Western independent

SEPTEMBER 2015 – Volume 21 No 3

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Growing toll on school principals Nicole Hamer One in 10 school principals has considered committing self-harm or believes they have a low quality of life, according to new research by the Australian Catholic University.

The preliminary results have led the lead researcher to call for structural reform to address the “unsustainable workload” placed on all school principals.

Associate Professor Philip Riley said the situation was only getting worse.

He blamed an increased workload for the alarming decline in the health and wellbeing of principals Australia-wide.

“In the four years of data that I do have, the workload has increased hugely and I have no reason to suspect that it hasn’t again this year,” he said.

“It gets to a point where people say, ‘I can’t do this’.”

Mr Riley said a principal’s average working week had increased by about five hours since the annual Principal Health and Wellbeing Survey started in 2011. The average workload was now 60 hours per week, he said.

Western Australian Secondary School Executives Association president Janette Gee said principals had been forced to deal with the biggest reforms in public education history over the past three years.

“We’ve had the shift to autonomy, introduction of the new WACE, the shift of year 7s into high school, changes to the curriculum with the Australian curriculum being introduced, as well as the move to one-line budgets for all schools,” she said.

Mental Health Australia chief executive officer Frank Quinlan said the

increased workload meant principals had little time to take care of their own mental health.

“All the things they could be doing to look after themselves, such as taking exercise and pursuing other interests, their time for doing those things is decreasing,” Mr Quinlan said.

Mr Riley said the increased administration work required of principals had made their workload unsustainable.

“The two things that principals say gives them the most stress is the volume of work and not enough time to focus on teaching and learning,” Mr Riley said.

“Those two things shouldn’t go together but what they [principals] are doing is a lot of administration work that could be done by low-level bureaucrats.”

Mr Riley said funding cuts to the education sector across the country had forced principals to deal with bureaucratic processes, including school maintenance checks and asbestos audits.

“Where they have cut it [funding] from is that administrative support level in regional offices,” he said.

“The promise has always been by politicians there will be no front line costs, as in no withdrawal of frontline support.

“They aren’t going to make teachers redundant or close schools, but they are pulling out all the backup support and telling principals to do it themselves.

I think now it’s starting to bite quite heavily.”

Mr Riley said principals needed more sustainable work practices.

He said a lack of support was evident in the case of one Victorian principal who took his own life last December.

Education Minister Peter Collier said there had been a 69 per cent increase in funding for WA schools

since the 2007-08 budget.

“The largest ever amount of funding will be distributed to schools in 2015,” Mr Collier said.

“WA schools receive the highest per-student funding of any state in Australia”.

More than 1,200 principals have already completed the 2015 Principal Health and Wellbeing Survey, and Mr Riley said the number of “red flag” responses had almost doubled since last year.

“Red flag” responses were those in which a principal indicated they had felt like harming themselves in the past week or their combined score indicated they considered their quality of life was well below the average for a school principal.

Australian Primary Principals Association president Dennis Yarrington said the results were concerning.

“We need to be really seriously looking at how we support our principals,” Mr Yarrington said.

Mr Riley said the health and wellbeing of principals was important in ensuring schools were well run.

“The principal is a bit like the canary in the coal mine, if the principal is going okay you can be relatively sure the whole school is going okay,” he said.

“When the principal is not going well this is going to have a spill-over effect into the overall school’s functioning.”

Mr Collier said he believed WA school principals were “extremely happy” with the State Government’s education regime.

“The Independent Public School initiative, and the new Student Centred

FEMALE FOOTY: The potential for a national competition has excited women in football.

FACING FACTS: Mr Riley leads a study on principals' health. PHOTO : Supplied.

Funding Model is giving principals more autonomy than ever before,” he said.

“This is something principals have wanted for many years and finally they can select the appropriate staff and deliver the education that suits their school communities.”

He urged any principals or teachers struggling with mental health problems to seek professional help.

Mr Quinlan said there were programs and support networks available to principals, but the stigma surrounding mental health meant many were unwilling to use the available services.

“Mental illness is still an area sur-

rounded by stigma and discrimination,” he said.

“The challenge we have is that fewer people seek help than need help.

“There needs to be a more proactive way in ensuring principals get the support they need.”

Ms Gee said the problem was getting worse. She said there should be more support for school principals at a regional level.

“NSW has the best figures in the survey and that’s because they’ve reintroduced school support, which is at a regional level,” she said.

The final results of the 2015 survey will be published in late November.

PHOTO: Heather Miller.

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joseph M Fernandez STAFF EDITOR Sean Cowan STUDENT EDITOR Gareth Thomas NEWS EDITOR Nicole Hamer FEATURES EDITORS Charlie Lewis Aimee Hughes PHOTO EDITOR Sophia Constantine PRODUCTION MANAGER Kathryn Croston SPORTS EDITOR Martin Busk ARTS EDITOR Jess Thomas CHIEFS OF STAFF Gwynette Govardhan Abbey Tobin Maddie Jensen Anne Gevaña

September 2015

NEWS

A message from the student editor Read through any past editor's note and you will be regaled with tales of sleep deprivation, floods of tears and weaponised stationery. These hyperbolic legends of student journalists gone wild have always sent my Spidey Sense tingling.

It seemed thematically appropriate to investigate the truth and detail of these incredible tales by going full gonzo – enrolling into university and suffering through unit after unit, semester after semester – striving for the grades that would ensure a situation in which a tutor would have no choice but to install me as student editor for this issue.

If you are reading this dispatch it follows I have accomplished my mission and I can confirm for you that each and every past editor has quite nobly played down the chaos that shrouds production week.

If weaponised stationery was my greatest concern, my mental and physi-

cal health would be in far greater shape, however, it is far from my place to break with tradition and lift the veil hiding the seething underbelly of the Western Independent.

Perhaps there is an unspoken pact, the memo for which passed me by, where editors agree to gloss over some of the more serious and long term psychological damage suffered during their time at the helm in a bid to remain employable somewhere down the line. And perhaps I would do better to keep this little nugget to myself, but then what type of journalist would that make me?

What I will reveal is newspaper production is a team sport and the culmination of our combined efforts is something far greater than the sum of its parts. What lies before you is our humble attempt at providing metropolitan Perth with a snap shot of the news in the spring of 2015.

- Gareth Thomas

Burning procedures under fire Nicholas Phillips

CHIEF SUB-EDITOR Stephanie McGann SUB-EDITOR Brooke Rolfe DESIGN ADVISOR Tom Henshaw LEGAL ADVISOR Joseph M Fernandez TEACHING STAFF Sean Cowan Nicole Cox Shannon Harvey Daile Pepper Chris Thomson

CONTROLLED BURN SITE: Simon Cherriman.

Western Independent Telephone 08 9266 7038 08 9266 7878 Facsimile 08 9266 7142 Postal Address GPO Box U1987 Perth WA 6845

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The highest standards of ethical conduct are expected in the way the Western Independent's journalists obtain and present information. One of the course requirements is that they abide by the Media Entertainment and Arts Code of Ethics and Curtin University Department of Journalism's ethical guidelines in all aspects of writing, photography and production. The MEAA Code of Ethics and Curtin's journalism guidelines are designed to safeguard individual rights while respecting the public's right to information.

PHOTO: Ellie Mackay.

The deaths of two wedge-tailed eaglets in the Perth hills has prompted a WA biologist to question the Department of Parks and Wildlife’s controlled burning procedures.

Environmental biologist and Insight Ornithology managing director Simon Cherriman said the damage caused to the eagles’ habitat by controlled burning was devastating.

“The trees that support these birds take a minimum of 100 years to form,” he said.

“They [the department] could identify sites of high conservation value, like eagles’ nests, prior to burning and rake around them to prevent fires burning too hot in those locations.”

A department spokeswoman said the eaglets’ deaths were “unfortunate”, but burns were necessary to protect the community and wildlife from intense summer bushfires.

She said planning for prescribed burns was completed “within a rigorous framework”, but would not provide specific details about the process.

WA Bush Fire Front chairman Roger Underwood said the planning process

for controlled burning was not foolproof. The department did check for endangered species, he said.

“If there are any plants or animals on the endangered species list, they have to get special permission from the government and take special precautions before they burn,” he said.

Wilderness Society WA co-ordinator Peter Robinson said the department did not monitor the results of their controlled burns.

“They are blissfully ignorant of the impact of their burns,” he said.

Mr Robinson said the burning off was done too frequently and could wipe out wildlife species that had never experienced wildfires.

“They operate on a basis that it is their responsibility to just go out and burn an area under their management every six, seven, eight years, and that is it,” he said.

“It is completely wrong to say these prescribed burns are somehow a better alternative to a possible wildfire.”

Mr Cherriman said he didn’t want prescribed burning banned, but wanted to see better environmental management practices. “We have the technology and know-how to do these impact assessments,” he said.

WA working group fights dieback disease Jade Colman-Vegar Environmental groups want more money to be spent on projects that will help to prevent dieback disease from destroying WA ecosystems.

Dieback, or phytophthora cinnamomi, is a soil-borne fungus that kills native plants by stopping the roots from absorbing water and nutrients.

Dieback Working Group co-ordinator Katherine Sambrooks said the disease was “tearing through” the South-West. It killed off shrubs and allowed grasses to take their place, forever altering the affected area’s biodiversity.

“It’s killing our ecosystems, killing habitats, and it’s having a massive impact,” she said.

Ms Sambrooks’ group was one of five organisations that took part in a three-year program, Project Dieback, which recently identified 100 priority dieback protection areas in WA’s South-West.

She said those areas contained rare species, landscapes or ecosystems.

“As Project Dieback has just finished, we have no more funding at the moment and our major partners, South Coast Natural Resource Management, are in the same position,” she said.

“We have identified these areas, but now need to develop more of these plans, do more interpretations of the

disease and get more action on the ground.”

Ms Sambrooks said identifying new priority areas would allow the Dieback Working Group and their partners to manage hygiene practices and infrastructure. They could also work to reduce human impact on the area.

