A NEW $26 million apartment complex on Bennett Street, East Perth is part of Foundation Housing’s plan to increase the amount of affordable housing in Perth. The 10-storey building includes 70 new self-contained one-bedroom and studio apartments. “This is a very important step for ensuring that those who are often the most vulnerable in our…

TELETHON is up for another year of support from the Perth council which has approved almost $100,000 for the event. The biggest telethon in the world by capita, the Channel 7 event will get a $40,000 cash donation, discount parking at the convention centre worth $49,425 and $7759 worth of council staff time and other…

THE 130-year-old family home of Australia’s first woman parliamentarian is in line to be demolished to make way for a seven-storey hotel. Plans for the $10 million hotel at 31 Malcolm Street, West Perth were presented to Perth council’s design panel last week, with the owners of the property arguing the existing building, which was…

BAYSWATER council is to privatise management of the Mertome retirement village. The city wants a private aged care operator to take over the operation and redevelopment of Mertome, saying it’s in the best interests of the residents. Mayor Barry McKenna says the 50-year-old centre’s ageing and needs updating, but the council doesn’t have the staff…

A PLAN to turn the historic Maylands parcel office into a public toilet has been canned by the Public Transport Authority. There’s long been a dire need for a dunny near the Maylands train station (five years ago the Voice reported on a neighbouring resident complaining about someone pooing in her yard), since the nearest…

BAYSWATER council has knocked back requests from two charities for rates and rent relief. Community Housing Limited provides long-term, secure accommodation for people on low to middle incomes, and asked for three properties it rents out to be exempt from rates, saving it $3352 each year. The local government act says “land used exclusively for…

THE Centre for Stories in Northbridge has taken another step in its development with the appointment of Sisonke Msimang as program director. The year-old social enterprise was founded by Margaret River Press owners Caroline and John Wood and aims to collect stories from WA that slip under the mainstream media’s radar. Ms Msimang says the…

A GROUP of senior and disabled Mt Hawthorn residents escalated a dispute with Transperth over bus routes to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, but with no success. SANDBAG (senior and disabled bus action group) has been up in arms since Transperth diverted route 15 in August last year, leaving a swathe of suburbia around Brady…

STIRLING council has been urged to repair the barbecues at the Hamersley golf course after two players were severely burned by a portable one which exploded. The Hamersley Hackers and other golf clubs had been using a portable barbecue for sausage sizzles since the council-provided ones broke down, with the Voice hearing conflicting stories they’d…

DAY CARE operator Marjorie Mann in Mt Lawley won’t be affected by cutbacks in childcare subsidies, says local Liberal MP Michael Sutherland (“Cuts ‘level playing field’,” Voice, August 6, 2016). Mr Sutherland got a letter from community services minister Tony Simpson in late July which identified that only the Meela and Mt Lawley childcare centres…