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7 July 2017
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Council says desex your pets! Baw Baw Shire Council is urging locals to desex their pets and talk to their freinds about desexing their own adoptees during National Desexing Month. Mayor Joe Gauci said this month’s campaign was an important reminder. “Council and other groups across the country are trying to save as many lives as possible, but we have to break the breeding cycle, particularly of cats that can be pregnant from four months of age and while still weaning their kittens,” Cr Gauci said in a media release on Wednesday. “Desexing also helps to prevent unwanted animal pregnancies, which is a real issue in our area.” Desexing cats is mandatory in the Baw Baw Shire. Visit ndn.org.au for more info.
Weather Today Shower or two Tomorrow Shower or two
Sunday Shower or two Monday Shower or two Tuesday Shower or two Wednesday Sunny
BAW BAW
2-13 3-13 4-12 3-12 2-10 0-12
Lighting the longest night
CITIZEN
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Warragul’s Winterfest got people from as far as Sale to brave the Baw Baw cold // Page 7
Aussie planning among ‘worst’
█ William Kulich @WillPJK
IN FOCUS • Australia has become slack with its town and city planning and it’s affecting how we live as well as how we use our land, according to one researcher. Anyone living on or near
Melbourne’s urban fringe is acutely aware our farmland is being replaced by urban sprawl. It’s something we expect - our population is growing (see the Census report on Page 6 of this paper) and we need places to put people, right?
Our rapid housing growth over some of the state’s most productive agricultural land is a problem we need to deal with. We can’t just keep expanding forever, but we only seem to talk urban planning when we’re forced to. In this first in a series of features
on managing Melbourne and periurban Victoria’s growth, we talk to RMIT’s Michael Buxton, who is a professor of Environment and Planning at the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies.
Continue reading on Page 8
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7 July 2017
Baw Baw Citizen / Casey & Cardinia Free Press
Rebooted computer store puts pep in everyone’s step █ This is a sponsored story
Like the computers he upgrades, Jon Cavell has got Warragul Computer Repair running even better than when it was new. Having moved to his new, larger store at 6 Smith Street Warragul late last month, four weeks ahead of schedule, Jon is already serving more customers and passing on the savings. “The new shop has been amazing,” he said. “We’re able to get jobs out the door substantially faster due to the improved workspace, we can work on more machines at once, and we can display more stock. “I’m honestly surprised how much we managed to cram in the little old store - I initially didn’t order any new stock when moving and have still managed to fill most of the new shelves. “Of course it certainly did not take long to add more items, once we finished moving in. “We’re now selling more because people can see it!” People have responded well to the new space, located only two doors up from the old store. The new site’s show floor alone is larger than the whole of the old shop, and there is a large separate workshop. Customers can find what they need more easily too thanks to new shelving and display cabinets. “The general word is ‘this is so much better,’” he said. Jon’s recently expanded range has even better pricing too. “Our turnover on accessories is higher, therefore our prices
are lower; and we’ve got some exclusive high end brands at half the price of those of the same quality,” he said. “We have a stronger focus on having peripherals like mice and keyboards on display. It’s hard for people to compare the quality and feel until they try them out, and they can now easily do that in-store. “The extra display space also allows us to show off LG’s excellent high-end IPS screens, which have come down in price. We have a focus on selling mid- to high-end equipment at very affordable prices.” Jon is known for keeping all systems, new and old, ticking along nicely. He hates the throw-away mentality of department stores and likes to build and sell computers which will last.
“If I do a desktop build, I expect that to last for 10 years.” Jon Cavell - Warragul Computer Repair
“You will have the odd one which might require maintenance, but the overall system should last 10 years, which is the complete opposite of a department store viewpoint.” More than a few people at once can fit through the door now and a “proper, high-end, computerised barista” serves customers coffee and makes them feel at home
when they visit. Jon plans to provide coffees to the general public too in exchange for a charity donation. “The growth even in the first few weeks of the new store has been brilliant,” he said. “We don’t know if it’s the financial year or the fact we’re able to handle more foot traffic, but I had 38 extra power points put in and we’ve run out already.” Considering how quickly the store is growing, it’s a good thing there is still a little more room for Jon to expand operations at 6 Smith Street. He has organised for another dozen power points to be installed in the customer area along a largely unused bench top, and has a few uses in mind. One of them is really exciting for those wanting to get to know their computers a little better. “We want to use the space to correctly train aspiring computer builders,” he said. “If they’re purchasing parts from us and they want to have a go with the build, they can assemble it on the bench under professional supervision free of charge. “It’s something we have always done but didn’t really have the room to do effectively. We’re now fully equipped to do that, including all the safety equipment like static straps, safe work zones, and good lighting.” Jon is ACMA accredited and has almost 25 years experience in the IT industry. Be sure to check out the new Warragul Computer Repair at 6 Smith Street, Warragul.