A Department of Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman said the department had spent more than $2 million on Project Dieback over the past two years, but the disease was impossible to eradicate.

More than 40 per cent of native plants are susceptible to dieback.

Commercial crops, including avocados, grapes, apples, peaches and apricots, can also be affected.

The department estimates about one million hectares of WA land is already infected with dieback.

Centre for Phytophthora Science and Management director Treena Burgess said the best way to prevent the disease was to properly manage its spread.

The disease spreads one metre each year through root-to-root contact, but human activities can cause it to spread more rapidly. Contaminated vehicles, road construction, stock and earth movement all contribute to the spread of the disease.

“It is the number one thing that is changing what the environment in WA looks like and, with that, everything else gets influenced, including animals,” Ms Burgess said.

NATIVE BUSHLAND: Testing for dieback.

PHOTO: Renata Grandao.

September 2015

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Volunteers help secure the win

Nicole Hamer & Brooke Rolfe

Volunteers are the lifeblood of political parties, according to a senior politics lecturer and both the Labor and Liberal Parties.

Speaking on the day of the recent Canning by-election, the victorious Liberal candidate said he would not have been able to win the seat without the dedication of party volunteers.

“Volunteers do something that social media can never do and that’s put faces to the brand and a smile and a handshake,” Andrew Hastie said.

“I had no idea how important volunteers were until I saw the full WA Liberal Party machine roll out on the ground.”

WA Labor Party Assistant State Secretary Lenda Oshalem said WA

Labor volunteers made more than 40,000 calls, had 13,000 conversations and knocked on the door of more than 7,000 homes during the campaign.

“This is a huge effort made possible by over 600 trained volunteers, members and non-members alike,” she said.

Murdoch University Australian politics, media politics and political philosophy senior lecturer Ian Cook said campaigning was something on which political parties relied.

“Even with social media now, there is still value in the face-to-face conversation and there are some things that just need to be delivered by hand,” he said.

“On the day, in those sort of moments, when those things are being handed out, those types of interpersonal interactions and relationships can have an effect.

“We know there is a small group of people who are still making their mind

up as they are walking in.”

Mr Hastie said volunteers assisted with a variety of tasks, both on voting day and in the lead up to the election. “[There were] people working in the campaign offices, people getting out and putting signs up in front yards along the streets [and] people in the call centre,” he said.

“All those things, you know, you can’t do as a candidate, so it’s absolutely critical that volunteers help you out in that regard.”

Ms Oshalem said WA Labor’s grassroots organisational arm was called the Community Action Network, which was powered by passionate and well-trained volunteers.

Labor candidate Matt Keogh said the group had campaigned heavily for about four weeks.

“We’ve been going around the entire

POLITICAL POWER: Volunteers sell the message.

Economist: Obesity strains economy Nicky Hamer & Anne Gevaña

Obesity will continue to be a major financial burden on Australia if it is treated as a disease, experts say.

Edith Cowan University Health and Wellness Institute co-director Robert Newton said obesity was not a disease and should not be defined as such because it hampered efforts to address the problem.

According to Economic Society of Australia secretary Gene Tunny, the financial cost of obesity in Australia in 2008 was about $8.3 billion.

Mr Tunny said that money could be spent elsewhere.

“If we can devote resources to looking after people who have conditions related to obesity, we can’t use those resources for other purposes that might be beneficial to us,” he said.

The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show more than 60

per cent of adult Australians and about 25 per cent of children are overweight or obese.

Professor Newton said several factors contributed to obesity.

“Excessive intake of high-energy foods and low levels of physical activity are a main cause of obesity,” he said.

Professor Newton said the Australian health care system should take the lead by not dealing with obesity as a disease.

“We run the risk of solutions being pursued predominantly in surgery and drugs rather than the multidisciplinary strategy at all levels, from the individual through to broad public health, that is required to address this major problem,” he said.

Professor Newton’s comments came after a recent study found obese people found it difficult to physically turn away from unhealthy foods.

The study, jointly conducted by the University of Western Australia and Australian National University, exam-

DISTRACTION: Australia is a fast food nation

ined people’s ability to direct their visual attention elsewhere when shown a variety of images.

UWA School of Psychology senior lecturer Jason Bell said the research offered medical professionals hope for dealing with obesity.

“Now that we know there is difficulty in processing food information in this population, then we can start to do something about it,” Dr Bell said.

Professor Newton said the research was a positive step in addressing obesity.

“We need to understand the underlying psychological reasons why people choose to binge eat, raid the refrigerator in the middle of the night, or cannot buy fuel without picking up a chocolate bar and a packet of chips,” he said.

“We need to understand why so many people now find no enjoyment in movement, believe sport and exercise to be unpleasant, and instead find the couch and the television their environment of choice.”

PHOTO: Sophia Constantine.

electorate from Armadale, Kelmscott, down to Waroona, Boddington and, of course, Mandurah and the surrounding suburbs,” Mr Keogh said.

He said he wanted his team to talk to as many people as possible.

Dr Cook said parties targeted specific voting booths more than others.

“You start to look at the ones that are worth investing in,” he said.

“It’s also a case of the margin of the seat and the potential of it to change hands.”

Ms Oshalem said the Liberal Party had spent more than $1 million in the lead-up to the by-election.

“They had newspaper wrap around advertising, billboards, radio advertising, bombarded people’s letterboxes, giant trailers and loads of posters and materials out and about,” she said.

“WA Labor needs the CAN

[Community Action Network] and all its volunteers in order to be competitive and to serve the greater good of community and organisational building.”

WA Liberal Party state director Ben Morton said the work of volunteers was invaluable.

“We have had hundreds and hundreds of volunteers on election day,” he said.

“The Liberal Party in WA is a really strong organisation, because of our strong base of volunteers.

“The result wouldn’t be what it was if it wasn’t for volunteers.”

Mr Hastie won the seat of Canning with about 55 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, which saw a swing against the Liberals of more than six per cent. The seat was held by the late Don Randall for 14 years before his sudden death in July.

PHOTO: Brooke Rolfe.

Follow-up care would reduce risk of suicide — report

Sophia Constantine

A new report has recommended patients who go to hospital after a suicide attempt should receive a follow-up visit from a mental health expert.

The study, conducted by Black Dog Institute and Centre of Research Excellence in Suicide Prevention, found one-third of people who went to hospital after a suicide attempt received no follow-up care.

The study reported 2,522 Australians took their own lives in 2013.

Black Dog Institute publications and communications officer Gayle McNaught said most people who committed suicide had made a previous attempt to kill themselves.

“You are much more likely to die from suicide if you have a past suicide attempt,” she said.

“What our research has shown is that we’re not acknowledging this and how we care for people who make an attempt on their lives, at all.”

Ms McNaught said patients who went to hospital after attempting to commit suicide were treated for their physical wounds but their mental stress was often ignored.

“We’re basically letting all these people at very high risk leave a hospital and not have any ongoing relationship with them,” she said.

Ms McNaught said formal processes

should be put in place so that emergency workers knew how to deal with people who had made a suicide attempt.

She said there were about 60,000 suicide attempts made each year in Australia.

Suicide Prevention Australia corporate communications officer Kim Borrowdale said the care people received after attempting suicide must be included in the national suicide prevention strategy.

“Suicide Prevention Australia believe that there is much wisdom to be gained from those with lived experience of suicide, whether it is how the individual was treated within the healthcare system and once exiting following a suicide attempt,” she said.

Ms Borrowdale said suicide was “mostly preventable”.

“International programs have shown it is possible to not only reduce, but eliminate suicide with a focus on zero suicide frameworks for healthcare settings, if implemented in a structured way,” she said.

Ms Borrowdale said the number of people who committed suicide while in care, or shortly after being released from care, would remain unacceptably high if new processes were not implemented.

“The study shows that, while the figures are alarming, it doesn’t have to be this way and there are steps we can take to turn this around,” she said.

September 2015

NEWS

4

Fruit yields hit by mild winter

Daniel Morris

Longer and warmer Perth summers are a growing concern for orchardists, according to horticultural consultant Peter Coppin.

Mr Coppin said fruit trees required a long winter chill to perform at their best.

If winter was not cold enough, the yield would be greatly reduced.

“A mean increase by 0.5°C has been observed in the Perth region and has greatly affected the flowering and fruit production of deciduous trees,” he said.

Department of Agriculture and Food WA fruit development officer Susie Murphy White said the mild winter could cause apples to get sunburnt.

“Because we have been having less winter chill, the trees are flowering for longer, and so not producing fruit as quickly,” she said.

Ms Murphy said using natural kaolin spray on the apples could help to prevent sunburn and deter pests.

C & F Romeo and Sons orchard owner Sam Romeo, whose orchard

is in Perth’s eastern hills, said he was concerned about the effect the changing climate had on his fruit trees.

“Our summers have no doubt been lasting longer through the year and our trees have been suffering,” Mr Romeo said.

Hills Orchard Improvement Group spokesman Brett Delsimone said stone fruit developed its best flavour during hot conditions.

“For the flavour and the quality of the fruit, a long hot summer is actually ideal,” he said.

“Of course, this needs to be balanced with having enough water to be able to keep the tree producing and hydrated and nice and fresh.”

Mr Delsimone said orchardists would need to play each summer by ear. “The last one [summer] was quite a mild one. Around five years ago I distinctly recall quite a few days over the 40 degree mark.”

Mr Coppin said the work of orchardists was likely to get more difficult. “We are experiencing big problems with fruit trees in Perth and I feel these orchardists deserve real praise for coping with everything that is thrown their way.”

WARMER WEATHER: Farmers adjust to the heat.

Professor Dore said there was scope for Australia to increase its use of the new therapy, but the treatment was not yet covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

The PBS provides Australians access to medicines as part of the Federal Government’s broader National Medicines Policy.

According to Hepatitis Australia, once the price of treatment is established, the Federal Government would have to approve the funds required to subsidise the medicines before they could be added to the PBS. Dr Kong said the drug would be inaccessible to most people if it was not subsidised.

Hepatitis WA community services manager Sally Rowell said Australia had been slow on the uptake of the new treatment.

