Port Phillip Review Local

A fire in an abandoned shopfront on Chapel Street forced police to block the street, delaying trams during this morning’s peak hour.

At 8.15am the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was called to a fire at 56 Chapel Street after neighbours saw smoke.

St Kilda police Sergeant Mark Robertson said a 39-year-old male squatter was on the property when a small fire was lit in the fireplace.

Smoke poured out of windows due to what Sergeant Robertson suggested might have been a blocked chimney, alerting neighbours.

About 13 firefighters from Windsor, Malvern and South Melbourne attended and put the fire out in about 10 minutes, MFB spokeswoman Meg Rayner said.

Police blocked the street between Pakington and Inkerman streets, trapping a tram in the roadblock.

The man was released pending trespass charges, expected to be laid soon.

The site was sold last year and has been vacant since except for squatters.

The owner is expected to be contacted to secure the property.

The Scouts’ annual Gang Show gives kids more than a moment in the spotlight.

IT was 44 years ago, but Rob Motton vividly remembers his first Gang Show. Then just 11, he was known in his Brunswick Scout troop for singing a lot and “just generally making a lot of noise”.

His Scout leader encouraged him to audition for Gang Show – the annual musical performed and produced by Scouts and Guides from all over Melbourne – as a way to burn off excess energy. The rest, as they say, is history.

“I just remember being blown away,” recalls Motton, now production director of this year’s Melbourne Gang Show. “Here we were at the Palais, playing to audiences of 3000 people. It was just sensational. I see it in the first year kids now: you rehearse it and rehearse it, there is no question that it is going to work, but there is a sudden reality that there is a bloody audience out there.

“The first time the big wave of applause comes over you, you go, ‘Bloody hell, what is going on here?’ I remember as a kid being quite fired up; the build-up is enormous.”

The Queen isn’t the only one celebrating her diamond jubilee — 2012 also marks the 60th anniversary of Melbourne Gang Show. Motton, who is just as fired up about the production as he was four decades ago, says the reason it has flourished all these years is because it keeps changing with the times.

The idea for a local version of the London Gang Show started with a performance of Ralph Reader’s musical comedy, We’ll Live Forever, by the 9th Brunswick Scout Group in 1951. After a year’s break, troop leader John Wass helped establish the first Melbourne Gang Show in 1953, a direct reproduction of the London prototype, right down to the political jokes, street names and references to current affairs. It wasn’t until 1963, under Ken Bayly’s reign as director, that the production evolved into a revue-style show with an Australian flavour.

When Motton took over in 1992, he transformed the format into two halves, featuring original music. “The first half is usually more grandiose and theatrical, and the second one is more a pantomime, so everyone has a good time,” he explains.

“It’s not a show about Scouts, per se. It’s a show that is put on by lots of people who know what they are talking about when it comes to theatre, that happens to have Scouts in it.”

And a big show it is. This year’s production has a cast of 140 Scouts and Guides aged from 11 to 26, and just as many Scout, Guide and parent volunteers working behind the scenes, doing everything from writing scripts and songs to operating the lights and making costumes.

Previously the show has raised the curtain at Cathedral Hall Fitzroy, the Palais and the National Theatre in St Kilda, and the Princess Theatre. This year’s nine-show season will be staged at Burwood’s Besen Centre, to audiences of up to 1000 people.

Motton leads a production team made up of people with with full-time day jobs who volunteer after hours, and liaises with producer Jon Willis and technical and administration teams.

Theatrical experience is not all the kids gain from being involved. A retired performing arts teacher, Motton says it’s the education and development opportunities that really excite him. About 85 per cent of participants come back time and again – often followed by their children and grandchildren – so Gang Show must be doing something right. “It gives them a sense of belonging, purpose, a demand for excellence, a whole lot of theatrical training and a sense of wanting to be involved,” Motton says.

“I don’t care if you take kids hiking or canoeing or abseiling, it’s the same game, and the show is simply the vehicle to produce what we want to do with kids. The reality is that Gang Show keeps kids off the streets.”

With Scouts and Guides coming from all corners of Melbourne to take part, they also gain a wider view of the world. Sometimes the friendships that are formed lead to something more – there have been many Gang Show marriages and babies over the years.

Many Gang Show alumni have gone on to professional careers, particularly in backstage disciplines such as sound and lighting, although the honour roll also includes actor Shane Jacobson and comedian Dave O’Neill.

