Perth Voice Interactive

NINE candidates, including all four incumbents, want to squeeze into four vacancies at Perth city council, while two go head to head for lord mayor.

As has been widely reported, incumbent lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi is being challenged by councillor Reece Harley for the top job. Surprisingly, no other candidates popped up at the last minute to muddy the waters.

Jim Adamos, Janet Davidson, Lily Chen and Rob Butler are all back for another try, and are firmly in the camp of lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi (at the last election, all four candidates supported by the popular lord mayor were elected).

Former soldier Francois Schiefler is a young face in the field and says everyone should know their councillor and contact them with ease. He says he’ll be accessible and bring back the personal touch to politics and “vote to free businesses and get council out of the way”.

Mathew Clarke’s back after falling short at the last election. A tenant of Ms Scaffidi, operating Bar 138 in the old Railway Hotel building, and president of the Hong Kong Australia Business Association, he’s big on environmental issues and wants more street trees, more encouragement of recycling and less waste. A cyclist, he’s keen on a more bike and pedestrian friendly city.

Former councillor Chris Hardy is back on the scene after serving 2004 to 2009. A retired architect with 50 years’ experience, his work with a large Perth practice meant he couldn’t vote on many issues previously due to conflicts of interest, but now he’s unhindered. He supported “progressive growth” like rolling out parks, gardens, arts and culture.

Curtin researcher Jemma Green’s big on sustainability and disruptive technologies that shake up the market, like solar battery storage. She wants a council that’s “open, transparent, progressive and truly representative of its diverse constituency”. Running solo, she has the informal thumbs-up from lord mayoral challenger, Cr Reece Harley.

Andrew Toulalan wants to help transition Perth to a 24-hour city, wanting better outdoor entertainment areas and to make it easier for businesses to get alfresco dining up and running (a goal shared by Cr Harley), and he wants better architectural standards from developers and more events to bring people into the city.

by DAVID BELL