT TO BREAK FROM THE REST OF AUSTRALIA. 26% THINK THEY ALREADY HAVE

INTERVIEWS BY KATE PRENDERGAST AND HAYDEN DALZIEL ART BY TESS BURY

In May this year, the Guild unanimously passed a motion ratifying that the UWA Queer Department be renamed the UWA Pride Department. Following this, and coinciding with an Equity and Diversity Office study into queer experiences on campus, Pelican caught up with three individuals to talk to them about what it means to be LGBT+ at UWA. These individuals were Reece Gherardi, who holds office as one of this year’s Guild Pride Officers; Sureyya Kose, currently undertaking a Juris Doctor; and Sophie Pezzutto, an Asian Studies Honours student.

Did you ever find it difficult being LGBT+ on campus? RG: I’d planned to be open about my sexuality upon leaving high school and entering university however this was a bit difficult at first. A portion of people from my old school went to UWA, so I felt that being open would mean risking some of them finding out. There was always that constant ‘fear’ that somebody would find out and I’d be outed to everyone. While I don’t have those inhibitions anymore, I still have to constantly monitor myself to make sure that nothing I do with the LGBT+ community on campus makes it onto my Facebook page. I’m still not out to my family, so I’m still a bit paranoid they’ll find out before I have the chance to tell them myself, and this makes being LGBT+ on campus somewhat difficult sometimes (i.e. avoiding being in photos for the own Department I represent). SK: Not really. You don’t come on campus to declare: “I’m gay”. People don’t really know until you say something, or they get to know you a bit better and they find out that way. I think among peers of our age level it’s fine. Usually it’s the older generations – people working in admin, some lecturers – where you get a bit of an awkward vibe. Generally you avoid them. You don’t want to have to have that conversation; it’s not your job to change their thinking. Unless it directly impacts you, you circumnavigate it. I mean, handing in assignments has nothing to do with your sexuality. SP: To be honest, never. I find campus one of the most accommodating places to be and ‘just be’. The concentration of educated and open-minded people makes a huge difference in comparison to when I have to do my grocery shopping or when I’m out in Northbridge for dinner and drinks, trying to dodge alcoholimpaired people. In a way, transitioning has made me love and appreciate university and what it stands for more than ever. It is also testimony to how important creating LGBT+ inclusive spaces is, be it in the workplace or at uni – individuals will flourish and thus reach their full potential. What are some of the positive responses you’ve had? SP: I am exceptionally lucky. Essentially all my friends have been supportive (or have at least never said anything negative). The greatest experiences I have had have been with my female friends. It is like I have joined the club – with all its ups and downs (the downs of which I have been repeatedly warned of!).

I have had emails from friends and relatives whom I had not spoken to in years, saying the most heartfelt and supportive things. One email which I will never forget was from an aunt, whom I had not always been particularly close with. She sent me a message with a quote from e. e. cummings: “To be nobody but yourself – in a world, which is doing its best night and day to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting”. I printed it out and have it hanging over my desk.

Do you think the campus needs to do more to be inclusive of LGBT+ students and if so, what? SK: It’s a bit of a strange issue. At Curtin – I was finishing off a PhD there – there are just rainbow flags everywhere. There’s a giant flag when you’re walking towards the lunch area, painted on the floor; it’s just this permanent fixture of the Rainbow Flag. Their Vice Chancellor will always say ‘Happy Pride Day’, and talk about all kinds of inclusion rights, rather than just gay rights. Whereas here you get this conservative ‘Group of Eight’ vibe. You feel that when you move into the upper echelons of UWA you probably w o n ’ t be represented or heard properly. UWA is consistently recognised as a top ten LGBT+ employer – however, so many staff may feel differently. SP: I think the university needs to be more vocal and clear of its support of LGBT+ identity. As important as policies are, it cannot simply be a policy hidden amongst the variety of HR policies. Specifically this means being an open supporter of LGBT+ events such as the Guild’s UWA Pride Week, held in September for instance. It is important to clearly show to society that ‘yes, this is a place where you can thrive and be yourself’ and this in turn will attract more students. What resources/communities did you find helpful during your time of transitioning and since?

PERTH FACT POKEMON GO IS JUST TINDER BEING CLEVER

RG: The Pride Department. Seeing other people be so confident about themselves and talk openly about being LGBT+ and other topics helped me be able to express myself more within the Department, and then in the wider university environment. I became so comfortable with who I am as a person that it’s just normal for me to express it now, and I eventually even became one of the Pride Officers. The people I met through the Pride Department also helped me to work through nonLGBT+ related issues that I was going through during the transitioning period from secondary school to university. SP: The biggest support I have had has been from the Equity and Diversity Office here at UWA. The annual events which they organise, such as the Isabelle Lake Memorial Lecture or events during UWA Pride Week, have been absolutely essential for me in meeting new people and feeling like I belong to something. I have to give credit especially to [English and Cultural Studies Research Fellow and LGBT Study Coordinator] Duc Dau, whose dedication in engaging the university with LGBT+ matters has been inspirational also for myself.

Have you ever hidden your LGBT+ status on campus? RG: It depends how you define ‘hidden’. I don’t actively go out of my way to hide it; I participate in Pride Department events that are visible to all students and answer honestly anyone who asks me about my sexuality. However, I have never chosen to reveal my LGBT+ status in tutorials and nobody has ever asked me about it (if anyone ever did ask me, I would probably lie and say I was straight, to be honest). It’s no reflection on my tutors or tutorial groups, it’s just that I’m still a little bit paranoid about tutors finding out and my grades being impacted if they’re homophobic. SK: No – I don’t think we feel we need to advertise or hide it. If you’re asked, you feel you can honestly answer. But it’s not like straight people come up to us and say “By the way, I’m straight. I was hiding that for a little bit”. SP: Transitioning can be a somewhat awkward process, in that unlike with one’s sexuality, ‘coming out’ as trans is simply one aspect of a prolonged process of very visible change. It can get very awkward at the beginning when one decides to transition – in my case – when the hair grows longer, the wardrobe and physique change. When does one actually say something? It is something I have been trying to figure out myself. I would say I never had to explicitly hide it, but I also have not made it per se official. I am in that awkward in-between stage, which really is also about embracing my queer identity and not having to

fit into a neat category of ‘male’ and ‘female’. The fact that I have not had to explicitly hide it is probably testimony to the reality that it simply did not matter whether I was LGBT+ or not. Do you feel that being LGBT+ is regarded as still ‘relevant’ by society at large and the media, given how much technologies (such as hook-up apps) and increased awareness have altered the queer scene? RG: I think a lot of society views being LGBT+ as ‘the in thing’ now, like it’s just the newest ‘fad’ that will go away eventually. For example, I’ve heard a lot of people (particularly my parents) say that “Everyone’s either gay or bisexual nowadays!”. It’s like they view it as a thing that everyone does just because it’s what everyone else is doing. Whereas in reality, sexuality and gender identity are parts of who a person is. SP: In a perfect world, the label ‘being LGBT+’ would not be necessary. In a perfect world there would be no categories and there would simply be other people living other lives. But that is not the reality. All too frequently being LGBT+ is recognised and respected (which is the first step), but still regarded as ‘unnatural’ or ‘weird’, despite us being around since the earliest recordings of human history, throughout cultures across the globe. The greatest challenge, which we face today besides the legal recognition of a variety of matters, is social. It is in people’s minds. Together, as a bloc, the LGBT+ community has been quite successful in creating an identity that has managed to foster a feeling of belonging for those who are made to feel ‘different’. Together the LBGT+ community has achieved increased visibility amongst mainstream society and successfully fought for legal and social recognition, though there are still basic rights such as marriage equality which we have not yet been granted. As a community we are by no means done yet and thus LGBT+ is in my view still very much relevant. There are plenty of people who still view us as inherently ‘different’ and there is still a lot to do from a legal and policy point of view. It is all heading in the right direction though, which makes me extremely hopeful; but we as a society still have a lot of homework to do.

These responses were first published individually online – a condensed and compiled version appears here. Not long after they went up, the queer community was targeted in a mass shooting in a gay Orlando nightclub, where 49 lives were lost and many injured. With a will to demonstrate UWA’s solidarity with the community and a clear stance against such hate crimes, the Pride Department and Pelican wrote to the Vice-Chancellor requesting the Pride Flag be raised half-mast. The request was declined. The next day, the Guild chose to hoist their own Rainbow Flag on the crumbling stones of their main building. They also committed to advocating for up to two more flag poles to be installed at the front of campus.

PERTH FACT POKEMON GO IS JUST THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION BEING CLEVER

WORDS BY JANEY HAKANSON ART BY SHANNON LIVELY (SHLIVES)

ustralia is a nation with a history of agriculture as an integral part of our economy. Many of us were raised to believe that our country rides on a sheep’s back; that we need these woolly ruminants for stability and prosperity. We know that we also have a lot of other active industries, such as mining and technology and scientific research and development. But this idea that all the empty space in-between the cities is full of wiry-haired old dudes who named all their cows after flowers and cry when they ‘have to’ slaughter and eat them, still pervades in our collective consciousness. The truth is more complex. To cut a long ethics and economics argument short, let’s assume that we are going to keep animal agriculture as part of our economy. We know that we as humans have rights, and specifically as workers we have rights. We have independent ombudsmen and unions, and rallies and strikes, and we can speak up for ourselves or have others do it on our behalf. This makes things fair. Our employers want to make a profit, and we want to be treated fairly. So we have negotiations and we strike a balance. There are different definitions for what that balance is, and that’s why we pay more for Oxfam goods than we do for Red Dot ones. In the non-human animal industry, these non-human animals are also given some protections. The RSPCA uses the notion of five freedoms to define animal welfare. These state that all animals have the right to: (1) freedom from hunger and thirst, (2) freedom from discomfort, meaning shelter and resting area, (3) freedom from pain, injury or disease, (4) freedom to express normal behaviour, meaning physical space and other animals of their species, and (5) freedom from fear and distress, meaning avoidance of mental suffering. You can see that these are fairly broad and open to interpretation. There are more specific rules set out for animal agriculture, which dictate to animal production workers things like how big a sow stall must be, how often transported

livestock must be put to water, and how a cow must be stunned before slaughter. So these two situations sound similar. Employees have rights, which relate to their welfare. Non-human animals do not have rights (there’s no nonhuman rights convention or non-human United Nations), but they do have some rules to give them a certain standard of welfare. The big difference is, we as employees have a voice to fight for our rights, whereas animal’s don’t. There are certain things we do understand about them however – such as the volumes of science-backed proof they suffer just as we do. But because we view other species as having lower value to ourselves, we ignore this. The closest animals get to having rights would be an animal welfare group discussing animal production rules with the industry. We have that, right? Wrong. Old mate Tony Abbott got rid of all that. In 2013 the Abbott led Federal Government successfully eliminated the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy, the Advisory Committee for the Strategy, the animal welfare subdivision within Department of Agriculture, and the Live Animal Export Trade Improved Animal Welfare program. Every single federal animal protection system and communication avenue was removed. We have none. (Facebook k e y b o a r d activism does not quite carry the same weight, but I’m glad that you feel you have achieved something by sharing a post about the Yulin Dog Meat Festival with a frowny face.)

industry on behalf of the cattle, don’t be fooled. The only people calling anyone will be myself and other activists trying to get our local MPs to listen to us. And our voices will be drowned out by the voices of all the farmers who say that they rely on live export to stay in business. Whose voice do you think evokes more sympathy? The fact there is no legal independent voice for these animals means that the only legal voice is from within the opposition. The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources is the department responsible for animal welfare legislation, and it has now shifted the responsibility for enforcing this onto state and territory governments. When the people who are supposed to stop animal welfare abuse are the same people who are making money from animal agriculture – wait, can you smell something? I can. I smell the giant rotting filth that is the epic conflict of interest in the room. When the government makes a lot of money from taxes from animal production and export, that’s a pretty big vested interest. When the government is voted in by the farmers who work in animal production – that’s a super large vested interest. So when Vietnamese abattoir workers ignore the

So when you see stories on the ABC about the abhorrent slaughter of our live-exported cattle by up to nine blows to the head with a sledgehammer, and you want to know who will be making phone calls to the cattle

PERTH FACT POKEMON GO IS JUST A VAST DATA COLLECTION NETWORK CONSPIRACY RUN BY THE CIA

rules about how to humanely slaughter (oxymoron check) cattle, we come back to the same issue: who does government listen to? Unfortunately, I don’t have much to offer anyone upset by this article. Enforcing animal welfare rules will cut the profit we make from animal production – this is accepted, obvious and inevitable. Flip the argument, and you find too that in human-labour industries, businesses do lose immense sums because they implement and enforce labour welfare standards. Think of how much they could save (and in certain workplaces, do save) if they didn’t invest in amenities like airconditioning, or if they made workers perform menial, repetitive tasks without reprieve in dark tiny cubicles from dawn to dusk. And before anyone responds to this with the rote anthropocentric argument so frustratingly wheeled out to trivialise animal welfare activists: “Think of all the human suffering in the world! Why don’t you put your own species first?” – let me put this straight. That kind of position is like saying it’s silly and misguided to care about the collapse of a Science building because you’re an Arts student, and your own building is looking a bit shabby. And besides – fighting to reduce the suffering of any living thing is always a priority. It’s unlikely the double standards between human and non-human animal rights are ever going to fully equalise – but the least we can do is endeavour to prevent the kind of gross suffering that is carried out for the sake of turning over a marginally better profit. So, if you are upset, and you care about the welfare of non-human animals – please. Let your local politicians know. Tell them you will not vote for them unless they take an active stance on animal welfare. The only voice they have is ours.

You are the cause and she, the effect. She is the consequence to your actions. An annoying splinter in your side. Vomiting nothing but the truth, An annoying little prickle, Ruining your great sex story for your friends. The scratch marks on your back, Not a funny little kink, But a mark of a girl, Fighting for her freedom. The tear stains on her face, The next morning, Not from funny jokes, But smudged make up, the only sign As a soul was broken. The red scars on her arms, Not from a chemical imbalance, But from a boy she once trusted, From a night she has nightmares over, One she can’t seem to forget. From a night where consent was a foreign word, And she lay still, Found her faith again, talking to a long lost friend, Praying it would soon end. But this is to you. You tried to break her, Tried to make her body your own, A thief. Sanity stolen. But she will no longer be broken, Will let her scars heal, Until she is whole again And her body is once again, Only Her own. - CH

For more information:

alwa.org.au

A R T B Y T AY L O R B R O

animaljusticeparty.org

voiceless.org.au

PERTH FACT POKEMON GO IS JUST A DUMB GAME PLAYING OFF MILLENNIALS' NOSTALGIA

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY FROTHIES WORDS BY MADDISON HOWARD ART BY TESS BURY

plastic induced fatalities? And what, really, is the need for all this plastic in the first place?

Plastic is popular because of its convenience, inexpensiveness and accessibility as an economical material. This means that people world-wide are relying heavily on it and disposing of it thoughtlessly (because really, who in our timepoor society needs to reuse a water bottle that only cost 50c wholesale?). Thoughtless disposal of plastic leads to environmental crises such as the Great Pacific Garbage Vortex, which arise mostly from the material’s lamentable chemical properties. When plastic is submerged in water it fails to dissolve or decompose as other substances might. Instead, through abrasion and photodegradation processes, it gradually breaks into smaller micro-sized copies of its original self, making it more efficient for transport and easier to swallow. Whilst mobile marine creatures are perhaps the most affected by quick-moving waterborne plastics that travel by ocean currents or surface winds, all marine life are susceptible to the effects of plastic ingestion whether directly, or indirectly through predation.

