RICK HEATH is a performing arts industry veteran of 25 years and a former executive producer of the Perth International Arts Festival. In this week’s SPEAKERS CORNER he takes umbrage at former Black Swan State Theatre Company patron Sally Burton’s criticism that the company’s 2019 season was too alienating for audiences. Mr Heath, who’s previously…

This week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER is by year 12 student JOEL VAN BOXTEL, who is calling on the government to consult with young people the next time it considers Australia becoming a republic. Is Joel an emerging leader to shake up the dormant Australian republican movement? ALL Australians should have a say in who becomes our…

SALLY BURTON is a former patron of Black Swan Theatre Company, runs her own production company Onward Production, and was the last wife of Hollywood great Richard Burton. In this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER she ponders whether the state’s premier theatre company’s new season has missed the mark and whether there’s enough old favourites to get…

FEDERAL Perth Labor MP PATRICK GORMAN made his debut parliamentary speech in Canberra this week. He paid tribute to his family and called for more major tourist attractions in Perth, which he desribed as “the heart and the brain of WA”. I AM incredibly grateful for the opportunities this country has afforded me. Grateful the…

IN this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER, St Bartholemew’s House chief executive JOHN BERGER talks about the alarming increase in the number of homeless older women, and how the WA government can do more to help them. The homeless support organisation is based in East Perth, and launched a dedicated older women’s service in 2014.  HOMELESSNESS can…

You usually don’t hear anything about your council’s budget until you get your rates bill, but in this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER, Bayswater councillor and self-employed financial planner CHRIS CORNISH suggests we look at participatory budgeting to give locals a say on where their cash goes.  AROUND this time every year, local governments set the budget…

This week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER is by former Stirling councillor and current president of the Mount Lawley Society Paul Collins. He asks if WA Day has lost its way and is now just another public holiday with no real meaning.  AS a kid back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the first Monday in June was known as…

IAN ALEXANDER is a geographer, town planner, community activist, former Perth state MP and former City of Perth councillor. In this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER, Dr Alexander argues that Development Assessment Panels have led to “The Death of Local Planning”. OVER the past decade or so the WA town planning system has been gradually centralised. Today…

IT’S been five weeks since I broke three bones in my right hand, and this is the first story I’ve written two-handed after some great free treatment from our public hospital system. Our public health system isn’t perfect: For some specialist tests you might wait a year or more. Important but elective surgery waiting lists…

In this week’s SPEAKER’S CORNER, local pedestrianist Andrew Main discusses road safety issues that discourage people from walking in Perth’s inner suburbs. WALKING is an extremely popular activity in the inner suburbs of Perth. The latest census shows that 20 per cent of residents in the City of Perth walked to work and nearly 10…