VOICE photographer Matthew Dwyer was out looking for some Christmas cheer when he came across the students and teachers from Kingston International College celebrating an Aussie picnic Christmas party in Hyde Park. They tried to share their food with the affable Mr Dwyer but, as a hobbit fond of too many breakfasts, he politely declined.

BAYSWATER council is going back to the drawing board to better develop a short-term accommodation policy. The rethink follows concerns its current draft policy may be too harsh on residents wanting to hire out spare rooms and properties via websites such as Airbnb (Voice, December 12, 2015). Under the draft, a failure to gain council…

KIDDIES expecting a few jaunty singalongs about Santa and Rudolf got a bit of a surprise at Hyde Park’s Carols by Candlelight the other night — a full-on “fire and brimstone” sermon, according to unhappy Voice reader Donelle Phillips. Run by Youth with a Mission for more than a decade without complaint, the event this…

WA doesn’t have enough organic meat to go around this Christmas, says a local butchering veteran. Mondo Meat’s Vincenzo Garreffa says he hasn’t been promoting his organic meats because he doesn’t want to “create a rush that can’t be met”. “There’s an Australia-wide shortage,” Mr Garreffa says. “There’s a demand for it now that is…

DEVELOPERS can’t be trusted to commission public art, it seems. At least that’s the view of Vincent mayor John Carey who is keen to tighten up his council’s “per cent for art scheme”, following the emergence of a number of works he regards as below par. Under the scheme, developers must spend at least one…

SELLING WA government land in Bayswater has been suggested as a means to fund the undergrounding of the local train station. Mayor Barry McKenna says WA transport minister Dean Nalder was open to his suggestion to sell land just upstream of Riverside Garden during a “very productive” private meeting on Tuesday. Cr McKenna says the…

RATEPAYERS will no longer pay to clothe Bayswater councillors. Following last week’s story (“Self-paid suits Fleeton,” Voice, December 12, 2015) the council voted to dump its clothing allowance, worth up to $1000 each per year (that’s $11,000 for all elected members). Only mayor Barry McKenna and Crs Alan Radford and John Rifici wanted to keep…

AUSSIE kids from Inglewood are managing to do something that appears beyond many adults — make refugees feel welcome in Australia. After meeting two refugees this year, and inspired by the book My Two Blankets, about a little girl arriving in a new country and finding a safe place under an old blanket made of…

FOR more than 60 years the aroma of fresh bread from Vastese Bakery has wafted across its North Perth neighbourhood, but it all ends this Christmas. Owners Tony and Lou Saraceni were out of town when we called but staff confirmed they’re closing. Freelance foodie writer Max Veenhuyzen broke the news and he reports, “it’s…

A CHURCH established by African-Australian Christians in a warehouse in one of Dianella’s “neglected” industrial zones has received a belated but conditional blessing from Stirling council. Messianic Ministries, consisting largely of parishioners hailing from Congo and Burundi, moved into the Harold Street warehouse early this year to set up its first WA altar. But it…