The first thing you notice about Trish Blake is her flash of blue hair.
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you → notice → hair
It’s her trademark as the Consumer Protection Commissioner, and a deliberate style choice she makes so people in her office know they can actually talk to her on a normal level.
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they → ’ → level
“I just love it, and it has become a thing now,” she says.
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she → love → it
“Even my family, they ask ‘what’s the next colour?’
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colour → ask → ?
And I say, no, it’s just the hairdresser and I who discuss it.
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who → say → it
It’s rare in state government agencies to have someone so candid about their work, but Blake doesn’t know any other way.
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Blake → ’ → way
Growing up south of the river, she recalls having a real “justice” streak.
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she → grow → streak
She hated bullies, and was intent on making sure everyone she came across got a fair go.
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got → hat → go
Even then, she was set on becoming a veterinarian until something clicked in her late high school years.
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something → set → years
“I just woke up one day and went, ‘I’m going to be a social worker.’
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I → wake → ?
It was really bizarre because I’d never had any contact with them, but it was just this lightbulb,” she says.
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she → have → them
In a surprise to no one, Blake ended up at a local community legal centre where her primary work was helping wharfies on their last legs.
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work → end → legs
“In Fremantle I was working to help people get Centrelink benefits that they were being denied,” she says.
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she → work → that
“It was an area where you had a lot of manual workers, and these were guys that had the most significant life-altering injuries - and you had a great behemoth of a department that would say: ‘but you can work eight hours a week filing papers in a cabinet.
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you → have → cabinet
Don’t worry that you used to be a welder, and you’ve never worked in an office in your life.
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you → worry → life
If you can work eight hours, you’re not entitled to a disability pension’.
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you → work → pension
”
It was here Blake learnt to navigate the systems in a way that was best for ordinary people.
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that → learn → people
She’d eventually move to work in Gosnells, back when the suburb recorded the highest rate of domestic violence in the entire state, and when a lot of Centrelink clients began receiving threatening letters advising them of overpayment.
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lot → move → overpayment
“It’s just social justice - it’s been a driving force.
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It’s just in my DNA,” she says.
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she → ’ → DNA
From here she was eventually tapped to join what she used to call “the dark side” - the government - and slowly rose through the ranks to be responsible for protecting West Australian’s consumer rights.
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she → tap → rights
“The beauty of governments, we have levers we can pull,” she says.
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she → have → levers
Blake’s seen it all in her time - dodgy car dealers, real estate agents - but there’s one case that sticks with her.
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that → see → her
“The racist real estate agent,” she says.
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she → say → ?
Bronwyn Pollitt, from Mavin Real Estate, was suspended after claiming in an email to two tenants it was impossible to have a discussion about cleaning due to the difference in living standards of a “white Australian” and the “dirty squaller (sic) of many other countries”.
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it → suspend → countries
Consumer Protection disciplined Pollitt for racist conduct, suspending her for eight months.
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Protection → discipline → months
“That was an absolute pivotal moment for us,” Blake says.
“It was putting a line in the sand for our entire community.
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It → say → community
Pollitt has since apologised and undertook training and weekly mentoring during her suspension.
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Pollitt → apologise → suspension
Blake says the situation had an overall positive impact on her agency’s staff - which now boasts the ability to speak 16 different languages for anyone looking for help.
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which → say → help
“When you walk through and you hear people on the phone, you’ll often hear different languages - but that means it’s accessible,” she says.
And now, Blake is kicking it up a notch.
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“The Commissioner Determinations we are working on now - that is going to be a game changer,” she says.
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she → work → ?
Commissioner Determinations will allow the department to step in during bond disputes and make decisions, rather than sending a matter off to court.
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department → allow → court
“If you can’t get everyone to agree, it [used to have to] to go to court.
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it → get → court
That was your only option,” she says.
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she → say → ?
“I have no problems with landlords getting the bond because that’s what it’s there for - if they’re entitled to it.
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they → have → it
But what was concerning to us was the high-level of tenants that just weren’t engaging with that system.”
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that → concern → system
Blake says people often wouldn’t be able to get to court and could miss the chance to have their case heard.
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case → say → chance
“We’re going, ‘how is that fair? How is that balanced?’,” she says.
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she → go → ?
“What’s now happened is, we’ve lifted and shifted all of those disputes out of the courts into us as commissioner determinations, and it’s all decided on the papers.
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it → happen → papers
It’ll free up the courts, she says, and is just one of the steps Consumer Protection has taken to let people know they’re on their side.
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they → free → side
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
