Perth Voice Interactive

Disrespectful
IN your story “Keep out of politics, MP warns Vincent” (Voice, July 2, 2016), Perth MP Eleni Evangel made some serious and unfounded allegations about the City of Vincent, including that ratepayer funds have been misused for political purposes.
Ms Evangel’s statements are a disappointing and disrespectful slur on the integrity of staff and councillors, who are proudly working hard to serve our community.
For clarity, the story in question related to a State Government rebate scheme administered by the Office of State Revenue.
The OSR advised local governments to notify their ratepayers of the changes to the rebate and to also direct ratepayer concerns to the local Member of Parliament, not to that office.
Based on that advice, the City’s rates team sent letters to all Vincent pensioners and seniors card holders in early April 2016. The letters were sent to all pensioners and seniors card holders because they potentially could have all been affected by the changes to the rebate, depending on the city’s rates charges for 2016/17 which will be known once the new budget is adopted later this month.
It is not practical or reasonable for me to oversee or even know about all outward correspondence from the city on these types of operational issues (i.e. giving notice of a change to a state government rebate). Further, as a matter of law, council members are prohibited from interfering with such issues and any allegation that this occurred in this instance is pure fiction.
The only shortcoming in the city’s letter was that it omitted to provide the contact details of the member for Mount Lawley, given that a small proportion of that electorate falls within the City of Vincent.
The city provided Ms Evangel with a comprehensive explanation about this issue long before she would have made her recent statements to the Voice.
These are the facts, not the politics, of the matter.
Len Kosova
City of Vincent CEO on behalf of all staff

Don’t be cute
I REFER to your article “Keep out of politics, MP warns Vincent” (Voice, July 2, 2016)
The comments made by City of Vincent CEO Len Kosova that neither he nor mayor John Carey had any “input” into the letter informing certain ratepayers of a change to the rates rebate and that unhappy ratepayers should contact Eleni Evangel the local MLA, left me scratching my head!
As a Perth city councillor for 14 years I cannot imagine that an important letter would come from down the food chain without authorisation from the bosses.
Normal practice would be for the Mayor, CEO and the relevant director to have knowledge of this, even if they had no “input” into the actual drafting of the letter.
While it is in order for state MPs to refer local government complaints to local government and vice versa, let us not try and be cute about it.
Michael Sutherland MLA
Mount Lawley
The Ed says: This letter has been edited for legal reasons.

Extreme bias
I JUST cleared my letterbox and found the latest edition of the Voice, 939 of July 2, 2016.
I was offended at the front page wrap-around ad for ALP candidate Tim Hammond.
This is an advertisement obviously, but on the front page?
It’s well known the pond scum that infest the fourth estate are totally biased to socialism, but this is extreme bias from your pathetic local rag. To consider promoting the ALP, run by union thugs, thieves of union funds and liars as front page news is journalism of the lowest order.
I do not know Hammond, but other members of the ALP do him no credit.
Only on rainy days when the TV is out of order do I bother to open the Voice. From now on it goes unread into the bin. I will not even use it to wrap my garbage.
Ken Chapman
by email
The Ed says: Sadly three years of the other lot didn’t bring back the milk and honey, and we do need to feed the troops. But it was advertising as you noted, and our reporting remains as independent as ever.