RETIRING federal Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan says new-fangled schooling is no good, and she wants a return to more structured reading, writing and arithmetic. At a public forum last Saturday she said the results of 30 years of progressive education were clear – Aussie kids were falling behind their international peers and parents who could…

HUNDREDS of activists flooded Forrest Chase Monday in a snap protest of the Turnbull government’s dropping of parts of the Safe Schools program. The program’s designed to stop homophobic bullying and teach students about sexuality and gender diversity, but it has conservative Coalition MPs and senators up in arms. The right-wingers forced a review which…

JACOB’S LADDER near King’s Park will stay closed pending “immediately” required repairs. Popular with exercisers but a bane for neighbours tired of 5am huffing and grunting, the stairs were closed in February for inspection. Now, Perth city council construction and maintenance tsar Paul Crosetta says they’ll likely stay closed till “at least until late May…

PARLIAMENT HOUSE is getting surrounded by drones, with three beehives installed around the outer gardens. It’s a three-way project between UWA’s Centre for Integrative Bee Research, parliament house and hobbyist beekeeper Joseph Kwintowski. Many view bees as fuzzy, stinging irritants, so the project’s aim is to raise awareness about their plight. Over the past 20…

BAYSWATER is abuzz with news the council is considering saving a massive hive of bees from a dying tree earmarked for the chop. Bee man Joseph Kwintowski notes a colony relocation costs about $150 – much cheaper than killing them. A recent inspection of Robert Thomson Park’s 41 trees by an arborist found most were…

BAYSWATER railway station will get a facelift using money left over from the Forrestfield Airport Link, transport minister Dean Nalder says. Community group the Baysie Rollers met with Mr Nalder and Bayswater council deputy mayor Stephanie Coates recently to get an update on the works. The rollers had been pushing for the upgrade of the…

IT’S meant to be a living wall but Perth council’s horizontal garden at the Northbridge Piazza looks more like the living dead. Formerly known as the “green wall” it’s been redubbed a “screening wall” in all recent council documentation, maybe because the predominant colours are now various shades of brown. Installed in 2009, many plants…

ANGST over plans to redevelop Charles Street is a storm in a teacup, Mt Lawley MP Michael Sutherland says. The Barnett government says its $31 million widening and bus lane project will cut an average of six minutes off a daily bus trip for about 16,000 passengers. It’s been dubbed an “urban design disaster” by…

SACRED HEART primary school kids got up close with the turtles this week in a class excursion to Hyde Park. The year 2 kids met UWA researchers Blaine Hodgson and associate professor Roberta Bencini who showed them some of the park’s oblong turtles. The pair are in the midst of a joint project with the…

BUNGANA and Brearley Lakes in Maylands are in such poor condition the wildlife is disappearing, say residents. Councillor Christine Ehrhardt says locals have brought their concerns to her about the recent loss of turtles, fish and birds, and she wants action pronto. The lakes were artificially created on clay pits filled from the Swan River,…