Salt Water Brewery, a forward-thinking US business has proposed an answer (albeit a minor answer) to the ocean’s plastic problem, with the development of biodegradable, compostable, edible beer rings. The beer rings, composed of byproducts of the brewing process, are a sustainable, environmentally friendly alternative to a practical problem typically solved with plastic. Such an invention is one of many emerging from the rapidly growing sustainable development sector. This new branch of innovative technology has seen the creation of lamps that grow plants in window-less places, ‘Lifestraws’ that make dirty water safe to drink, and everything in between. In beer innovation alone, several other craft breweries have boarded the train to ‘greener’ product manufacturing. Yards Brewing Company in Philadelphia uses cardboard packaging certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, whilst Canadian Steam Whistle Brewery designs and produces its own glass bottles that can be reused up to 35 times. Many brewing companies in America are now adopting sustainable practices that not only increase individual profits, but also reduce water and grain wastage, providing brews that are increasingly environmentally considerate. At risk of sounding like my grandparents, the capacity for future technological advancements to change the world is remarkable. That’s not to undermine, however, the place of the humble reusable supermarket bag as an everyday step towards living more sustainably.

ou know those plastic rings that hold your favourite alcoholic brews together in a convenient, easily manageable six pack? Well it turns out that like most other plastic commodities, they aren’t so convenient or easily manageable for the environment. This is particularly the case for a plethora of marine creatures which seem to have an unfortunate knack for getting their fins and jaws caught in unidentifiable plastic objects. In fact, UNESCO’s ocean department estimates that over 100,000 marine mammals die from causes related to their increasingly plastic-strewn habitats annually.

Over the last decade the detrimental impact of plastic on our environment has become a well-documented and widelyrecognised issue. Yet whilst sound solutions have been proposed to reduce our plastic production and output, with considerable research undertaken to determine the amount and source of plastic in the ocean, there is seemingly little evidence of actual plastic-reducing action in the environmental statistics. Contrarily, the Australian Marine Conservation Society reports that Australians continue to buy approximately 600 million L of plastic bottled water annually. Further research published in the Science journal in 2015 estimated that between 192 coastal countries studied, 275 million metric tons of plastic waste had been generated, with 4.8-12.7 million metric tons of that plastic entering the ocean. Such dismal statistics pose big questions: how can we do more to save our marine ecosystems from

Have you had any plant problems lately? Are you curious about something you saw in someone’s garden? Or do you have something exciting to share with us? Send your questions, photos and thoughts to pelican@guild.uwa.edu.au!

PERTH FACT 5,000 RATTATAS HAVE BEEN CHARGED WITH TRESPASSING BY WA POLICE

POLITICS

moking rates in Australia have been cut in half since 1980. Increases in excise taxes, introducing plain packaging and restricting smoking in certain public areas has been hugely successful. It is impossible to mount an argument refuting smoking’s negative health effects. Reductions in smoking rates are seen as beneficial for the longevity of a society, reducing healthcare costs and creating a healthier and more productive labour force. However is it reasonable to charge $40 for a packet of cigarettes? Are these growing taxes imposing on us a decision that we can make for ourselves? One of the fundamental pillars of any pro tobacco tax argument is the burden smokers place on the healthcare system. The federal Department of Health clearly states on its website that the overall economic costs of smoking are $31.5 billion per year. These estimates are based on a 2005 paper on the costs of smoking to the Australian economy written by Collins & Lapsley. The paper estimates tobacco related healthcare costs to be $318.4 million per year. That means that healthcare costs make up only 1% of the total $31.5 billion and only 4.7% of total tobacco tax revenue in 2004/2005. Essentially, less than 5% of revenue from the tobacco excise tax is needed to cover all healthcare costs attributable to smoking.

WORDS BY LUKE TREVENEN ART BY DANYON BURGE

absenteeism were linked to $779.6 million in costs, while alcohol accrued $367.9 million. In other words, the taxes suggest that someone is twice as likely to call in sick on account of smoking compared to having a hangover; a dubious allegation. Other obvious costs, such as potential fires, preventative measures (including plain packaging) and anti-smoking campaigns are also important and considerable costs. What is clear is that smokers are paying more than their addiction costs society. Is this fair?

It would be naïve to think smoking only brings about costs to state healthcare. Any cost to society should be included in the tax. However it is important that we do not flagrantly overestimate these costs. Using the same 2005 paper, an inclusion in the costs is $9.156 billion lost taxes due to premature death. For economic analysis, its inclusion can serve some purpose for governments to manage the changing age demographics of a population.

This question can be boiled down to one’s right to choose what they consume. If we believe ourselves to be a country embracing liberal values such as the freedom of expression, association, religion and sexuality, it makes it extremely tough to accept the latest tobacco excise increase. To accept it is to condemn the lifestyle choices of smokers. One of the fundamental principles a liberal society is responsible for upholding is the right to do whatever you like, so long as it does not harm another. Its interpretation is absolute, and any efforts to undermine or take away an unalienable right are considered incredibly dangerous by those who value a free society first and foremost.

Tangible costs also include the actual costs of tobacco products, which makes up around $7.5 billion of the tangible cost component. This is not a knock-on effect from smoking; it is a cost before someone has even inhaled a cigarette. What caught my eye were the costs due to absenteeism at work. Tobacco related cases of

While secondhand smoke may expose non-smokers to the dirty habits of smokers, this argument is becoming weaker and weaker as the last few decades have seen huge restrictions in where you can smoke, even within public outdoor areas. Arguments for the government’s role to legislate to protect

its own population against smoking are also lacking. For the most part, smokers are aware of the harmful health effects smoking poses, some more than others. Addiction is certainly a consideration, especially in the context of prevention. However in encouraging people to not smoke or to reduce their smoking habits, it punishes them financially and redistributes wealth from smokers to non-smokers. Establishing that tobacco tax collections are used for revenue-raising is not so much the difficult task. It is an easy tax – on the surface it is very difficult to argue against. Its net economic benefit to society is unquestionable. However where the problem lies is primarily with a person’s freedom to make their own choices. Making information available on the risks of smoking, educating kids at a young age and banning smoking in certain public areas are all fantastic ways to better inform a society and protect those who choose not to smoke (whose rights must also be protected). Informing a society of the empirical evidence of the dangers of smoking allows individuals to make more informed choices. However this choice should be unencumbered by taxes beyond the cost smoking imposes on a society. If these taxes are greater than the costs, money is being distributed away from smokers to non-smokers unfairly. Some evidence suggests this is not always regressive in nature; however lower income earners who continue to smoke can exacerbate entrenched disadvantage, especially within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, of whom 43% and 39% smoke respectively. Smoking is a bad habit and has obvious costs to the individual and society. Yet as adult humans we should be able to make a free choice on whether to smoke or not. Taxes should be levied on tobacco to the point that they equal costs to society, which includes the costs of distributing information on smoking’s negative effects. Smokers, however, are getting unfairly slogged at the cost of freedom.

PERTH FACT BAKE ON ME’ IS BOTH A HIT SINGLE BY PERTH FOODIE BOY BAND UH-HUH AND A SWEDISH NUDE COOKING SHOW

WORDS BY HARRY PETER SANDERSON ART BY NATHAN SHAW

y first interview is with a couple who I meet in a coffee store. David works as an electrician, and supports Fulham. His wife Samantha (who I am invited to call Sam) is a town planner. They must both be around 50. David didn’t vote in the referendum, “but does have some views on the outcome”. “As long as it’s run well, we’ll be alright – but I just don’t know if they have it in them. Cameron seemed to be up to the job, but now he’s fallen off, I’m not sure who else can see it through.” He sighs, and opens a large copy of The Times. I ask Sam her preference, and she tells me that like her husband, she did not vote. She also tell me that they have a daughter around my age. “Her name is Sophia!” she smiles. I don’t know how to respond. I ask David who he thinks will be the next Prime Minister. “Boris has been around for a long time, and I think people trust him. It would be a shame to see him miss out. That Farage [here pronounced to rhyme with garage [rhymed with marriage, rather than mirage]] is a nasty piece of work.” Not long after this conversation, on June 30, Boris Johnson surprised most by ruling himself out of the race for conservative party leadership. A few days later, Farage – the second, UKIP horseman – did so too. “Sophia is about to begin studying medicine,” Samantha interjects, and this bests me for a moment. Samantha must sense my brief pause, because she immediately pulls out her iPhone and starts showing me pictures of her daughter, who is objectively very good looking. By the third picture, it is clear she is in fact too good looking, and I try to distract Sam by pushing on with talk of immigration. “Well,” begins David, “it all seems to concern terrorism, but I don’t see how leaving the EU will stop that to any good extent. We need to focus on finding them where they live. We got that bin liner, didn't we? Black bin liner?” “Bin Laden,” Samantha offers, still looking down at her phone. “Bin Laden. We got him, that was great. We need to keep hitting them there, rather than trying to stop them moving around Europe.” I’m about to pursue this further when Samantha remounts her offensive, showing another photo of Sophia, this time standing in a garden with a glass of champagne, wearing the most charming smile I have ever seen. I avert my eyes. “We have friends who run a pub in Greece, but I think they’ll be able to move around still,” muses David, crinkling his paper. “I’ll have to see, though.” “She starts study in September!” says Sam, brandishing more photos. I mumble that one year ago I dated a girl who went on to study medicine, but I don’t think she hears me. “She’s single, too!” I make one last attempt at keeping the conversation on track: “Won’t it be more difficult for her to move around Europe if she wants to

study abroad?” “Oh, I don’t know – I don’t think so. Would you like her Facebook address? She could send it to me.” I consider, but ultimately decline, and say a hurried goodbye. I begin to stroll through a nearby park. The day is hot, and I stop to by an ice-cream cone from a vendor. I take Bavarian chocolate, and continue walking. Minutes later I am solicited by a man pedalling church pamphlets and bibles, and wearing a green shirt with black lettering that reads ‘THE END IS NEAR’. I ask him about the BREXIT result and, like David, he didn’t vote, but thinks Britain should have REMAINed. He is careful to footnote this opinion with the point that it doesn’t matter anyway. I ask why, and he reminds me that because of overwhelming human sin and growing spiritual indifference, Everything is coming to an End. I ask him if this is the case for London exclusively, and he tells me it will be the whole world. “For the whole of Europe, then?” “Yes.” “Croatia?” “Yes.” “Estonia?” “Yes.” “Luxembourg?” He nods quickly and furrows his brow: “Oh yes.” “Slovakia and Slovenia?” “Yes.” I take one of his bibles and he smiles. “Stay awake!” he commands. “And enjoy that ice-cream!” I do. I continue walking, and pass through some Botanical Gardens. There is a girl on a white wooden bench reading A Wanderer Plays on Muted String by Knut Hamsun. She looks Spanish, or perhaps Maltese. I later find out she is of Portuguese descent, though born and raised in Britain. We talk for some time, and she tells me she is studying Psychology and Law. Glad to get a student’s perspective, I broach the subject of BREXIT after an appropriate amount of small talk. “To me, it all comes down to immigration, which is why I voted LEAVE. People don’t see it, but the EU is incredibly weak right now. There’s too much ease of movement.” I express some concern as to the situation of the eastern asylum seekers, which evokes little pathos. “Of course we should let some of them in if they legitimately need help, but we do need to be more careful. Many if not most of them don’t want to participate in our society. Once they’re here, they don’t do anything.”

PERTH FACT TOMAS FORD’S HYPE MAN IS PRETTY HOT #JUSTSAYIN

“It’s exactly what happened in Rome – Valens let the Visigoths in, and they ended up burning the place to the ground.” “Um –” “The worst part is, you’re not really allowed to say anything. Have you read any Brendan O’Neill?” “No,” I lie. “He’s excellent.” I shift the conversation to talk of the horse-drawn carriages which follow in a procession around the gardens, mostly carrying tourists. The horses all look at the ground while they plod along, but don’t seem unhappy. Farther away, one has broken off from the path and walked across the grass, where it now slowly circles a great bronze statue of Winston Churchill. Its driver pulls at the reigns furiously to try and get it back on track, to no avail. She interrupts the scene with more talk of immigration. “Have you seen any speeches by Milo Yiannopoulos?” she asks. “I don’t think so,” I lie. “You should.” “I will,” I lie again. I think of telling her that one year ago I dated a girl who went on to study medicine, to perhaps impress her, but decide against it. “How is the book?” I ask. “Hmm?” I gesture to her hands. “Oh,” she smiles, “yes.” My next interview is with an elderly Swedish lady named Gretta, who reminds me of my own grandmother, and is one of the most excellent human beings I have ever met. Gretta had voted REMAIN. “It seemed a bit sensible, and it is what the young people wanted. Scandinavia is good outside of the EU, but it is a very different places, with different economies. I do not think this will be a good idea for England, no.” These words are spoken warmly, and with thought. It was only in hearing them that I realised all my previous interviewees – David and Samantha, the bible salesman, the garden student – had seemed to circle around their conclusions when they spoke, as if being pulled into some invisible centre. Gretta is far more direct: “I think they who voted LEAVE do not know what they are going to do now.” The conversation drifts to other things. She enjoys Belgian beer, is sympathetic to the Syrian cause, and agrees Italian people are too loud. Romanian shortbread is an

underrated delicacy, suicide rates are too high in Hungary, and Boris Johnson is “a very dangerous man indeed”.

POLITICS

“Oh.”

“Europe must be kept open, because it is a place of openness. It is about freedom and leisure. This–” she spread out her arms “– is the way it should be at your age. Surrounded by academics and merrymakers, drinking champagne and listening to music!” We were the only three people in the cafe, and it was almost completely silent. That night, I find myself standing outside a bar in east London listening to Allen, an investment banker, who has taken a special interest in me. He is a large man with a rugged flamboyance about him. He is in possession of an excellent baritone voice, and though his words are affected by the same circling as the others, he seems to deliver them with somewhat more confidence. Allen is the type of man to call a garden implement a garden implement. At some point in the night I mention he would have made a good opera singer. He is holding court on BREXIT outside the bar, at my request and with little filigree. He is pragmatic; though he had voted REMAIN, he doesn’t see it as the end of the world. “We’ll have to wait and see, won’t we. There’s no reason to be alarmed at what is happening now economically – that will all blow over. It’s how things are managed in the long term, whether we can keep London as a financial centre.” He addresses all this to his pint of Guinness, which he holds resting flat on his outstretched palm, his fingers curled up to touch the sides, like an actor might hold a skull. “There’s no reason to be alarmist; we’ve always been safe here. People are acting like we’re not part of Europe anymore. Absolutely mental, of course. Paris is still a flight away, so is Prague. Even Bulgaria – if that’s your sort of thing.” I don’t ask him what he means. Allen puts down his Guinness in order to light a large Polish cigar. Once it is going nicely, he picks up his glass, and in a moment of spontaneous passion (which is very Allen) throws back his head and exclaims “To the EU!” His voice rings deep, and the crowded outside section of the bar echoes the cheers. They raise their glasses in unison, though do so slowly, like a group of soldiers might raise a tattered flag. Allen winks at me, and when he puts his beer back down it catches the edge of a paper coaster which is sent over the edge of the table. It bounces off one of the legs, under the rope demarcating the outside area, and begins a racing roll over the cobblestones, down the hill away from the bar. Eventually, it reaches a cross-street, and (almost imperceivable now) rolls under a fence and into a bush, lost forever. All the while my companion follows its journey wearing an expression that is a curious mix of bewilderment and optimism. It seems to sum the whole thing up.

PERTH FACT IN 2061, DUE TO OUR EVOLVING LANGUAGE, PELICAN WILL BE PRONOUNCED ‘PEARL CAN’

WHO'S AFRAID OF HENRY GEORGE?

THE ADVANTAGES OF A LAND VALUE TAX WORDS BY MARK ACEBO ART BY DANYON BURGE

ncome inequality has been a hot topic among the populace recently. People have been rightly asking why, in this age of ever-powerful computers, there are still men, women and children starving to death or unable to meet their needs. Many people blame the free market for its faults in exacerbating the wealth gap. What if instead of the free market, it is the government that reinforces the wealth gap? Consider Marisa’s case. Marisa was born into poverty, and her parents never finished high school because they had to work to survive. Apart from a small house and an old car, they own nothing. Marisa knows that to escape the vicious cycle of poverty she has to work until she is in a better financial position compared to her parents. However, the government takes a substantial portion of her salary, depriving her of social mobility. Let’s now look at Michael. Michael is wealthy and derives his income not from working, but from his ownership of land and property. Recently, Michael has purchased land worth $500,000, not because he wants to develop it, but because he estimates that it will be worth $2 million in seven years, netting him a tidy profit of $1.5 million without him working at all. Maybe we should tax his land instead. The Land Value Tax (LVT) is not a novel idea. It has been around in France since the 17th century, but was popularised by American economist Henry George in his seminal book, Progress and Poverty. George believed that the fruits of your labour are yours to do with as you please, therefore the government should not tax it. The land which you used to produce their labour however does not belong to anyone; it belongs to the community. Therefore, you must pay rent to the community for allowing you to use it. The rent disregards everything on top of the land and only looks at its unimproved market value. George defined ‘land’ in economic terms, which includes mineral deposits, radio frequencies, and other natural features of the land.

