“RETREAT” has been sounded for parts of the Maylands foreshore which is succumbing to dire erosion. Bayswater council has a new 10-year plan for stabilising the shoreline and retreating some parts, but it’ll need a lot more money; it currently budgets $150,000 per year for the riverbank, but $4.6 million is needed over the next 10…

THE Perth Festival’s ability to inject millions of dollars into the state’s arts economy will make the next instalment vital to help the creative sector recover from Covid-19. The Festival’s annual report was released this week, around the time Perth council and other sponsors are looking at their own budgets and what they might be…

A PLACE for “hospitality, sociability, and rational amusement for the people”: The Perth Town Hall has marked 150 years since its official opening on June 1, 1870. Perth city council has marked the date with an online exhibition on the history of the building, the only town hall in Australia built with convict labour. The…

IT’S the perfect time for seniors to write that best-selling book they’ve always talked about, but never got around to, says award-winning Perth poet Peter Jeffery OAM. Mr Jeffery hopes we’ve had time during lockdown to dust off any half-finished manuscripts or come up with new ideas for novels, poems and plays. “From what I…

BEDFORD copped a battering in Sunday night’s storm with a row of Grand Promenade Shops badly damaged by high winds. Grand Promenade Fish & Chips, the deli and Lahori Resturant copped the worst damage, with the awning ripped away and even a large section of the upper storey brickwork being torn off.  Bible The Fish…

EVENT organisers would be banned from lobbying councillors for funding under a new draft sponsorship policy being considered by Perth council. Applicants would also have to demonstrate their organisation’s “financial viability” to be eligible; that follows big-ticket recipient Perth Fashion Festival going into administration in November last year.  The draft policy also “clarifies” the council won’t fund salaries and administrative…

PERTH’S en plain air painters have used their time stuck indoors to come up with a great way to say “thanks” to WA’s frontline Covid-19 workers. En Plein Air Perth members have traditionally gathered to paint in the great outdoors each Monday, but since the shut down, social distancing rules have prevented them meeting. EPAP member…

PERTH’S new lord mayor may have to Uber around town or get behind the wheel themselves under a new round of cost-cutting at Perth city council. Previously lord mayors were provided a “luxury” vehicle costing $12,000 a year and a part-time chauffeur costing $45,000 a year. The old policy said nothing about restricting the use to…

THERE’S been a lot of flashes of good amid the Covid gloom, and federal MP for Perth Patrick Gorman says he wants to recognise locals who’ve gone above and beyond to help out their community. “We’ve been getting a lot of feedback into the office like, ‘the IGA is being amazing’ or ‘this teacher has gone…

A RETIRED equity fund manager has warned retirees are still panic selling investments because of the impact of COVID-19 on share markets.  Peter Jackson, who worked at Sydney-based Investors Mutual Limited for 20 years, believes retirees will lose out in the long run if they continue and has urged them to hold fast.  “We are…