“It’s certainly in production around the world [but] it’s not on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme at the moment so people can’t get it,” Ms Rowell said.

Dr Kong said there were multiple

pharmaceutical companies making the new drug and Australians were travelling overseas to get cheaper access to it.

“There’s already been people in Australia that have gone overseas to obtain the drug in cheaper countries like China and India, who make generic versions,” she said.

Professor Dore said the Federal Government was still negotiating the price with the drug companies.

“These negotiations are very complex,” he said.

“They need to come up with a situation where they can treat very large numbers of people because there will be an enormous demand for these new therapies.”

Professor Dore said all patients should have access to treatment for hepatitis C. “The important thing is that these therapies should be made available for all people with hepatitis C, irrespective of how much liver disease they have and irrespective if they are ongoing drug users,” he said.

PHOTO: Gareth Thomas.

Push to include Hepatitis Extra funding for wonder drug on the PBS Indigenous eye care

Abbey Tobin

A new drug could help 57,000 Australians who suffer from hepatitis C and don’t receive any treatment.

Kirby Institute For Infection and Immunty in Society viral hepatitis clinical research program head Gregory Dore said the new interferon-free therapy, known as Direct-Acting Antiviral therapy, had a range of benefits.

“There is a 90 per cent success rate, very few side effects [and] generally 12 weeks duration of treatment,” Professor Dore said.

Kirby Institute Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research program head Marlene Kong said the current antiviral treatment had strict eligibility criteria, was expensive and had some adverse side-effects.

The side-effects and 50 per cent success rate deterred people from using it.

“The two major significant side effects is that it causes quite bad depression and it makes you feel unwell.It’s just a horrible drug to take,” Dr Kong said.

Abbey Tobin

The Federal Government’s decision to increase funding for Indigenous eye health has been welcomed by medical groups.

Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash recently announced an extra $6.63 million would be spent on improving the eye health of Indigenous people over the next four years, bringing the total amount to more than $42 million.

Her announcement came one week after the release of a University of Melbourne Indigenous Eye Health Unit report, The value of Indigenous sight: An economic analysis.

According to the report, 94 per cent of vision loss experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was preventable or treatable.

Professor Hugh Taylor, who leads the Indigenous Eye Health Unit, said the Federal Government’s announcement was “fantastic”.

The money would be used for coordination, monitoring, and additional

Council hopes better water quality will bring back the birds Louis Zambotto

HOME TWEET HOME: Birds find a new habitat in the wetlands.

PHOTO: Sophia Constantine.

funding for trachoma health promotion, he said.

“Give somebody a pair of glasses and they see right away, cataract surgery [and] they see the next day,” he said.

“It’s not like treating chronic heart disease or kidney disease or chronic diabetes that need to be treated day after day for the rest of your life. This, we can actually fix.”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Working Group for Optometry chair Gary Crerie, who practices in Perth and is also a member of the group that supports optometrists to provide services to remote and rural communities, said any extra funding was important.

“The main thing to make sure is this optometry scheme continues with enough funding,” he said. “In the past, people have sometimes had to sleep out on the road waiting for buses for two to three days in a row to get to the centre where you can be treated.

“We need the same people going to the same communities so there is a trust built up and an awareness with the groups they visit.”

A new multi-million dollar bird sanctuary in Bayswater has the local council hopeful that new species of birds and marsupials will flock to the Swan River.

Bayswater Council spokeswoman Jenny Arts said poor water quality was driving the birds away from the area and she hoped the project, which is due for completion by 2016, would encourage the iconic black swans to return.

“We wanted to do something about it while we still can,” Ms Arts said.

The $3 million Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary will improve the quality of water flowing into the Swan and Canning rivers by filtering it to remove rubbish, sand and other large material. WA Environment and Heritage Minister Albert Jacob said the project

would help to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals in the water.

“The sanctuary will prevent almost 40 tonnes of sediment and rubbish, 1.3 tonnes of nitrogen and 200kg of phosphorus from entering the Swan River every year,” he said.

Mr Jacob said more than 30 local native plant species were expected to return to the wildlife sanctuary following the transformation of the former landfill site.

“We expect to see an increase in the number of animals and biodiversity at the site,” he said.

Baigup Wetlands Interest Group coordinator Penny Lee said the project was important in protecting the future of the Swan River.

“It’s more than just an aesthetic jewel in the crown,” Ms Lee said.

“It’s ecologically absolutely vital for the maintenance of nature and wildlife in the metropolitan area.”

September 2015

5

NEWS

Science advanced by citizens Maddie Jensen & Abbey Tobin

Citizen scientists play an important role in helping scientists to cope with an ever-changing funding landscape, according to Conservation Council WA director Piers Verstegen.

Citizen science involves research conducted by amateur or non-professional scientists.

Mr Verstegen said researchers working for government agencies and universities often found themselves having to change their focus because of new government priorities. Citizen scientists did not.

“Very few government-funded science programs go for long periods of time, whereas citizen science can establish long-term data sets, which are important to establish trends,” he said.

Mr Verstegen said the Conservation Council WA’s citizen science program was aimed at training people across WA to understand their natural environment and undertake monitoring to detect environmental changes.

“This certainly gives the public the tools to go to the government or to the industry to negotiate solutions or, indeed, involve regulators in the government if there is issues that require regulatory enforcement,” he said.

“You can’t argue with hard data and when communities do their own monitoring of their environment, that gives them the power to have control over the management of that environment [and] then they can take action.

AMATEUR ANALYSIS: Citizens show spirit of inquiry.

“At the moment, our citizen science project is run by a number of volunteers and we would like to seriously expand that program, and scale up the impact that it has, because wherever we have been able to have citizen science programs we have seen very significant benefits.”

BirdLife Australia head of mem-

bership development and communications Diana Gibson said citizen scientists helped the organisation to monitor and survey bird populations.

“Citizen science is incredibly invaluable to our work,” she said.

Ivy Wong from Radio Galaxy Zoo, which helps to discover big black holes in space, said there were more

than 7,800 volunteer participants worldwide.

“We have nearly 8,000 people and the amount of work they’ve done in a year is equivalent to roughly over 40 years of work that an individual can do,” Dr Wong said.

“So there are some teams of citizen scientists conducting their own little

Photo: Nicholas Phillips.

research on individual objects at the moment.”

CSIRO head of astrophysics Simon Johnston said amateurs had often helped professional scientists to identify and classify the galaxies.

“We’d like to get a computer to do it, but humans are so much better at this sort of analysis,” Dr Johnston said.

Homeless women turned away Molly Schmidt

HUGE IMPACT: The Cancer Council's Anne Finch.

Photo: Nicholas Philips.

Breakthrough offers new hope for cancer patients

Abbey Tobin Researchers believe they have discovered what causes a disease responsible for about one-third of cancer patient deaths.

The La Trobe University research group found a molecule called FN14 caused cachexia, a muscle wasting disease found in 80 per cent of advanced cancer patients.

La Trobe University researcher Amelia Johnston said the team created antibodies in the laboratory that effectively fought the disease.

“We made one against FN14 and we found that when we treated with this antibody we were able to block the onset of cachexia in our model,” Dr Johnston said.

Dr Johnston said the group was working to develop antibodies for human use and hoped clinical trials would commence within the next few years.

“We are currently taking our antibody and recreating it in a format that

is safe to trial in humans, making it in a way that, when administered to humans, their body wouldn’t have a reaction to that,” she said.

“By blocking the cachexia, we not only give the quality of life back to patients but give them their strength and energy.

“We are looking at saving a lot of lives”.

Cancer Council WA dietitian Anne Finch said creating a drug to treat cachexia would help millions of people.

“For the person going through it, it can mean physical weakness, reduced quality of life and loss of independence,” she said.

“It has a huge impact on the person going through it and their loved ones.”

Dr Johnston said the results also opened the door for further research in other areas. “Our findings have been very much based in a cancer setting, but there are many other diseases that also have cachexia-like symptoms, so there are possibilities for further research,” she said.

A shortage of crisis accommodation in Perth is forcing some women to sleep on the streets, according to a prominent WA charity.

St Bartholomew’s House housing support worker Renae Storer said accommodation was usually only available for women who were trying to escape from family or domestic violence.

“I can’t really think of any emergency accommodation for women, once they are over the age of 21, that are not escaping domestic violence,” she said.

Ms Storer said people were homeless for a variety of reasons, but those escaping violent situations were prioritised. This meant that other women were often unable to find accommodation.

“It could be that you’re in a druggy house and things have just got a bit out of control,” she said.

“It could be mental health, you could be having a psychotic episode and your family have chucked you out of the house or disowned you.”

Homelessness Australia figures show more than 4,200 women are homeless

in WA and about one-third of those are aged between 19 and 34.

About one-third of all homeless people are trying to escape from violent situations.

Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services chief executive officer Angela Hartwig said she understood the need for a wellresourced and diverse crisis care system, but she was concerned for the safety of women and children escaping violent situations.

“If women and children do not have access to crisis shelters or public housing they often become homeless,” Ms Hartwig said.

“Not having access to specialist support can often lead to women and children returning to a violent partner.”

A 22-year-old homeless woman in Perth, who could not be named for legal reasons, said she had been turned away from shelters because she had no background of domestic violence.

She said she was homeless because of her mother’s negligence and drug addiction.

“I am having a hard time because there are only domestic violence places, you’ve got to have bruises all over you to get into a place,” she said.

“My mum was a drug addict…she used to do prostitution for a living and one day us kids had to choose either help her get drugs or leave, so I became homeless.”

She said she had recently spent nights sleeping at Westralia Square.

“You get moved on from your spots where you’re sleeping, but it’s like, ‘where can I go?’,” she said.

“The streets get to you after a while and bring on depression and stuff.”

She said she had been stabbed in the stomach in the past and would resort to drugs and alcohol as a way of coping.

Ms Storer said it was not uncommon for clients to falsely claim they were escaping domestic violence, just so they could get a bed.

“If I had no place to sleep tonight I’m pretty sure I’d lie to get a bed,” she said.