Most of Melbourne’s big lighting and sound companies are full of former Gang Show techs who learnt their trade through the show, says Motton. “And lots of television shows use lighting people that are ex-Gang Show because there is nowhere else where people get on-the-job training with these monstrous systems.”

Motton says he’s always staggered by the tonnes of lighting equipment used each year. “When we turn on all the lights in the theatre, Burwood goes dim. It is ridiculous!”

Professional singer Mandy Brook credits her 16 years in Gang Show for giving her the foundation for a successful career. Still involved with Scouting and the show as a member of the Flinders Petrie Rover Crew in Eaglemont, Brook, 26, made her Gang Show debut as a dancing corncob, never imagining it would lead to a career.

Buoyed by the experience, confidence and encouragement she gained each year, Brook studied music at Monash University and landed two lead opera roles in her first year.

She also works as a vocal coach with all 140 Gang Show cast members, with a focus on the principal soloists. She says the best part of her role is watching her young charges develop and grow. “It’s great that I can give back to something that has given me so much over the years,” she says. “All of a sudden I can see what I know and what I am teaching these children is making a difference … it has come full circle.”

The diamond jubilee show will be Brook’s last as a cast member but she is keen to stay involved. “It’s bittersweet because it’s really nice to be on stage and working with the kids in that capacity, so I think it will be a bit sad when I finish. But in another way it will be fabulous because there are so many more options that I have to work with them because I’m not rehearsing as well.’’

Mitchell Groves is one performer Brook has watched grow up within Gang Show. From “a little boy soprano” to a seasoned performer who loves musical theatre, Brook has inspired Groves to follow his dream. An electrician by trade, it wasn’t until Groves, 22, went to see one of Brook’s live performances that he started to think about musical theatre as a career. “She said, ‘You can do that too. You have the skills. You just have to go out and get more training’,” he recalls. “That night I went online looking at all the professional courses and the next day I was at an audition.”

Groves says he was “blown off my feet” to be accepted into an advanced course at the APO Arts Academy in South Melbourne. He has deferred to January next year to allow him to fulfil his Gang Show commitments.

“I just love performing and now it’s inspired me to do what I am going to be doing in the future,” he says. “There are so many things I get out of it: the kids’ smiles, the applause and being able to give back to the community. It’s a big thing.”

As a member of the production team, Groves is involved year-round on writing scripts, songs and music, starting work on a new show two weeks after the curtains close on the previous season.

Groves, who joined the Bayswater Joeys Cub group when he was five, is also Gang Show’s highest ticket seller, persuading 150 family members and strangers at his local shopping centre to come along – even if not everyone is exactly sure what Gang Show is.

Some people think it’s a show about gangs, others confuse it with a game show, but Motton sums it up best: “Essentially it’s a lovely community activity which does great things for kids, and the reason it keeps going is that it has managed to reinvent itself enough times so it’s still relevant.”

Cathy Humphrey is the new CEO at St Kilda’s Sacred Heart Mission.

I’VE worked at Sacred Heart Mission for more than 10 years and have worked as general manager for aged care, women’s services and our Queens Road community house. But I have been working in the community welfare sector for more than 20 years.

I was always driven by an interest in people and human rights, so after having worked in public service for six years I went to uni and found my calling when I started studying community welfare. When I started at the mission in 2002, I realised I had become part of an organisation that was really doing something to help people in need – those who are sleeping homeless in St Kilda every night as well as those struggling in sub-standard and unstable accommodation. I feel privileged to be part of an organisation that is so tireless in the way it pursues solutions to ending homelessness.

Our Journey to Social Inclusion pilot is a great example. It’s a $3.6 million project funded mainly by philanthropists. It helps break the cycle of chronic homelessness by providing intensive, long-term support over three years with rapid access to housing, responding to participants’ specific mental health needs and focusing on building their skills to reconnect with the community – including employment.

The program is in its final year, and it’s had a lot of success. One success story was Sam, who has graduated from the program early, with a move into paid employment providing the catalyst for his independence and move away from the service system.

I’m really proud of this, and the fact we’ve been able to help people break through the long-term problems that lead them to sleeping rough time and again.

Sacred Heart Mission offers free breakfasts and lunches five days a week. Those who come along for meals are experiencing poverty, homelessness and a range of complex and unmet needs. We are in a unique position of being in contact with a large volume of people through our drop-in services, as we’re providing 150 breakfasts and about 350 lunches each day. As a result, we’ve become really close with those who come through our doors. Because of these strong relationships, our support workers are able to build trust and help make changes in lives.

