THE City of Perth has asked the Cook government to ensure locals get a say on development around the UWA/QEII precinct after it was stripped of the lead role. Last month WA planning minister John Carey announced the government was looking at establishing an “improvement plan” for the precinct after it was identified as a…

PADDLERS from Australia’s oldest dragon boat team will be jetting off to Hong Kong to compete at the International Dragon Boat Festival in June.  Twenty-four athletes from the Fremantle Swan Dragon Boat Club will be competing against 4000 athletes from over 170 international teams.  FSDBC president Wade Spackman says the club has a longstanding tradition…

IF you’re of a certain vintage, where do you go to make new friends or find romance? Dating apps can be intimidating and the quality of candidates patchy to say the least – some look like extras from Night of the Living Dead – match-making agencies are expensive, and if you don’t belong to any…

BAYSWATER council is poised to hit land-bankers with big rate increases in an effort to force them into developing their vacant lots. At Tuesday’s meeting, councillors voted to seek approval from local government minister John Carey to apply differential rates to vacant commercial and residential properties for the first time. The council is proposing to…

A RECENT study shows that urban trees shape how we connect or how we fail to connect to the places where we live.  A team of researchers at the UWA School of Biological Sciences and the School of Psychological Science recently published a study, indicating that local trees affect people’s attachment to the places they…

FEDERAL Perth Labor MP Patrick Gorman (right) has labelled a tiny beetle as a “pandemic” for Perth trees. In Parliament this week, Mr Gorman said the polyphagous shot-hole borer was an “enemy” that posed a massive biosecurity risk to the country. “This invasive beetle is just two millimetres long and it’s on a rampage from…

A NEW electronic parking permit at the University of WA has some students and staff claiming they’re having to pay $15.60 for all-day parking instead of the $2 to which they are entitled. Earlier this year, UWA introduced the EasyPark system which a spokesperson for the university says was intended to “improve and enhance parking”…

PORTRAITS of Freo’s skating community appeared at the world-famous Woolstores Ledge this week to celebrate the iconic skate spot which faces an unknown future. Freo-based photographer Duncan Wright says he wanted to document the soul of the skating ledge, which runs parallel to Cantonment Street at the base of the Woolstores building.  “Woolstores is such…

STIRLING council has won a historic 10th gold at an award ceremony which rewards accountability and transparency. Stirling is the only WA government to hit the 10 mark, which earned it an induction into the Australasian Reporting Awards honour roll.  The City’s 2022/23 annual report was the first to report on its new Strategic Community…

FLASH floods, hail and wild winds in January, a freak storm in April and a tornado smashing into Bunbury in May; it’s no surprise Sandgropers are wondering how WA Day organisers will cope with predictions of a bucketing for the first day of festivities. After the Bureau of Meteorology posted a possibility of up to…