Ms Storer said the reason for a person being homeless should not matter.

“There just needs to be more facilities whereby it’s not a question of why,” she said.

Anglicare WA Y-Shac employee Rieki Duff said domestic violence received substantial funding because of its media profile.

SLEEPING ROUGH: No bruises, no shelter.

Photo: Ashlen Wood.

September 2015

6

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Sunset state hits silver screen Joanna Delalande

Seven feature films and multiple documentaries will be shot in Western Australia during the next six months.

Among the films are Tim Winton’s Breath, to be directed by The Mentalist’s Simon Baker, and Tenille Kennedy’s debut feature film Bad Girl.

Culture and Arts Minister John Day said the state would benefit from both films.

Filming for Bad Girl will take place across the metropolitan area, including Kalamunda, Serpentine and the Swan Valley during September.

Kennedy said she was proud to be shooting in her home state. Most Australian films were shot on the east coast, she said.

Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale chief executive officer Richard Gorbunow said the council was excited to have Bad Girl filmed in the shire.

“I believe the film makers will be referring to the area within the film and we hope having our beautiful environment on the big screen will entice more visitors to our parts,” he said.

“Exposure like this is extremely valuable to our tourism efforts.”

Serpentine Jarrahdale Community Resource Centre tourism and small business development officer Davina Eden-Austen said an increase in tourism prompted by the film would help the local economy.

ScreenWest communications manager Neta Gill said the agency had provided funding for Bad Girl, which tells the story of a 16-year-old girl whose place in her adoptive family is threatened by the arrival of her estranged step-sister.

The cast and crew includes writer and director Fin Edquist, known for his work on Maya the Bee Movie and Mendel’s Tree, and South Australian actress Samara Weaving from Home and Away.

Mr Day said the film was good news for the local industry.

“The film will advance not only Tenille’s career, but many of the young crew,” Mr Day said.

“ScreenWest’s work in attracting and supporting productions in WA is creating local jobs.”

Kennedy, who has already started filming Bad Girl, said it was the toughest shooting schedule she had ever planned.

“We’ve got 20 days and nights with lots of stunts and blood and driving, and the first eight days of our shoot we move location every day,” she said.

“But everyone is doing an amazing job and really stepping up, and we’ve got excellent support.”

In 2013, Kennedy produced one chapter of The Turning; a collection of short films based on Tim Winton’s stories. She co-produced a further two chapters.

She was also associate producer on the telemovie An Accidental Soldier and assistant producer on The Hunter.

Kennedy said many members of the Bad Girl team had worked with her on short films previously. It was exciting to have them all on board for her first feature.

“There has been a lot of talk about this idea of family in Perth,” she said.

“There is a bit of a film family, and it’s nice to keep them all together.”

Bad Girl will premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival in July 2016.

ON LOCATION: Bad Girl shooting in the Swan Valley.

New project for visually impaired Jessica Thomas

Aussie films light up box office

THRIVING SCENE: Soaring ticket sales.

Shaun Buchan

Screen Australia believes 2015 will prove to be one of the best on record for Australian films.

Screen Australia head of business and audience Richard Harris said Australian films had already earned more than $50 million at the national box office this year.

He said the result was because of several popular releases, including That Sugar Film, which has become the highest grossing Australian documentary of all time.

“Australian audiences are still interested in seeing quality Australian stories on the big screen,” Mr Harris said.

“One of the great things about the success this year is the incredible diversity of films that are contributing to the result.

“You can’t get more diverse than

a slate of films that includes Holding the Man, Mad Max: Fury Road, Paper Planes, The Water Diviner and Last Cab to Darwin, and there are more films to come over the next few months that have strong commercial prospects.”

Luna Palace Cinemas marketing director Tony Bective said 2015 had been a successful year for Australian cinema, with the release of several excellent Australian films.

“It is a very solid and prolific [year] in terms of the number of films being produced,” Mr Bective said.

Ticket sales for all movies have also spiked. Screen Australia expects 2015 will become the highest grossing year on record, surpassing the 2013 record by almost $75 million because of the release of popular films, including Furious 7 and the next instalment in the Star Wars franchise.

Businesses located near cinemas also claim they have reaped the rewards of

PHOTO: Lauren Pow.

Photo: Callum Hunter.

the increased ticket sales.

Urban Depot manager Breanna O’Reilly said the area of Oxford Street around Luna Leederville had been noticeably busier since the start of the year. “We have definitely seen an increase in traffic from 8pm onwards, which is usually slow after the postdinner rush,” she said.

“As one of the only retailers in the area open until 10pm, we have been pleased to see an increase in shoppers coming in before late night movies.”

Timezone Innaloo manager Dan Di Virgilio said his business, which is near Event Cinemas, had performed far better than it had last year.

“This Christmas we are expecting to be the busiest we have ever been, with the new Star Wars movie and The Hunger Games,” he said.

“We are going to have our best year ever. For us, 2016 is shaping up to be possibly even bigger.”

A new audio support program devised by a Fremantle-based group will provide access to mainstream art for people with a visual impairment.

Disability in the Arts, Disadvantages in the Arts head of production Jacqueline Homer said 40,000 West Australians were blind or vision impaired.

The program, Access all Arts, includes audio description and access tours, and will run at least twice a month during 2016 at events including the Perth Fringe Festival and Sculptures at Bathers.

Ms Homer said there weren’t enough of these types of services in WA. “As far as I know, there is currently only one trained audio describer in Perth and the rest are volunteers from the State

Theatre Centre,” she said.

“It’s not very widespread at the moment.”

Artist and Nulsen Disability Services volunteer Kate Leslie said access was just as much an issue for disabled artists as for disabled consumers.

“There are so many fabulous artists out there, and they are not seen or heard about because they find it hard to attend arts events,” she said.

“They tend to be overlooked because they are living with a disability. There is so much talent out there that is not being seen.”

Murdoch University marketing lecturer Carol Osborne said Murdoch marketing students were about to start focus group research for Access All Arts.

“The work they do on this project will be contributing to improving access to the arts for these disability groups and give them fantastic community engagement experience,” Dr Osborne said.

AURAL ARTS: Students experiment with vision impairment.

PHOTO: Supplied.

September 2015

7

FEATURES

Indigenous tour of beauty Nadia Budihardjo

T

he sun beats down on the sand, sending flecks of light sparkling up from the white, grainy surface. Waves gently crash into the shore, lapping at the feet of a tanned young beach goer. Paul Hogan’s teeth draw viewers in as he says “Come and Say G’Day”. This is the iconic tourism advert from 1984, famous now for Hogan’s offer to put an extra “shrimp on the barbie”.

In 2006, a $180 million advertisement depicts Lara Bingle, strutting from the surf and asking, “Where the bloody hell are you?” The advertisement also features a group of Indigenous men and women dancing traditionally in front of Uluru. One of the dancers assures us, “We’ve been rehearsing for 40,000 years”. The Hogan campaign made no mention of Aboriginal culture, while the Bingle campaign dedicated just six seconds to the subject. So, where the bloody hell are Indigenous Australians in the tourism industry?

On August 17, Tourism Minister Kim Hames and Regional Development Minister Terry Redman announced the State Government would

run a $4.6 million program in partnership with the Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Council to support the Indigenous tourism industry. WAITOC is a not-

for-profit organisation set up a decade ago to advocate for Aboriginal tourism businesses in Western Australia.

WAITOC chairman Robert Taylor says the group wants to emulate the British Columbia Aboriginal tourism model, which turns over about $59 million each year.

“It was quite interesting because British Columbia is probably number one in the world for aboriginal tourism and they see Australia as their closest competitor, considering New Zealand is very high up there, Mexico is really high up as well,” he says.

Murdoch University tourism Associate Professor Jim Macbeth says the aim of the program shouldn’t simply be to increase economic turnover.

“Tourism is not simply an endpoint, it’s also mechanism for community development,” he says.

“Anything that gives Indigenous people a chance to have a better role in tourism is worth considering. In the final analysis, while sales will be of primary interest to a business, it’s not necessarily the key objective of development. The key issue is, ‘Can tourism contribute to sustainable communities?’.”

Sustainable communities are a major concern for ANTaR WA chair John McBain. ANTaR is a national advocacy organisation focusing on the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

McBain says there is something bitterly amusing about the government putting millions of dollars into an Indigenous tourism program while remote c o m m u n i t i e s face the threat of forced closure.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that some of the strongest places where Aboriginal culture still exists are in the remote and regional communities.

INDIGENOUS TOURISM: Where the bloody hell is it?

It’s ironic that the government is funding cultural tourism and then de-funding the places that have the strongest culture. And more than ironic, it’s quite funny,” he says.

The Wunan Foundation is a nonprofit Aboriginal development organisation based in Kununurra.

Executive chair Ian Trust says the oldest living culture on earth is a selling point for tourists that must be better utilised.

“Australia needs a national identity and the identity can’t just revolve around koala bears and white beaches.

“It needs to have some substance to it. Any sort of international building of an Australian image has got to involve the Aboriginal people and culture. If I was a tourist living in Hamburg, Germany, I’ll be keen to come out and experience the oldest-living culture on earth.”

If Aboriginal land and culture is used as a selling point, McBain says it must

be done respectfully.

“When you treat land as a money box, you degrade it. When you revere something, even when you’re using it, you don’t degrade it anywhere to the same degree. In fact, you may improve it.”

“It’s ironic that the government is funding cultural tourism and then de-funding the places that have the strongest culture” After the “Where the bloody hell are you?” campaign was dropped in 2008, Tourism Australia had Baz Luhrmann direct Come Walkabout, the story of

PHOTO: Sophia Constantine.

an Aboriginal boy helping a working woman find herself by ‘going walkabout’. In July this year, they launched Aboriginal Australia: Our Country is Waiting For You. Aimed at an international audience, the video portrayed Aboriginal tourism as accessible and diverse, not exclusively experienced in remote, dry areas.

So, where the bloody hell are Indigenous Australians in tourism?

Until now, they have often found themselves at the margins, but McBain imagines a future where they occupy the middle of frame.

