Conservatives can make Melbourne a model – by starting with graffiti

Wednesday, 25th March 2009

Victoria’s most senior Liberal officeholder, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, must balance
beauty with common sense and rejuvenate the city, says John Heard

A curious tinkling noise overwhelms the carriage. There is a dramatic swoop. A swift melody chases, complicates, and then settles alongside a tapping foot. There is a sure rhythm, and now there is a backbeat. A pause, some incredible vocalising, and then it all swells again and the tinkling riots into a thousand elegant notes.

Welcome to Robert Doyle’s Melbourne.

A tram sails past a skilled Vietnamese busker, playing some sort of abstruse mandolin. The woman is arresting, of course, that is par for the course in this chic city, but the music is the thing. It is near sublime. It is rare, and good.

On the next street corner, a pair play rough folk music of such particular quality that passengers look closely out the window to see if they can recognise either of the musicians. They might be famous. It is a snatch of wonder; another quick moment of beauty — then the tram moves on.

What a difference a new leader makes! In the curious world of Australian municipal politics, Robert Doyle is actually making headway.

Just a few months ago, before Doyle became Lord Mayor, that first intersection (at Little Bourke and Swanston) was ruled by a rube in a shiny silver suit. He (or she, one never knew) played a crude theremin, and blasted ferocious techno beats. It was ear-splitting. The tourists would startle. It was tasteless. The local students would flee.

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