At Warragul Computer Repair’s new store, customers are invited to overclock their bodies as well as their CPUs
RELOCATION
SALE! Market Day Saturday 15 July 6 Smith Street, Warragul
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Kids
Baw Baw Citizen / Casey & Cardinia Free Press 7 July 2017
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Competition
Breaking the ice
Australian ice breaker Aurora Australis and its crew meet some penquins. Image: Alex Kozyr
The Pakenham Library’s Minecraft Club was a great creative outlet away from screens for local youngsters
Digging into
what kids want
█ William Kulich @WillPJK
“Where is my head?!” Not what you usually expect to hear yelled as you walk into a room, but for Pakenham Library’s Bec Mitchem it’s pretty normal. I had dropped in for one of the last sessions of the library’s Minecraft Club, which ran for the whole of the last term. It’s nothing like what I expected – apart from the usual modern library fittings, there’s hardly a computer screen in sight. Minecraft is a videogame which sees players explore and build worlds with uniform-size blocks. They can meld and create new kinds of building blocks and tools, build structures, dig mines (unsurprisingly) to find raw materials, and brave an admittedly sometimes terrifying virtual world. It is a “sandbox” game - there are usually no overt objectives, leaving players to decide what they want to do for themselves. It’s no surprise then that the children had no trouble getting behind Pakenham’s club. “We wanted the kids to build their own club,” Bec told the Casey & Cardinia Free Press. “They’re building it, and leading it, and so it does teach them those elements of leadership as well. “I think there’s a huge push, not just for the kids but for the community to have at least some sort of control over what programs are. The term is codesign. “We can come up with ideas, but it’s best if the community comes up with them because then they’re doing stuff they really want to be doing. “For us, that’s sort of going to be
a really big element of the way we move forward.” When I walked in, the kids were all in handmade costumes ready to record a scene from their own Minecraft-themed movie. There was the usual noise and slight mess we expect from young kids, but they were determined. Nobody was sitting back, and everyone was working together to get ready for action. “What we were looking for was something which would bring boys into the library, but wouldn’t necessarily have them just sitting in front of a computer screen,” Bec said. “We wanted to give them the opportunity to engage with each other and learn some other skills, so we used Minecraft as our drawing card.” There was still a little screen time, geared toward collaboration. The Minecrafters each contributed to one “community build” - a shared game in which they each built something. “They chose what they were going to build, which was a carnival, and they’ve all worked on that across the 10 weeks, but they then chose another element; they wanted to make a film. “Over the 10 weeks they designed their costumes, they wrote the scenes and scripts themselves, and we’re having a go at filming [and] we will be looking at how you edit movies. “It was really about bringing a whole load of different opportunities to the kids rather than just putting them in front of a computer screen.” Engagement with youth is important as eyes increasingly turn toward screens. It seems
somewhat ironic that it’s a videogame which has brought the kids in in this instance, but according to Beth Luppino, Customer Experience Manager at Casey Cardinia Libraries, kids are libraries’ most engaged demographic. “Services for kids are still the busiest part of our work, despite the fact that most children have access to screen time at home,” Beth told the Casey & Cardinia Free Press. “Our children’s collections are the most borrowed of all our items, and our children and youth programs are the highest attended – we had more than 8,000 kids attend a program at our libraries in May! “Our libraries provide places for kids to hang out safely with each other, and spend quality time with their parents – a perfect recipe for success.” There has been more to the Minecraft Club than making a video, but it might not be
immediately apparent. “There have been some challenges for them,” Bec said. “I think that has been a really great part of it because they’ve had to learn new skill sets, how to collaborate with one another, how to compromise, and how to come into a new group and establish friendships and relationships. “So there have been a whole lot of other elements that have been running along in the background.” Pakenham’s Minecraft club has now wrapped up for the year, and semester Coding Club will come into being. There will be much more screen time, but the kids will be learning the basics of an essential life skill. The Coding Club tells us something about the success of the Minecraft Club too: the kids attracted to the library for the game have stuck around. “It was booked out within the first two week by the kids who come to this!” Bec said.
When adults were trusted to name Britain’s brand new polar research ship last year, the winning entry was “Boaty McBoatface.” The amusing popular vote was eventually overturned and the ship was named “RSS Sir David Attenborough” after the famous naturalist. Having apparently learned from the United Kingdom’s mistake, the Australian Antarctic Division has left naming its new icebreaker to children. The Name Our Icebreaker competition, open to Australian students in years 5 to 8, has been extended until today to allow more classes to submit their entries. Individuals are not able to enter. The competition hasn’t just been about landing a name for the ship - it “has been designed to engage Australian students in Australia’s Antarctic Program and expand their understanding of Antarctica, its environment, climate, history and Australia’s role there.” Apart from the obvious award of having the name painted on the side of the new ice breaker, major prize winners will also have the chance to participate in a round-trip flight from Hobart to Antarctica. When they land at the Wilkins Aerodome, they will become the first children to fly to the continent as part of the Australian Antarctic Program. Still lamenting the loss of the Boaty McBoatface name? Britain’s Natural Environment Research Council did end up using it! A boat used for scientific research conducted from RSS Sir David Attenborough now carries the title. Boaty McBoatface has already seen action, researching ocean waters south of Chile.
