WA Consumer Protection has issued a warning about a tree lopping company it’s charged with trying to fleece an 88-year-old Coolbinia man out of $1000. Talbot Bashall, 88, was flustered when men from West Australian Tree Services knocked on his door, demanding payment for pruning a tree on his verge. Mr Bashall (right) claims he…

EVERY council was supposed to get one, but Perth city council reckons it never received a letter from Byron mayor Simon Richardson asking it to support marriage equality. The NSW-based mayor has been writing to councils across the nation to try to get them on board with an equality proclamation he wants to submit to…

EIGHTY PER CENT of funding for community language education is being spent teaching Italian in Catholic schools. WA multicultural minister Mike Nahan, who’d ordered a review into the $1 million program, has criticised the WA education department for the imbalance, saying it has “not run this program well”. “The Italian community has an after-school program,…

A SUPREME court appeal by local councils to prevent amalgamations has completely fizzled, with chief justice Wayne Martin swiftly dismissing all four points of the plaintiffs’ arguments. A morning of arguments saw Mr Martin return from lunch with a near-instant discounting of the councils’ case. Lawyer Chris Shanahan had argued that WA local government advisory…

THE Voice understands Stirling city council will not pursue legal action against the WA government over boundary changes. The council sought seek legal advice on a boundary change that will see some of Mt Lawley and Inglewood, move into a new Bayswater mega council. But the Voice understands that in a closed-doors meeting held Tuesday,…

A STATUE of John D’Orazio should be built and placed at Riverside Gardens says former Bayswater mayor Terry Kenyon. Mr D’Orazio was mayor for 17 years and later a Labor MP and government minister. He died unexpectedly in 2011 aged 55 during surgery. During his reign, Bayswater introduced WA’s first security watch, Galleria was redeveloped…

EIGHT kangaroos living in urban bushland in Dianella will be relocated to accommodate developments by Channels 7, 9 and 10. The dwindling mob, including three joeys, will be moved from Cottonwood Crescent bushland to Mundaring National Park. Stirling council has been umming and aahing about whether to move the roos since 2010, when 7 announced…

THE colour scheme for the new $9.3 million Seventh Avenue Bridge in Maylands has been approved. It’s green. Locals were involved in picking the verdure scheme for the noise walls and abutments. Maylands Park manager Dominic Cuscuna says it is a “living colour” that will add vibrancy to the area. “It ties in with the…

BAYSWATER city council will chop down a 23-metre southern mahogany in Maylands, after complaints from residents about falling branches. A risk assessment of the Hillside Crescent tree following “sporadic limb failure”—including a large branch that fell in August —concluded the tree presented an unacceptable risk. Cr Chris Cornish, who voted against felling the tree, took…

IT has a name that is undoubtedly vulgar but a new initiative in Perth has noble ambitions. There are two rules for Fuckup Nights: First, meet someone new. Second, share a fuckup. The events are part of a movement by an organisation called Soften the Fck Up. Under the auspices of Beyond Blue, the nights…