Perth Voice Interactive

Her Maj gets a meeting room

April 13, 2023

QUEEN ELIZABETH II will be recognised by having a Stirling council meeting lounge named after her, a firm sign the council’s intent on returning to its Commonwealth naming tradition after a brief push to use more Aboriginal names.

Last week councillor Suzanne Migdale put up a motion calling on the council to name a facility after Queen Elizabeth II and to also hold a high tea on May 6 to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.

“Queen Elizabeth II was the monarch of the United Kingdom from 1952 till her passing in 2022,” Cr Migdale said.

“During her reign the British Empire went through a process of decolonisation which resulted in the independence of many former colonies.

“As a figurehead and symbol of the British State the Queen played an important role in promoting a more positive and respectful relationship with former colonies and commonwealth countries alike.

“The Queen acknowledged the painful legacy of colonialism and sought to build bridges between former colonies and the UK.”

Cr Migdale said the queen “showed us all that change was not to be feared but embraced.

“As a woman I was inspired and motivated by her dedication to service, grace, and assurance… she was the longest serving female monarch in history, the likes of which we will likely never see again.”

Cr Migdale’s original motion would’ve seen the civic dining room currently called the “Stirling Room” renamed after the Queen, but councillor Liz Re suggested giving her name to the “Anglesea Room,” an elected members’ lounge.

“I don’t agree with getting rid of the name Stirling,” Cr Re said.

But she was more than happy to rebadge one of the four council rooms named after governor Stirling’s first fleet (Challenger, Parmelia, Calista and Anglesea), joking that whoever gave them their monikers may have thought “it was going to sail away like the Sydney Harbour”.

A majority of councillors voted in favour of renaming Anglesea after the Queen, and they’ll also hang a portrait of her in there too.

Four councillors were against naming either room after the queen: Crs Andrea Creado, Felicity Farrelly, Bianca Sandri, and Lisa Thornton.

Cr Farrelly said the Queen’s reign was outstanding, but the room renaming is “not Australian”. She said if the Stirling Room needs a new name “there are other names that we can use, both Indigenous and Australian”.

Since 2014 the council has made a few steps towards Indigenous co-naming on signage as part of its Reconciliation Action Plans.

One RAP item due in December 2021 was “re-name the Stirling Administration Centre meeting rooms to Nyoongar names in consultation with Traditional Owners/Nyoongar Elders”.

That hasn’t happened yet and the meeting rooms are still currently named “Challenger Room” and “Calista Room”.

In mid-2021 the re-naming/co-naming trend hit a roadblock when councillors firmly rejected a resident’s motion to change the “Stirling” name, a request put up on the grounds that James Stirling had been involved in the event known as the Pinjarra Massacre or the Battle of Pinjarra.

by DAVID BELL
Gas gig highlights threat to Kimberley

April 13, 2023

Lock the Gate WA community campaigner Kirsty Symmons and local musician Anna Schneider.

HYDE PARK hosts a free music gig with local musos jamming against the growth of fracking projects in the Kimberley on April 23 at 1pm.

Campaigners Lock the Gate are bringing in local musos Anna Schneider, Georga Rath, and Broome’s Tanya Ransom, along with Banjo Lucia, who’s following in the musical and activist path of parents John Butler and Mama Kin.

Schneider said “the threat fracking poses to the Kimberley is increasing every day, with the McGowan government recently granting approval to Buru Energy to clear native vegetation so it can conduct seismic testing without so much as an environmental assessment.

“The more people in the city that know about how fracking companies are gearing up to trash the precious Kimberley, the greater the chance that we can stop it before it’s too late,” Ms Schneider said

The anti-fracking concert comes amid a renewed PR effort by Woodside to win over the eco-minded with ads stating “we still need gas to provide a stable source of power 24/7” and another that says “hydrogen, hey? Who would have thought that an energy source like this could help power the world, and emit only water when used?”

However Woodside uses a blend of “green” and “blue” hydrogen, and the latter evolves a lot of fracked methane, leading environmentalist groups like the Conversation Council of WA to accuse the company of “greenwashing”.
No room for verge tree policy change

April 13, 2023

Cr Elli Petersen-Pik reckons they can afford to squeeze a few more trees onto verges.

A BID to get more trees on Bayswater’s barren verges has been shut down by a knife-edge vote by council.

Currently the council’s policy states “generally” one tree gets planted on the verge per property.

Sometimes council staff decide a property is long enough to warrant a second tree, or if a resident thinks to ask they’ll get some extra greenery, but it’s an exception rather than a rule.

Cr Elli Petersen-Pik proposed they change the policy to explicitly empower staff to plant more trees outside blocks with larger frontages “subject to space available”, and to make clear to residents they’re allowed more than one when the council sends out its brochures inviting them to get a verge tree.

Cr Petersen-Pik pointed out many examples of lengthy verges that only had one small tree.

On some streets there can be only one tree covering a 65 metre stretch of verge.