The total 2015 land value in Australia was $4.7 trillion, while the government estimates that it will spend $434.5 billion in 201516. To raise that money, you will have to divide the total land value by government spending. Therefore, to levy $434.4 billion, Australians must pay around 5.47% in land value taxes. Joseph Stiglitz has noted that beneficial investments in public goods will increase overall land rents by at least as much as the investments cost. Stiglitz’s research means that land value taxes are so efficient that it becomes a one-size-fits-all solution to revenue. What can the government do with land taxes? It can spend the money on whatever society deems necessary. More schools, hospitals, or perhaps modernising the army. It can even cut welfare programs substantially and replace it with a yearly unconditional cash transfer for every citizen over the age of 18. With the vast gap between the average and Indigenous Australian, a basic income could go some way in remedying many of the problems. If that reads like a better form of socialism to you, then you can see 20/20. Of course, there are drawbacks. Land prices might plummet, and the government may need to compensate landowners partially as a political sacrifice. The government will need to adjust land prices every year to account for market changes. As George has said, poverty is the cause for nine-tenths of human misery. A radical shift in how we view taxation can improve the lives of the marginalised. Tolstoy, Einstein, Churchill, Sun Yat-sen and countless other prominent men and women have all believed in the power of the land value tax to change society and reduce the worst excesses of inequality. A move in implementing the LVT is a step in the right direction. By recognising that the community shares the land with each other, we can finally fulfil humanity’s original destiny as stewards of the planet.

The LVT’s benefits read like a politician’s Christmas wish list. It is a progressive tax because the burden falls on the wealthy, as they own more properties. It forces landowners to use their land to add value to society, as it prevents land hoarding and rewards the people that want to improve the land. As a result, it discourages land speculation, which means more people can afford housing and therefore reduces urban sprawl. It is nearly impossible to evade; one cannot make land disappear somewhere in Bermuda. LVT would not just benefit politicians. The Henry Report has estimated that Australians pay 125 taxes every year. An LVT would make tax simpler and easier to understand. It is transparent and reduces excessive government spending. Try convincing the average Australian to pay a high land tax to subsidise a politician’s helicopter ride.

PERTH FACT CAN WE JUST HAVE EVERYONE WHO VOTED ONE NATION STAND IN A KEBAB LINE FOREVER?

POLITICS

WORDS BY DIANA BATCHELOR ART BY HAYDEN DALZIEL

or me, Oprah’s endorsement of Barack Obama during the 2008 election campaign was monumental because of the way she transcended daytime television to endorse a political figure. Oprah, an immensely influential African American woman, had secured millions of white votes for an African American presidential candidate. This was the dawning of a new era, an era where racism would die and in its place compassion amongst individuals would bloom…right? The rise of Donald Trump served to question everything I thought I knew about American politics or even just American constituents in general. My naïve prediction in 2008 was that the world was becoming a more compassionate place. But from the working class Americans who rant about their jobs being outsourced to China to the Bernie Sanders supporters who vow never to vote for a PAC funded Hillary, Trump’s supporters seem to all have one thing in common: anger. The sense of hope that sprung in 2008 has dried up. This year, anger is the blood coursing through the veins of the presidential election. So why are Americans so angry? If you’re dumb enough to use the words ‘income’ and ‘inequality’ in the same sentence don’t be surprised with the flood of irate political opinions you may get thrown back at you. Also, don’t try redeeming yourself by optimistically paraphrasing Obama’s 2008 inaugural address, “It doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, rich, poor, gay or straight, you can make it in America if you’re willing to try”, unless you want to get ‘boos’ and food hurled in your direction. In the last twenty years the top 5% of Americans have seen their average family income grow by $100,000 per annum. The top 50% of Americans have seen their income grow by less than $20,000. This disparity has only increased during President Obama’s presidency and is expected to grow worse with time. A worrying trend suggests that inherited status, not merit, determines individual success. Income equality is getting worse. Americans now feel Obama’s compassionate agenda in 2008 has turned out to be nothing but a pile of empty promises. Obama’s failings and, let’s not forget, Bill’s infidelity, haunt Hillary as she continues to desperately fling

everything she’s got at this election. The problem is she has a lot to fling – and by that I mean money. Hillary is a millionaire who is funded by the very people who are profiting from the increases in income inequality. Common sense would tell you that this is not a person passionate about reversing the increasing polarisation between the haves and the have-nots in America. Obama’s decision in 2009 to bailout big banks confirmed the notion that politicians represented billion dollar companies, not constituents. Even the middle class and upper middle class, who lost their savings and jobs as a consequence of the Global Financial Crisis, were given no respite from the man they had voted for just a year earlier. Anger towards those ‘fat cats in Washington’ has created a breeding ground for the rise of Donald Trump. Feeling abandoned and frustrated, 20% of Bernie Sanders supporters now pledge their votes to Trump. This is because, just like Sanders, Trump promises voters something that Hillary hasn’t: change. To voters, Hillary represents a predictable trajectory of income inequality getting worse in the coming years. She is the convenient scapegoat for Americans who have lost their jobs because the factory they work at has outsourced them to China, or have seen immigrants ‘steal’ their jobs for less pay. 42,000 factories have been shut down since President Obama’s inauguration in 2008 and working class Americans are

hurting and vexed. To angry Americans, Trump is refreshing and relatable. To them, Trump has the answer. During a rally in Indiana, Trump vowed to place high tariffs on Chinese imports if he were to become president. “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country,” he declared to a wildly supportive audience. As far as I can see, economic exchange between China and the US has always been consensual, with Americans buying up cheap Chinese goods for nearly fifty years now. Yet Trump’s decision to promote a simplified approach to what many Americans feel are unintelligible economic problems succeeds in captivating even the most disinterested of constituents. With his unpredictability and political incorrectness, Trump breaks the mould from which past politicians have been cut. Trump doesn’t necessarily provide the answer for the typical American’s financial woes. However, he affirms that Obama has not worked and supports Americans in their ‘right’ to be angry at political incumbents. In doing so, Trump provides voters with one thing. It is the same thing that was the cornerstone of President Obama’s 2008 campaign, and the same thing that Hillary struggles to resuscitate and sustain throughout her campaign. Donald Trump provides angry Americans hope.

PERTH FACT PLEASE COME AND GIVE A TALK AT OUR UNIVERSITY VAN BADHAM

Interview with Lt. Gen. David Morrison INTERVIEW BY SOPHIE HARWOOD AND BRADLEY GRIFFIN

Serving in the army for 36 years, promoted to Chief of Army from 2011-2015, and sitting as current Chair of the Diversity Council Australia, the now-retired Lieutenant General David Morrison holds reputable place amongst the nation’s citizenry as both a highly capable military leader and a champion of human rights. In 2013 he issued a strong video message, taken up virally online, in which he told the Australian armed forces that should they fail to uphold the army’s traditional values of inclusivity and respect – particularly when it comes to behaviour towards women – they could “get out”. For his dedicated and upfront efforts to combat brutish, discriminatory cultures within national workplaces and society, he was awarded Australian of the Year for 2016. Lieutenant General Morrison spoke to Sophie Harwood and Bradley Griffin a few days prior to presenting a free public lecture at UWA, entitled ‘Hearing the Unheard, Seeing the Unseen’, where he put forward the question: “are we the best we can be?”

BG: Can you briefly sum up for us your time in the army? What would you say you gained from that experience? DM: I had the chance to serve a three-decade period with some of the finest Australians I’ll ever meet – men and women who have done extraordinary things overseas and here in Australia in the nation’s name. I learnt a great deal about the idea of ‘service before self’ and service to the nation. I also learnt some selfdiscipline – which when I first joined the army I was in need of. BG: What strategic challenges does the army face in the 21st century and do you think it is prepared to meet them? DM: That is a very good question. It’s pretty complex – why does an army exist under the constitution? Well, to protect the nation globally – and that’s certainly what the history of the Australian Army and the Australian Defence Force shows. We’ve been involved in wars and military operations through the last century because the democratic government has decided that the application of military force is necessary. I think Australia has a judicious use of military force and the service of our men and women has been a credit to the nation.

for creating a more diverse force. And not only for its own sake. The real advantage of diversity is when you get diversity of thinking. You get different views and perspectives, and when you think about it, an army has to outthink its adversary. Why wouldn’t you want the most capable people contributing to the formation of military plans? As I said, the video gained a degree of public notoriety – but for all the right reasons. We tackled some significant issues and we did it in a public way, which I think a public institution like the army needs to do. As a result we certainly increased very significantly the number of women in the army in a pretty short space or time. We appreciated diversity in a way that I don’t think we have been able to before, and are a more capable army as a result.

SH: Most people will have heard, or heard about, the speech you made in 2013. What else do you think you have you done within the army to promote diversity? DM: Oh look, what happened in 2013 got a lot of public notoriety; but it was the work being done by thousands of soldiers and officers in the army that was the real story. We came to realise we were not making the best use of the talent resident in 51% of the Australian population. We weren’t tracking and recruiting and retaining enough women, and we needed to change the stories that we were using – that the army was a place where they could serve and reach their potential. We needed to change our policies around retention, men and women, wanting to leave the army for a brief period of time or a longer period of time, and then looking to come back after they climbed a mountain or had another career or started a family. So we made a lot of policy changes there, and changed the message around how we absolutely insisted that all of our soldiers respected their colleagues, irrespective of their gender or religious beliefs or racial heritage or sexual orientation. I think that – without trying to portray that we’ve reached Camelot, because we haven’t – we made some very important changes

SH: Was there a particular catalyst that made you want to do something about the culture of sexism in the army? DM: I’m speaking at your university when I’m over in Western Australia, and in my talk there is an account of the personal journey I took – not just as a General who is the Chief of the Army but also as a white Anglo-Saxon male. This journey fundamentally changed me. It came as a result of meeting with individuals and hearing stories in a way that I’d not heard them before; seeing issues engendered by other people’s perspectives that I hadn’t seen before. Realising that it was on my watch, during my tenure, that changes needed to be made: that kicked the first pebble down the hill. The real momentum was conducted on the shoulders of thousands of young men and women who had joined the Army and said, “Look we think the time is right for change as well”. So I don’t put too much

PERTH FACT ONE IN EVERY TEN BOAT SHED SANDBAGS IS FILLED WITH COCAINE

POLITICS

emphasis on my own impact, but I certainly had the opportunity as the Chief of the Army to make a contribution. And I am absolutely delighted that I had that chance. BG: You’re pretty humble about your role there. DM: Not falsely so, I can assure you. Of course a leader has to be involved and has to set a tone, there’s no doubt about it. That’s the case for an army or any institution. I was at La Trobe University in Victoria yesterday, speaking to a group of staff and students about issues around respect and trying to counter high levels of sexual violence on our campuses in Australia at the moment. It’s down to leaders, and I had a role to play and hopefully I contributed. But I don’t want to overstate my role. It’s all well and good for someone to decide this is where we should be; but if it’s just one person, nothing is going to change. You have to get a buy-in from, in the army’s case, hundreds and thousands of people; it was their commitment and their willingness to have a go at changing some part of the culture of the organisation that made a lasting impact. BG: Speaking further on diversity and representation, what role would you say the army plays or has played in reconciliation with Aboriginals? DM: The army has been a long-term contributor to giving Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islander men and women the chance to serve the nation in the ranks of the army, and also to develop workplace skills as well as academic qualifications. The army, along with all government organisations, is committed to having I think 2.7% of its workforce as men and women who identify as having Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage. Currently, the army has got relatively large numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who are pilots, our Army Reserve in our Regional Force Surveillance Units in the Pilbara Regiment, NORFORCE in the Northern Territory and the northwest, and the 51st in far north Queensland. I was reading on the ABC website only last week that the Army now has more full-time serving Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander soldiers than at any other time since the Second World War, which is pretty amazing. I think that’s a real testament again to the fantastic work that’s been done by so many men and women of all heritages to create an environment where men and women with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage can look at the Army and say, “Yeah, that’s a place where my service will be valued and recognised”.

country that is egalitarian –and, relative to other societies in the world I think we are. But how do you equate that with the fact that across all of our professions at the moment we have a gender pay gap of 18.8%? In mining and construction it’s close to 40%, in communications and IT it’s over 30%, in academia it’s up near 20%. We need to continually check as a nation that we are giving everyone a chance to shine. My own view, at the age of sixty, is that we don’t. I have been exceptionally privileged in my life, largely as a result of my gender and racial heritage, and the hurdles I’ve been asked to jump have been much shallower than those of many other women and men of non-Anglo Saxon heritage. As a result, we as a nation have squandered some of the talent that we could have harnessed if we simply had less questionable criteria about who gets merit and who doesn’t. BG: This next question is sort of a standard one we ask people we interview. So you know we’re called Pelican Magazine – I was just wondering if you had any interesting stories involving pelicans in general? DM: My wife and I have a family beach house in central Queensland, and we have lots of pelicans up there. Now, we have two dogs and once they get on the beach, they think they own it. So they’re pretty dominant. They’re small terriers and when they were puppies, they took off after a couple of pelicans that must have been about fifteen times their size. These pelicans watched them come for about eighty metres and decided – for reasons only known to the pelicans’ discretion, or the better part of valour – to fly away from these dogs that were all of about six inches high. The two dogs came back with the most self-satisfied canine expressions I’ve ever seen in my life. No pelican was harmed in that story – that I can guarantee.

SH: What do you think needs to change in Australian society to stamp out domestic violence and sexism? DM: Domestic violence is an incredibly complex issue. I was listening to Rosie Batty talking on Radio National about how complex these issues are – from the way we treat each other, to the way police forces respond, to how the judiciary deals with these matters. In my view, gender inequality is one of the major causes of domestic violence and is a feature of contemporary Australia, and has been throughout recorded history since European settlement. We need to look at the opportunities we give to women to live their lives safely; to reach their potential in both a personal and professional sense in a way we don’t currently do. There are some inescapable facts that point to gender inequality. I’ll give you one: we pride ourselves, as Australians, in being a

PERTH FACT ARE YOU GETTING YOUR DOOGS BODY SWAMP-READY?

“What is Cinema?:”= THE REVELATION PERTH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL For ten beautiful days in mid-July, Perth’s sleepy cinema scene turns unexpectedly vibrant with the arrival of the Revelation Perth International Film Festival. Boasting a score of eclectic features, cultural documentaries and Aussie premieres, Rev stands at the fore of boundary-pushing festival programming in Australia. Indeed, this year more than ever, Rev seems intent on pushing outward the very definition of cinema itself: you can see a film comprised of reappropriated YouTube clips (A Crackup at the Race Riots), a concert film (Wacken 3D), a made-for-telly doco (Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie), plenty

AAAAAAAAH! DIR. STEVE ORAM

A documentary-esque critique of modern suburbia and primitive male behaviour is the premise of Steve Oram’s

of fiction-doco hybrids (The Other Side chief amongst them), a parody non-sequel (Dude Bro Party Massacre III) and a film literally titled Notfilm. When Andre Bazin asked ‘What is Cinema?’ in the late 50s, I very much doubt he could have foreseen these radical shifts away from traditional form and medium. Perth is privileged to have Rev — an avant garde festival in a conservative city. Below, Pelican writers review a selection of Rev’s 2016 line-up to help guide you through the chockas festival schedule. Moviegoers, go nuts.

Aaaaaaaah!. This film strips humanity down to its very basics in a humorously satirical fashion, though at times it can be hard to distinguish whether it sits more in the realm of comedy or horror.

