AN unusual request from a ratepayer has led to Vincent mayor John Carey pushing to get the city’s most isolated seniors back in touch with the community. Earlier this year an elderly ratepayer called Mr Carey to air some concerns about security and asked him to come round. While he was there she put the…

CLEARING at a privately owned wetlands near Eric Singleton bird sanctuary has been halted for now. Planning minister Donna Faragher stepped in to stop any further clearing of native bushland late last week after visiting the site and meeting with locals and Maylands Labor MLA Lisa Baker. Two blocks opposite the sanctuary are in line…

A HANDFUL of childcare centres operating on crown land are to have their state funding axed by the Barnett government in June 2018. The department of communities is offloading responsibility for 33 not-for-profit childcare centres across WA, saying it no longer wants to cover $1.4 million of their rent, maintenance and insurance costs. Mt Lawley…

POETRY WEEK will have a raw edge in Perth this year as Karen Lowry traces her sexual abuse through poems streamed live on the WA Poets Inc Facebook page. Abused by her grandfather aged 11 to 14 the poems reveal Lowry’s angst and depression, with some written at the time of the abuse and others…

VINCENT council will boycott the WA local government association conference this week. Mayor John Carey says he can’t justify spending ratepayer money for what he believes will turn into a self-congratulatory love-in. At last year’s WALGA conference Mr Carey put up a range of motions aimed at increasing council transparency, but they were given short…

MALAYSIA’S president was gifted US$681 million by the Saudi royal family, New South Wales ex-premier Barry O’Farrell got a $3000 bottle of plonk, but out in Bayswater they’re gifting city officials cupcakes and baby booties. Bayswater council now lists all gifts to councillors and staff online, and a glance over the humble offerings dash any…

VINCENT and Bayswater councils are in the throes of joining Perth to make recordings of meetings available online. With council transparency a hot discussion leading up to WALGA’s annual conference, the Chook took a look at a few councils around the metro area. Everyone in WA is entitled to attend open council meetings, but the…

THE Barnett government has unveiled plans for new WA Museum. The $428.3 million project will see the construction of a new building which looms over the old museum, which has generated a lot of discussion amongst Voicelanders, with mixed feelings. Architects Mark Loughnan from Hassell and David Gianotten from OMA say the building is designed…

DEVELOPER Yolk Property Group has asked Bayswater council to refund a $50,000 cash-in-lieu payment for a project approved in 2014. The audacious claim was sparked by a change in state planning regulations last October which allows developers to ask for conditions previously applied to developments to be deleted. Bayswater councillors knocked back Yolk’s request on…

THE Central Eastern Business Association has finally got its $15,000 from Bayswater council to hold an awards night. The CEBA awards are a shot in the arm for local businesses but Bayswater council’s been unable to vote on the grant because too many councillors have accepted tickets to previous awards and have been told they’ve…