“Wouldn’t it be amazing if people flew into Australia on Aboriginalowned airlines, got met by an Aboriginal transport company, taken to Aboriginal resorts and then would be transported by Aboriginal companies to different cultural tourism enterprises,” he says. “But that would cost more than the government’s offering at this point in time.”

3.5 million reasons to densify Caleb Gorton

P

CULTURE CHANGE: Perth is building out, not up.

PHOTO: Emma McQuade.

erth is often thought of as being a big country town, but it is the fastest growing city in Australia and is set to be home to 3.5 million people by 2050, according to the Department of Planning. This rapid growth is placing significant pressure on our resources, infrastructure and environment.

To put it in perspective, a 2013 study by the Greens WA found Perth was about the same geographical size as Los Angeles, but with only 10 per cent of that city’s population. Perth was also about the same size as Tokyo, but with only five per cent of the population.

Environmental Protection Authority chairman Paul Vogel says strategies should be put in place to allow Perth to grow without compromising its biodiversity, the availability and quality of water, and its air quality.

“We are at the crossroads,” he says.

“The environmental cost of continuing the urban sprawl is incalculable and strategic land use planning is needed for population growth to occur without further compromising the environment.”

The sprawling city has also taken its toll on native animal species. Vogel says a number of species present during white settlement in the Perth-Peel region have disappeared, including the numbat, brush-tailed phascogale, western ringtail possum and pygmy possum. “There are 46 bird species in decline and many of the plants are also now restricted and threatened with extinction,” he says.

In a statement released by Planning Minister John Day in May, he said Perth was still spreading too quickly.

“Our population density is particularly low, with about 3500 people per sq km, compared with Melbourne at 10,800 and Sydney at 14,700,” he says.

The Department of Planning’s Perth and Peel @ 3.5 million report, published in May, reveals almost 75 per cent of new houses are built on the urban fringe.

To accommodate the 1.5 million new residents who will make Perth their home over the next 35 years, 800,000 new homes are required. But the current demand for housing is mostly in the low-density market - the average home has an area of 245sq m.

According to the report, Perth, including the Peel region, stretches about 150km from north to south. It is now the most car-dependent city in Australia, with 83 cars per 100 people.

Fremantle Mayor and Murdoch University sustainable development Professor Brad Pettitt says a more compact city is essential if Perth is going to remain liveable and become more sustainable.

“It’s a cultural mind state” “It [Perth’s sprawl] is creating a lot of congestion, also making very cardependent communities and ones that don’t have very good access to services,” he says. “There’s a real need for apartments and town houses and those kind of things, especially located close to good public transport.”

AMG real estate agent Cindy Loffell says selling the idea of smaller blocks to buyers is not easy. “Most Australians are still wedded to the idea of the block and kicking the footy in the yard,” she says.

“It’s a cultural mind state. At the moment, what we are seeing is that there is an oversupply on the market [of high density houses] to people willing to take them up.”

Serpentine Jarrahdale Ratepayers and Residents Association president Alan Clarkson says people move to Perth’s outskirts for the lifestyle.

“They came out here for a lifestyle, in many cases in our shire, to have a horse property for recreation or racehorses, and other people like us moved out here around 16 years ago for the lifestyle on a couple of acres.”

Perth and Peel @ 3.5 million outlines plans for a compact Perth, favouring a “connected city” where new developments are 47 per cent infill and 53 per cent on cleared land.

“A house with a backyard will always be an option, however the government is enabling more housing choices to suit the lifestyle and budget of all West Australians,” Day says.

“These draft plans make better use of existing infrastructure by co-locating jobs and homes close to public transport and amenities.”

It seems everyone agrees that things will need to change.

Pettitt says we are making moves to increase our density, but not quickly enough. “We really need to be offering more incentives and having a more proactive approach to getting people living in different kinds of houses within existing urban boundaries,” he says.

Clarkson, meanwhile, says the infrastructure required to support our urban sprawl is too expensive.

“This current State Government is in debt to many billions, and we seem to be pushing ahead with these urban sprawls,” he says. “What we’re asking for is that the expansions are done responsibly. And they’re not.”

September 2015

8

FEATURES

A festival of tangled ideas Charlie Lewis

T

he icy, spitting rain begins to clear as Nick Everett takes the microphone for his third speech of the night. “To give you an idea of our government’s position, just 18 months ago, Foreign Minister Bishop travelled to Tel Aviv to say...” His words are suddenly engulfed in cries of “Shame!” from his fellow protestors. His speech must take a back seat for a moment. He turns to the cinema entrance, through which a well-dressed young couple have just passed, and joins the cacophony: “Boycott Israel!”. This scene repeats itself several times throughout the opening night of the 2015 Israeli Film Festival.

Everett is an activist with Friends of Palestine WA, which lined the street outside Cinema Paradiso when it hosted the annual celebration of Israeli cinema in August. The group campaigns for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, an end to settlements on the West Bank and a right of return for Palestinian refugees.

Until that happens, they want boycotts, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli state. The focus of the campaign, known globally as the BDS movement, now falls upon a modest six-day festival, which Friends of Palestine claims “whitewashes” the crimes of the Israeli state.

Everett speaks softly and quickly after the protest. His hands are clasped at his front, his right thumb thoughtfully stroking the knuckle of his left. He has a small scar springing from his cleft, putting a diagonal split through his moustache. His answers are measured, diplomatic, practised.

“We want to make it clear we’re not demonstrating any of the films being screened, nor any of the film directors,” he says. “We’re here tonight solely to protest the fact that the primary festival sponsor, Palace Cinemas, is working with the Israeli state - the festival tonight is sponsored by the Israeli embassy - to provide a pretty face for the occupation of Palestine.”

Everett’s warm, but reserved

nature contrasts the fervour he and the other speakers displayed during the protest. There were times this spilled over into something uncomfortable. Two old couples were heckled as they entered the cinema, and the word “scum” spat from one protestor’s lips more than once. This kind of hostility doesn’t seem to allow the possibility of nuance.

When asked if an interest in Israeli cinema automatically translates to endorsement of, say, Israeli state policy, he replies: “Well, obviously all sorts of people come to an international film festival. But we’re absolutely determined to try to convince people of any political persuasion to stay away and observe the boycott. And that’s the most effective way to support peace in the Middle-East, and a just peace for the Palestinians.”

Like I said, diplomatic.

Any contempt aimed at those entering the festival appears to be reciprocal.

Former Health Minister Bob Kucera, who is now chairman of Friends of Israel, attended the festival and earned a special mention from Everett for “crossing a picket line”. He is dismissive about the protest. “It’s the usual rent-acrowd we see at every event Friends of Israel puts on. If anything, it drives attendance numbers up.

When there are no protests, less people hear about it.”

University of Western Sydney head of the academy James Arvanitakis is not convinced by this kind of protest either. “I’m not a supporter of the movement,” Arvanitakis says.

He has written on the topic for The Conversation and on his own blog, tiring of what he sees as shrill, uncritical thinking from both sides of the debate.

“If we can’t exchange ideas with people, then as intellectuals and academics, we fail,” he says.

There is some irony to Arvanitakis’ position. He says, because of his opposition to the BDS movement, he is accused of being an apologist for war crimes and a Zionist puppet. For his support for what BDS is trying to achieve, he has been labelled an anti-Semite.

“I think it’s a valid way of expressing something people feel passionate about, but I don’t think the movement is having any tangible effect for the Palestinian people” Palestinian student Sameeha Elwan and her husband Ayman Qwaider moved to Perth in April, 2014. They were in Palestine during Operation Returning Echo, the flare up of the conflict in March, 2012. Elwan was, ironically enough, at a film festival as it began.

“I was in the cinema when everything changed,” she says. “The Israeli air force bombed Gaza for eight days.

It was a smaller version of what happened last year. This is why it’s important for us to have cultural boycotts as much as political or economic ones.

Israel is trying to destroy every part of Palestinian life – they are targeting

Palestinian culture.”

Indeed, Friends of Palestine has expressed anger about what Israeli forces called Operation Protective Edge, which ran from July to August last year and resulted in more than 2,100 deaths. In that context (the group calls it the worst atrocity ever faced by the Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli state), Arvanitakis questions the effectiveness of the BDS movement in general, and protests like this one in particular.

“A boycott can only really be effective on a national level, when a whole nation undertakes it. So that’s why it was effective in South Africa, and we’re seeing some similar success around the Ukraine, when nations are divesting,” he says. “I don’t want to dismiss the boycott. I think it’s a valid way of expressing something people feel passionate about, but I don’t think the movement is having any tangible effect for the Palestinian people.”

Qwaider has a different point of view.

“With this particular event, people probably don’t see it in the larger context, but we have to. This is just one target of the BDS movement, connected to the global BDS. When they attempted to boycott South Africa, people ridiculed it at first.

They said, ‘how can this change things?’

But ultimately, South Africa fell. I don’t think it will happen in my generation, but hopefully we can contribute to the global movement, so that my son can one day live a peaceful life back there.”

He gestures to their 6-month-old son Tammin, who spent the protest in his stroller, unperturbed by the chanting and shouting that has scored his evening. He has never seen his parents’ homeland.

The debate surrounding the little dagger of land cleaving Egypt and Jordan will rage on. Movements like BDS will continue to push for what they consider a “just peace”.

And though he does not know it, that mute witness in the stroller, staring uncomprehendingly at his chanting parents, may be the only person at the protest who will find out if they succeed.

Food waste leaves bitter taste Shelby Brady

T

his year, France passed legislation to stop supermarkets throwing out leftover food.

Under the new laws, shops bigger than 400 sq m in size will be forced to either donate edible food to charities, or give non-edible food to farmers to be used for compost or animal feed.

Research conducted in 2014 for WA-based research group Future Directions International found Australia produced enough fresh food to feed 60 million people each day.

An average of 7.5 million tonnes of edible food was wasted each year, worth $8 billion.

Meanwhile, there was an eight per cent increase in the number of Australians asking charities for food in 2013, according to the Foodbank Hunger Report 2014.

