Barber DV conviction – Merging the merged
• Last week Hawleywood’s Barbershop in Newtown became the centre of a media storm, when one of the store’s barbers and former Mixed Martial Arts fighter Julian Wallace (misreported as the owner and manager of the shop) was sentenced for domestic violence against his partner and champion Australian MMA fighter, Jessy Jess, committed in April in their Newtown flat. Jessy Jess told the court Julian flew into a rage when he came home and realised she ordered him the wrong takeaway noodles. After pleading guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of intentionally choking with recklessness Julian released a series of nude photos of his fiancee on his Facebook page. Julian ‘the Jackal’ had already sparked controversy when he appeared on Sunrise defending the barbershop’s men’s only-policy. Some locals are calling to boycott Hawleywood’s, “boy’s club culture”. Hawleywood’s released a statement saying it strongly opposed domestic violence and that management was grateful to be alerted to Julian’s violence by media.
• The Local Representative Advisory Committees, formed after the amalgamation of Marrickville, Ashfield and Leichhardt Councils of some former councillors and mayors, have now also been merged by the Inner West Council. This will mean formerly elected councillors will be advising across jurisdictions previously outside the local government areas that elected them. But hey, that just seems to be the order of the day. Administrator Richard Pearson said the merged LRAC would be focussing on the council’s budget, social housing policy and allocation of the $14 million ‘Stronger Communities’ fund, which was given to newly merged councils by the State Government to spend on services and grants for community programs.