Shameless plug
Find more Kids content online!
“Action!” Filming a scene of the movie. You can find a trailer on the Casey Cardinia Libraries Facebook page.
Did you miss our interview with author Adam Wallace in last month’s Baw Baw Citizen? Don’t worry! You can read it online right now at fpress.com.au.
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Downtime
Baw Baw Citizen / Casey & Cardinia Free Press 7 July 2017
SnowFest returning!
Photos from the Baw Baw Citizen’s coverage of SnowFest Warragul 2016
Social selection
Who we’re following: July 2017 Given how much time the editor loses to social media every month, it was inevitable this section would spring up.
This month’s Social slection includes a little local doggo with a big online following, a bin robot who will either help or murder you, and some shameless plugs for ourown accounts.
Bin Night Bot @binnightbot
Those of us who grew up playing The Sims will no doubt remember the housekeeping robot Servo, who took out the bins for your household. Sadly, this is probably about as close as you will ever get to that experience IRL. Bin Night Bot is an automated account which tweets you reminders to take out the bins. Setup is simple - you just send it a tweet mentioning which day your bins go out (for example, | “@binnightbot Thursday), and the account will send you a tweet at an appropriate time every week! It even figures out your time zone. Just remember, this service is public and could be a privacy risk for some people.
WEST GIPPSLAND ARTS CENTRE
Organisers of last year’s popular, free SnowFest Warragul event have announced its return later this month, and have promised even more snow! Last year, snow was trucked in from Mt Baw Baw and piled up on Palmerston Street for all to enjoy. The snow will be back this year and Smith Street has been promised some coverage too! Also, look out for the fireworks. SnowFest Warragul will run from 17:00 to 19:30 on Friday 28 July.
Ollie’s adventures // @ollies_adventures_313
Our accounts:
Source: Ollie’s adventures Posted 15 June 2017
We bumped into this golden pup from Drouin while at the Longwarry market, and yes, they are as soft as they look! It will come as no surprise to anyone used to social media (and dogs) that since their first post on 28 May, Ollie has found 1,024 followers on Instagram! Ollie’s posts include dress-ups, beach digs, goat boops, and even a driving photo! Oh, they grow up so fast.
CORNER OF SMITH AND ALBERT STREETS, WARRAGUL Bookings: PH 5624 2456 - www.wgac.com.au
Baw Baw Citizen @BawBawCitizen Casey Cardinia Free Press @CCFreePress
fpress.com.au @FPRESScomau
Who do you follow? We’d love to hear from you about who you enjy following on social media! Hit us up at one of the handles listed above.
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Presents... Outside the Walls - 2017
Meet Mothball, the naughtiest wombat in Australia. Bored with her daily routine, Mothball goes in search of shelter and food, creating chaos in the lives of the humans around her. Between a packed schedule of scratching, sleeping and eating, Mothball discovers that with a bit of persistence, humans are quite easily trained!
Told by a real life family in the tradition of travelling show biz troupes of old, The Crow Family is a gentle, intimate, and beautiful music performance event about remarkable creatures and what makes us human.
Vibraphonist Nick Parnell is a five star musician – and a secret revealer. Nick’s magical mallets lovingly caress his vibraphone keys, seamlessly braiding jazz, world and classical music into one living twist of musical enjoyment.
“An urban parable about families, scavengers and cake.”