The report found charities were being forced to turn away almost 60,000 hungry people each month because of a lack of resources.

Since the introduction of the French legislation, campaigners around the world, including in Australia, have tried to force their governments to follow suit.

A petition started by Tamworth resident John Attwood on campaigning website change.org, which urges the Australian Government to follow the French example, attracted more than 61,000 signatures.

Future Directions International global food and water crisis program

acting research manager Mervyn Piesse says Australia is among the most wasteful countries in the world.

“Globally, if the level of food waste was decreased by 25 per cent, there would be enough food to feed all of the malnourished people in the world,” he says.

Under the French legislation, supermarkets that fail to sign contracts with charities to redistribute food face up to $107,542 in fines and individuals could be sent to jail.

The legislation grew out of a movement instigated by Courbevoie town councillor Arash Derambarsh on change.org.

His petition for supermarkets to stop discarding edible food was signed by about 211,000 people and was presented to the French parliament.

Melbourne-based RMIT University food waste researcher Dianne McGrath says the new legislation passed quickly through the French parliament.

“What we have now is quite a revolutionary legislation in place to say, ‘no, it’s not good enough to throw away food that is still edible, it should be still available to people who need it’,” McGrath says.

McGrath says food is often discarded because it is unattractive.

The food that supermarkets purchase from a farmer has to meet particular specifications for weight, size and shape.

Piesse says supermarkets believe consumers don’t want to buy food that looks strange.

McGrath says supermarket waste is also linked to deliberate overproduction.

“A supermarket will purposefully make sure that the bread shelves are full of bread. Even if it’s the end of the

JUNK FOOD: $8 billion of food is wasted each year in Australia.

day, they’ll be making sure it’s as full as possible so that it’s going to attract people to buy more bread,” she says.

Although Australia hasn’t yet followed France’s lead, national supermarkets have their own system of self-regulation and some have partnered with food rescue organisations, including OzHarvest, SecondBite and Foodbank.

Foodbank works with welfare agencies in WA to distribute food.

The food rescue service distributes 3,000 tonnes of food each year. Most of that food would otherwise have become waste.

Supermarkets donate food for various reasons. The product packaging may have been updated, the supermarket may be over-stocked or the food may be past its use-by-date.

Sometimes, the product simply isn’t selling well.

Foodbank WA human resource manager David Warren says the organisation receives a lot of food that is near-

ing or past its best-before date.

But a best-before date is not the date after which the food is inedible.

It is only the date before which it is in its prime.

Warren says many people confuse best-before dates with use-by dates.

He says best-before dates should not be used.

“If we just had use-by dates only, then it would reduce the amount of food that we get, but it would also reduce the amount of waste,” he says.

Woolworths has donated to Foodbank since 1994.

“Woolworths has a very, very good system,” Warren says.

“They’re a great friend of ours in that they collect the food in their stores, they parcel it up in the stores and then they send it all back to their distribution centre, and we pick it up.”

McGrath says the current voluntary donation system is not good enough.

“We do have this sort of behaviour in place here in Australia, which is

PHOTO: David Pekel.

fantastic, but unfortunately we don’t have all supermarkets doing this all the time and we do still see a significant amount of food waste that’s going to landfill from all of the supermarkets,” she says.

Australian Food and Grocery Council communications director James Mathews says heavy-handed legislation might have unintended consequences.

“There is enormous good will and partnership between industry and charities,” Mathews says. “[Legislation] could place a greater burden on charities, which are currently subject to dumping charges.

“If you start trying to legislate in this way, you could force companies to actually release excess stock to charities which may not have the warehousing or the distribution. The worst outcome is companies being charged additional funds just to remove stock that’s unwanted in the first place as a result of legislative intervention.”

September 2015

9

FEATURES

Grape gripe grips growers Louis Zambotto

A

ustralia’s wine grape market has turned sour.

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia’s 2015 Vintage Report shows 85 per cent of Australian growers are producing at a loss this year.

The report, along with the federation’s 2015 production profitability analysis, shows the WA industry has fared only slightly better than those of the other states.

According to the report, 50 per cent of growers in Margaret River are likely to suffer a loss, compared to 46 per cent in 2014.

The Swan Valley is in even worse shape, with an alarming 98 per cent of growers expected to lose money this year.

While the Wine Industry Directory 2015 lists 103 new Australian wine companies, this is offset by the 195 businesses that went bankrupt or have been absorbed by other companies since last year’s directory was published.

Wine Grape Growers Australia executive director Lawrie Stanford says unpredictable climate conditions and changing demand are taking a toll. Growers are taking a gamble on every vintage.

“One of the things that characterises our industry is the fact that it’s a highly differentiated product,” Stanford says.

“With 60 major growing regions and 30 standard varieties, you get a whole range of prices.”

According to Stanford, there is an unfortunate disparity between grape production costs and sale prices. He says a tonne of wine grapes costs an average of about $600 to produce, but some growers are now lucky to sell a tonne for $300.

Fortunately for WA growers,

SOUR SEASON: Grape growers feeling the pinch.

Stanford says grapes grown in cooler, coastal climates attract better prices an average of $1148 per tonne.

“Cooler, temperate prices are higher, because of higher costs of production and greater intensity of quality attributes,” Stanford says.

“It requires more care in the vineyard, less mechanisation in many instances and they also attract a premium price.”

“Unfortunately we’re farmers and we love our farming too much” Peos Estate owner Vic Peos grows grapes over 36.4ha of land in Manjimup.

He says the extra labour costs of producing premium grapes hurts his bottom line.

“In our peak, we’re needing 10 to 12 people,” he says. “When you’re paying

PHOTO: Andrew Charlton.

$22 an hour, you need to get that money back. It’s very costly to produce.”

Peos says the only way to really keep costs down is to do most of the work yourself.

“A tonne of fruit costs me around $700 to produce and that’s with me doing a fair bit of the work,” he says.

“When you’re relying on someone to do all the work, or get contractors in, you’re looking at $900 per tonne.

“Most people around [WA] are accepting about $1000 per tonne. But to make a dollar, you should be up in the $1300s.”

Things could be worse. Growers on the east coast can’t even dream of the sort of prices being paid in WA. “If they get $500 a tonne, they’re doing cartwheels,” Peos says.

To further complicate things, Stanford says the falling Australian dollar is playing a part in the downturn.

“Wine is a discretionary spend for many consumers,” he says.

“So when you lose wealth in the economy, people tend to revert to

cheaper versions, or stop consuming luxury goods.”

According to the industry’s peak body, Wine Australia, exports to China increased by eight per cent to $224 million in 2014.

Prices of more than $7.50 a litre helped. But China’s future as a wine buyer is uncertain in the wake of that country’s sharemarket problems.

“If you’re breaking even or just a little ahead, you’re doing pretty well” “China is a decidedly big prospect for the future, but it is a market that requires a fair bit of work to develop,” Stanford says. “While it is part of a golden future, it’s not a short-term prospect.”

AHA Viticulture director Colin Bell, who also sits on the Wines of WA board

of directors, says a volatile local stock market could actually help wine grape growers and a raft of free trade agreements will also create opportunities.

“The lower dollar price is great for us on the international export market, as well as domestically. It gives us some advantage,” he says.

He says one of the biggest problems for producers is that unbranded cleanskins have changed the local market.

“They’re the points where the industry probably isn’t at its best, profitability-wise,” he says.

“Once we’re putting brands and putting high quality wine to the Perth market, the industry will be happy.”

Stanford, meanwhile, is confident of the industry’s future. Though he says there are still some tough years ahead.

“If people growing grapes are hanging on, and eating into their fundamental assets to survive, they need to calculate on several more years of low prices,” he says.

“We don’t yet have demonstrable evidence of a turnaround in the industry, and that’s a couple of years away at least.

“Margins need to be built up across the industry before we can say we’re in better times again.”

Despite the grim forecast, Peos says he is too passionate about his work to give up.

“Unfortunately we’re farmers and we love our farming too much,” he says.

“It’s hard these days. If you’re breaking even or just a little ahead, you’re doing pretty well.”

Women rule the football field

KICKING GOALS: Ashton Hill celebrates with team mates.

Heather Miller

A

shton Hill thumps into the defender, knocking her to the dirt, and continues sprinting down the field with sweat beading off her forehead and on to the footy.

The coaches pace up and down the sideline screaming instructions at her as she runs toward the goals.

The Joondalup Falcons Women’s Football Club captain glances up. The ball drops and meets the easy, yet powerful swing of her right foot, fly-

ing into the empty grandstand… It’s a goal!

A few weeks earlier, speaking at the National Press Club on August 18, AFL chief Gillon McLachlan declared 2017 would be the golden year for pushing forward with a national women’s football league, which could see teams formed in up to six states.

His comments, which came after the first televised women’s match between the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne Demons, were unambiguous: “It has to happen, it is only a question of when.”

More than 300,000 Aussies tuned in to watch the women’s game on August 16, according to Channel Seven. This was a bigger television audience than the men’s game between Adelaide and

PHOTO: Heather Miller.

Essendon attracted on the same day.

WA Football Commission female football co-ordinator Allana Dickie says women’s football has attracted plenty of attention since that first televised game.

“It’s ... allowed girls to realise that playing AFL football is no longer a dream, but a reality,” she says.

Dickie says there has been a massive growth at every level of women’s football in WA in recent years. A national league is a natural and necessary next step, she says.

“We’ve had 78 per cent growth from 2013 to 2014 and at the moment we have over 33,000 girls running around,” Dickie says.

“That’s 80 female teams and the

majority of our participation is made up of school numbers, so at primary level we’re just under 15,000 and secondary level we have 11,500.

“To have 78 per cent growth is fantastic and we’re expecting even more growth this year so the momentum behind the AFL national women’s game and all that extra exposure is going to be very positive for us.”

The boom isn’t just happening in WA. AFL statistics from 2014 show female involvement in the game has tripled since 2009. There are almost 200,000 female players, accounting for almost 19 per cent of all players Australia-wide.

