[dropcap style=”color: #8f9f59;”] B [/dropcap]y the time you read this, Trish Naug Szollosi (pronounced Narg Sir-Lur-She) will have been living in Warrnambool for only three months, but already she is building a following for the culinary skills she has brought with her.

Since relocating from the steamy and busy climes of suburban Brisbane, Trish has wasted no time in establishing a small market stall that specialises in gluten-free foods “and all things tempting”, together with her own blend of chai tea.

It is downsized and mobile version of the cafe that she ran successfully in Brisbane’s Red Cliff for seven years which was “off the tourist map” and once a “hot chips, dim sims and hamburgers kind of place”, but which was ready for something a little more exotic.

Trish hopes Warrnambool will prove to be the same.

[dropcap style=”color: #8f9f59;”] T [/dropcap]rish’s father was a tea-grower in Assam, India, so she grew up learning the finer points of tea picking, packing and blending.

And while some older locals have been reluctant to even try her chai tea – free tastings are provided via a boiling urn – others have quickly switched on to the health benefits of the Indian tea, made the traditional, non-commercial and organic way.

Word is spreading even more quickly about her range of gluten-free cakes, savouries, slices, pasties and tarts that are created in her home kitchen.

“Being a coeliac myself, I know how hard it can be to find tasty and interesting gluten-free foods, although Warrnambool seems to have more available than some other country towns,” Trish says.

Although her “advertising” is purely word of mouth, Trish was greeting both new and returning customers when Bluestone (having heard about her through word-of-mouth) visited the Warrnambool Undercover Market at the showgrounds.

Her colourful stall, called Chai Temptations, appeared positively exotic among the more conventional line-ups of second hand books, trinkets, ornaments, model cars and vintage tools.

[dropcap style=”color: #8f9f59;”] T [/dropcap]rish and her Hungarian husband, Jozsef – who sells and repairs commercial and domestic coffee machines – decided to move to Warrnambool in search of a quieter lifestyle and, wait for it, the weather.

“I grew up in Melbourne and we used to come down and camp at Jubilee Park (near Allansford), so I knew it was a very beautiful place,” Trish says.

The pair was tired of the heat and traffic of Brisbane so, having decided to visit Warrnambool to see if it could be their new home, they wound up buying a house that same weekend.

“We love it, and I really love what I am doing,” Trish says.

“It is hard work, but I would much rather be working hard for myself every day, than for someone else.”

[box] Trish and Chai Temptations can be found at the Warrnambool Undercover Markets each Sunday, the Port Fairy Farmer’s Market and also at the markets in Terang and Camperdown. You can visit her brand new Facebook page here.[/box]

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 OPINION

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] I [/dropcap]t has been a long and often heated battle, but the proposed compulsory traders levy to raise funds for Commerce Warrnambool is now fully transparent and more realistic in it aims – purely through the power of grassroots action.

In a revised motion to go to the Warrnambool City Council on Monday (Sept 1), the annual levy – which will operate for five years – has been halved from $600,000 to $300,000 and no trader, be they commercial or industrial, will be asked to pay more than $300 per year, compared to up to $6000 in the initial plan.

Commerce Warrnambool President Tony Herbert had hoped the council might kick in the remaining $300,000 from general revenue, but this has not happened. Instead, Commerce Warrnambool has gone through its budget and emerged with a more modest plan to promote and market Warrnambool.

For starters, the budget for a full-time executive officer, support staff and other management and communication costs has been cut from an initial $200,000 to $95,000, with a suggestion that the executive officer could be either full or part time.

This does away with concerns that the levy would do little more than pay for the salary of someone sitting behind a desk, enjoying a very nice job for the next five years.

Advertising has been cut from $120,000 a year to $75,000 and plans to take on the Warrnambool Business Awards and attend the Regional Living Expo – both of which are currently handled by the council – have been scrapped.

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] I [/dropcap]mportantly, Commerce Warrnambool has also set down – for the first time – very clear projects that will be funded by the levy.