Barrett’s performance as the defeated

The humour itself is simple; showing humans at their most primordial, it leaves the audience internally cringing. Interestingly enough, the horror aspect also causes a few ‘aaaaaaaah!’s of a different kind. Simplistic as this conceit is, the performances offered by the cast are anything but. With their dialogue solely reliant on grunts, they expertly convey the unique predicaments of their characters. Most notable is Julian

regain his rightful place in the household.

and solemn patriarch. Only glimpses of Barrett are revealed until the film’s gruesome end, but they are enough to leave the audience hoping to see him

Being a demented cross between a nature documentary and Planet of the Apes, this film is definitely not for everyone. It has the potential to be spiralled into a cult classic by arthouse lovers echoing the question posed by Oram: “What does it mean to be human?” But not much more. 3/5 EMILY WALLIS

NUTS! DIR. PENNY LANE

A “celebration of old weird America”, Nuts! is an amusing documentary that seamlessly blends both fact and fiction, pointedly subverting our expectations of the documentary as an authoritative rendering of truth. Penny Lane’s latest film tells the bizarre story of Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, a Depression-era entrepreneur notorious for inventing a miracle cure for impotency. With a tried and true method of taking the testicular glands of a goat and transplanting them into the scrotum of a man, the film chronicles Brinkley’s subsequent battles with the ‘quack-shaming’ pharmaceutical industry, portraying him as an ingenious louse with a cartoonish resourcefulness to rival that of Bugs Bunny. Also chronicling the doctor’s accidental inventions of the infomercial, the sound-car and junk mail, Nuts! may sound like just another quirky-yet-meaningless doco found on SBS or Netflix — the kinda thing you watch for 15 minutes and then find something better to do. A ‘so what’ factor of aimlessness does pervade the first half of the film and, at its worst, it can feel like an amateur mockumentary made by high schoolers. Immediately apparent is its collage-like visual aesthetic, with the

story primarily told through dramatic scenes of 2D animation which frequently change in style and quality. The effect can be disorientating, but it maintains a spontaneous and kinetic feel throughout. The most memorable parts, however, come from the reels of archival footage taken by Brinkley — unintentionally hilarious ‘fireside chats’ and vanity films that paint J.R. Brinkley’s personality cult as something in between Walt Disney and Donald Trump. While the initial faff and whimsy may lose people at the start, I urge you to watch it at the cinema and until the end. The halfway mark reveals an unexpected twist in the narrative that effortlessly turns the documentary back in on itself. As long as you don’t spoil it beforehand, Nuts! is an engaging and clever film that will really take you for a ride. 4/5 BEN YAXLEY

PERTH FACT WHAT IS THE USE OF STEM PROGRAMS IF WE DON’T HAVE AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC?

from artisanal tipo-00 flour and the farts of lingerie models.

I am going to use a food metaphor to describe this movie. I know half of you are probably rolling your eyes so hard right now that they might just fall out of your head, but bear with me a sec. If The Sopranos was a crusty bread roll with mortadella and provolone, then Suburra would be some deconstructed spaghetti bullshit made

Suburra has been picked up as a Netflix original series, and is in production now. Hopefully the shorter format of Netflix episodes allows greater scope for characters who could be much more than selfish two-dimensional ass-hats. 2.5/5 YVONNE BURESCH

THE LOVE WITCH DIR. ANNA BILLER

As both historically persecuted group and modern western fantasy, the witch is a figure swept up in and recuperated by feminist thought. As The Love Witch toys with to the ninth, kitsch degree, she embodies (literally) a ‘dangerous’ female sexuality, which in coy and terrifyingly volatile ways has the power to violently upend the world of men, along with all their arrogant conceits of control. Ha! This very odd, wonderfully-stylised, intellectualised melodrama by director Anna Biller is set in a time where phones, pagan rituals and Victorian tearooms co-exist, and it is the almost excessively beautiful Elaine (Samantha Robinson) who stabs patriarchy through the heart. Surviving in a world where witches are an open yet mistrusted sect, Elaine arrives in a small American town with her long black wig, lipstick, potions and bottles (one of which she later fills with a used tampon and her own urine to place on an over-sexed libertine’s grave). She is alone, having just broken off with her emotionally-abusive ex-husband, Jerry. A sweet, chipmunk-cheeked version of Naomi Watts welcomes her. A very deliberate foil, Trish (Laura Waddell) gets Elaine set up in an attic adorned with colourful Wiccan décor. Here, she paints pretty bad, almost child-like medieval-style porn and thinks about love. It is what she wants more than anything else. Engorged by her own narcissism, she

expresses this freely, ravishingly. With ‘sex magic’ (cue flashing eyes close-up), she does all she can to eke it from the men around her. Yet from the rugged woodsman loner to the loving married man, their lust reduces them where it empowers her. They become weak, effeminate, needy, as they sob over her garters and perfectly-orbed breasts. For all its clever playing of tropes and themes, which grapple with very modern

FILM

SUBURRA DIR. STEFANO SOLLIMA

For an Italian film about organised crime and corruption in contemporary Rome, Suburra is surprisingly boring. It is style over substance, but not in a purposefully overthe-top Spring Breakers kind of way. Wellframed shots and a bland EDM soundtrack make it seem like a very long music video or maybe an ad for a nice hotel. It’s predictable, and while the ascendancy of different ethnicities in Italian organised crime is very interesting, the interwoven strands of the story ultimately kill the potential of story arcs before they can properly develop.

MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES DIR. RANDY BARBATO & FENTON BAILEY

Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures, directed and produced by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, delves into an extensive timeline of the inseparable art and life of American artist Robert Mapplethorpe. The introductory and concluding note of the film strongly drives a radicalised impression of the artist in light of 1980’s homophobia, and the political uproar surrounding his homoerotic works. The opening foreshadows the intensity of his aesthetic pursuits for unique and perhaps neo avant-garde photographs of the gay S&M underground. Through scattered interviews with Mapplethorpe’s multiple ex-lovers, close circles of friends (most of whom were frequently used as models as well), and curators, the film provides a personal and analytical perspective on the rich archive of the artist’s low brow and high end art — assembled fetish sculptures, collages of porn magazines, and the iconic X,Y,Z photography series consisting of elegant flowers and nude portraits.

is this where Sabrina and Mario Bava meet?

The nostalgic nature of these interviews about “ruined cupid” Mapplethorpe, alongside montages of public outrage in reaction to his ‘Perfect Moment’ exhibition, hypes up the artist cliché, unapologetically thrusted at the viewer throughout the full 108 minutes of the film. Romanticised as an allusive, devious and charming male artist, I don’t think deceased narcissist Mapplethorpe needs any more ego-stroking. Glossed over stories involving his poor morality and ruthless desire for fame do faintly linger amongst the repetitive praise for his work. Despite this imbalance, this documentary speaks informatively of Mapplethorpe and the lives that shaped his poignant images.

4/5 KATE PRENDERGAST

4/5 GABBY LOO

debates over the female body and the male gaze, the dialogue is never circuitous: there are some fabulous lines. For instance, in the mind of Griff (Gian Keys), “Drowning in estrogen. The most awful feeling!” It’s a strange, sumptuous, disorientating two-hour journey. In its soap opera staginess, its garish lighting, its adoration of exquisite camp, its fetishisation of certain objects, its obsession with food and sex and bodies and death (there’s a nice transition between the thud of a shovel into gravedirt and the plunge of a spoon into mud cake), I found myself at times wondering:

PERTH FACT DUE TO ARTS FUNDING CUTS, VOICEWORKS WILL NOW PUBLISH ONLY ON DISCARDED NAPKINS

FILM REVIEWS at the industry; there's value in these films being made and there have been plenty of gems mined from these well-trodden paths. But they betray a desire, real or perceived, for Australian audiences to be presented with easy viewing, comfortable and unpretentious films that reflect back some common idea about 'Australianess' and that 'know their place'.

GOLDSTONE Director Ivan Sen Starring Aaron Pedersen, Alex Russell, Jacki Weaver & David Wenham There's been somewhat of a dearth of big thinking films in Australian cinema in recent years. The films that have been made fall into familiar pigeonholes: the daggy 'true blue' comedy that doesn't translate overseas, the sentimental tale of a battler overachieving or just doing the best they can, genre stock pieces that put broad accents in the mouths of trope-heavy characters. That's not a shot

Ivan Sen isn't interested in buying into that status quo. He's interested in holding up a camera to those ideas and examining them in grimy, granular detail - which he constantly reminds us through his trademark use of satellite-like overhead drone shots. Goldstone has been described as a spiritual successor to 2013's Mystery Road, but this time around Sen has returned more confident and more willing to explore big ideas and uncomfortable truths. It's an ambitious undertaking, and at times it's more than he can chew; yet the net result is a work with amazing clarity of vision. Part noir and part western, Aaron Pedersen reprises his role as indigenous cop Jay Swan, investigating a missing Chinese sex worker in a titular remote mining town. What he finds is a hellish outpost of drunken FIFOs and corrupt small time officials willing to go along to get along, and keep the outside

adults around them can certainly see it. They are caught behaving ‘inappropriately’, they are locked up. “I did it for you!” their grandmother (Nihal G. Koldas) shouts at them desperately. Lale (Günes Sensoy) the youngest of the five orphaned sisters, applies herself to devising methods of escape, until the stakes are suddenly so high that action must be taken. Most of us have probably not been locked away by our parents for talking to boys, but we have experienced the dregs of that cultural mentality or we know other women for whom this has been a literal truth.

MUSTANG Directors Deniz Gamze Ergüven Starring Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu,Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan & Ilayda Akdogan The story is an old one. Some young women – sisters – are evidently getting older. Even if they weren’t sure of the fact themselves, the

Mustang, a film set in a coastal Turkish village, is shot gloriously in pale, clear Mediterranean light. It deploys many of the tropes of fairy tales, and presents a Pride and Prejudicestyle marriage plot: five daughters to marry off before time runs out, though the threat is far worse than spinsterdom. Although the barbed wire gets higher and bars are installed on their windows and gates, these references to gated princesses do not seem heavy-handed at all. In fact, the fantastical elements of the plot serve to demonstrate

corporate money flowing. Jacki Weaver as the town’s mayor has perfected the art of delivering menacing pleasantries through frozen smiles, while David Wenham's mining boss is such an accurate depiction of a certain type of middle-aged site manager, I felt I'd met him a dozen times before. Both are eerily real characters that capture the reality of small town life in the north of this country. David Gulpilil's small but important role helps add weight to the film and its narrative. The film has some flaws. It tries to take on some enormous areas – the rise and fall of the mining boom, how Indigenous communities have suffered and survived through that particular era of our nation's history, the plight of trafficked sex workers – and as a result the plot never surprises. It's a film that somehow feels both too short to digest everything we're served onscreen and yet too long to keep your eyes fixed on all the details. Yet those spaces do give the audience a chance to think through what they're being confronted with; about things not often depicted when we talk about Australia. It's an impressive if imperfect work, and as such feels like one of the most vital Australian films to emerge in some time. REVIEW BY WADE MCCAGH

how absurd the horrifying reality of these women really is. Maybe the greatest tragedy of the film is that, even despite their attempts to alleviate the sufferings of the young women in their care, the older women cannot see a solution outside of perpetuating the oppression. Despite the despotic Uncle Erol (Ayberk Pekcan) and his aggressive proprietary behaviour (and the casual attitude of ownership almost every man in the film displays to the women), this film can be very funny. The girls and their grandmother and aunts are all incredible comic actors. Death is treated in a markedly un-voyeuristic manner (unlike, for example, The Virgin Suicides) and the film utterly privileges the experiences of the girls as they are shoved into womanhood by the adults in their lives. It does not doom them: even in death they are given their autonomy and humour. James Franco described this as “the best film of the year” in Indiewire, but don’t let that put you off. This is a wonderful film. REVIEW BY PEMA MONAGHAN

PERTH FACT THE TAV’S RENOVATIONS INCLUDE AN UNDERGROUND SEX BUNKER. IT IS FULL OF KIDNEY PIES

WORDS BY JAYMES DURANTE

But this wasn’t, they said, about movies, or even about gender politics — it was about entire childhoods. Memories have been soiled, they told us! A travesty; a wrecking ball to the fragile order of things! The film’s trailer became the most disliked in YouTube history, and everyone who disagreed with this bloc

of howling children was labelled a feminazi misandrist, or a PC-crazy social justice warrior. Really, dudes? A thousand lousy reboots in the last decade alone and this is the one you’re mad about? And it’s got nothing to do with gender? Ok. *sips tea* Well, here’s the verdict: Ghostbusters 2016 is better than Ghostbusters 1984. (Hear that? That’s the sound of a million nerd heads exploding.) It’s more vivid, energetic, ambitious and emotionally satisfying that the original; basically superior in every regard, except, of course, originality. But I don’t for a moment buy into the idea that the Ghostbusters reboot has any obligation to ‘live up to’ or ‘capture the spirit of’ the original. Ghostbusters ‘84 is clunky, surprisingly lacking in jokes, badly aged and sexist. The movie’s major dramatic arc centres on Bill Murray’s figurative boner for Sigourney Weaver’s one-dimensional female lead, and his constant, creeping coercion is played squarely for laughs. (It must be added that she is later possessed by a ghost and turned into a hysterical sex monster. Oh, and the other major female character is a secretary smdh.) A female-slanted Ghostbusters redux is no leftwing conspiracy, it’s a welcome corrective to a stale but beloved franchise severely lacking in well-rounded female representation. Still, taking a franchise presided over by men and changing the characters’ genders

can hardly be counted as a feminist victory tantamount to, say, original stories written specifically by and for women, but I suspect that Feig and Sony’s intentions weren’t quite that shallow. I mean, just look at the current comedy landscape: Ghostbusters is historically a Saturday Night Live-affiliated property, and, at present, women rule Studio 8H; Melissa McCarthy is a genuine superstar, and probably Hollywood’s best mainstream comic performer; and director Paul Feig, the industry’s most productive comedy director, works best and almost exclusively with casts packed with female talent. If you tasked any smart producer in Hollywood with choosing an ideal cast for a reboot of Ghostbusters, I’d wager that their choices wouldn’t have been much different to those we’re currently being offered.

FILM

he groaning and griping started two years ago. A small but vocal army of whining man-babies and self-appointed arbiters of nostalgia took umbrage with a newly announced adaptation of that hallowed film favourite, crowning cinematic achievement of the 1980s and undeniable, unparalleled masterpiece par none: uh, Ghostbusters. Yeah, the one where four grown men wearing coveralls fire laser guns at bad CGI ghosts. Collectively, we could only assume that these keyboard-crazy nimrods might have had a problem with the new film’s playful gambit: a gender inversion that would see Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones as the four eponymous spectreslayers. This was no radical overturning of Ghostbusters lore: the characters, albeit different, still fit the broad archetypes set in the original, and the story structure remains pretty much the same: shamed scientists rekindle their dishevelled reputations by busting the hell out of salient supernatural entities and saving the public from an almighty cataclysm.

So, let’s rejoice in what Ghostbusters 2K16 has given us: a kickass, neon-glow action comedy that features aspirational working women shrugging off the social stigma that comes with their profession and proving the whole fucking world wrong. As for the groaning hordes of regressive mouth-breathers who have vocally refused to see this new incarnation of their prized masterpiece, well, it’s likely they’ve done more damage to the original film’s reputation than an all-female reboot ever could.

TRIVIAL TOP FIVE: BOOK TO SCREEN In celebration of Whit Stillman’s venomously funny new Jane Austen adaptation Love & Friendship, Pelican contributors present their five favourite book-to-screen lit adaptations.

CAROL (2015)

INHERENT VICE (2014)

BARRY LYNDON (1975)

AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000)

SENSE & SENSIBILITY (1995)

Todd Haynes adapted Patricia Highsmith’s lesbian romance in furtive glances through foggy windows, surreptitious shoulder pats and immaculate period design. With an elusive happy ending rarely seen in queer cinema, plus two GOAT performances from Rooney Mara and Queen Blanchett.

Translating Thomas Pynchon’s labyrinthine prose onto film is no easy feat, but who better to take up the task than Paul Thomas Anderson, who turned Pynchon’s minor novel into a woozy, bud-tinged masterpiece of conspiratorial crime cinema.

A preposterously majestic opus, finnickily lit in natural light (with NASA cameras!), that Thackeray would've either threshed himself in jealousy or gratification over.

Mary Harron sidesteps some of Bret Easton Ellis’s potentially icky politics with comic intonations and a focus on social critique. A rare case where the film is better than the novel.

Emma Thompson – a two-time Oscar winner for writing and acting – adapted Jane Austen’s novel for Ang Lee, who perfectly transcribed the book’s witty, romantic mood to the screen.