WA and Victoria are leading the way, boasting some of the best young stars in Emma King, Brianna Green and Renee Forth, all of whom played in the televised exhibition match.

School Sports WA state 16s girls head coach Oliver Beath says it’s time the AFL moved to get girls on the big stage.

“The talent pool is huge,” he beams.

“Out of the last three drafts…two of the number one picks have been WA girls.

“In the past, it was looked at as a bit gimmicky and just a bit fun for girls to play something physically different and you couldn’t do much more than play school footy, whereas now the opportunities are endless.

“They [the AFL] are talking about a national competition in 2017, so there is actually going to be a pathway now, and I think that’s helped us improve our numbers at a 16s level because parents can now imagine their girls going forward if they want to.”

Joondalup Falcons Women’s Football Club president Dave Burton has no doubt young girls have the passion and

skills to make a living out of football.

“And since Gillon McLachlan at the AFL has been talking about AFL 2020 and bringing it forward to 2017 that’s brought up a lot of discussion, so it’s allowed our game to grow,” he says.

Coastal Titans midfielder Renee Forth was one of the 16 women from WA who played in the televised match.

Drafted in the top five, she says running on to the ground in front of a huge television audience is something she will always remember.

“We wanted to put on a good show, because we actually do have the skills” “There was going to be so many people watching and, for some of us older players, we’re trying to help build a pathway for the girls coming up,” she says.

“We wanted to put on a good show, because we actually do have the skills.

We all say how much we’d love to play week-in, week-out.”

This is an exciting period for Beath and his team. “I keep saying to girls playing 16s with me now, they’re almost going to be the first group that are going to get a chance at a national competition,” he says.

Local women’s footy might not draw the big crowds just yet, but once they have a national league of their own, it could well be a different story.

And if the first live televised women’s AFL match is anything to go by, the grandstand facing Ashton Hill won’t be empty for long.

September 2015

10

SPORT FEATURE

WA girls lift olympic team Sophia Constantine

I

n perfect concert, eight girls dive gracefully into the pool. The red, white and black of their costumes create the illusion of a school of fish.

They dart their heads from left to right while maintaining eye contact with a captivated audience. The octet form a tight circle, then roll their heads underwater, and suddenly the pool is a blur of white froth and windmilling legs. From the centre of the circle, one of the swimmers is propelled into the air, twisting and flipping her body, before returning to the water with a glorious splash. From the stands, a spectator yells: “Let’s go Australia!”

It’s about 6.30pm, and while most people are winding down for the evening, the Australian national synchronised swimming team is performing its ‘spider’ routine as part of the Commonwealth Festival of Synchronised Swimming at HBF Stadium in Mount Claremont. At competition’s end, roughly 20 people watch Australia take to the podium to receive the gold medal.

Australia is one of eight teams to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the 2015 team includes five West Australian girls – more than ever before.

“I obviously don’t get to see much of my family, even though I live with them” Deborah Tsai is one of them. The 21-year-old is the team’s acrobatic flier, performing the highlights in the routines - it was her being thrown into the air during the spider routine.

Tsai says the team is hoping to achieve Australia’s best ever Olympic result at Rio. “We are not in line with the top countries like Russia, China, and Japan,” she says. “They all have centrally funded state programs that we do not have.”

RIO BOUND: WA team flaunt their acrobatic skills.

While Russia has been the powerhouse team for the past 10 years, WA synchronised swimming coach Briana Preiss says the Australian team is in a good position, and WA swimmers have been a big part of the team’s recent achievements.

“WA is strong,” she says, in her lilting American accent, a product of her upbringing in East Hampton, a coastal town along the south eastern tip of Long Island. “They are definitely a growing team and they are a big push for synchronised swimming within the state.”

WA girls Amie Thompson and Rose Stackpole have both represented the state in solo competitions, and Danielle Kettlewell and Danielle ten Vaanholt, both originally from Canada, have been swimming in the team routines.

“They each have their own little sparkle to add, “ Preiss says with a little laugh.

Preiss says Australia faced tough competition to secure a spot at the Olympics. The process started at the Spanish Open in July with a 12-point win over New Zealand. From there, the team competed in qualifying events in the Russian city of Kazan, where they defeated the Kiwis for the second time and secured the coveted Olympic spot.

The focus is now firmly on Rio and beating their closest competitor,

Egypt. To achieve this, the team has put in plenty of hours of training.

The days begin with a one-hour gym session in the early hours of the morning, followed by another hour of flexibility work, three hours in the pool, and an extra session of diving on the weekend.

“We are picking at pieces to get what we need, but we are lucky enough for the sponsors that we do have” Tsai says the gruelling training regime is the least of the sacrifices she’s had to make. “I obviously don’t get to see much of my family, even though I live with them,” she says with a rueful smile. “I leave first thing in the morning and get home last thing at night. It’s pretty awful.”

Preiss says funding for the sport is almost non-existent.

For the majority of its funding, the team relies on mining magnate Gina Rinehart, who sponsors the sport at

PHOTO: Synchro WA.

both state and national level through Synchro Australia and Synchro WA. “We are picking at pieces to get what we need, but we are lucky enough for the sponsors that we do have,” Preiss says.

Preiss says Rinehart has provided the team with tracksuits and fundraising money to attend swimming camps, so the girls do not have to constantly “pinch pennies” and “pull out their pockets”.

“Roll your heels in, right foot in, touch your feet together, curl your left toes,” shouts Australian synchronised swimming coach Leslie Sproule, while running the girls through an intense warm up at HBF Stadium. She is brisk, straightforward and determined. As she answers questions she is never still, and her focus on the girls never wavers.

Sproule says the team’s progress has been “unbelievable” over the past year.

The qualifying events were particularly challenging because Australia did not know much about the New Zealand team,

WINNING SMILES: Australian national team members receive their gold medals.

Sproule says.

“We were 1.4 points ahead in the technical programme, which is 50 per cent of our mark, and 3.5 ahead in our free routine. That is a really good score difference,” Sproule says.

She says the big WA contingent in the national team is because of the excellent coaching and training facilities in Perth.

Sproule says the team hopes to improve at the Olympics and is aiming to move their scores out of 10 up into the high-sevens or low-eights. “If we get into that range we are going to be in good shape in terms of our competition with Egypt,” she says.

She says the popularity of swimming in Australia has never translated to synchronised swimming, which has affected the sport’s funding. “The funding for synchronised swimming in Australia is sketchy at best,” she sighs.

She says the team is just 11 months away from competing at the Olympics, but there is still very little indication of what funding it will receive because the sport is not considered “winning-edge”.

This is a phrase coined by Australian Sports Commission chairman John Wylie in 2012. Australia’s Winning Edge 2012-2022 is the plan which sets performance targets and decides where the funding goes. And where it doesn’t.

Sproule says Synchro Australia president Brian Miller has put every effort into getting more sponsorship, but without much success.

“It’s very difficult for coaching staff and athletes to plan what the year is going to look like when we are not

sure what funding entails,” she says.

This is their lot. The exertion, commitment and sacrifice exhibited by the swimmers and staff is not yet rewarded by national attention, or more crucially, funding. It is clear that whatever the team does achieve at next year’s Olympics, they will have to struggle for it with every last perfectly controlled breath.

PHOTO: Sophia Constantine.

September 2015

11

SPORT

Perth to score more internationals Martin Busk

Football West is already in talks with Football Federation Australia about bringing more international soccer to Perth.

Perth Oval was almost sold out when 19,495 spectators watched the Socceroos defeat Bangladesh 5-0 in a World Cup qualifier early this month.

It was the first match the Socceroos had played in Perth in a decade.

Despite the match being one-sided, Football West chief executive officer Peter Hugg said the event had been hugely successful for WA soccer.

“I don’t think any other city in Australia would have achieved greater success against such an opposition and it puts us in good stead for future matches,” he said.

“The crowd, the quality of the grass, the way it looked and the way everyone voluntarily helped is a strong advertisement for what we can do, and I guarantee that it won’t be 10 years before we get another match.”

Hugg said he was not disappointed that the Socceroos’ return to Perth had been against a weak opponent.

“Regardless, it was a World Cup qualifying match and we can only deal with whom we are drawn against,” he said.

He said other national soccer teams could also be scheduled to play in Perth in the near future.

“We have already started the process of discussing future matches in the not too distant future, recognising also that there is not only the Socceroos,” he said.

“There is also the Matildas, there’s a youth team, there’s an Olympic team and so on.”

Sydney and Melbourne can offer the Socceroos venues that can seat up to 100,000 people, while the biggest rectangular stadium in Perth only has 20,500 seats.

Hugg said the new Perth Stadium, which is scheduled to open in time for the 2018 AFL season, could host Socceroos games.

“When Perth Stadium is built in

Burswood, with a capacity of 65,000 people, that in itself will demonstrate that we can host matches here that are commercially viable,” Hugg said.

“It will be the third largest stadium in the country and with that in mind, I’m sure we’ll also get more matches.”

VenuesWest chief executive officer David Etherton said the new stadium would make Perth a more attractive option for the bigger games.

“Perth Stadium will offer a superb experience for fans,” Etherton said.

“With the Socceroos selling out nib Stadium [Perth Oval], I have no doubt that fans will embrace the opportunity to see the Socceroos play at Australia’s newest stadium.”

Etherton said he hoped more matches would be played at Perth Oval in the near future. “[It] provides Perth fans with the ideal opportunity to see the Socceroos and other world class teams compete on a custom rectangular pitch,” Etherton said.

“We would be delighted to host more international football matches.”

SOCCER SUCCESS: Hugg anticipates a return.

PHOTO: Ellie Mackay.

Poole to heat up Norwegian ice Martin Busk

Young West Australian ice hockey prospect Madison Poole is confident she can win gold at the 2016 Youth Winter Olympics in Norway.

Poole will compete in an event for athletes that will not have the opportunity to play in the ice hockey team competition.

It features six events that test the athlete’s pace, accuracy and agility.

She won her spot at the games by finishing third at a qualifying event in Finland earlier this year, where she won both the fastest lap and passing precision sections.