They include three promotional activities in the first year for a total cost of $80,000: a shop local car giveaway; a spring produce promotion and a Christmas promotion.

It also includes projects for business support, education and networking: four professional development workshops (total cost $20,000) and four networking activities (again $20,000).

The strange idea of raising $100,000 each year toward “an infrastructure project” has also vanished, thank goodness, because this was fraught with difficulties around who would decide what project was worthy and how it would be chosen.

Will those traders who were heavily opposed to the levy warm to the revised plan?

Perhaps not – remember they never asked for a levy in the first place – but at least now there is air and light around what Commerce Warrnambool will do with the funds. This is far better than its “trust us” approach that came with its first plan that asked for $3 million over five years, despite having no runs on the board in terms of delivery.

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] T [/dropcap]here is also, in the paperwork before council, a very clear process outlined for the first time as to how traders can object to the levy.

Traders no longer have to worry that they won’t be notified (they will, as will landlords) or that they will miss out on lodging an objection.

The documents tell us that, once the notification is given, they have until November 3 to make an objection or written submission (or both) and, if so inclined, can have a say at the council meeting on November 17.

See all of this information above? This is how transparency works; this is proper process, and if all of this detail had been laid out clearly from the very beginning, then perhaps the levy idea would not have fallen into a ditch.

For this we can thank the tenacious grassroots lobbyists within the Warrnambool Traders Action Group for doing their bit to ensure democracy is alive and well in Warrnambool: that when it comes to public funds and accountability, everyone has a right to ask questions, no matter how prickly or how “annoying”.

This is not an easy thing to do in a regional city, where networks are tight and long in the making.

It takes great courage to risk falling out with friends, or customers, or business colleagues because you dare to challenge an idea that you are being told is “good for the city”.

For what its worth, we have had a small taste of the consequences of running against the grain here at Bluestone.

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] R [/dropcap]eaders will know that, last week, I launched my small book “Warrnambool: This is home” and that this book, written before Bluestone began, features 30 iconic Warrnambool places and faces, including Kermonds, Mack’s Snacks, the Materia Bros, Ryans Removals etc.

More than 80 people crammed into the launch at the Last Coach, including members of these wonderful Warrnambool families, but was there a word about it in the local newspaper? No, despite, ironically, two of the paper’s longest-serving reporters being featured in the book.

Why was this so? Because I am part of Bluestone Magazine? Or because we occasionally question the newspaper? (Just as the newspaper’s reporters occasionally challenge us: we consider it healthy debate). I don’t know, but we find it deeply troubling that the only newspaper in a major regional city appears to have a blacklist.

This is why what the traders action group has achieved over the past six months is so important – and its impact goes well beyond what you might think of the levy.

By using grassroots activism – social media, shoe leather, door knocking, posters on windows and whatever else it takes – it has refused to be silenced and has, under considerable stress and strain, won the battle for transparency, accountability and due process.

It has shown that you can speak out, and up, and while it can be exhausting and wearing, you can be heard.

This is what makes it an important victory for us all.

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OPINION

If you are an artist living in south-west Victoria, the chance for a big commission only comes along once in a while, so why do so many of Warrnambool’s most lucrative public art projects go to artists who live elsewhere?

The answer appears to be that the pool of local talent is not yet deep enough, or that artists don’t know about the projects in the first place.

Our interest in this question was piqued by the Warrnambool City Council’s recent unveiling of the Mortlake Rd pedestrian tunnel mural painted by Drysdale professional mural artist Scottie “Bonsai” Neoh, who grew up in Warrnambool.

There is no doubt it is a spectacular work, but what is surprising is that only a handful of people within the local arts community appeared to know about the impending project, despite the commission being worth $15,000.

Bonsai was paid another $2000 for a separate mural at Lake Pertobe that he also completed recently.

The selection of Bonsai follows the awarding of a $20,000 commission to Melbourne artist Ewan Coates in 2010 for his sculpture The Three Pillars of Gratification, on the corner of Liebig and Koroit streets, and another $20,000 commission in 2011 that was won by Ballan artist Velislav Georgiev for his work Chance Encounter, that sits on the corner of Lava and Liebig streets.