Thursday 20 July Special Family Time - 6:30pm Cardinia Cultural Centre
Thursday 27 July 7:30pm Neerim Junction Hall
Thursday 14 September 7:30pm Yarragon Public Hall
Sunday 29 October 3:00pm Wesley of Warragul
Main Neerim Road,
7 Campbell Street,
62 Victoria St,
40 Lakeside Blvd, Pakenham
Neerim Junction
Yarragon
Warragul
Downtime
Baw Baw Citizen / Casey & Cardinia Free Press
7 July 2017
Bringing Diary of a Wombat to life We can all name several books which have been turned into plays or films, for better or for worse. Books are a great launching point for productions; dialogue has been written and scenes set. But what do you do when your main character is a mute wild animal? How do you tell any kind of emotional story? That was the challenge faced by Monkey Baa Theatre Company when it started work on Diary of a Wombat, based on the book by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley. Actor and puppeteer Michael Cullen told the Baw Baw Citizen how the popular play with minimal dialogue and a live cello telling the story of a wombat came together. How do you go about translating a kids’ book about a silent character into a 45-minute stage production? We had two creative developments, they were about two weeks each, and we really played around with a lot of different ideas. We came to the table and we had no limits, we said ‘let’s see whatever idea works.’ So we tried shadow puppetry, we tried traditional puppetry, we thought about marionettes, hand puppets, what can we use?’ We were using couch pillows and a bean bag for a wombat at one stage just trying to see what would relate, and what would capture the spirit of the wombat. At the end of the creative development it became pretty clear there were some choices we had made which would work. One of which was to have a big, soft, flexible puppet, slightly larger-than-life, to convey that sense of this imposing creature who just turns up out of nowhere and ‘bang!’ She has a really strong presence when she’s on stage. The cello as the wombat; that links everything together. As soon as we brought the cello in, we had this incredible inner landscape of the wombat without having to reduce it to language, without the language going ‘oh, I’m hungry, I’m going to eat carrots today.’ Whenever we tried to have the voice of the wombat just talking words it seemed - I don’t want to say Disney in a derogatory way - we wanted to keep the wombat as a wild animal as opposed to anthropomorphising it, and the voice of the wombat through the cello seems to capture that. We suddenly had a whole lot of expression, a whole lot of playfulness or anger; really clear emotions were able to be conveyed very simply and beautifully through the cello, and that linked the story with incredible thread that wove all the way through it, so we weren’t scared of not having words. How did you land on the cello as the instrument for the wombat? Who thought of that? Definitely Eva. Eva had a vision early on. She saw the big, flexible puppet, and... I think that sort of just came to her. Personally I think the reason is because of the range of the cello - you have these beautiful base notes soaring all the way up to beautiful high notes, and so you can run the gamut of emotions this creature would be feeling.Our cellist, Mary Rapp, she really captures that and she plays with such energy and intensity. Does the reaction of audiences change depending on where you are? Not so much. It would change depending on how many parents there are in the audience. We played to an audience of 500 school children the other day, and that was pretty raucous. What I would think
changes is if there’s parents in the audience there’s a lot of stuff that parents would get which is not necessarily for the kids; I’m sure the parents could relate to a small, very opinionated, powerful little creature bossing them and trying to impose its will upon them. I think a lot of the parents seem to really laugh at the slightly more layered stuff that’s going on. I hadn’t realised Diary of a Wombat was a metaphor for small children! I think that’s probably my metaphor, I have to be careful here! You just have this beautiful, mischievous, but entirely wilful character coming in and going ‘oi, do this!’ I think for children the fantasy is, of course, this creature has complete control over their parents. This creature doesn’t take no for an answer and does what she wants when she wants. This is listed for ages three and up. It’s not just for kids then? No, definitely not. You’ve got to be pretty smart when making kids’ shows these days because parents are coming to see the show, and if the parents like the show they will be telling their friends. I think our director Eva Di Cesare, she has two kids herself, and her sense of humour definitely bled into the play. There’s a lot of dry humour for the parents. You have been doing puppetry for a long time now - what do you enjoy so much about it? I’ve been doing puppetry for a while, and I sort of fell into it by accident. But once I was there I found this amazing moment: when you’re doing something with puppetry, there’s a moment where the audience has to come along the journey with you; they have to make the decision to believe along with you, but they’re watching you, they can see exactly what you’re doing when manipulating the puppet. There’s no tricks, there’s no hidden anything. So at some point in their mind they have to edit you out of the image and bestow life on this creature, and when that happens... children do that at the drop of a hat. Grown ups need to feel like you’re not pulling the wool over their eyes, the need to go ‘how did that work?’ And once they’re satisfied you’re just trying to offer them a story, then they choose to believe. I love that, because as soon as they give them permission to believe in the life of this character, which is essentially a bunch of inanimate things put together and moved by someone, as soon as they do that they are allowed to have this incredible experience of shared imagination with the audience. It’s such a beautiful discovery every night. It feels like the puppet has its own personality and I’m just there to help it, not just imposing my will. Puppetry, especially live, isn’t much of a thing in Australia, is it. Yeah, I think it’s becoming moreso. A lot more shows are starting to put it in there, and I think it’s because of things like War Horse (which Michael was involved in)
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and King Kong; they were big-ticket items which put puppetry in people’s minds. But now I think people are realising you can do incredible things with a chunk of foam and eyes if you have a really well-developed character and a funny, interesting, engaging storyline. That can be just as engaging for an audience as a huge set. In a completely different way, of course. But puppetry as a thing can be a really different experience for an audience, and I think people are enjoying it. I’d say it’s opening doors. You can catch Diary of a Wombat at Cardinia Cultural Centre, Pakenham, on Thursday 20 July at 6.30pm and on Friday 21 July at 10am or 12pm. Book through the West Gippsland Arts Centre: wgac.com.au.
Image: supplied
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Baw Baw Citizen 7 July 2017
Local
Baw Baw
Is the data which has been released so far any use for drawing conclusions at all? It is, but just be careful when you compare it. You can compare growth over time, but you must compare the Census count from last time to the Census count from this time. So that would be within reasonable margins of error? Yeah. There’s a slightly higher nonresponse rate in this Census. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is sort of promoting an under count, but if you look at the detail, there were less dwellings that responded to the Census. Only by 1 per cent, but it is less. But they have also done more double-counting of people. So the net under count, when you’re adjusting for population, is actually less than it was.
