AFTER delays and canned plans there’s a new proposal to knock down and replace the weathered Stirling Towers. Since 2014 at least three rounds of plans to redevelop the Smith Street site have come and gone, with the long-empty towers the playground of urban explorers and graffiti artists ever since; residents were moved out above…

MAYLANDS Labor MP Lisa Baker has welcomed the creation of a new state Animal Welfare Advisory Committee established to improve standards on care, use and treatment of animals. A longtime animal welfare advocate, Ms Baker says “the committee will help ensure WA’s animal welfare system meets modern community and scientific expectations. “They will provide advice…

TWO Perth cinephiles have beaten the pandemic odds and are expanding their highly popular WA film festival. Despite launching under the pall of Covid in 2020, the annual WA Made Film Festival has gone from strength-to-strength and is now in its third year. Co-founder Matt Eeles says this year’s festival will be the biggest yet…

THE RSL might have to engage Indigenous people during Anzac Day this year to access $10,000 in bonus event funding from Perth city council. Perth council is already planning to hand the Returned and Services League $100,000 funding for Anzac Day events but its sponsorship report points to a $10,000 sweetener “conditional upon the delivery…

PROGRAMMABLE light shows are emerging as all the rage in public art with two new pieces going up in Vincent’s town centres. Light-up orb The Globe will hover over the corner of William and Brisbane Streets and a wavy Nuanced Encounters by Cruikshank Design Studio will run overhead down part of Newcastle Street in Leederville.…

THREE hundred drones will take to the skies above Elizabeth Quay this Saturday February 19 to celebrate 60 years since astronaut John Glenn spotted our city from space. Perth council’s been gearing up for the celebration as part of lord mayor Basil Zempilas push for Perth to take back its mantle of being known as…

COUNCILS may be forced to record confidential meetings and hand the tapes over to WA government archives. The proposal by the state government has Perth council staff nervous, fearing recordings might be accessed by journalists and other snoops.  Councils usually switch off livestreams to discuss items behind closed doors that include commercial secrets or personal…

CONCERNS about hackers swiping secrets from government databases isn’t such a far-fetched fear. The Department of Local Government was successfully hacked twice in 2018, even after being warned some of its systems were vulnerable in 2015.  Even federal systems are susceptible: Federal departments reported 34 data breaches in the first six months of 2021; those…

MAYLANDS Labor MP Lisa Baker has welcomed a new state Animal Welfare Advisory Committee to improve standards of care, use and treatment of animals. A longtime animal welfare advocate, Ms Baker  says “the committee will help ensure WA’s animal welfare system meets modern community and  scientific expectations. “They will provide advice on animal welfare policy,…

Police interrupt ‘sacred’ service WA police have copped widespread criticism for interrupting a church service in Mount Hawthorn to enforce WA’s mask-wearing mandate. On February 3 police entered St Bernadette’s Catholic Church during the evening, interrupting a service to check people were wearing masks.  A police statement says they were responding to reports from the…