Every morning when I arrive at work at our Grey Street premises, I come across people sleeping on the verandah. I am often asked what we are doing about people sleeping outside the mission, why they can’t access somewhere to stay, and whether or not it is safe. This is a constant tension. With the lack of affordable housing, it’s challenging to find long-term safe and stable accommodation for everyone who needs it. For some people this means they will sleep outside when there aren’t any options.

To end homelessness in people’s lives, long-term safe and affordable housing is fundamental. It takes a home to give people a place to feel safe and feel like they belong to a community. A space to live with dignity, privacy, and that is free from violence, gives people the stability to find a job and truly flourish.

THE government is overhauling scores of suburban train stations, adding more myki readers in a bid to reduce queues at exits. But commuters using Windsor and Balaclava will have to wait.

Work is being done to install 150 additional myki readers at 65 stations. Some of the stations will be renovated to remove bottlenecks.

Sandringham line stations Balaclava and Windsor were not listed.

South Yarra, Caulfield, Box Hill and Glenferrie were included in a Transport Ticketing Authority list of the 10 busiest stations for February, but work on these stations is not slated to begin until later this year.

Metcard gates will be replaced by myki gates.

Five of the 10 busiest stations were on the City Loop.

The government has already installed 150 readers and reconfigured 51 suburban stations, including Prahran and Ripponlea.

Gardenvale, North Brighton and Brighton Beach are on a list of stations set to receive more myki machines or have exits altered.

TTA chief executive Bernie Carolan said many stations were designed at a time when numbers were far lower.

He said patronage on Melbourne’s trains had risen by 58 per cent in the past six years.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said the station changes “made sense”.

He said major work would be needed at some stations to reduce queue lengths.

However it’s also time to make sure our beloved warmth-giving appliances are safe to use.

Every winter brings stories of devastating house fires caused by old heaters, blocked chimneys or faulty electric blankets.

David Hallett is the general manager of Archicentre, an inspection and design group owned by the Australian Institute of Architects.

He says those dusty, old heaters can be a source of disaster.

“I guess that was a warning to everyone who’s firing up their heater that might have been locked away for the summer months to get it checked out if necessary,” he says.

“But certainly give it a clean before they start using it through winter.”

The build up of dust around heating elements in column and bar heaters, even ducted heating systems, can spark a major blaze.

“They can accumulate a lot of dust when not in use and even when in use,” he says.

“That dust can ignite if the heater is left on for a period of time in winter.”

Mr Hallett recommends if you have a ducted system, or have recently moved into a house which has one, you might need to call in an expert to have it cleaned.

“It’s possible to clean parts of it yourself, but if you want the entire duct cleaned… you need to get a contractor in to do that,” he says.

While good old-fashioned wood heaters and fire places may provide warmth incomparable to electric heaters, they’re also a source of potential danger.

“There can be a lot of built up material, particularly in an open fire, that does need to be carried out periodically,” he says.

“There are still such people as chimney sweeps.”

Heat lamps, commonly used in bathrooms, can also present a risk if they’re not properly maintained.

“Exhaust fans and some of the fan-light combinations that are commonly used in bathrooms and laundries can build up a lot of dust on them,” Mr Hallett says.

“Particularly in laundries where there’s a lot of lint flying around if the dryer’s been in use.”

Safety is paramount and of course electric appliances should be disconnected before cleaning.

However it’s also time to make sure our beloved warmth-giving appliances are safe to use.

Every winter brings stories of devastating house fires caused by old heaters, blocked chimneys or faulty electric blankets.

David Hallett is the general manager of Archicentre, an inspection and design group owned by the Australian Institute of Architects.

He says those dusty, old heaters can be a source of disaster.

“I guess that was a warning to everyone who’s firing up their heater that might have been locked away for the summer months to get it checked out if necessary,” he says.

“But certainly give it a clean before they start using it through winter.”

The build up of dust around heating elements in column and bar heaters, even ducted heating systems, can spark a major blaze.

“They can accumulate a lot of dust when not in use and even when in use,” he says.

“That dust can ignite if the heater is left on for a period of time in winter.”

Mr Hallett recommends if you have a ducted system, or have recently moved into a house which has one, you might need to call in an expert to have it cleaned.

“It’s possible to clean parts of it yourself, but if you want the entire duct cleaned… you need to get a contractor in to do that,” he says.