Given the issues around the 2016 Census’ accuracy, both unintentionally and intentionally, is that data now being released reliable? Yeah, the non-response rate is marginally up, but on the other side the non-response to specific questions is down so more people have actually answered all the questions when they do fill out the Census form. It sort of balances out, and from what I’ve seen so far, I haven’t seen anything which is sort of glaringly obviously wrong. “The biggest change I have seen so far is around the dwelling type, which we use quite a lot in our population forecasts. The interesting thing about that one is in previous Censuses, the Census collector marked what kind of dwelling it was when they went to the doorstep - now that most of them are mailed out they can’t do that. So the ABS has an address register which supposedly has the correct dwelling type for all dwellings, but if you have a look at the numbers there has been a big drop in the number of one and two storey flats and a big increase in the number of semidetached houses. It may be the Census collectors were getting their categories systematically wrong last time and it’s right now, but it’s a big difference. *I had combined incompatible data sets; the pre-Census Estimated Resident Population figure isn’t affected by people being away from home like the raw Census count is.
2016 48,479
2011 42,864
2006 37,178
Median age 2016
“People renting is on the increase [nationally].”
Predictably, right after being told the Census isn’t the best measure of population, we go and graph exactly that. “Typical media. Sad!” Anyway, this is Baw Baw’s raw population count over the last four censuses, not including overseas visitors.
2011
Looking forward to the growth of Australia and so on, what are the key stats to watch for you? We look quite closely at housing information - the types of dwellings people are living in, where they’re located, the tenure type. For instance, one thing we have looked at is the increase in the number of renters.
+2
+1 +1
Baw Baw 39 Victoria 37 Australia 37
40 37 37
42 37 38
Household finances
Per cent change of median figure on previous Census
Household income ($/week)
Mortgage repayment ($/month)
2016
“Census is very good for characteristics, but in terms of total population there’s a different source; the ERP.”
How does the ABS figure out roughly how many people did things incorrectly? They predominantly do that from a post-enumeration survey, meaning they go out to a random sample of about 40,000 households and ask if people were counted, where they were counted, if they were overseas [and so on]. It’s all survey based, and there’s a sampling error associated with that.
2011
What are the common mistakes people make when interpreting Census data? The big one is treating it as a population count. It’s a very different thing. The Census misses some people, so apart from very small areas it’s not the same as the population. The Estimated Resident Population is the official population. The difficulty is, for about a month from now until the 28th of July we have an ERP which is still based on 2011’s Census and having been updated every year when estimates changed. And then we have a Census count from 2016. There won’t be an ERP for small areas based on 2016 until the 28th of July.
The double counting was because people were allowed to fill out the Census forms over an extended period this time? Partly. The big one this time seems to be because it was done online: quite a few people who were overseas on Census night, who were not supposed to fill out the Census, have filled in the Census, and so they’re counted by the form they filled in online, but also counted in the population through the passenger card they filled in when they left the country.
2006
CENSUS 2016 • We all know Baw Baw is growing quickly, but how quickly exactly? And in what ways? It’s an important question to ask as we plan for our future. Census 2016 data released last week allows us to have a good look at who we are and how we are doing. The Baw Baw Citizen will have in-depth analysis of the data in future editions, but in this edition we will be looking at exactly how all this data can be used and, possibly more importantly, how it should not be used. Back in 2012, I penned a story online about how Baw Baw’s population had risen less than forecasts suggested it would. Well, so I thought. The figures I compared weren’t apples and apples like I assumed they were and it wasn’t long until big-time population data analysts .id used my piece in a blog post as an example of how the media can get stats wrong. I’m determined to not be on that list again, so when the 2016 data came out I had a chat to Glenn Capuano from .id about what we can take away from the new data.
2006
█ William Kulich @WillPJK
2001 34,632
in numb3rs
$894
$1,022 (+14%)
$1,404 (+35%) $1,040
$140
$1,465 (+4%)
$250 (+25%) $200 (+43%)
Rent payment ($/week)
$1,194 (+17%)
Local
Baw Baw Citizen
7 July 2017
Gallery: Warragul Winterfest and Lantern Parade
Thousands of people turned out to celebrate one of the shortest nights of the year at Warragul’s Eastern Park at the end of last month. Festivities included fire twirlers (seen on Page 1), a bonfire, music, costumes, and food. We even met one family which came all the way from Sale just for the event!
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Baw Baw Citizen / Casey & Cardinia Free Press 7 July 2017
In focus
Aussie planning has ‘no vision’ From Page 1
Let’s start with some explanations of the key issues at play, such as the reason we have urban sprawl: housing density. In short, Professor Buxton thinks our housing density is too low and much stronger requirements for greater density should be introduced. He explained how Melbourne got to where it is today, with under 20 lots per hectare.