PERTH FACT TURN THE BULL, DULL EYES, EVERY FEDERAL ELECTION I FALL APART

WORDS BY NICE TRY CAPITALIST DOG ART BY JADE NEWTON

et us not be coy – we’ve all been a pirate. The nature of pop culture in general compels it; bluntly speaking, there is far too much content for us to consume it is literally impossible to appreciate all of it, let alone pay for it. Unfortunately, art doesn’t come out of thin air – someone has to actually put effort and money into their craft. But money doesn’t grow on trees, and you need money to be able to pay for things like food and rent. So what does it mean for you, as a filthy pirate, to steal a file, a digital form of a piece of art, for your own consumption? It means that the artist doesn’t get any of your money, obviously. You stifle independent art production by circumventing the transaction process. BUT, if the piece of art is popular enough, it also means that evil multinational music/film/television corporations that distribute said piece of art don’t get any of your money either – you seize the means of distribution from our malevolent capitalist overlords. Not that that’d do any good though, because if a piece of art is being distributed by said evil corporations, it probably has enough potential paying customers in order to justify the cost of distribution. Besides, multinational corporations tend to have lots of money anyway, you are only one person, and your (selfserving) act of rebellion is like taking a teaspoon from the ocean. Digital piracy is not only unethical; it is illegal. However, the internet is a pretty big place, and it’s not exactly as if cyber police are imminently going to kick down your door and spirit you away under the cover of night. Still, change in intellectual property laws around the world could mean that we could start to see serious repercussions for internet piracy – like life-ruining fines for illegally consuming a piece of art. So far though, responses to piracy from the powers that be have been outstandingly positive. Instead of starting a blanket statement ‘war on

piracy’ as we have been wont to declare on every other act of civil disobedience, a minor compromise has been reached. Avenues for a more fair delivery of art from creator to consumer have started to be set up. Spotify (and its competitors like Tidal and YouTube) and Netflix (and its constituent others) lead the way, generating money for artists through ad revenue or subscription-based plans. Bandcamp also allows individuals to legally access music straight from its source, often with a free download. This means you get to binge watch the latest season of the new Netflix original or listen to the latest rad tunes AND the people who made it get paid as well. Still, these services are very much in their infancy, and they don’t have the widest selection. Piracy remains far from redundant. It should be noted at this point that the whole reason as to why piracy is illegal in the first place is that it violates copyright law – that is, the right to take an existing intellectual property and reissue it in any form for monetary gain. Intellectual property law is an issue in and of itself far more complex than the scope of this article – however, the vibe of them is that they exist so that people don’t plagiarise the things that are in a given piece of art; so that the piece of culture you receive is ‘genuine’. Being ‘genuine’ connotes that the content you intend to consume has some intrinsic monetary worth and that it can be sold to you in some form; it holds product-like qualities.

the end goal of any author, musician, film-person or what have you, is to make something that will appeal to an audience. You are part of an audience, and therefore a demographic; the artist must sell you something that appeals to you. As much as you are a terrible person and should feel bad for pirating the thing that you pirated, your act does have a positive effect. Piracy raises awareness: you pirate a thing, it turns out to be great so you talk about the thing with your friends, they pirate the thing, then talk about it with their friends, the cycle repeats. Piracy thus enables content to achieve significant cultural capital where it might not have done so normally. Bands like Death Grips probably owe their success to the fact that they enabled the piracy of most of their albums, giving back to the fans, who in turn earbash their friends about how great this band is, which returns on them in legitimate album sales, critical attention, and live ticket sales. Eventually. Make no mistake, if the product is good, people will buy it (unless they don’t, in which case you should actually feel ashamed). Piracy thus could be said to incentivise content creators to make their material as high quality as possible. But then, so does the means to live. This article does not intend to advocate for or against piracy – I’m not about to tell you what to do. You do you. However, if you are going to pirate, take precautions (VPN etc.) and make sure to give back if you like the product. Talk with your dollars.

Indeed, it’s a good thing to consider art under a consumerist discourse, as that is the reality we live in. Most of the time,

28 PERTH FACT PARALLELS DRAWN BETWEEN NELSON MANDELA AND PAULINE HANSON REINFORCED BY SURPRISE DISCOVERY OF MANDELA’S FISH’N’CHIP SHOP

WORDS BY LAURENT SHERVINGTON

#5. BLAZE FOLEY – LIVE AT THE AUSTIN OUTHOUSE (2000/ RECORDED 1989)

Early days for the genre were very much rooted in American history, with many of the pre-war recordings available today ranging from dustbowl tragedies in Arkansas, Civil-war inspired commotions and haunting slave songs from the south. The earlier periods are renowned for their low fidelity and rawness, with labels such as Okeh, Columbia and RCA Victor Records having a sizeable hand in distribution. For many, the 1960s was the golden age of country, with releases such as At Folsom Prison, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music as well as the chart debut of Dolly Parton. At this point in time country was intermingling with rockabilly and soul music, with much commercial success. By the end of the ‘60s, the country ballad went under a decline, making way for the hit songs of rock and rolls stars. An oft-overlooked gem of the country tag is artist Blaze Foley who grew up in 1960s Texas and became close friends with fellow country musician Townes Van Zandt. Foley’s most celebrated work Live at the Austin Outhouse stands as a truly underrated classic of country music, proving the genre retained a high quality output of songwriters in post 1960s United States. The performance was recorded in 1989, receiving a quietly positive response from keen followers of the genre as well as drawing some new listeners thanks to its earnest and exceptional songwriting. The most well known track “If I Could Only Fly” gained popularity majorly due to the commercial success of

What sets the album apart from dime-a-dozen singer-songwriter country albums is its unique ambience. This specific style of ambience is formed from all of the sounds present at the venue, from the claps and cheers of the audience, the clinking of glasses in the background and of course the witty lines from Foley between songs. Particular highlights of these sections include the outro of “New Slow Boat to China” in which Foley reveals his plans to give the live tape to Merle Haggard and encourages the crowd to say hello to Haggard, before breaking into a hilarious Kermit the Frog impersonation. Throughout, the crowd is treated to Foley’s bumbling explanation of his arrest, and the introduction to “Election Day” is memorable if just for the fact Foley describes the act of going to jail as a suitably “inconvenient experience”. Many if not all of Foley’s songs have a certain unique charm to them and are clearly influenced by the eccentric demeanour of the man. Foley had a habit of placing duct tape on the tips of his cowboy boots, in a style that parodied the ‘Urban Cowboy’, eventually crafting a suit made entirely out of duct tape, which he often wore. Deeper cuts on the album “Officer Norris” and “Christian Lady Talkin’ on a Bus” show Foley’s proficiency in penning social critique with some typically scathing and direct lyrics.

MUSIC

Over its long period of existence, the genre of country has spawned many incredible and well followed careers such as Johnny Cash and John Denver, as well as many offshoots; notably the sounds of Nashville and Bakersfield (less notably the current subgenre of bro-country, rated B for brave).

its cover version by country stalwart Merle Haggard. Likewise “Clay Pigeons” is perhaps Foley’s only other successful song, epitomising his style of songwriting in an earnest tale of getting his life back on track and leading a life of solitude.

Live at the Austin Outhouse is remembered as a truly special moment in time for country music, not only because of the strength of the songs featured on it, but because of the tragic murder of Foley just a few weeks after the recording. Foley was involved in a drunken argument on the porch of his friend Carey January and was shot by January’s son, Concho. At Foley’s funeral, his casket was layered with duct tape and was attended by many admirers of his work. Tributes to the musician included the Townes Van Zandt song “Blaze’s Blues” and the featurelength documentary Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah. While Foley died before he could see the impact his music would have, Live at the Austin Outhouse shows a side to the man that would otherwise be all but forgotten.

PELICAN MIXTAPE 1. Bongwater – “Homer” (Double Bummer) 2. Tall Dwarfs – “The Room is Wrong” (Hello Cruel World) 3. Life Without Buildings – “New Town” (Any Other City) 4. Lync – “Perfect Shot” (These Are Not Fall Colors) 5. Primitive Radio Gods – “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in my Hand” (Rocket) 6. Annie Lennox – “Walking on Broken Glass” (Diva) 7. Savage Garden – “Break Me Shake Me” (Savage Garden) 8. Toni Braxton – “Unbreak my Heart” (Secrets)

9. Guided by Voices – “Tractor Rape Chain” (Bee Thousand) 10. Titus Andronicus – “No Future Part III: Escape From No Future” (The Monitor) 11. Karl Blau – “That’s the Breaks” (Nature’s Got Away) 12. Tim Buckley – “Song to the Siren – Take 7” (Works in Progress) 13. Bruce Springsteen – “Terry’s Song” (Magic) 14. Disco Inferno – “Summer’s Last Sound” (Summer’s Last Sound) 15. Kanye West – “Skit #2” (Late Registration)

PERTH FACT TODAY SHOW REVEALED AS SECRET RECLAIM AUSTRALIA CABAL

to deliver something truly great. It’s been nearly a month now, and the album, it is disappointing to say, does not leave much of a lasting impression.

HARRY'S REVIEW OF WILLIAM TYLER'S MODERN COUNTRY

MARISSA NADLER STRANGERS (SACRED BONES) REVIEW BY TESS BURY

5/10 I wracked my brain for ways to describe this album, but all I got to was "meh". This album's not bad, but it's not going to take you anywhere exciting. If you want to take a bath and have a cry, Sacred Bones will get you there. It'll force the tears out of your eyes with its cold, indifferent reverb-laden vocals and occasional melancholy trumpet appearances. Nothing makes me sadder than a lonely trumpet being played on top of a 60bpm country melody... oh god, I’m crying already. Throw Marissa in the ‘meh-diocre’ pile, and dig her out when you

Bottomless Pit feels like a series of B-sides from their previous efforts. Death Grips have always been an extremely aggressive band, delivering this white hot blend of shouting, math drums and assorted bleeps and bloops. The main problem with this album is that it no longer feels vital; some of their energy and bombast has been lost. There are some fairly off-the-wall techniques and sounds at play on the album, though none feel as if they are utilised correctly. The lyrics on the album as well feel like a pale imitation of earlier efforts. Whereas before, Death Grips would aim their ire towards aspects of modern society (such as commercialism and materialism – see Exmilitary); now the focus is largely on the fans. Self-indulgence in hip hop is rarely a good idea. Death Grips criticise the toxicity of their fanbase on “Hot Head” whilst catering to that very fanbase. The idea of Death Grips “catering” to anybody is unthinkable. But alas, this is the reality we live in now. Bottomless Pit is like a re-tread of Death Grip’s greatest hits – like elements of the past and elements of the future combining together to make something not quite as good as either. It feels like at least half of the album could have been cut. In fact, if some of the less impressive tracks were cut, it could have been a really good EP. For what it’s worth, the album contains its fair share of bangers -- “Giving Bad People Good Ideas”, “Spikes”, “BB Poison” and “Three Bedrooms in a Good Neighbourhood” chief among them. Sadly, the rest of the songs feel too derivative of previous efforts to be interesting.

a) are happy but feel like you have the potential to be sad, b) are making beans on toast at 3am, c) want to replicate the feeling that you get when you lose your lighter. A high-performing 5 out of 10.

DRAKE - VIEWS (YOUNG MONEY ENTERTAINMENT) REVIEW BY MICHAEL O’LEARY

DEATH GRIPS BOTTOMLESS PIT (HARVEST) REVIEW BY EAMONN KELLY

6/10 Death Grips are a bit of an enigma in modern music. Their approach to public relations and distribution in the past has been strange to say the least. First they were broken up, then they dropped Jenny Death after making their fans wait almost a year (for the second half of a double album, mind – a practice that if done by literally anyone else, would result in swift and vicious backlash) then surprise! – they’re back together. No one knew what to expect from Bottomless Pit – it was a fantastic opportunity for the band

6.5/10 The long anticipated follow-up project to his third studio album Nothing Was The Same, and intermittent mixtapes If Your Reading This It’s Too Late and What a Time To Be Alive (paired with trap royalty Future), is a satiating dose of the stuff I tend to appreciate from Drake’s musicianship. However, standing at twenty tracks, there are moments I can’t help but feel he has bitten off more than he could chew. The album starts with crashing orchestral accompaniment like a John Williams Star Wars number on “Keep the Family Close”, opening with signature whinging that feels good for the soul: “all of my lets-just-be-friends are friends that I don’t have anymore”. Say what you will about him but this is the fabric of an amazing introduction track. Throughout VIEWS we continually hear Drake’s self-reflectivity on his own success, predictably categorised into its effect on his romantic, personal and financial affairs. “U With Me?” is

PERTH FACT KEVIN RUDD REVEALED TO BE THE MAN DATING YOUR MUM

a well-made ode to the loyalty of his partner in difficult times (think 50 Cent’s “21 Questions” with more singing and a heavy DMX sample). “Feel No Ways” is perhaps my favourite track on the album, complete with a punchy drumline straight off Kanye’s MPC and Caribbean neo soul vocals that make you commend his team of ghost writers. I dare you not to at least hum along.

(ROC NATION) REVIEW BY HUGH MANNING 4/10

Vic Mensa still has no idea who he wants to be. From his roots making sensitive college-type live hip hop with Kids These Days to the radiofriendly house of his breakout single “Down On My Luck” to the Kanye West-featuring trap joint “U Mad”, Mensa’s career has seen him careen wildly between styles and themes without finding anything that could be called his own sound – and this lack of direction has never been more obvious than on There’s Alot Going On, his fittingly named new EP. There is a lot going on but none of it feels particularly coherent or focused. This is not to say that there aren’t moments of pleasure, of purpose, of meaning here. “16 Shots” is a powerful condemnation of police violence, and its follower “Danger” feels like one of Drake’s better If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late moments. The best song on this EP is probably “Shades of Blue”, a heartfelt piano-banger that attempts to grapple with the contemporary American urban landscape through the lens of the Flint Water Crisis. However, these moments of promise contend with pieces of straight garbage: “New Bae” is a thoroughly unimaginative Weeknd-style auto-tuned nu-RnB tune and the guitarbased/Ty Dolla $ign-featuring “Liquor Locker” is cheesy and awful. It sounds like an auto-tuned Uncle Kracker song. Mensa has potential, and his recent signing to Roc Nation is proof of this – but he needs so much more purpose and direction than is showcased on this EP. As sick as he must be of comparisons to his

FUTURE PRESENT PAST (CULT) REVIEW BY JACK SIRETT

6.5/10

MUSIC

VIC MENSA THERE’S ALOT GOING ON

THE STROKES -

MUSIC

Unfortunately, the album crescendos decisively in its first half and becomes increasingly difficult to listen to with tracks like “Grammys”, a lacklustre Future collaboration that could’ve comfortably remained in the vault, as well as “Fire & Desire” – I mean seriously what the fuck was this. More power to Drake, throughout his career he's made himself the figurehead for emotional rap and opened doors for freshfaced, expressive and vulnerable MCs (the likes of Bryson Tiller and The Weeknd). VIEWS is probably reminiscent of his second album Take Care, only narrated by a more musically innovative Drake who fuses dancehall with R&B and hip hop like few before him. Whilst a handful of these tracks are susceptible to instant-skipping and the release will hardly thrill bandwagon fans of “Jumpman” or “Hotline Bling”, it’s an obvious must for fans of his earlier work and sonically suitable for Perth’s most miserable winter weather.

long-time friend and collaborator Chance the Rapper the timing, and shortcomings, of this release mean it begs comparison to Colouring Book. In 2016 Chance seems to know exactly who he is and what he wants to do, whilst Mensa is still searching for his sound and his voice. It’ll be interesting to see if he ever finds it.

