BEDFORD copped a battering in Sunday night’s storm with a row of Grand Promenade Shops badly damaged by high winds. Grand Promenade Fish & Chips, the deli and Lahori Resturant copped the worst damage, with the awning ripped away and even a large section of the upper storey brickwork being torn off.  Bible The Fish…

EVENT organisers would be banned from lobbying councillors for funding under a new draft sponsorship policy being considered by Perth council. Applicants would also have to demonstrate their organisation’s “financial viability” to be eligible; that follows big-ticket recipient Perth Fashion Festival going into administration in November last year.  The draft policy also “clarifies” the council won’t fund salaries and administrative…

PERTH’S en plain air painters have used their time stuck indoors to come up with a great way to say “thanks” to WA’s frontline Covid-19 workers. En Plein Air Perth members have traditionally gathered to paint in the great outdoors each Monday, but since the shut down, social distancing rules have prevented them meeting. EPAP member…

PERTH’S new lord mayor may have to Uber around town or get behind the wheel themselves under a new round of cost-cutting at Perth city council. Previously lord mayors were provided a “luxury” vehicle costing $12,000 a year and a part-time chauffeur costing $45,000 a year. The old policy said nothing about restricting the use to…

THERE’S been a lot of flashes of good amid the Covid gloom, and federal MP for Perth Patrick Gorman says he wants to recognise locals who’ve gone above and beyond to help out their community. “We’ve been getting a lot of feedback into the office like, ‘the IGA is being amazing’ or ‘this teacher has gone…

A RETIRED equity fund manager has warned retirees are still panic selling investments because of the impact of COVID-19 on share markets.  Peter Jackson, who worked at Sydney-based Investors Mutual Limited for 20 years, believes retirees will lose out in the long run if they continue and has urged them to hold fast.  “We are…

AND that makes four: Another new Woolworths is coming to the inner city, with a West Perth supermarket in the pipeline. Another of the supermarket giant’s planned stores, on Charles Street, Highgate, was also given approval this month despite some concerns it could take away business from existing town centres. The Development Assessment Panel unanimously…

A SURVEY of WA youth has found an alarming 90 per cent believe the Covid-19 pandemic has had a “significant impact” on their mental health and wellbeing. The Youth Affairs Council of WA recently ran a Covid-19 survey on its website, which had 345 respondents from around the state.  YACWA policy and advocacy officer Stefaan…

A PLAN to form a new suburb dubbed “Meltham” around the Meltham train station will not go ahead, but building heights will be boosted in the near future. The renaming debate proved more lively than the planning changes introduced by Bayswater council, which will see five-storey buildings near the station, and three storeys about 700m…

‘Unprecedented’ or unprepared? A MEDICAL historian says today’s Covid-19 pandemic isn’t quite as “unprecedented” as politicians would like us to think, with many similarities to the Spanish flu in the early 20th century. University of Sydney honorary affiliate Peter Hobbins says during the 1918 pandemic, the most effective measures were quarantining and restricting public assembly. He…