In both of those cases, however, and unlike the $17,000 paid to Bonsai, the commission was open to expressions of interest and the winner was chosen by the council’s City Art Advisory Committee. This committee, made up of council and non council people, was disbanded in May last year after running for more than 20 years*.

So what has happened on the ground since?

Well, a string of murals have popped up around Warrnambool in the past eight months thanks to the work of members of the The Artery/The F Project art collective, but these were far from lucrative commissions: they were more like labours of love.

The F Project received $30,000 in council funds to run the Hidden Histories Laneways Festival made up of 10 separate events, including the painting of five murals.

You can do the math, but $30,000 split between 10 events and five murals does not equal a big budget, but, even so, The F Project called for expressions of interest and selected a range of local artists to complete works of various sizes and complexity.

The three smallest murals, in Ozone Walk, were completed for about $1000, while one of the largest, in Patloch Lane by Nathan Pye, had a budget of $1500 plus materials.

The largest of all – a 25 m wall off Timor St – was completed by David Higgins for $2000 (including paints) with another $2000 chipped in by the owner of the wall to help cover costs.

All up, these five murals cost around $5000 in public funds, thanks to the generosity and community spirit of the artists prepared to effectively donate a lot their time.

So how did Bonsai end up with $17,000 for two murals without any call for expressions of interest?

Gareth Colliton, the Warrnambool Art Gallery’s curator of exhibitions and outreach, is more than happy to explain, because he played a major role.

It should be said that Gareth, who is an artist himself and one of those who completed a laneway mural for little charge, is seen as a major supporter of the local arts community, was a key figure in establishing The Artery, and is a very affable and popular person in the arts scene.

His involvement in the Bonsai project falls in line with the powers that he has been given in his role with WAG and the council.

As he explains it, the Bonsai project is part of a new way of approaching community art projects that he believes will be of long-term benefit to the 250 local artists on the council’s database.

First, the mural was funded as part of civic infrastructure – the building of the Mortlake Rd drain – and Gareth hopes that public art will be included in more infrastructure projects, such as the design of a roundabout, for example, and that local artists will see more commissions, not less.

For this particular project, Gareth says, Bonsai was considered the best choice: he had the skills, the availability and the local connection (he is also a cousin of Mayor Michael Neoh, but Gareth says Mayor Neoh was completely removed from the process. The selection was made by Gareth, WAG director John Cunningham and Infrastructure head Peter Robertson).

Second, the commission was a “carrot” for Bonsai to run a series of workshops later in the year for local artists who wish to learn from a top street artist. The council is seeking funding to pay Bonsai for the workshops, so that they can be offered free or at low-cost.

But why not call for expressions of interest, just to see who and what pops up?

Gareth put it this way:  “In the short term, that would be like giving a man a fish or teaching him to fish.”

“We could have given someone this opportunity immediately and it would have been done (but) there are also only a few people in town who have the technical skills to do a work of that scale.

“Far more important is teaching all of those other artists how to do this. Rather than see only the two, three or four that are out there at the moment, I want to see 30 or 40…”

Maybe so, but there are also artists keen to be considered for the talents that they already have.

As one said in an email to Bluestone this week: “I would jump at $15,000. I have been painting for years and have never been paid that much…us local artists seem to find out (about these opportunities) once the bloody project is up.”

(* The council has since confirmed that WAG is investigating setting up a new industry advisory group to provide expert advice on the delivery of its programs and its five-year plan.)

[box] As part of our Treasures section, we will make a monthly visit to Tony and Luke at Ozone Bazaar in Warrnambool (who are great supporters of Bluestone Magazine) to see what intriguing items they have picked up locally.[/box]

[dropcap style=”color: #a5cecd;”] T [/dropcap]hese somewhat ghoulish little heads caught our eye, especially as there was a whole basket of them staring out into space.