Don’t get me wrong: I love The Strokes. I still turn to their classics like “Under Cover of Darkness” and “Reptilia” when I’m looking for absolute bangers to urge me forth to finish coursework two hours before the deadline. Future Present Past is a fitting title for The Strokes’ new EP, as it aims to encapsulate three different styles: the band’s current contemporary rock style evident in recent albums Angles and Comedown Machine (“OBLIVIUS”), the classic rock feels from the more commercially successful Is This It and Room on Fire (“Threat of Joy”), as well as a more experimental sound in line with current music practices (“Drag Queen”). Uncharacteristic of the band’s energetic, guitar-dominated style, Future Present Past is heavily influenced by the synth beats of the 80s. Whilst glimpses of traditional Strokes edgy guitar riffs, unusual chord structure, and Julian Casablancas’ distorted vocals are evident in “OBLIVIUS”, it is notable to see that the band have turned towards a direction of electronic experimentation in their music. Chipmunk sound effects on Casablancas’ signature vocal style? In the words of Ralph Wiggum: Unpossible! The technique is employed in “Drag Queen” and “OBLIVIUS”, and is so uncharacteristic of The Strokes classic style it almost seems like you are listening to a pop band on 92.9, not one of the biggest rock acts of the 2000s. For long-time fans of The Strokes, The EP suggests the band are looking to jump on the electronic music train in their new music, similar to that of contemporary 2000s ‘rock’ bands Temper Trap and Bloc Party. Considering that Strokes were initially influential in sprouting the classic rock revival scene back in the early noughties, it seems the band has run out of its own fresh and innovative ideas in 2016. Instead, they are following through with more mainstream practices to appease new fans. Whilst the concept of having three songs to reflect the past, present and future of your music is pretty cool, Future Present Past was an overall underwhelming listening experience. The Strokes’ recent works sound stale and devoid of the energetic vibes prevalent in their older songs. Similar to that of Weezer’s White Album, we can only hope The Strokes pull the plug on recording further new music before they damage their reputation as one of the most influential rock bands of the early 21st century.

PERTH FACT PELICAN OFFICE TO BE RENOVATED INTO FUTURISTIC “COMMAND NODULE”

WORDS BY HEATHER BLAKEY ART BY TAYLOR BROWN

“Black holes are a phenomena in space. The human eye cannot see a black hole, but certain telescopes can. A black hole’s gravitational pull is strong enough that not even light can escape. That’s why we can’t see them down here.” It’s too dark to see her face but it’s imprinted on my eyes all the same. Not quite vision but the sound of her voice, demystifying the expanse of space and the scent of skin framing the components of her person burned into my memory. I know there is dark hair, tangled and tossed over her shoulder like an afterthought. I know the constellation of freckles across her shoulders, hidden beneath her garish orange overcoat.

I know the immovable dark circles under her eyes and hard muscles in her legs. I know she is blooming, energy ringing from her bright insides to the tips of her fingernails. I reach out and trace the curve of her cheek; she reaches up to point out something flickering and strange in the distance. I watch her trace a hand across the sky, as if maybe, if she reached intently enough, she might graze her fingers against it, might stain them blueblack. Her eyes are ravenous; she cranes her neck so far back. I can’t look away and the feeling of something important reverberates below my collarbone. A whole life bound up and built upon on that rooftop where every moment is orbiting around her and every possible course is certain of this fact. Her being tracing maps and trajectories on my eyes and hands and on something immense and consuming I can’t translate. I say: I would follow you anywhere. She hums with pleasure as she leans back in to me; already aware of every discrepancy in our lives that makes my proclamation false.

I poured my first real pay check from my job teaching English into a telescope that seduced me with its earnest tall salesman and gleaming silver optical tube. The man pointed to all the parts with his immense shy fingers and murky eyes. His voice was so quiet it seemed to only elicit the slightest imperceptible tremor across his lips and I nodded enthusiastically as I bought in, barely catching a word. I transported it to my townhouse in a wheeled shopping crate inherited from my Grandmother. It fit into this vessel of domesticity like the ocean fits into a cup of tea and I shuffled home, half my weight intent on balancing it upright, the other half sweating in the summer heat and attempting to remember the correct order of my footfalls. I assembled it on the balcony with a heavy manual I only read part of, leaving my efforts covered beneath a white sheet. After dinner, I unveiled it before her, and in this action felt the immense weight of some unfathomable proposition, the small print lying just beyond the reach of us both. She lit up like a streetlamp – suddenly and imperceptible for all but a select few whose vision is trained in the exact spot in the exact moment. I kissed her and peeled away the orange overcoat and we unravelled each other in the lounge room, agreeing to the telescopes plan with warm breath and tangled body parts. Later, as she slept, I laid my head against her collarbone, wondering if amidst her soft beating heart I might hear in her the same reverberations that had taken residence within me beneath the night sky.

her scantily clad form illuminated by a blue computer screen, chin on her hands and mad determination in her bloodshot eyes. After I’ve lost count of the nights we’ve spent softening around each other; the ones she spends gazing up at the stars and the ones I spend gazing up at her. After her muscles and mind surpass mine, she relinquishes her orange overcoat for a gleaming white space suit. The first time I see her wear it, I inflate with pride like a hot air balloon while frustration itches in my palms. A shameful part of me thinks with every wear it re-arranges her parts, our tangled bodies, the constellation of freckles and her hair (now cut short), into a something that could not come from my life. Something untethered from mantelpieces and streetlamps and telescopes in shopping crates. Its thick white material and metallic components are parts of an idea fantasised and groped by every wistful onlooker. I develop an intense fear that I am one of them. In the press photographs, she stares defiantly in the camera, her fellow astronauts blurring out of my vision. She is insistent, and the photographer obliges to take a picture of the two of us together. I find the suit makes it difficult to wrap my arm around her waist and settle for twining her fingers around mine. I keep the image folded in my wallet and take to glancing at it sporadically, attempting to convince myself that all the configurations and components of my life won’t launch into the heavens with her.

Years later – after we have populated a mantelpiece with photographs, after the intricacies of cohabitation have begun to form a cohesive whole (less blowing apart mid-morning and more falling back together late evening). After hovering on her doorstep, her fortified and lovely in her dark dress and me open and wistful in my hastily tangled tie. After stumbling out of bed at quarter past two to find

When a manned space shuttle launches, unprotected observers must stand 31/2 miles away from the launch pad. I am an unprotected observer twice. The first time, I wake up early and empty the contents of my stomach

PERTH FACT IS IT TOO LATE FOR MY IDEA FOR A RICHARD DI NATALE THEMED BEDSPREAD

last. She’s lying in the grass in her orange coat, a falling sun reflecting in her eyes. She said she’s showing too many teeth and I assure her it was the correct amount. For some reason I thought the orange overcoat had ceased to exist, but she walked through our front door after six months of zero gravity and dug it out the back of the closet. She threw it over her shoulders and I felt the strained strings of my life being pulled back together, pulled back towards her. After I took the photograph, I tried to kiss every freckle on her face. We don’t talk so much on the second mission. She makes human history twice. She is the first woman to travel so far from home. We are the first lovers to ever exist so far apart. * “Sir?” I open my eyes and feel our lives dissolving out of my vision. It fades too slowly, too uncomfortably into the empty desk, the empty window, four walls the same colour as the inside of a microwave. I think there is a consoling expression sitting across from me, but I haven’t bothered to wear contact lenses in days. I haven’t seen her in three years. The voice is steady and clear though, and I hear they are devastated by

my loss and emboldened by a testament to human endeavour. They say things like deep space, like they could touch it, and lost communication, as if I did not know what that means. There will be, of course, a ceremonial acknowledgement. My sweaty palms stick to the arms of the chair but every other part of me feels like it’s moved to a halting stop. I think of the respectfulness of strangers and the mythology of idols and my voice scrabbles up through my lungs into my throat and vibrates around my chest and I wonder what it must be like to suffocate in deep space. You wouldn’t be able to hear yourself dissipate, disintegrate. I wonder if I train the telescope in exactly the right spot, I might find her lost fingerprints staining some tiny part of the night sky. I know it’s impossible. I open my mouth and say the thing I can articulate,

BOOKS

into the toilet bowl. I arm myself in the most expensive clothes I own and quiver my way to the window from where I’ll watch her reach up into the stars. I think of a younger promise, one I cannot follow. I can’t see her face this time either, just the outline of the white shuttle against a blue sky. I think of her fingers stretching out and I press my hand against the glass. I am not fearless but I am certain. I do not shake through the countdown. I do not sweat as the bright plumes of yellow push her up through the atmosphere and into outer space. I realign the telescope every day as closely as I can to her position in the sky. Her first mission she sends me photographs and messages, you look beautiful down there. I fall behind in work, find it hard to read anything, take to staring out at the stars even when I know her constellations are nowhere near my line of sight. In a moment of sheer lonely impulse, I get sketches I have made of the sky tattooed along my arms. I take a new photo when she comes home, between the first mission and the

PERTH FACT CHRIS PYNE RETURNED TO HOUSE OF REPS, REVEALED TO BE TWO CHEEKY PRIVATE SCHOOL BOYS IN A TRENCH COAT

Books for Buying: An Interview WORDS BY BRYCE NEWTON ART BY CATERINA PAGANI

I am worried about my significant other. In book shops, new or second hand he is acquiring books at an alarming rate. Running his trembling hands over their matte covers I fear he is thinking about sleeping against their spines. He places them on shop counters and pays for books to be put in paper bags, bags he will later fold up in sharp creases and place in a drawer. And this is where it stops: books bought to fill up bookcases, to rest on mantelpieces arranged in order of colour and size. These are books bought though there are five or more waiting to be read at home, though he last bought two books which haven’t been considered since. What is it that attracts some people to continuously buying books? I burrow into the mind of a book-buying enthusiast to find out more.

How many books do you own that you haven’t read? Four to five. Not including books that I have started and not finished. Maybe twenty I’ve started and am yet to finish. And when I say started, I mean five pages have been read.

time I was wearing trendy sunglasses. It was the fifth visit that month. I must have looked well-read at the time, familiar with my surroundings. I’d had three coffees that day. I was alive.

I am in love with the idea of being able to buy a book one day. The idea of reading a book means you have time to read. And I wish I had time to read.

Do you think your book-buying is spiralling out of control?

Have you finished a book before? Yes. I have. Do you have a favourite novel?

Do you think about the unread books you own when making a new purchase, or does it not cross your mind? It doesn’t even cross my mind. I don’t feel guilty because I forget about the books I haven’t read. It is a stress-relieving activity. Like peeling an orange. Top stores for buying a book? Crow Bookstore, New Edition, Planet, Diabolic, the second hand book store across from New Edition in Fremantle. Someone once asked me if I worked there. That’s the only reason it made it on the list. At the

If you were going to read a book where is the best place to read it? I actually found four places. Kings Park on a weekday. Strange to think it’s a tourist location. Fremantle Arts Centre grass. A park in South Perth on the foreshore. Fourth place is the toilet. All places I have read extensively.

Why do you continue to purchase books?

I don’t know. I have yet to finish all the ones I have bought. Every time I purchase a book I feel it has the potential to be a favourite. I don’t feel comfortable answering this question at present.

A black hole of possibility. Until you get home and put it away.

Sounds like a hip and happening list of book acquisition locations. Would you consider yourself a regular (book buyer)? In my former days as a student yes. Before a holiday I had three books lined up to read. I visited Diabolic and walked out with a fifty-dollar purchase. I was setting myself a target to live up to. Unfortunately, it was well above what I could achieve.

No. I am supporting an industry. A book is like buying a video but you feel like you’re doing a better job for yourself. Can I listen to music now? Not yet. What does the future look like for you? Have you considered buying a bookshelf for these books? I have built a bookshelf. Out of an old toilet door.

Is it the paper bag you walk out of the store with? Yes. The niceties of bookstores. The tactility. So it’s the feeling you are addicted to? Is it a rush? A calm? Is it the look achieved when toting a paper bag around the streets of Fremantle? It’s the rush of carrying a paper bag around.

PERTH FACT BY 2030 WE’LL BE OVERCOME WITH NOSTALGIA FOR THE CANE TOAD SCARE

BOOK REVIEWS Best snack pairing: something deconstructed to the point of obscurity. Dennis Venning read most of this book in the bath.

THE MEMORY ARTIST KATHERINE BRABON ALLEN & UNWIN 3/5 There’s this tension in art between accessibility and uniqueness. It’s a hard thing to balance; go too far down the road of accessibility and you’ll end up leaning on every convention that’s ever come before. That’s the cliché road. On the other hand, if you dive too deeply into uniqueness you’ll end up with nothing that is intelligible to anyone other than yourself. That’s the ‘I don’t get it’ road, and it’s this second road that Katherine Brabon finds herself a little too far down with The Memory Artist.

Unfortunately, a lot of that writerly prowess comes at the expense of clarity. Brabon’s choices in constructing the voice of the novel meant that, at least for me, it was a struggle to get through. The biggest of these is Pasha’s obsession with splitting clauses. Many sentences, although beautiful, and even though the original clause is often quite simple, might have as many as four subordinate clauses, marked off with commas like this one, in-between the subject and action of the original clause. If that last sentence was hard to follow it’s because it demonstrates the phenomenon it describes. There are other choices too. Brabon opted for a lot of philosophising from both Pasha and other characters, which might have been okay, except she also opted for no speech marks and no concrete structure. Combined with the effect described above, the result is an immensely difficult-to-follow read, as thoughts from the narrator becomes speech from another character before blurring back into a journey into the past – all within the confines of a single sentence. But all of those choices had a point. Brabon is writing about the impossibility of memory, and she has crafted her words beautifully to give the reader an experience of that. It is an impressive feat, and I have no doubt she will go on to create amazing future works. This first effort though, doesn’t quite get the balance right.

KELLY DOUST HARPER COLLINS 0/5 Reading the blurb, I wasn’t sure whether I would like this book. But it mentioned embroidery and without the necessary materials to put this pastime into practice I decided that reading about it would be an adequate substitute. Precious Things could have been a great book if it weren’t for its reinforcement of gender norms. A novel dealing with the stories of women throughout the ages and their connection with an embroidered collar that brings only bad luck, this tale of misfortune moves across continents and remains grounded by being brought back to the story of Maggie, a woman who works with antiques and adores the past of preloved objects.

BOOKS

The Memory Artist certainly isn’t a bad book. Brabon has a serious command of language, and her painting of Brezhnev and Gorbachev’s USSR (and the new Russia that followed) is at times extremely beautiful. There’s a sort of twilight in the writing that emulates the movement of the story itself, as narrator Pasha tries and – with increasing resignation – fails to grasp at memories of the receding Soviet state. Some of the other technical feats (particularly one revealed on page 211) are also undeniably impressive.

PRECIOUS THINGS

And it is Maggie who simultaneously ruins the story – for me anyway. The main character is used to perpetuate a need for women to put down other women, binding the idea of ‘common sense’ and the fact that women who are mothers need to dress accordingly. The novel also offers the troubling view that Maggie’s troubled teenage stepdaughter becomes a better person resolved of her prior nature when she stops wearing makeup and reverts to her natural hair colour. All of this happens towards the end of the book, which was significantly disappointing when the rest of the book was so wellwritten and considered, well-paced and kept interesting through a polished use of multiple viewpoints. It was a book about love and loss, and I feel like this ongoing theme mirrored my own experience. I also found a list of what I can only assume to be book club questions at the end as well under “Questions for Discussion” which was very confusing. None of these questions enter the murky waters of whether it was okay to judge women for what they wear or how they present themselves. (It isn’t). This is a book that could have been great brought down by a condescending view of women. Best snack pairing: something that takes two hands to hold. Bryce Newton is really good at building flatpack furniture.

PERTH FACT POKEMON GO IMPLICATED IN ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE

INTERVIEW WITH GRAEME PAGES-OLIVER

INTERVIEW BY CAITLIN CARR

ome things just go together. Hummus and carrots, jeans and a white shirt, your first Pelican article and crippling insecurity, but most of all hot chips and a Little Creatures Pale Ale. It’s this stunning duo, combined with a talented eye for movement, some impressive Photoshop skills and a locals understanding of Fremantle, that made the label Graeme Pages-Oliver designed for Little Creatures’ limited edition Pale Ale clearly the winning pick. With the roll-out underway, I spoke with Pages-Oliver about everything from Facebook haters to art education. Nothing is more quintessentially Fremantle than fish and chips on the Esplanade with a six-pack of Little Creatures, and PagesOliver is one to know it. Freo runs in his veins, and he’s had flings with it on and off since attending high school there. It was this love affair with the area that lead him to the eventual design. “I felt I knew exactly what they wanted,” he says. “I just went and got images I already had and sort of re-purposed them. I put them in the oval, changed the colours on Photoshop to what they needed and submitted it. It only took about half an hour; I just felt it was perfect.” What’s very interesting about this label, and what set it apart from its competitors during the period when the public got to vote for their favourite design was that every aspect of the piece, down to the newspaper wrapping the chips, is laced with Fremantle cultural references.