Poole said her background in figure, speed and synchronised ice-skating had given her an advantage.

After just a few weeks figure skating, she broke three Australian records, but Poole said ice hockey was now her focus.

“Me and my sister fell in love with the sport and gave up all the other sports to pursue ice hockey,” she said.

Poole, who was also a gymnast, said her love affair with ice hockey started when her family took her to a public ice hockey session.

“Obviously, we don’t have much snow in Australia and it was a great experience, so I asked my family to take me there again,” she said.

“We went there again a year later and the owner of the rink down at Cockburn told me I should start doing lessons, so my mum put me into that.”

WA Ice Hockey Association president Paul McCann said he was confident

Poole would do well at the Olympics.

“I have observed a young lady who always has a good competitive edge and she really knows how to put all of her determination into outcome,” McCann said.

McCann said he had first noticed Poole when she was six-years-old.

“She always had her own style and played to her strengths,” McCann said.

“For Madison to make this remarkable achievement is just a fantastic effort for a 15-year-old. She really has strength, presence and confidence and that will do her well in Norway.”

McCann said Poole’s success at the Youth Olympics could also draw more young West Australians to the sport.

“For small sports in this locality, like ice hockey, it’s more about knowing that it is actually available,” he said.

New netball centre has girls in a sweat

Kathryn Croston & Abbey Tobin

SKATES ON: Madison Poole is going for gold.

PHOTO: Supplied.

New calls for WA Government to remove ban on cage fighting Martin Busk An upcoming mixed martial arts event in Perth has sparked renewed calls for the State Government to lift the ban on cage fighting.

Resurrection: Bragging Rights 7 will be held on September 27 at the State Netball Centre in Jolimont. Event producer Grady Scott Stewart said using ropes in MMA instead of cages posed a risk to competitors.

He likened WA’s ban on cages to “taking seatbelts out of cars”. Victoria lifted its ban on cage fighting this year and an Australian Ultimate Fighting Championship representative recently visited WA to try to have the ban lifted.

“We are the last state in the world where MMA is legal and the cage isn’t,” Mr Stewart said.

WA Sport and Recreation Minister Mia Davies said the State Government would not change the legislation, which was passed in 2013.

“The State Government does not support the use of a fence enclosure for Mixed Martial Arts contests, believing it is not in the best interests of the wider community to endorse or encourage participation of fighting in a cage,” Ms

Davies said.

Safety concerns were raised in 2013, when Brazilian-born fighter Gustavo Falciroli knocked his opponent, Kaiwhare Kara-France, out of the ring in Melbourne.

The fight was ruled a ‘no contest’ when Kara-France hit his head on a ringside table and was unable to continue.

Falciroli said the cage ban did not make sense. “One thing is if MMA is banned, but it’s not. They just moved it to the worst environment possible,” he said. Falciroli said cage fighting had safety risks, like any sport.

“We all know we can get cuts and bruises, but you’re not going to get any injuries that are worse than what you get in an Aussie Rules match or in rugby,” he said.

Prominent local MMA fighter and UFC heavyweight Soa Palelei said he agreed with Falciroli.

Palelei has fought on four continents, in both cages and boxing rings, and said the cage was safer.

“People need to get educated on the sport and then they can have an opinion,” Palelei said.

“As an athlete, I feel safe walking into the cage because I won’t be falling out or getting tangled in the ropes.”

WA’s new State Netball Centre is under fire after receiving several complaints about a lack of ventilation.

Netball coach Yevonne Gillett said she coached three teams that had all made complaints about the high temperatures inside the Jolimont-based centre.

“They were exhausted,” she said.

“No open doors, no fans, there’s no ventilation whatsoever.”

Netball WA venue operations and programming manager Olivia Birkett said the ventilation issue was a matter

of “user point of view”.

“We haven’t had any problems with the ventilation here,” she said.

“It can get warm in here if they’re choosing not to use the air conditioning, but from a functional point of view we’ve definitely had no problems.”

Premier Colin Barnett and Sport and Recreation Minister Mia Davies formally opened the $26 million centre in March.

Perth Netball Association president Elaine Clucas said the association had also received complaints about conditions inside the centre.

“There has been some concerns

WINTER HEAT: Perth girls are working up a sweat.

raised by a few people officially to the association about ventilation there,” she said.

Clucas said the issue would be investigated before the next season started.

But she also said the association had received positive feedback about the new facility.

“We had a lot of wet Saturdays this season and I can tell you the girls who were indoors on a wet Saturday were really happy,” Clucas said.

The netball centre seats 1,050 people around its four indoor courts. According to VenuesWest, 2500 netball matches were played at the centre this year.

PHOTO: Emma McQuade.

SEPTEMBER 2015 – Volume 21 No 3

Sport

Tropiano sets sights on AFL Gareth Thomas

Sandover Medal winner Aidan Tropiano says he’s ready to grab any opportunity to play in the AFL “with both hands”.

Tropiano, 22, was a last-gasp winner of the 95th Sandover Medal when he polled four out of a possible five votes in the last game of the season to edge out South Fremantle’s Ashton Hams by a single vote.

The Perth midfielder finished with 45 votes in a standout season for the league’s wooden spooners.

“I’d love if any club gave me the opportunity to go to the next level,” Tropiano said after collecting the medal.

The former East Fremantle on-baller said he put his success down to hard work and dedication.

“I am a very serious person when it comes to footy,” he said.

“I get myself right the same as I would for any game ... I just keep focused and do the best I possibly can.”

Tropiano was the only player to fin-

ish in the top four who had not been on an AFL list.

Hams played 39 games for West Coast between 2010 and 2013. Sam Menegola, who polled an extraordinary 41 votes from just 12 games after returning from an ankle injury, was previously listed by both Fremantle and Hawthorn.

Fourth-placed Ryan Davis played 14 games for the Eagles in 2008 and 2009.

Perth Football Club chief executive officer Marty Atkins said Tropiano was frustrated by the lack of opportunity at East Fremantle early last year.

The Demons had provided him an opportunity to join the club half-way through the 2014 season.

Atkins said Tropiano had what it took to succeed at the next level.

“A lot of people say he hasn’t got the pace,” Atkins said.

“But there’s not too many players I have seen that put as much time and effort into their preparation as Aidan does.”

Atkins said he was aware that “a couple of clubs” were considering

drafting Tropiano into the AFL. “It comes down to being at the right place at the right time,” Atkins said.

“He’s still a young man. He’s not going to [go to] the draft camp and win the 100m sprint or jump the highest.

“Unfortunately there isn’t a test for competitiveness and a desire to succeed, which is certainly what he has got.”

Atkins said it was unusual for a WAFL club to recruit a player from a rival club during the season, but nobody could question the decision now.

Tropiano averaged more than 32 possessions a game in 2015, finishing the season with 650 disposals.

Atkins said Tropiano would prepare for the 2016 season with Perth if he wasn't drafted and would try to perform at a level that forced AFL clubs to take another look at him.

“If you look back through history, you will see that WA has a very good record of mature age players being recruited,” Atkins said.

“Matt Priddis was taken late and Clint

EYES UP: Aidan Tropiano is focused on an AFL career.

Jones is a classic example.

“Told he would never play AFL, he worked hard to become a running machine and improved his skills, won two fairests and bests at South Freo and ended up playing 149 games for St Kilda footy club.

“Not a bad way of proving people wrong.”

In recent years, several Sandover Medal winners have been given an opportunity at the highest level.

Kane Mitchell won the medal in 2012 and was drafted to the AFL

by Port Adelaide, while Andrew Krakouer dominated the 2010 season after a stint in jail and was then drafted

by Collingwood.

Hayden Ballantyne was drafted by Fremantle after his victory in the 2008 Sandover Medal count, while Priddis has added a Brownlow Medal to his trophy cabinet since winning the 2006 Sandover Medal.

This year’s count was one of the closest in recent memory with five players on 30 or more votes before votes from the last four rounds were counted.

Menegola stormed home after miss-

PHOTO: Belinda Taylor.

Tough season ahead for Glory Martin Busk

LOWE EXPECTATIONS: Dino Djulbic and Guyon Fernandez.

ing the first 10 rounds, hitting a purple patch in the second half of the year as Subiaco claimed the minor premiership.

West Perth defender Aaron Black, who won the 2014 medal, finished equal fourth with 37 votes, but was ineligible to win the award after accepting a reprimand over a rough conduct charge in April.

PHOTO: Nicholas Phillips.

Former Perth Glory champion Jamie Harnwell says the club will struggle to match last season’s on-field performances in the wake of an off-season exodus of players.

Glory finished third on the table in 2014-15 before the salary cap scandal saw them relegated to seventh place, costing the club a spot in the finals.

Among the 13 players who left the club post-season were strikers Andy Keogh and Jamie Maclaren, who scored 21 of the team’s 45 goals between them last season.

Harnwell, who played 256 games for the Glory between 1998 and 2011, said the loss of such high-quality players would make it a very difficult season.

“I’m not sure if they have been able to replace their key players well enough to ensure they finish as high as they did last year,” he said.

Perth Glory coach Kenny Lowe said it was difficult to gauge where his team stood before the season had started.

“It’s a massive change for us,” he said. “From a playing perspective, but

also from a dressing room perspective you hope everyone blends in.”

Among the club’s new signings are Dutch forward Guyon Fernadez, Spain’s Diego Castro and Hungary International Gyorgy Sandor.

Harnwell said the quality of a club’s foreign players often determined how well that team performed in the A-League.

“The A-League is a very quick and physical league and is really hard to adjust to,” he said.

“It will be up to the international players brought in to really step up to the plate and try to fill the void after players like Keogh and Maclaren.”

Lowe said he was excited about the club’s overseas signings.

“I think Diego will score goals, Guyon will score goals, Sandor is an attacking midfield player and will also contribute,” he said.

Harnwell said the team would need time to gel.

“It’s difficult to bring in that many players and expect to start the season off as a well-drilled unit,” he said.

“It will take time for them to develop and get together in the way Kenny Lowe wants them to.”