“In 1990 when the first corridor development was approved in the Berwick, Cranbourne, and Whittlesea areas, and then later the Werribee areas, the government introduced minimum average densities of 15 lots per hectare,” Professor Buxton told the Baw Baw Citizen. “That doubled the then-prevailing density of about 7 dwellings per hectare. The Cane government required 15 lots, and the plan was to increase it to about 25 lots per hectare in coming years. “Jeff Kennett’s government scrapped that.The first action of Rob Maclellan (Liberal MP for the seat of Pakenham at the time) as planning minister was to remove that mandatory minimum requirement. “The developers went back to sleep and started producing housing at 7 to 10 lots per hectare again, and it’s still only 16 lots per hecare. The Victorian Planning Authority pats itself on the back and says it’s moving up to 18 lots per hectare; well Sydney is moving to around 25 to 35 lots
work well for us. In fact, he goes as far as to say...
“The Clyde area has some of the world’s worst development model.”
“You will not get worse anywhere in the world than that. It has got every bad feature of outer-urban development: big box retailing, car-based suburbs, very little variability in housing type, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re just dumping. We’re forcing new home buyers and lower income home buyers out to the fringe where they have shocking services and long commutes to employment.” Asked if Australia had lost its town planning vision, Professor Buxton agreed.
“Totally. There is no vision. When you look at the new metropolitan plan it doesn’t mention density. It doesn’t mention high rise and yet the government is allowing inner Melbourne to be pulled down for high rise. There’s no retail policy in the new plan, so retailers can go on building big box [stores] and smashing traditional shopping centres at their whim. There’s basically no transport policy. It omits most of the important planning issues. “We’re not doing proper strategic planning. “Governments and us as a society do not do regional planning in this country. Other countries do it very well, they integrate
per hectare on its fringe, which is much more efficient use of land.”
But what about Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary, and the boundaries set by regional councils on city growth? Surely they can restrict unfetted growth? Well... “The urban growth boundary originally, in 2003, was designed to send a signal to outer-urban developers to shift their business practices and force them to move back into the established city area and build different types of housing,” Professor Buxton said.
“There is no lack of land in the established city.”
“There is a huge amount of land in the established city able to be developed... and that 2003 legislated urban growth boundary was designed to try to shift those business practices. “Developers wouldn’t do it, and they pressured the government and the Brumby government caved in in 2010 and expanded the boundary by 43,000 hectares to allow them to continue their wasteful use of land.
metropolitan centres in with regional centres, and they figure out what has to be done to make it work. For example, you don’t allow a regional centre like Warragul to expand and invest in rail while building a two-line track in the metropolitan network. (Skyrail, which we covered in last month’s Baw Baw Citizen. Head to bbcit.co/rlfix to read more.)
“We do regional planning very badly and no government has really committed itself to it since the 50s and early 60s...”
“...with the exception of the Hamer government in the 1970s protecting the upper Yarra Valley and the Mornington Peninsula. That was the best example of regional planning we have ever done. “Governments made the hard decisions and amalgamated blocks and prevented all these lots from having houses built upon them.” We have talked a lot about Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs, but what about Warragul and Drouin? The towns have been identified by the state government as key in regional growth and development, but is enough being done to look after them? Spoiler alert. No. “RMIT did another study a couple of years ago which identified the land
“That was worsened by Matthew Guy several years later [when he expanded] that area by 6,000 hectares. “There has really been massive loss of important agricultural land in the Berwick, Cranbourne, and Clyde areas.”
So how would we increase density, and would our suburbs and towns be much different if we did?
“It’s easy to achieve – all you have to do is vary your housing type,” Professor Buxton said. “The great benefit is much better designed suburbs. What we’re building now is detached housing to the horizon; car dependent, can’t walk anywhere, worst possible subdivision standards. “If you increase the minimum density to say 25 lots per hectare, which is the bottom end of the Sydney aim, and by the way still one of the lowest in the world, you get better-designed suburbs, a greater mix of housing types and lot sizes, and you’re building a lot more affordable housing. “You ensure you have slightly higher density around the townships, so you’re getting medium density, certainly a few low- to mid-rise apartment options but it’s mainly medium density and attached town house development. “Most of these developments would still be dominated by detached houses, but
available in regional towns. We found there’s a lot of land in virtually all regional towns that can be developed without the regional equivalent of suburban sprawl. “If you look at the area between Drouin and Warragul for example, there was a study done over 10 years ago which said [the towns] should never be allowed to meet up. But the council and the government ignored that and approved large-scale suburban development of the metropolitan type - the type you find out in Berwick and Pakenham. It’s suburban sprawl of another kind, and there’s no need for it.” And the way we look at land is going to have to change too.
