YACWA and other youth advocacy organisations have been left disappointed by the Albanese government’s latest budget. Youth Alliance Council of Western Australia CEO Antonella Serge, coming off the back of a state election she felt was also shy on tackling issues facing young people, said there were few targeted initiatives in treasurer Jim Chalmers’ budget.…

FEDERAL Perth Labor MP Patrick Gorman says he wants an Aboriginal Cultural Centre on Perth’s waterfront to be “Western Australia’s answer to the Opera House”. The centre received a further $20 million from the Albanese government in this week’s budget, following the $50m it pledged to match state funding back in 2022. “I’ve championed this…

THE Fremantle Theatre Company will cease to exist after this week, citing stolen equipment and an onerous expressions of interest process. FTC chairperson Kay Gerard says the decision was “an emotional moment” for the company, which had been operating from Victoria Hall since it was founded in 2020.   “While we are incredibly proud of…

FREO.SOCIAL’S managing director James Legge says a Labor pledge to protect the venue from noise restrictions could take up to six months to implement.  The issue erupted in 2023 when Silverleaf Investments started building the Garde Hotel next door and raised concerns that a live music venue pumping out tunes just metres away would disturb…

THIS week marks the 100th anniversary of Western Australia’s first—and nearly decisive—prohibition referendum, a moment in the state’s history that few today remember.  On April 4, 1925, Western Australians went to the polls to determine whether the state should ban alcohol, following a global trend that had already taken hold in the United States and…

INDEPENDENT Kate Hulett has announced a run in the upcoming federal election to try and unseat Labor’s Josh Wilson just weeks after her narrow defeated at the state election.  At a press conference this week, Ms Hulett denied her potential election could hand the Coalition a majority government in what is already shaping up as…

MARINE TERRACE was partially blocked on Wednesday after a large branch from a tree in the Esplanade Reserve snapped and fell off. The tree serves as a nesting and roosting spot for the local Night Heron bird population, whose night-time mating squawks are notorious for scaring the willies out of nearby Esplanade Hotel guests. Their…

FREMANTLE’S home-grown, world-class chamber orchestra will be performing the first two concerts in it’s 20th Anniversary celebration series this weekend. The Fremantle Chamber Orchestra, which performs around 10 concerts a year and has performed around 240 since it’s founding, started when cellist Hans Hug brought together a group of musos in 2005 to allow Balkan…

FREMANTLE SONGFEST is back, promising 18 choirs over eight concerts and workshops with Freo legend Kavisha Mazzella heading towards a performance by a massed “Peace Choir”. The theme of this year’s festival is “Peace Within and Peace Without”, and in keeping with the topic Mazzella will be performing and teaching some of her recent works inspired…