“I thought the images were typical of Fremantle,” confirms Pages-Oliver. “In the background I have a photo of the Esplanade pine trees. I took a photo of the Fremantle Herald and sculpted it the way I wanted. I’m actually very lucky it’s still in there. Little Creatures said that I’d have to get rid of the Herald mark on the newspaper and I didn’t want to. So I got in touch with the paper and they said ‘yes, leave it in! Leave it in!’” The only aspect of the piece that was drawn are the seagulls. They swarm down upon the open chips in a manner any frequent Freo-goer knows all too well. Pages-Oliver stated that he chose the birds in order to bring a fluid motion to the image; however I interpret it rather as a fed-up local paying respect to every chip lost to those greedy creatures.

begins with drawing and then photography.

Not everyone has enjoyed the new label as much as Pages-Oliver and I. “I saw on Facebook that there were quite a lot of comments saying ‘I don’t get what it has to do with beer’ – but when people are sitting down on the Esplanade for a picnic they’ll often have a beer. I felt it perfectly fitted the drink.”

you have to identify with it. I have never

Graphic design is a relatively new project for Pages-Oliver, although his repertoire of artistic skills is far from limited, including sculpture, photography, screen-printing and painting. Fascinatingly, they all feed into each other and play different roles in his artistic process regardless of the medium of the final product. “All of my art

I had a career as an art teacher so I have that formal background and training which always makes me go back to drawing to start with. I know that I have a strong connection with the elements of design, such as line and points, and if you look at my drawings they are all made up of little lines that merge together to make a bigger picture.” Due to his extensive experience, both as a student and as a teacher, Pages-Oliver is a uniquely placed individual with whom to discuss the merits of art education and advice for aspiring artists. “Unfortunately art education is quite superficial; it becomes just a subject. You can’t just say ‘I’m going to be an artist’, it has to be a part of you; purposely gone out and said I’m going to be an artist. People just tell me that ‘you’re not you without your art’. Some things just go together.” I

highly

recommend

grabbing

one of the limited edition Little Creatures Pale Ales. Not only do they pair gloriously with fried slices of potato, but you’ll score yourself a fine piece of bottle art made by a truly talented artist.

PERTH FACT MIGRATION OF SONIA KRUGER BETWEEN WORK AND HOME TO BE STOPPED UNTIL WE FEEL SAFE AGAIN

INTERVIEW BY PEMA MONAGHAN

arah Poulgrain is an installation sculpture artist, working from “fabric, clay and wood”. She grew up in Brisbane, where she continues to live and work, and studied art at the University of Queensland “straight out of high school – though I can’t really remember why.” Majoring in painting, her first attempt at sculpture was at the Edinburgh College of Art during an exchange program. A clear standout from her early university work (which can be viewed on her website archives) is a series of little paintings from 2012 called Untitled Landscape Series. The works are skillfully drawn, painted and scratched in such simple shapes and shading they feel like the memory of hills you might have visited ten years ago. It thus surprised me that Poulgrain admits being much more focused on Maths and Science in her later school years. Yet it’s possible this is where her interest in the process of creating comes from, and why so much of her art practice involves the recording and demonstration of that process. Her work Stilts is a tiny landscape, made of fabric mounted on treated pine legs held in place by sandbags. Propping the little coloured landscape in front of a wide window overlooking some Scottish stone buildings yellowed with age, Poulgrain achieves a work that speaks of time, civilisation, human history and natural sacrifice. It demonstrates intricate and unexpected thinking about space and setting, as well as an awareness of her own work in the context of creation. Poulgrain was nervous to talk about her work, confessing to be “useless on the spot”, but in conversation demonstrates empathy and understanding towards her art. She likes making things, and she treats the things she makes with respect.

In her first Western Australian exhibition, Poulgrain is exhibiting Bust Construction at the Fremantle art gallery, Success. A sculpture installation, she commenced work on it during her 2015 Honours year at the University of Queensland. It is a piece that Poulgrain associates with the concept and experience of fandom. The installation consists of a homemade video (that looks like a YouTube tutorial) of Poulgrain constructing a bust of a woman, coiling long pieces of clay into Edwardian curls to place atop her head. The woman is Elizabeth Bennet, as played by Jennifer Ehle in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. In the corner of the space are three of the Bennet sisters posed like muses, watching art being made in their image while the theme song to the miniseries plays in the background. Poulgrain is kind of hilarious in her ardent

concentration as she works, reflecting the dramatic/comic nature of Pride and Prejudice itself. The video is projected upon a wall, behind which is a well-lit area with a number of similar busts based upon one person. Each head is unique – skinnier, a broader forehead, bigger eyes. When I see them I immediately think they are Mr. Darcy – Poulgrain says they are her mum. This work approaches a humble and amusing form of worship – pathetically endearing she would argue – but whether it is worship of her mother or an actual obsession with Pride and Prejudice itself is ambiguous. Poulgrain first watched the miniseries with her mum when she was twelve. I asked Poulgrain about her thoughts on fandom and her work, being that fandom is often associated with girlhood, and now with online communities. It is in many ways a performative, public spectacle. Poulgrain remembered such a spectacle when a “giant polystyrene statue of Colin Firth in the lake scene with the wet shirt toured to Australia from the UK. Displayed in Canberra with a Pride and Prejudice costume festival, it attracted a weird collection of people.” She found that experience distasteful, distanced from her own experience of loving the show.

ARTS

“My practice is motivated by an estrangement from what I think are dominant forms of professionalism. I’m interested in making art in a distinctly unprofessional way. Hopefully my work has some kind of pathetic quality at the end of it – in a non-pejorative sense. It should be endearing and home-built.”

Sarah Poulgrain’s work ‘Bust Construction’ is part of Success’ third exhibition which ran 11 June – 10 July. With 2,800 square metres of gallery space, Success is located in the basement of MANY6160, the Old Myer Building in Kings Square, Fremantle.

The last component of her Success installation are some lovely books showing photographs of all the busts Poulgrain has made of characters from the television series. If you want one, they can be purchased through her website, www.sarahpoulgrain.com. She would like them to sell, but she doesn’t expect them to.

PERTH FACT UWA PHILOSOPHY COURSE’S PHENOMENOLOGISTS ARE BANNED FROM GETTING JOBS IN CARPENTRY

INDUSTRY POLITICS INTERVIEW BY SAMUEL J. COX

Henry Boston, Executive Director of the Chamber of Culture and Arts Western Australia, spoke with Samuel J. Cox about Australia’s Arts sector crisis.

here are a number of very strong advocates in the Australian Arts sector, with significant and articulate voices. However there are none that represent such a broad church as Henry Boston. Extending his patronage to design, architecture, gaming, literature, performing arts, visual arts and film, Boston is the Executive Director of the Chamber of Culture and Arts, the peak advocacy and promotion body for Arts in Western Australia. “Our mission is to help the community, State and Federal government and various other stakeholders understand the value and benefits of the Arts,” Boston says. The Chamber is a small organisation, with two full-time staff operating out of pro bono office space in the Perth city law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. Employed to represent the interests of the WA Arts and Cultural Sector, Boston describes himself as “a persuader and an influencer [conducting] quite a bit of lobbying, as I try to make the right connections, speak to the right people, and try to get those key messages the sector needs to communicate to the people who might make decisions.”

Government to encourage and foster relationships between the private sector and the Arts. I set up the office here in late 2001 and worked there for twelve years, leaving midway through 2013 when I was approached for this job.” This was just prior to ABaF’s merger with Artsupport to become Creative Partnerships at the end of 2013. In his role at the Chamber, Boston has directly engaged with the current Arts sector crisis, a situation made only more pressing in WA because it receives such a meagre percentage of the funding allocated nationally. In 2012, then-Labor politician and Minister for the Arts Simon Crean initiated a three-year national policy consultation process that resulted in Creative Australia – a national cultural policy. “The consultation process identified underfunded excellence, so increased funding was committed to the Arts [$235M over four years]. When Labor lost the 2013 election, the Abbott-led Liberal government instead took a savage amount of money [$105 million] from the Arts in the 2014-15 Federal Budget.” $32M of that was eventually returned to the Australia Council because of the outrage, but it has done little to solve the problem.

Taking a membership based body and marrying it with a Board of business leaders and government influencers, the Chamber created “a hybrid peak body model that doesn’t exist, to the best of my knowledge, in any others Arts organisations in the world,” says Boston. Studying theatre and drama at university level in England with aspirations of being a performer, Boston soon realised he had “limited skills as an actor”, and decided to spend the rest of his career “moving further and further from the stage. I went into backstage work (both Stage and Production Management) and then ended up at the Festival of Perth (now the Perth International Arts Festival) for about sixteen years. I began as a Stage Manager, and spent my last six years as the General Manager. I worked with David Blenkinsop, who was the festival’s longest-serving director [23 years], and together we divided the programming responsibilities.” Boston ended up managing the Perth Writer’s Festival and visual arts program, and says “the experience helped me have a much more encompassing appreciation of all art forms and their interconnectedness.” After he left the Festival in 1999, Boston cofounded Cultural Pursuits Australia, creating, producing and touring new work around the world. “I was the producer, so I put the projects together, raised the money and found presenters all over the world. Then I ended up as the State Manager WA for the Australia Business Arts Foundation (ABaF), which was an arms-length body of Federal

On top of this, Senator George Brandis (Attorney General and then Minister for the Arts) re-distributed funds from the Australia Council for the Arts (the peak Federal funding and advisory body). This money was used to establish the National Program for Excellence in the Arts (NPEA), a body now called Catalyst after Turnbull dumped Brandis and introduced Senator Mitch Fifield to the role. “Taking money out of the arms-length funding system and putting it into Brandis’ own personal fund, which really didn’t have clear guidelines or purposes when it was announced, wasn’t in line with the national policy consultation’s findings that the sector was underinvested and under-resourced. We need more investment to get a good return on the creative wealth of this country. If Catalyst funding is to exist, it should come out of other areas of government expenditure, such as the Foreign Affairs or Heritage portfolios,” Boston says. “The Arts sector has been in crisis for many, many years, because historically it has always been underfunded. The sector has been quite nimble and agile in trying to deal with each scenario as it presented –

PERTH FACT KEVIN RUDD BARRED FROM RUNNING FOR UN SECRETARY GENERAL DUE TO SHOVING

after all creativity is the kernel of what we do. The most recent attack has produced such a vocal response because many people in the sector saw it would have a significant impact upon the ability of artists to produce their work and the community to enjoy it.”

in corporate money coming into the sector. This inflow from Chevron, Woodside, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Wesfarmers, who are leaders in this field, previously masked how little investment was being made by the State government.”

“We have been campaigning to get the full amount of money taken out of the Australia Council budget returned, and had a core role getting the various Arts organisations in WA to speak with a unified voice when the Senate enquiry came to Perth. We continue to argue that the lack of policy and lack of consultation in these issues is detrimental to the sector. We need new money coming into the Arts sector, not just having it shifted around,” says Boston.

“The government doesn’t necessarily have the coffers to replace all of that, but I’m not sure it has the will either. I spend a lot of time talking to politicians who tell me that having a Department of Culture and Arts (DCA) and a Cabinet Minister is evidence of their belief in the intrinsic value of the Arts. However, I’ve always responded with the view that having those things may say something about your belief, but that needs to be reflected in the amount of resources you commit to it. If your Ministry is completely underfunded, then it’s nothing but lip service.”

During the Senate inquiry, Brandis made statements questioning the level of contribution from various parts of the Arts sector and implied he was distributing the money to areas that would really make a difference. “This divisive approach damages the diversity of practice, and went against our belief that we shouldn’t undervalue the contributions of each part of the sector.” “Anyone not familiar with Arts and the public funding process might have bought the Liberal government’s statement that ‘it was not an Arts funding cut’, but they wouldn’t have understood how small-tomedium organisations and individual artists have been detrimentally affected. They are the ones who traditionally received the money now given to Catalyst, a funding program that lacks transparency in its grant allocation, which means it can be used for electoral advantages rather than for the good of the sector.” Catalyst’s existence undermines the primacy and independence of the Australia Council as the principal Federal Arts funding agency, and since its establishment more than sixty organisations have lost operational funding. Although the situation is dire, Boston says the solution may not just be increasing public funding. “There’s also been a significant contraction

The 2016-17 Federal Budget did not introduce any new funding cuts to the Arts sector, but made no attempt to repair the damage. Furthermore, the lack of cuts does not mean that in real terms public funding for the sector is increasing. “Our task is to convince the community and politicians of the wisdom of investing in the Arts and enjoying the benefits they bring. There’s been a scramble to demonstrate the instrumental value of the Arts and what it can do to cut down the amount of anti-social behaviour and encourage tourism in WA. The focus is then upon money; how we can save it by having less people locked up and make more of it by having tourists come into the State and spend their dollars. That can be an important part of the argument, but I believe the central idea is that a society needs Arts to allow people to express who they are, and to give a sense of place and identity. The instrumental value just talks in dollar figures and forgets we are trying to build a connected and vibrant community,” Boston says. The Chamber runs a number of Professional Development programs which look to the future to help businesses understand what is happening and develop sustainable practices. “We still have some old models that may not be appropriate for the environment we’re in. We need to be smarter about our ideas and products, how we operate our businesses and how we engage with communities. While rehearsal is a very iterative process, where you keep going back until you get things right, we are still very linear in the way we approach our craft. It’s not a conveyor belt.”

ARTS

At the National Arts Debate in June, Federal Labor and Greens committed to return the money taken from the Australia Council and to abolish Catalyst. Additionally, they promised to increase funding for the Australia Council in line with what was recommended by the Creative Australia policy. The Coalition made no such announcement, and Boston says “I always think it quite strange that when Malcolm Turnbull and Colin Barnett talk about ‘innovation’ and ‘creativity’ they never consider Arts and Culture, even though it’s central to our purpose.” Broke, destabilised and undervalued, Arts is a sector whose contribution to the national economy equals that of the healthcare sector and outperforms that of the retail and agricultural industries. I join the Chamber in calling for a framework and a long-term plan shaped by consultation with the Arts and Cultural sector. Let’s stop being embarrassed to publicly acknowledge, celebrate and support our nation’s creativity.

PERTH FACT THE LAST REMAINING HALAL SNACK PACK HAS BEEN EATEN BY SAM DASTYARI, ENDING THE GREAT SNACK PACK EPOCH

Jaimee Wright "I like painting the people in my life and things I want to remember, funny moments, my friends smoking on my balcony, or falling asleep on my couch after drinking too much pink wine. I use lots of paint and lots of colour, I like that movement and messiness in that."

PERTH FACT THE ONE TRUE BNOC IS GOD

CLEVERMAN & INDIGENOUS ONSCREEN HEROES WORDS BY DANIEL HU

leverman is probably the first Indigenous Australian superhero television show ever produced. It opens up a new avenue of representation for Indigenous people, young and old. Cleverman’s story arc deals with a lot of Indigenous Australian mythology that even some Indigenous people have forgotten. The racist reactions the show has provoked would suggest that not only is its heavy-handed social message relevant, but absolutely necessary. It facilitates commentary on social issues Indigenous people face, and allows them to create a narrative that represents their people as they want to be seen. The Hairypeople, an ancient mythical race, are considered 'sub-human'. Indigenous rights issues of land ownership simmer along as well, and we get a hint of the difficulties facing Aboriginal people of mixed race – most pointedly when Waruu West orders his half-brother Koen to denounce his mother as a “white whore”. This relationship is especially interesting to watch; newly-minted Cleverman Koen slowly atones for his actions, whilst seemingly responsible Waruu descends into darkness and pragmatism in the name of protecting his people. These Hairypoeple are the show’s superheroes – possessing enormous strength, resilience and able to live at least a century longer than ordinary humans. Cleverman, as creator Ryan Griffen describes, is “the Pope of the Dreamtime”. He has the Hairypeople’s powers and more, with psychic and clairvoyant abilities and a healing factor able to reattach his finger in seconds or survive a gunshot wound to the throat.

