A BAN on transphobia on council, more all-gender public bathrooms, and trans ally awareness training for rangers are all part of a draft Perth council plan to make the city more LGBT+ friendly.  Rangers will be visibly marked identifying them as safe “allies” once training’s complete, and the council will ask the state government if…

THE demolition of East Perth’s Banks Reserve Pavilion has been stayed for a second time as regular users of the community hall made an impassioned plea to Vincent councillors not to bowl it over. The pavilion was due to be demolished on July 20, but regular hall users fronted Vincent council’s agenda briefing session this…

AFTER a two week Delta-related postponement, the inaugural Maali Festival is back on to celebrate the oldest living cultures on Earth. Put on by Black Swan Theatre Company, Maali Festival is named after the Noongar word for black swan. Curated by Ian Michael, (Wilman Nyoongar) and Chloe Ogilvie, (Yamatji Nhanda), it’s themed around reclaiming the…

PERTH councillors have endorsed a plan to triple the CBD population to 90,000 by 2050, outstripping the state government’s own target. This week the council approved a strategy which sets out the first 15 years of actions to boost the population, locking in the aspirational target set by commissioners who sat in while the previous council…

BANKS Reserve Pavilion will be demolished after all, with a community protest only slightly delaying its demise. Vincent councillors were not willing to rescind a 2019 decision to demolish the pavilion, which was made on the basis that it was getting too old and expensive to make compliant with building standards and because its use…

PEOPLE who spent their childhoods in institutional care are campaigning to get a missing memorial back on display after it was removed from the Northbridge Cultural Centre without consultation. Judith Forrest’s artwork “Unfolding Lives” holds special significance to care leavers. Styled after a child’s “chatterbox” folded paper toy, the sculpture is inscribed with words by author…

A FINAL hard rubbish collection is underway in Vincent, but the tradition of furnishing your house with verge findings has been killed off early with recent Covid concerns leading to a ban on rummaging through piles.  After decades of messy-but-fun verge collections, starting January 2022 the council’s running an 18 month trial of an on-request…

PERTH lord mayor Basil Zempilas has had no luck convincing premier Mark McGowan to drop the pricey Perth Parking Levy, with the tax on every city car bay going up 1.75 per cent this year. The council has to pay the state government around $17.5 million this year, more than $1000 per bay. Private business…

PERTH PERTH ratepayers will enjoy a zero per cent rate increase this year, while lord mayor Basil Zempilas successfully moved to freeze parking fees. Councillors voted through the budget on July 13, endorsing a staff report that noted the city was being hit by a few “abnormal expenses” this year. Along with the Perth Parking…

An iconic Perth artwork was chopped up and taken away this week. Is it coming back? AN iconic artwork dubbed Perth’s ‘Ore Kebab’ has been chopped up and removed by Perth council for conservation, prompting concerns it might gather dust in a depot indefinitely. The removal of the St George’s Terrace artwork happened just days before…