CHRIS THOMSON
Private sector graffiti busters will be engaged to protect the sensibilities of Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference delegates.
A police document seen by oneperth.com.au reveals the graff-busters will be engaged on a 24/7, on-call basis to clean up graffiti.
The document says the police have an “immense” role to play in protecting the incoming guests - including ensuring that any “offensive” graffiti is removed “swiftly”.
The new graff-busters will be sourced from the private sector. Their work will be additional to a team of 14 graffiti anti-graffiti police announced in January.
The graff-busters will mainly operate in the CBD, Bentley, Burswood, Cottesloe, Crawley, Fremantle, Kings Park and Mt Claremont.
Police expect that anyone bothering to post offensive graffiti during the two-week talkfest will have their efforts erased within one hour of graffiti being reported.
The government recently announced homeless people would be moved on during the conference.
CHOGM – to occur in Perth from October 19 to November 2 – is a biennial meeting of most of the world’s least influential leaders.
Queen Elizabeth II will be one of those visiting leaders.
@Ange
I understand ALL public are being moved on from certain areas and your inference to the government singling out homeless people; the injustice however is spending millions on making well-to-do dignitaries cozy while sweeping your homeless people under the proverbial rug.
As far as I am aware the only extra services for the homeless are being provided by charities like St.Vinnies and only temporarily. Then the problem persists once CHOGM is done.
$65M they’re spending… think of the mental health services and housing you could build for that. A real solution to homelessness would really improve our city, not a holiday for politicians.
Are you kidding me? The image in the background is an amazing piece of urban artwork, and, it also looks as if it was a legally done piece – the attitude that anything painted on a wall is “unsightly” is a throwback to the 80s when graffiti and aerosol art was little understood – yes, there is illegal stuff out there, but to associate that absolutely beautiful work of art and labelling it “offensive” – well, the mind boggles.
Perth seems stuck in the dark ages of public art – whereas cities such as Sydney and Melbourne are embracing it, and realising that it adds cultural value to their environments, Perth and organisations such as CHOGM want to remove artwork that adds beauty to the city? Way to go, sterilisation team – and you wonder why people laugh when the words “Perth” and “culture” are put together in the same sentence.
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Agree the originally pictured piece is stunning.
Thanks for pointing out the disconnect between it and the term ‘offensive’. No connection between the two was intended.
Ed
“The government recently announced homeless people would be moved on during the conference.”
This is NOT true. If you bothered to check your information, or attend the CHOGM Public Information session this week, you would have been told that they, along with all other members of the public, would not be allowed in certain restricted areas over CHOGM, particularly on the Friday 28 – Sun 30 October, the days when the CHOGM meeting is actually occuring and the city streets are being closed off for the procession of cars.
Homeless people are not being ordered to move on exclusively, but rather, being directed to other areas, where a restriction to all members of the public will apply.
There are certain concerts, vendors, exhibitions, sporting events that are taking place in public places that homeless people regularly frequent, and as such, additional measures have been taking by the appropriate organisations, to provide alternative housing, food and shelter for homeless people during CHOGM.
Statements like “the government will be asking homeless people to move on” are written out of context and merely to add fuel to the fire for those that can only see the negative and inconvenience CHOGM will cause them.
PLEASE CHECK YOUR FACTS FULLY IN THE FUTURE.
Although CHOGM will bring about disruption to the city for many people, this is an event which will only occur once or twice in every ones lifetime in Perth. The city will operate similarly to how it does for ANZAC Day and Christmas Pagents. There are measures in place to provide information to the public WELL in advance.
Also, there is going to be free public transport to everybody over that weekend as well as a multitude of free concerts, exhibitions and other sporting events.
This is an opportunity for Perth to showcase itself to the world, as much as it is a meeting of the heads of the Commonwealth, so aiming to get the city looking its best, is a good thing.
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One or two reasonable points here. However, it is a fact that homeless people are being moved on.
Further, the Commonwealth is so far from being ‘the world’ that it may as well be Pluto. Only an ardent Anglophile would assert CHOGM was important on a world scale. So Perth will not be showcasing itself to ‘the world’ as you assert.
When you say the city will be looking its best, are you referring to the fact delegates’ sensibilities will not need to be assaulted by ‘offensive’ graffiti, or the fact they will be spared the sight of homeless people?
CHOGM briefing session? That’s 60 minutes of your life you’ll never get back.
Ed