SPRING is now official, with breeding swans returning to Hyde Park and showing off six fuzz-headed cygnets. No swans bred in Hyde Park in 2020. The reason is unknown but that was a bad year for water quality and a botulism outbreak killed an ibis and more than 50 ducks. Parkgoers were concerned there’d be…

LEEDERVILLE’S seeing renewed signs of life after a summer of doldrums, with a bounty of new businesses popping up on the main strip. Earlier this year there were at least a dozen empty shopfronts along Oxford Street. Long term icon Greens & Co went out of business early 2021 citing rent troubles, Tom’s Kitchen closed…

But are there devils in the detail? The council’s website calls this park a “charming” and “tranquil oasis”, but nearby residents reckon it gets rough after dark. Photo from City of Perth. CAN the humble barbie help fight crime at the trouble hotspot of Totterdell Park? Nearby residents say there’s ongoing security issues and antisocial…

THE WA government will spot-purchase homes, convert mixed stock to more social housing and expand the upcoming Common Ground facility in an effort to put a dent in the number of homeless people on the housing waitlist.  Ahead of the March 2021 election, homeless advocacy group ShelterWA called on the government to spot-purchase 2000 homes…

A NEW 100-bed homeless facility in Perth remains near empty a month after opening. Boorloo Bidee Mia opened on August 9 but is at less than 20 per cent of capacity, and despite a ministerial press release stating “all vulnerable rough sleepers are eligible”, one homeless advocate has found that’s not been the case. National Suicide…

THERE’LL be no new woman statue in the CBD for now, with Perth council narrowly voting not to pursue a new monument to honour women. Perth deputy lord mayor Sandy Anghie put up a motion that council invite submissions for statues to commemorate significant women in Perth’s history, to offset the overwhelmingly male lineup of current…

PERTH still needs a woman statue to inspire future generations, federal Perth Labor MP Patrick Gorman says, and he plans to keep chipping away to make it happen. He told us it’s fitting for Perth to add a woman to its lineup of mostly male statues: “Western Australia has the proudest history of women leading…

WHIMSICAL figures dotted around Perth’s walls have had their story brought to the screen with a short film created with software that usually makes video games. Last year filmmaker Ben Matei heard the video game developer Epic had put out a challenge to create a short film in their “Unreal” game engine. A toolbox for developing games,…

TWELVE thousand dollars would cover the budget of about one third of one second of a big Marvel movie, but a small band of Perth filmmakers have made a full feature-length film on just $12,000. Good for Nothing Blues is a project five years in the making for director Alexander Lorian, who began writing in…