While good old-fashioned wood heaters and fire places may provide warmth incomparable to electric heaters, they’re also a source of potential danger.

“There can be a lot of built up material, particularly in an open fire, that does need to be carried out periodically,” he says.

“There are still such people as chimney sweeps.”

Heat lamps, commonly used in bathrooms, can also present a risk if they’re not properly maintained.

“Exhaust fans and some of the fan-light combinations that are commonly used in bathrooms and laundries can build up a lot of dust on them,” Mr Hallett says.

“Particularly in laundries where there’s a lot of lint flying around if the dryer’s been in use.”

Safety is paramount and of course electric appliances should be disconnected before cleaning.

Gerry McLoughlin is a long-time Balaclava resident considering running in this year’s council elections.

I have lived in Balaclava for 12 years. I lived in Marine Parade in St Kilda a long time before that and watched the changes in Acland Street. It used to be so diverse, but now it’s all franchise shops and there’s no personality. What I love about Balaclava is its local nature – the greengrocers, the fishmongers and the shops with individuality. More people are wanting to come to Balaclava. I’m happy for it to become a destination centre, but I want to make sure we don’t kill the golden goose. It’s a shame we’ve lost some of Carlisle Street’s most interesting shops, like our record store and the Russian deli. I bought right into the heart of Balaclava because I could see the bones of change, and I just want to make sure that works out well.

I am an architect and urban designer. I have been taking a keen interest – and making submissions – to the Carlisle Street Activity Centre Structure Plan, which includes plans to upgrade Balaclava station and the supermarket precinct.

Regarding the $13.5 million Balaclava station upgrade, first of all we need a far better presentation of the proposal. There were no dimension drawings, so you couldn’t enter into any meaningful discussions about the designs. The community consultation process was really inadequate. It also doesn’t reflect this is a project that is more than just a smartening up of the station, it’s about place making, and for all time it will make a statement about Balaclava’s village heart. We’ll only get one bite of the cherry… so we need design excellence. I’m also surprised to see the designs have changed so much. We’ll never get another chance of this type of money, so to ram it through without proper drawings or proper explanation or why the previous proposals were jettisoned is inappropriate.

The designs don’t include half the things we were talking about. There’s not going to be a lift. Instead, Public Transport Victoria is planning to install a ramp that will take about four times as long to walk up. We need a lift – we’ve got lots of young mothers with prams, and we’ve also got an ageing population. The station also needs a toilet on the bottom level. The current plans mean you’d have to get up that long ramp, then buy a ticket before you could use the toilet. More access points, and more cover to protect people from rain, are also needed. There’s also not enough foot space for people to stand – in the mornings, it’s absolutely packed.

The time is coming up for me to decide whether or not I’m going to run for council. Maybe it’s time for me to put my hand up.

PORT Melbourne clung to a valuable place in the top two of the VFL with a nail-biting three-point win over Box Hill on Saturday.

The parochial crowd at North Port Oval held its collective breath in the final minute as the Borough fought to hold the slender lead.

But it should never have been like that, as Port kicked five goals to one in the first quarter but were lethargic in the second and third as the Hawks hit back.

The Hawks turned the game on its head with five goals to one in that period and went into three-quarter time with a three-point lead.

That led to an epic spray from furious Port coach Gary Ayres.

Playing with greater vigour in the final term, the Borough started to get on top in the middle through the usual suspects – Shane Valenti, John Baird and Toby Pinwill – and hit the front at the 20-minute mark.

By 25 minutes the Hawks needed three goals to win and almost did it but were beaten by the siren.

Ayres said his team did just enough to get over the line despite not being at their best.

“At three-quarter time there was well and truly a crossroad for our boys,” he said. “I didn’t care how we did it. We just needed to get ourselves over the line and we were good enough in the end.

“Our football had no flow. It was very stop-start, the sort of footy played in an under-12 or under-15 game. In the second, third and half of the last quarter we let them initiate far too much and we were reactive.”

Ayres also said while he was pleased with the form of Valenti, Baird, Pinwill and Mitch Woffindin, his side lacked contributions in some areas.

“We’re not getting enough from some of our players,” he said. “We know if we don’t have contributions from a big number then we come back to the field pretty quickly.”

Port’s next match is against Bendigo at North Port Oval on Saturday.

