AFTER two years in the making Bayswater’s men’s shed opened its doors Tuesday July 5. It’s had about $130,000 from Bayswater council to get up and running and it’s still in the early stages and will be populated with tools once the folk there figure out what they need most. Once it’s humming along there’ll…

PERTH city council ratepayers will see a modest increase in the average rate of 1.6 per cent. The council’s boasting it’s managed to keep the increase within CPI after “an exhaustive review, including new and streamlined business practices”. However rubbish fees are up 5.5 per cent for residents and 5 per cent for commercial. The…

BAYSWATER council is having too many secret discussions, says councillor Dan Bull who wants the number of confidential items minimised. Under the local government act there’s a slew of reasons an item can be discussed behind closed doors. They include privacy if the council is discussing an employee or someone’s personal affairs, legal advice, or…

VOTE counting continues across the country but in Perth Labor’s Tim Hammond declared victory early Saturday evening. After preferences his vote sits at 53.9 per cent, and he mostly held retiring MP Alannah MacTiernan’s grip on the seat ceding only 0.11 per cent of the primary vote. Liberal contender Jeremy Quinn managed 42 per cent…

ARTIST Sioux Tempestt brings an unorthodox eye to Perth’s heritage buildings in her new exhibition Chronicle at the Museum of Perth Most heritage photography is utterly and proudly straight forward; front-on shots of buildings with every sill and drain pipe captured. Instead of this painstaking style of documentation, Tempestt prefers to distort, twist and mash…

CENTURY-old sewerage vents will be granted the highest heritage protection by Vincent city council. The vents at Hyde Park are a small sample of the surviving sewerage infrastructure that’s mostly been moved, built over or forgotten. Perth council’s already protected some within its borders, and heritage buffs consider them an important part of the state’s…

MEMBERS of the Buddha’s Light International Association of WA spread a little of the divine one’s love at the Lightning Park bushland late last month. About 25 volunteers planted 880 plants to the mantra “environmental and spiritual preservation”. The group follows the teachings of Chinese monk Hsing Yun who promotes “humanistic” Buddhism which focuses on…