“We’re still basically in the frontier mentality where we can go out and do what we like as if we have an infinite amount of land and it’s all there to be conquered. We’re still in the land conquering phase of our psyche, but I do think that there’s been a major shift, particularly since the late 90s in people’s preferences. There is a much greater acceptance of denser development so long as it’s not high rise. High rise is not accepted by many people at all. I do think there is [now] a greater willingness by most people to accept different housing options and types. “The problem is developers are making all the decisions on the housing types. They’re deciding to build high rise in the centres, and low rise on the urban fringe, and people don’t really get a chance to express their preferences - they just have to go and buy what developers offer. There are going to have to be some difficult conversations around what we
there would be greater housing choice and...
“...would lead to a 40 per cent lowering of house price for some of those options.”
“New home buyers at the moment are being forced to buy four bedroom houses with two bathrooms and a family room when they may not want a family for five years or so. You have to buy these houses because they’re dictated by the development industry. “So the whole idea of increased density is it would force the development industry to modify, at least in part, its housing type, and start to introduce greater variablility and greater affordability.
Mr Buxton said an RMIT study conducted in 2010 found the expansion of the urban growth boundary at that time would not have been needed had the government increased minimum density to from 14 to 20 lots per hectare. Mr Buxton doesn’t mince his words when describing Melbourne’s rapid, standardised expansion. He says “we’re stuck with these suburbs” which don’t
allow to happen with land around our cities and towns. We have to look after people, the environment, and our food sources. One measure was hinted at before, but it’s unlikely to be popular. It’s to do with farmers deciding to sell their land for development.
“Nobody has any divine right to shift their land use from a rural use to an urban use, this is a matter for government to decide whether it’s in the public interest,” Professor Buxton said. “Just because someone can make a lot of money from subdividing productive land doesn’t mean they should be allowed to do it. In fact, they usually shouldn’t be allowed to do it. “It’s a matter of maintaining the rural landscapes and the farming options for the future. “We have a very limited amount of highly productive agricultural land near cities, and if we keep subdividing it and building over it we’re going to lose it. Climate change and other conditions are probably going to severely restrict our capacity to get our food from other sources. “The cities which retain the value of their hinterland, including their agricultural resources, are going to be the cities which survive best this century.
“The cities which squander those wonderful resources, as we are, are going to rue the day.”
Health & Fitness
Baw Baw Citizen / Casey & Cardinia Free Press 7 July 2017
9
We need to talk about
mental health Illustration: pogonici
█ William Kulich @WillPJK
OPINION • “He said he had borderline personality disorder, or some bullsh-like that.” I was tempted to butt in. Standing outside a chemist were two people tearing someone not present apart over their mental health. I kept out, but it got me thinking: Australians as a whole really don’t understand mental health. It says a lot about how closeted mental health problems are that people who just left a chemist weren’t taking a diagnosis seriously. People often don’t understand mental health problems, which can lead to anger and frustration from peers and family members, and confusion and hopelessness for sufferers. For the record, borderline personality disorder affects someone’s self esteem and emotional attachment, and its symptoms include anxiety about relationships, paranoia, self harm, risky behaviour and moodiness. The fact the mentally healthy part of the nation seems to only use occasions like “RUOK Day” and Mental Health Week as a guilt easing exercise while choosing to avoid discussion for the rest of the year tells us something: people are not comfortable talking about mental health. Wanting to avoid conversation is not surprising given the stereotypes of mental health we see in the media. People are probably likely to know more about the
book and film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest than they are about most mental illnesses. Depictions of depression as being a never-ending pit of sadness are not only inaccurate, but could make a diagnosis quite alarming. Treatments can carry a lot of stigma too, even from some doctors. The first GP I ever spoke to when seeking help for my own depression and anxiety described medication options as “mind-bending drugs” before saying I was probably going to be completely fine as I was feeling a bit better at the time of the appointment. Yeah, thanks for that. That doctor was not the first person I heard make that suggestion, and certainly wasn’t the last. Many people I know who have wanted to kick their mental health condition have been terrified that medication will strip their personality away. That simply is not true. Sane Australia’s website dispels many other myths about medications: they are not ‘happy drugs,’ they are not the only thing which helps people get better, and they are not addictive. But despite all the misinformationbusting websites out there, there is still one big hindrance to people seeking help: they are afraid. They are afraid people at their school or workplace will find out they have “something wrong with them;” they are afraid of people thinking they are in some way weak or pathetic (nope - mental health problems are legitimate health problems);
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and they are afraid of friends, family, or anyone close to them reacting like the pair I heard complaining outside Priceline. What I hope people take away from this piece is the knowledge we all have a role in the destigmatisation of mental illness. We should consider the fact we often don’t understand how mental illness affects someone, even if we have dealt with that problem ourselves at some point in life. Everyone is different. We also have a role in helping people who have not had a good introduction to mental health terms and treatment understand that some comments are really not okay. If you’re in a conversation with someone who mocks people with mental illnesses, let them know their comments put people
off getting help if you feel safe doing so. You don’t need personal experience – compassion goes a long way. There are many great resources online which can help everyone understand mental health problems better. One of them is the aforementioned Sane Australia website, which features an easily-worded, myth-busting glossary of mental health conditions, and advice on how to get help. You can check it out at sane.org. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, or needs help with anxiety, depression, loneliness, a personal crisis, abuse, or stress, you can contact Lifeline’s crisis line at any time of day on 13 11 14, or talk online between 7pm and 4am at lifeline.org.au.