SCORES

PORT MELBOURNE 11.8 (74)

Goals: D. Galea 3, M. Woffindin 2, C. Cain, J. Purcell, S. Valenti, M. Pitt, J. Scipione, J. Baird. Best: J. Baird, S. Valenti, S. Pleming, T. Allan, M. Woffindin, D. Galea.

BOX HILL 10.11 (71)

Goals: D. Pratt 3, A. Frank 2, T. Schneider, D. Wanganeen, S. Savage , M. Jones, B. McCauley. Best: X. Murphy, T. Murphy, K. Cheney, T. Schneider, M. Thompson, B. Muston.

A HIGH-CLASS escort has signed a statutory declaration alleging she had sex with the federal MP Craig Thomson.

Last night Channel Nine’s television program A Current Affair told viewers it had interviewed the woman on camera last week.

Facing criticism that the prostitute had been paid $60,000 for the interview, ACA said on air that, to date, no fee had been paid, ”nor will it until our investigation is absolutely complete”.

Producers from the program spent 90 minutes with Mr Thomson in his Parliament House office on Wednesday. He declined ACA’s offer to view the woman’s interview.

Thomson treated ‘worse than Ivan Milat’
Mr Thomson told a news conference in Canberra yesterday: ”We have someone now being paid 10 times as much money as alleged to have been used by the HSU credit card in terms of prostitutes to give a story.

”This defies credibility that you are going to spend $60,000 to buy a prostitute to give a story … and frankly this is journalism at its worst,” he said.

Records obtained by the Herald indicate a $770 fee was charged to Mr Thomson’s HSU credit card on May 7, 2005. The transaction was billed to ”Internat Immobiliare”.

That is the name used by Graeme George Edwards to run an upmarket escort service called the Boardroom. It provides out-call services only.

Mr Thomson was the subject of adverse findings by Fair Work Australia, whose report concluded ”that it was indeed Mr Thomson who used his credit card to spend the amount of $5793 for the procurement of escort services”.

During FWA’s investigation, Mr Thomson was asked to explain the $770 transaction. ”I’m not sure what ‘Internet [sic] Immobiliare’ is in Sydney on 7 May,” was his reply.

When asked by the Herald yesterday if he was responsible for this transaction and whether it was for escort services, Mr Thomson said: ”I have done nothing wrong and I refer you to my statement I made in Parliament on Monday.”

The Boardroom’s present owner, Alex Lavey, said he did not know the identity of the escort or the whereabouts of Mr Edwards. He said Mr Edwards sold the Boardroom in 2008.

On paper Mr Edwards, 46, is still listed as the owner of Internat Immobiliare and, according to corporate records, lives in the Toaster building, overlooking Circular Quay.

Mr Edwards was last in the news in 2008 when he was charged over the alleged kidnapping of the escort agency’s manager, whom Mr Edwards claimed was defrauding him.

In 2004, Mr Edwards told the British tabloid The Sun that an Australian model, Sarah Marbeck, who said she had slept with the international soccer star David Beckham, had been working for him.

In the article, ”Sydney slapper is £400 call girl”, Mr Edwards said she had worked for him six months after she claimed to have slept with Beckham.

Mr Lavey said the agency now employed 20 escorts and charged $600 to $2000 an hour.

Its website says: ”We will never at any time share any of your private information with anyone … guaranteed … You can treat yourself to the finest escorts from the top agency in the area without any worry whatsoever that there will be any negative legal consequences.”

This past weekend, I was invited to the San Diego Zoo to check-out the new Ice Age 4D movie experience. My family came with me and it was a fun morning with each one of us enjoying the movie and Elephant Odyssey exhibit.

Keke Palmer who is the voice of Peaches in the upcoming film, Ice Age: Continental Drift, was there to take photos and chat with the press about the new movie. She also spoke about the 4D movie, giving us an idea of what we would expect when we went inside the theater.

My 8-year-old was a little nervous since he knew he’d probably be getting wet but we ended up laughing so hard when we got covered in dinosaur snot when the big dino in the movie sneezed all over us. The scent of berries filled the room when the characters on film were using them as bombs to blast the bad guys, and my youngest son (17 months) was excited when the bubbles floated around and snow started to fall.

The biggest thrill for my husband and I was when some vines somehow tickled and wrapped around our ankles momentarily during the movie. Most of the kids (including my oldest) were not tall enough to have their feet reach the ground, which is probably good, since this was the most startling (scary) thing about the 4D experience.

If you haven’t been to the San Diego Zoo in a while, I definitely suggest you check out this 4D film. Your older kids will love it and you will too!