While humans are allowed to move in and out of the ghetto known as the Zone, provided their ID proves they are human, Hairypeople are beaten, killed or transferred to detention centres. There also seems to be a market for Hairy prostitution. The various abuses the Hairypeople suffer makes for uncomfortable viewing at times; and even more when you keep in mind the real-world parallels. Of how, for instance, despite only making up 3% of the total population, more than 28% of those in our prisons are Indigenous. Or the fact that, 25 years after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, individuals are still dying under the care of WA Police due to prejudice-fuelled negligence and brutality. According to The Conversation, “Police powers in relation to public drunkenness and arrest have been extended”, “the right to bail has been undermined with increasing exceptions” and “maximum prison penalties and mandatory prison sentences have escalated since the Commission. Media representation is a huge issue when it comes to power, representative and image. Who you see on screen and how you see them can influence views on the various groups and individuals that make up our society – especially for those that identify as part of a minority group. If every superhero is a straight, white cis male, you might start to wonder whether anyone else can claim the ‘hero’ title. The thing is, there’s so many of this stock intersectionality in our media. Just in television and movies, we have Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America, Bruce Banner, Daredevil, Peter Parker, Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Hawkeye, Antman, Thor… you get the picture. The first entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe not starring a white dude is Black Panther, due in 2018 (10 years after the MCU started), and Wonder Woman’s first solo film is due next year (after a couple more Superman and Batman films).

Breaking out of the mould is incredibly important, especially when ‘the mould’ means ‘limits on who can be a hero’. Griffen, a self-declared fan of the genre – created the series to show his son that there were Indigenous superheroes for him to look up to. Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of resistance to minority-led superhero media. A quick scroll through the YouTube comments on Cleverman’s trailer will reveal a handful of ‘leftist propaganda against the white man’ threads, proving that comment sections are the bane of civil society. On the silver screen, Black Panther detractors have called the 90% African-American cast 'the newest iteration of Jim Crow’. What Cleverman does is create original strong, minority protagonists – and not at the expense of other characters, either. All shine. The show allows an extremely underrepresented group to tell stories within the current superhero zeitgeist. Marvel has had a handful of Indigenous Australian superheroes, but they haven’t received much screen time. X-men: Days of Future Past’s Bishop apparently exists only to fight and fulfil the black-dudedies-first role, with no acknowledgment of his Indigenous heritage (not to say there always should be). Meanwhile, Agents of SHIELD briefly mentions Eden Fesi, aka Manifold, despite being a central character in the comic arc the season was based on. He’s also rescued from captivity off-screen, as if he’s Princess Peach, despite being one of Marvel’s most powerful teleporters. Arguably one of Australia’s most political dramas currently running, Cleverman provides desperately needed representation for modern Indigenous Australians. Hopefully, through shifting the priorities and power in our media industry, seeing Indigenous heroes in great Australian dramas won’t be such a rare or remarkable sight.

PERTH FACT DID YOU KNOW THE VC HAS A SLIGHTLY LOWER RIGHT TOOTH? YES WE ARE STALKING HIM, WHAT OF IT?

LIFESTYLE

The story follows several Hairypeople as they suffer and battle through injustices and the human Containment Authority which oppresses them. The Authority is a morally ambiguous media magnate, and Waruu and Koen work together to undermine it. The series is a slow burn over six episodes, and I'm concerned that the flagging of a second

season before the first had even aired may have encouraged the slower pace.

WORDS BY PIA FUCILE ART BY CLARE MORAN (MORE_ANKLES)

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1. Lay on your bed 2. Stretch forward to reach your laptop/phone/half eaten mars bar at of the bed

the end

3. Lay back down, defeated 4. Stretch forward in a second attempt at reaching the lap-top/phone/half eaten mars bar 5. Lay back down, defeated again 6. Repeat four more times 7. Stand up 8. Bend down and scratch that mozzie bite on your foot 9. Stand back up 10. Decide it’s still itchy and bend back down to scratch it 11. Repeat for three more rounds of indecisiveness 12. Try to defeat the problem by punching your arms in the air in order to swat the mosquito thatsomehow made it into your room 13. Continue this for one minute 14. Go and move your all of your textbooks from your bag onto your desk 15. Decide you’re not going to study tonight, so take them all back to your bag, ready for uni tomorrow 16. Change your mind, because it’s only a Monday and nothing happens on a Monday night anyway, so get all of your textbooks back out of your bag and put them on your desk 17. Remember that Varsity has its quiz night on Mondays, so put them all back in your bag 18. Lift the carton of export out from your cupboard so you can start pre drinking 19. Remember that you’re classier than export, and lift it back into the cupboard 20. Get the goon bag out from your fridge 21. Lift the bag above your head for maximum pouring efficiency 22. Lift up and down for multiple sips/chugs until optimal drunkenness/biceps is achieved 23. Fall down because you drank too quickly 24. Stand back up because you’re not weak 25. Repeat 23 & 24 until you’re satisfied with your workout/able to walk/stumble to Varsity *Legitimacy of qualifications from phdforfree.com is questionable but we think they check out

PERTH FACT WE’RE NOT STOPPING UNTIL WE GET INTO MEDIA WATCH

THE TOOTHY PICK

Brika

3/177 Stirling St, Northbridge

Food ............................ 3.5/5 Decor ............................ 4/5 Service .......................... 2/5

WORDS BY PREMA ARASU

Masterchef judge George Calombaris and his Melbourne restaurant The Press Club have been largely responsible for the increasing popularity of Greek cuisine in Australia’s big cities. Last year I ate at Calombaris’ mid-range restaurant, Hellenic Republic in East Brunswick, where the carefullyconstructed menu aims to return the traditional flavours of Greece. In terms of food trends, Perth (a.k.a. the Melbourne of the West) is a consistent six months behind its cooler sister city to the East. Brika, just off Beaufort St near the Ellington Jazz Club, is the place to go for trendy yet honest Greek fare. Being fairly unfamiliar with ‘kalamboki’ and ‘spetsofaï’, I opted for the Meze set menu ($55pp with a minimum of 2 people). I would recommend the same to anyone who is not particularly picky and enjoys cheese, vegetable, seafood and meat dishes. The staff are, however, able to accommodate some dietary requirements. The Meze is fantastic value for money and includes over ten separate share plates, with more than enough for each person. The first dishes were flatbread with hummus and melitzanosalata (a smoked eggplant dip similar to babaganoush), and spanakopita with spinach, leek and three cheeses. Then we were served saganaki (anything grilled in a small pan) of two varieties: haloumi with blistered cherry tomatoes, and huge king prawns. The charred octopus with oregano and lemon was a highlight as the octopus tasted fresh whilst still slightly smoky. The salad of black beans, chorizo and goat’s cheese was a carefully balanced combination of flavours, while the Cretan salad of tomato, cucumber, feta and olives was more conventional. The heavier, barbequed meats were served towards the end of the meal – slow-cooked lamb in a house-made marinade and souvla rotisserie chicken. Both were fatty and heavily seasoned with garlic. At this stage of the meal I found the

meats to be too rich for my liking, especially as they were served without any accompaniments. The chicken and the lamb were the only dishes that went unfinished. The dessert included in the Meze was a disappointment, considering the high quality of everything else. It was one tiny loukomade (Greek donut) each, deep fried until rock-hard and drenched in honey. We ended up going to Chicho Gelato afterwards (5/5 new wave gelato, would recommend, I’ve been there four times in the last two weeks) rather than order any of the à la carte desserts at Brika. The quality of service throughout the night started off well, but progressively deteriorated; possibly owing to my table of ten, who were all sharing the Meze. Our drink orders were taken and the food came in a timely manner, but after the first course of flatbread and dip, the staff stopped describing each dish to us, or letting us know how many people each plate was meant to serve. As someone unfamiliar but interested in Greek cuisine, I would have liked to know what the significance of each course was, and why it had been included in the set menu. We were also unaware of what was coming and how much morethere would be at every stage. The individual waitstaff however were polite and friendly, despite my general impression of a lack of co-ordination with the kitchen. The bar staff were happy to mix my partner and I non-alcoholic drinks to accompany our food. The bar was stocked with a variety of ouzos as well as Greek lagers and wines. The restaurant itself is chic-grunge with a separate bar area, graffitied walls and a lively alfresco area covered in vines, kept warm with outdoor lamps during winter nights. During the day, Brika does gyros and takeaway coffee.

LIFESTYLE

PERTH FACT THE NUMBER OF UNREAD BIOGRAPHIES WRITTEN BY POLITICIANS IS REACHING DANGEROUS LEVELS

GOOD SHOW

MASTER OF NONE SEASON ONE keep on moving. The comedy in Master of None doesn’t come from extremes. Characters and situations aren’t amplified; things don’t erupt in an extravaganza of embarrassment and canned laughter. For the most part, the laughs are the same laughs you’d get in life: people say funny things. The only difference is that Yang and Ansari spent ages writing those things, and then spent longer making it seem like they didn’t. Aziz Ansari & Alan Yang NETFLIX Doing something new in the world of inner-city sitcoms isn’t easy. There have already been so many excellent shows, and so many that lampoon those same shows. It’s surprising, then, that Master of None manages to find space to breathe. Yet from its opening scene the Netflix-exclusive hits the ground running, with a style that touches on Friends and Seinfeld before breezing right past them, into the open air. That style comes straight from Alan Yang and Aziz Ansari’s take on the world: cheerful, curious, and only slightly incompetent. That ‘slightly’ really matters; there are no ridiculous sitcom setups here – no Ross getting a monkey. Instead, every episode finds something thorny and real – whether we’re talking race, age, sexism – following Ansari’s Dev as he wanders through it. Dev isn’t a klutz, or a fount of sarcasm, or a socially-inept nerd; he’s just a dude. He and the characters around him act like people – they make mistakes, try to learn from them, sometimes apologise, but

It’s worth lingering too on the way the pair manage to speak to some of those issues I mentioned. Each episode engages with realworld stuff, in a realistic way. Dev is pretty capable guy, but he messes up frequently – and even after he understands that, his behaviour doesn’t necessarily change. In one episode Dev and Brian (a sort of stand-in for Alan Yang) come to know more about the challenging lives of their immigrant parents. At the end of the episode though, they haven’t transformed into angels; they just feel a mixture of guilty and grateful, and try to spend a bit more time with their folks. It’s exactly this sort of greyness, mixed with a sort of genuine enthusiasm, that has made for so many great TV shows recently. Master of None entered my life at a weird time, and it really did connect directly to what I was going through. It wasn’t depressing or inspiring; it was just useful. It felt like a window into someone else’s real world. Also the title sequences are dope. REVIEW BY DENNIS VENNING

WORDS BY ROSE STEWART ART BY CLARA SEIGLA

“Wow, your phone is so smashed.”

imagine the screams of the smashed

Yes. It is smashed. Isn’t it glorious. It’s no use denying it: I am addicted to my iPhone, but really, it is amazing. I can find my way home when I’m lost; Transperth it to vintage sales in random places; call and beg my Uber driver to not give up on me (“Can’t you see where I am? Please just drive around!”); or thank them for saving my life on a Wednesday night/Thursday morning. I can transfer across extra money for 2am tequila shots I haven’t budgeted for. I can even call my family… But let’s not get carried away. The point is, my phone is amazing. And the fact that it is smashed doesn’t make it less amazing. So you can keep your comments of “Oh wow you still haven’t got that fixed?” to yourself – I’m not going to give up on it just because it’s a little bit broken. It is my friend – and I would have to call off all my friendships if I were that judgemental. We would all undoubtedly spiral into depression if we thought ourselves worthless purely because we're a little bit broken. It makes me sad to

phones as they’re lowered into landfill: “No, please! Look! The fastest route to get home! Look! Your ex liked your Instagram photo, he definitely still loves you! I set an alarm for 6:30, but I’ll let you snooze me if you decide you don’t need to go to that lecture! You’ll pass anyway! You’re amazing, please don’t leave me!” It’s my fault for breaking it anyway. My phone shouldn’t be punished just because I’ve forgotten it's in my jean pocket when I go and pee. So let's not discriminate against our broken iPhones, or our slightly smashed-up selves. Maybe one day, when it stops working completely, I’ll get a new one with a heavy heart and diminished bank account. In the meantime, that money is better spent on 2am tequila shots.

PERTH FACT "BREAK ME, SHAKE ME", SANG THE CARTON OF CHOC CHILL

forgotten Disney Princess.

WORDS BY THOMAS ROSSITER ART BY CLARA SEIGLA

On the first of June, the 24-episode season of Bob Ross’ Beauty is Everywhere was launched on Netflix – and my whole life has warped to accomodate it. Where once I was sad and broken, Bob Ross has made me whole. Beauty is Everywhere is a kind of highlight reel, selecting the best episodes from Ross’ masterpiece, The Joy of Painting. Taking a diverse selection from Ross’ impressive 30-season oeuvre, Beauty is Everywhere features diverse footage of critters (watch baby squirrels age before your very eyes!) and a selection of the best of Ross’ paintings, as well as mountains and trees. Lots of trees. The healing power of Bob Ross has reached deep into my soul and pulled all the sadness away. Now, my only problem is that after a watch, even inordinately numerable cups of coffee won’t bring me back into wakefulness. But then I sleep, and dream of Ross. And all is well again.

And as it turns out, Bob Ross never asked for PBS (America’s publicly funded broadcaster) to be paid, and even donated all the paintings he made on the show to PBS charity drives. He made all of his money through the products he made and marketed, including a huge range of art supplies. A former US army Master Sergeant for 20 years in the Air Force, Ross’ job was to yell and whip new recruits into shape; tiring of this, he wanted to live a life where he would never have to raise his voice again. Painting, something of a hobby up until this point, became his passion, and then his livelihood. Watching paint dry might not sound like the most exciting way to spend an hour, but paintings can totally transform even in their final stages. Ross might suddenly decide – and he often does – that his piece needs a giant tree in the foreground, or that actually, there should be two of those, since “Everyone needs a friend”. Something about these slow transformations and dynamic shifts makes watching Bob Ross magical. Another form of ASMR (Google it) available on YouTube (where, I will let you know, all 30 seasons of The Joy of Painting stream). The world of Bob Ross is truly a place of unrivalled beauty; made up of mountain ranges, log cabins, and anecdotes from his time spent in Alaska. I’m not sure if Beauty is Everywhere – but it certainly seems to surround Bob Ross.

Perhaps the largest contributor to this almost supernatural level of relaxation, is Ross’ painting technique: ‘wet on wet’. Ross layers oil paint over other, still-wet layers. This means paintings can form before your eyes, wonderful paintings, in the span of a half hour. Starting with just blurs and indistinct shapes, the works of Bob Ross slowly gain complexity and beauty. Accompanied by our gentle instructor, viewers enjoy a slow transformation; we travel from nothing into astounding realism. Whilst painting, Bob often gives out little pieces of comforting advice: “There are no mistakes, just happy accidents” is a favourite, but who can forget the comforting sound of “You have infinite power. On this canvas, you have unlimited power”? (Nb: I have myself never attempted to use my canvas-power by painting along with Bob.) Or the depression-busting subtlety that is “Now, we’re gonna make some decisions”, usually said right before Bob begins painting an imposing mountain. These words are a great source of comfort. Spoken in a soft and soothing tone, Ross works and talks to the audience, creating the illusion that you have the world’s most supportive friend in the room with you. The voice helps as well – a soft southern accent that melts in your ears like warm butter. Warm ear-butter. Coupled with just an occasional southernism or word of encouragement, Ross soothes. Let me sleep in your perm you magnificent bastard.

ROSSARY OF TERMS “Little Doers”

“Make it your friend”

“This is your world”

“There’s nothing wrong with

“Wiggle that brush”

having a tree as a friend”

PERTH FACT #HATESELF IS ONE EDITOR'S MOST-USED UNOFFICIAL HASHTAG

LIFESTYLE

Bob regularly features so-named ‘critters’ on his show. Often before some tape of him feeding a baby squirrel or playing with some fauns, he explains with a smile the large number of letters he has received about the animals since they were last shown. Bob repeats key phrases here like “Isn’t that little guy just the best”. Inevitably the creatures have grown bigger, and sometimes the ones he had last time have been released into the wild. One time he mentioned he was nursing a crow back to health after it had been shot by a farmer, and that it would never fly again. This Disney-version of unhappiness is the closest that dark thoughts ever get in the world of Bob Ross. Bob Ross is a modern St Francis of Assisi, or at least a

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Set yourself apart with a UWA postgrad degree Postgrad & Honours Expo Wednesday 21 September 2016, 4-7pm Bayliss Building and surrounds

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