PERTH city council rangers have again descended on Matagarup/Heirisson Island, a police escort in tow, to issue fines. The raid has been described as “revenge” for campers taking legal action against the council over damage and disappearance of confiscated goods. What started as a protest camp last year has more recently become a sanctuary for…

IN the wake of terrorist attacks in Brussels, Iraq and Pakistan, WA terrorism researcher Anne Aly says Australian kids might have questions and teachers must be ready to answer them. Dr Aly says most young people who get involved in extremist organisations like ISIS or Al Qaeda are Muslim kids with questions about who they…

DARRYL MOORE has put his hand up for another tilt as the federal Liberal candidate for Perth. The woman who beat him in 2013 says she’d love to see him win pre-selection, even though she won’t be facing him this time around. Alannah MacTiernan held off Mr Moore to retain Perth for Labor following Stephen…

BAYSWATER council has decided to leave the massive beehive in Robert Thomson Park untouched. The council decided at its meeting last Tuesday to follow the advice of acting technical services chief George Rimpas and not get rid of the hive in one of the park’s sick trees (“Hive save,” Voice, March 26, 2016). According to…

THERE were street campaigns for it, letters against it, and even a bit of petty theft aimed at stopping it. Now, after lengthy consultation it looks like the bike boulevard will be installed in Mt Hawthorn’s Shakespeare Street. A WA transport department baby, bike boulevards are low-speed neighbourhood streets “where the car is a guest…

ARTIST Renee Vassiliou is working on a 50sqm mural in Coolbinia and she’s letting kids call the shots. New Kidsland owner Taryn Prior commissioned her to do the piece to liven the Walcott Street place up, wanting something more personable than the usual Mickey Mouse motifs on the wall, and Ms Vassiliou wants to go…

NORANDA has become part of the City of Bayswater following a 25-year turf war with neighbouring Swan. Bounded by Reid and Tonkin highways and Benara Road, the suburb will be officially transferred on July 1. “The council has been pushing for this boundary change for many years,” Bayswater mayor Barry McKenna said. “It’s wonderful to…

VINCENT council will consider writing to the WA government pleading for new laws that can help it address “nuisance or dangerous trees” on private property. The council gets peppered with “numerous requests on a weekly basis” about leaves and branches falling over fences, invasive roots tearing up fences, fire hazards from shedded bark, seeds and…

AN 82-year-old grandmother is set to press charges against her grand-daughter and her partner over a demolished shed that could see her left with a council fine. “As much as she is my grand-daughter she needs to learn a lesson,” says Dawn Taylor. In what’s turned out to be a messy family affair involving three…

CAMPING gear that Perth city council confiscated from Matagarup activists has gone missing or been destroyed. The council confiscated truckloads of gear last year in an attempt to stop mainly Aboriginal protestors camping on Heirisson Island. Legally the council was only able to hold onto the gear for seven days unless items were connected to…