A PLAN to record Perth council committee meetings and make them publicly available has been shot down by lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi and her allies. Council meetings are uploaded, but anyone wanting to hear what happens at the committee meetings, held around 4pm, has to attend in person. Cr Jemma Green said that in line…

A COALITION of support agencies and advocate groups that work in prisons has backed corrective services minister Fran Logan’s idea of releasing low-risk prisoners. Social Reinvestment WA says keeping fine defaulters in prison at a cost of $772 a day is economic mismanagement, when they can be put on community work orders for just $24…

LORD mayor Lisa Scaffidi has demanded the state government put a freeze on a parking tax it imposes on her council. Inner-city councils have to pay the state government an ever-rising amount for parking bays located in large sections of Perth, West Perth, East Perth and Northbridge. The money is meant to be used to…

STIRLING Cr David Lagan wants to stop elected members travelling to international conferences in the last six months of their term. “My concern was that this travel, so late on in an elected member’s term, has a lack of benefit for ratepayers,” he says. Cr Lagan withdrew his motion after city officers recommended an amendment…

THE supreme court has probably put the final nail in the coffin for an attempt by a community group to get the full raft of stops for the old bus route 15 from Perth CBD to Glendalough reinstated. It was a long fight and local Tad Krysiak gave them a run for their money, forming…

BAYSWATER council should focus on local services and not donate $5000 to help feed starving people in South Sudan, says Cr Brent Fleeton. Cr Sally Palmer is proposing the city make the UNICEF donation after years of war with the north, inflation and a recent drought led to famine in the nascent country. Cr Palmer…

HUNDREDS of kayakers paddled out into Claisebrook Cove on April 9 for the annual “Unite on the Swan” Guinness record attempt to form the largest raft of kayaks and canoes ever. With a count of 263 craft, they’re still 2,887 short of the world record, but it sure looked pretty, and organisers say this year’s…

MORE parking bays and an extra 2500 dwellings could be on the cards for Osborne Park after Stirling council approved a development plan for the precinct. Stirling is hoping to meet the state government target of 60,400 additional dwellings in the city by 2050. The Osborne Park precinct surrounds King Edward Road and borders Westfield…