Ozone Bazaar co-owner Tony Turnley picked these up from a secondhand dealer in Edenhope and believes they date from around the 1950s. The cardboard heads were attached to a bag of sweets and, after the sweets were all eaten, the heads could be saved and used as puppets.

Hmmmm….

Not sure if these faces would bring fun or fear to a child, but they are certainly now very collectable and sell for between $5 and $10 a pop.

If you know any more about these creatures, or perhaps you even owned one, please let us know!

You can read our earlier story on Luke and Tony at the Ozone Bazaar, or find them on the web here and Facebook here.

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[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] W [/dropcap]hy did I decide to run in this election?

Our politicians take responsibility for representing our community values, infrastructure needs, future investments and the economy.

One of the most important aspects of our governments, local, state or federal, is whether or not they are profitable. From this, we have a Liberal party who pursue nothing but profit, showing no community values, selling off all investments and public assets, purely to afford grand election commitments in marginal seats.

Our “alternative” government, the Labor party, repeatedly show their willingness to waste public money. The Myki system and the Wonthaggi desalination plant, both initiated by the previous Labor government, were both economic disasters. Myki blew out by $1 billion and the desalination plant, costing billions to build, will cost Victorians $1.8 million a day for the next 26 years, even if it never supplies water.

My greatest concern, beyond this mismanagement, is that neither of the major parties seem interested in supporting the entire state, but instead fight elections in marginal seats.

Living in a Liberal safe seat here in the South-West Coast has its drawbacks. We all know it takes a contestable seat to have the two major parties actually invest a fair share of public taxes into the community. Here in the South-West our trains are a joke, our TAFE has been marked as high risk by the Victorian-Auditor general and the East-West link threatens all infrastructure funding for years to come.

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] S [/dropcap]winging back and forth between Liberal policies of “sell it all” and Labor policies of “waste it all”, we find ourselves heading towards the 2014 election.

We’re still endlessly searching for fossil fuels to exploit, trashing our TAFE system for a quick buck, watching our public roads crumble and investing in the next white elephant infrastructure project that will deliver nothing but congestion and pollution, the East-West link.

I’ve mentioned the East-West link twice now, this is because when the Liberal party was elected in 2010, they correctly stated that Melbourne couldn’t build its way out of its congestion problems and had no plans to build the East-West link. It seems that statements made before an election mean nothing to political parties.

I also seem to remember a pledge that Victorian teachers would be the best paid in the country, though in fairness, that was a whole Premier ago.

I won’t deny it’s easy to throw dirt at political parties. It’s easy to point out the mistakes, the flaws and unfortunately, the corruption of political parties and politicians (Geoff Shaw, Aaron Lane and leaked tape recordings come to mind).

But still, I want to support my community. When I moved to Warrnambool I initially worked two casual positions, one at the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory, the second at Murray Goulburn, before taking up a Bachelor of Education at Deakin University.

Through my jobs, education, joining and creating various clubs and speaking to the public, I truly believe that the Greens can achieve great things for Victorians. Our Upper house candidate Lloyd Davies, a qualified engineer and previous councillor for Queenscliffe, is a caring, optimistic, compassionate and intelligent person. He not only exemplifies community values, but was also my inspiration for running in this election.

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] B [/dropcap]ut what impact can the Greens have in Parliament? What does it mean to vote Green?

Over the past four years, the three Greens members in the Victorian parliament have been fighting to ban unconventional gas and fracking, to give firefighters fair access to Workcover and to support ambulance paramedics for pay parity.

We’ve been bringing forth policies to encourage investment in renewable energy, standing up to a government that’s trying to push through an $18 billion toll road and fighting for our public TAFE system to be fully restored from the major parties failures.

The past four years have been characterised by bad policy and a lazy government. Thousands have lost their jobs while the state government just stood by, no fight, no plan, leaving thousands with an uncertain future. A vote for the Greens will start re-investing in Victoria to solve these problems and create new jobs.

That’s why I joined the Greens and that’s why I’m standing for this election.

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