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Baw Baw Citizen / Casey & Cardinia Free Press 7 July 2017
In Season with
Food
Clare McCulloch
If you dropped by Clare McCulloch and her farmer partner Paul Watzlaff’s stall at last month’s Warragul Farmers’ Market, you could be forgiven for thinking it is still pumpkin season. The Koo Wee Rup couple, seen above with Clare’s mum and helper Cath, were happy to tell us why they loved the long-lasting vegetable so much. People might be thinking pumpkin season is over, there’s still lots of chances to grab some from markets? There are still lots of chances to get pumpkins, especially from growers like ourselves where we grew a whole bunch of pumpkins, and lots of different varieties as well. We grow them down in Koo Wee Rup with its beautiful, juicy, fertile soil for growing pumpkins. Totally spray free, chemical free, and absolutely delicious. When we actually moved to the farm in October, the previous owner gave us a bunch of seeds for some Queensland blue, and they’ve just been going absolutely wild.
Queensland blue is one which grows really well here then? Queensland blue grows very well, also Jarrahdale, Jap, and butternut, and what we’ve actually been discovering is the Jap and the butternut have been cross-breeding and turning into Japnuts. I didn’t know they could do that! Yeah, it’s really funny. And the Queensland Blue and the Jarrahdale have been cross-breeding as well, so you get little characteristics of both kinds of pumpkin in the mix. What kind of flavours do you get from the different kinds? Obviously people know butternut and Jap... I personally find them very similar. Some of them cook better in different ways, so some are really
awesome for roasting while others are better for soups because some of the consistency is quite squishy, whereas others have a much more firm texture.
We always like to ask growers what their favourite seasonal recipes are. What have you been cooking lately? We actually were creating a bit of a bundle today for people who really want to make pumpkin soup! So, you’d use a pumpkin, some garlic, and an onion. Also some of our celery, and carrots. All of that goes in a pot together, and put some good stock in there. If you’re not vegetarian go for some chicken stock. And then the secret ingredient is actually putting in an apple or two. We have some beautiful apples on our tree and that just helps to break it up a bit. So, secret ingredient: apples! Then I like to joosh it, you know, with the [stick blender], so there are still a few chunks but it’s mostly runny. How did you figure out including apples? I don’t remember! I think my mum might have told me the secret recipe. It’s really nice to have some Tuscan kale on the side, but not necessarily in it because then it takes away that beautiful orange-ey, pumpkin-ey look, and some spring onions sprinkled on top. There’s a lot that goes into pumpkin soup, isn’t there! There is! Well, some people make it super-simple, I tend to make things pretty complicated. And I also like to put in some fresh herbs too. Just a little bit of thyme, maybe a bit of rosemary.
Do you have a favourite pumpkin recipe? Let us know! Email it to admin@fpress.com.au and it might be published in a future edition!
In Season asks local food producers what is at the markets and on their plates at the moment. Articles are not paid for and subjects are chosen on merit.
Clare’s special pumpkin soup
Ingredients: 1 Pumpkin Garlic 1 Onion Celery Carrots Stock (vegetable o r chicken) Apples Fresh herbs - Rosemary - Thyme Garnish and side s: Tuscan kale Spring onions Process: Please refer to art icle
Baw Baw Citizen / Casey & Cardinia Free Press
7 July 2017
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Local living // This edition
Baw Baw Citizen 7 July 2017
Introducing the Casey & Cardinia Free Press
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New option for Baw Baw’s quilters Local quilters fed up with travelling as far as Pakenham, Traralgon, and Narre Warren to find all their supplies will soon have a new local option! Professional quilter Raelene Ierfone will open 3rd Door Quilting at 2 Smith Street, Warragul on 15 July. We asked Raelene what customers can expect to see when they walked into her new shop. “Fabric, colour, just about everything,” she said. “If you’re a quilter and you don’t do a happy dance on my front step, I’ll be asking you why!” Raelene knows what makes a good quilting shop because she needs one herself. Not only is she a quilter by trade, but she also runs classes out of her home. If you are interested in taking part, be sure to drop in and ask once the store opens. “I’m continuously surprised by how big the quilting community is around Warragul!” She said. 3rd Door Quilting will open 9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Wednesday, and Saturdays 9am to midday. The store will also open Fridays from the start of next month.
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Edition number: 39 Published monthly, 7,000 copies Publisher & Editor: William PJ Kulich
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