The council’s had a fair bit of feedback in recent years from pedestrians wanting more shady footpaths to encourage people walking, especially school kids who don’t want to dash between far-flung outpost of shade in the afternoon sun.

“From just walking in different streets around our city anyone can see examples of very wide verges with one single tree planted in the middle of them,” Cr Petersen-Pik said at the March 28 meeting, “sometimes blocking the option of planting more trees on that verge in the future.

“This proposed change is about making the most of our public spaces along our streets, for the purpose of beautifying our streetscape providing more shade for pedestrians and cyclists and increasing our tree canopy.”

Cr Petersen-Pik said not many people would think to ask for extra trees, so this “reverses” the onus by offering one upfront.

He said the council would need far more verge trees if it was going to have any chance of hitting an interim goal of 16 per cent tree canopy coverage by 2025.

Cr Petersen-Pik’s motion got support from councillors Dan Bull, Catherine Ehrhardt, Sally Palmer, and Giorgia Johnson, but the vote was deadlocked 5:5, opposed by Crs Assunta Meleca, Steven Ostaszewskyj, Josh Eveson, Michelle Sutherland, and mayor Filomena Piffaretti, who used her casting vote as chair to tip the balance.

The no-voters largely argued that the existing policy was

fine and it technically did allow multiple plantings for big blocks, notwithstanding the examples of verges with only one sapling struggling to shade a sizeable stretch of street.

Cr Piffaretti said “if there’s any confusion out in the public, let’s publicly say if you want more than one verge tree you can ask for more than one verge tree, and the city will be more than happy to provide you with more than one verge tree.”

by DAVID BELL
LETTERS 15.4.23

April 13, 2023

For women

I JUST want to correct the record, in the article “Some Dicks don’t get it”(Voice, April 1, 2023).

In this article the UK women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (AKA Posie Parker) is falsely referred to as an “anti-trans” activist.

Keen visited Perth last month, holding an event where women were given a chance to speak about how the erasure of the sex category of women is affecting their lives.

This erasure was instigated in Australia by the Gillard government in 2013 with the exclusion of sex as a protected characteristic and its replacement with “gender” in the federal sex discrimination act.

Gender, in this act, being a person’s personal preferred feeling/expression/identity of gender, a circular and empty definition, untethered to reality.

Subsequently in many states such as Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria, legislation has been passed that allows men to “self ID” as women and in so doing are able to access female sex-protected rights such as access to women-segregated bathrooms, women’s prisons, women’s sports, women’s shortlists, domestic violence shelters, breast feeding services and lesbian dating sites and activities.

This legislation has been passed under the rubric of “inclusion”.

Currently the WA government is likely to pass similar laws, with little commotion or debate.

The problem is women have not been consulted, neither have they given their consent for this to happen.

“Self ID” eliminates ANY benchmark for what a women is, it allows ANY man to claim to be a legal women and access women protected places, rendering them women NOT protected spaces.

This is why many women try and speak out.

When they speak out they are always verbally assailed upon and bullied by men.

Many have been physically attacked by trans rights advocates.

Take a look at what happened in Hobart and Auckland last month at Let Women Speak events there.

In Auckland a 72-year-old women was assaulted and received a fracture to her head, the media portrayed the protestors’ thuggery as a victory for “inclusion and diversity”.

Another big problem is the so-called “affirmative care model” involving “transition” of minors, this is advocated for by activists, the Greens and the ALP and lead lobby groups like ACON.

Overseas experience has shown this to be very contested and dangerous, see what has happened in the UK with the Tavistock gender clinic.

“Transition” involves taking experimental drugs to interfere with puberty, wrong sex hormones and mutilating surgeries.

Anyhow, make up your own mind, have a look at Standing for Women on Youtube, you can decide on your own descriptors for Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull.

Ray Brown
North Perth

The Ed says: We think it’s an apt description. You can dress it up any way you want, but Kellie-Jay just doesn’t like the whole transfolk idea.

Transagenda

REGARDING your article, “Some dicks don’t get it: Support pours in for storytime drag queen” (Voice, April 1, 2023).

It would appear that the City of Bayswater and your paper would have people believe that “Support pours in for storytime drag queen” and are therefore culpable of pushing this transgender agenda on toddlers.

Being such a controversial topic, surely then, you should also include what consultation process took place beforehand and provide evidence of said support.

The article suggests that the Drag Queen Storytime events at Maylands Library have been targeted by homophobic protest flyers.

That’s very inflammatory and divisive language used, and unbecoming for someone that promotes respectful inclusivity.

It could be argued instead, that the protest flyers are a result of parents having concerns that toddlers should not be exposed to a sexualised transgender movement, that it simply isn’t age appropriate for toddlers and that it could possibly affect a child’s mental health in an adverse way.

They may very well argue that it’s also a form of sexual grooming and that these councils and public libraries have a moral and ethical duty to protect young innocent toddlers rather than pander to a minority group.

It was only a few years ago that drag queens were performing at gay clubs or the occasional fringe festival as adult entertainment, why then in this strange social shift, should everything pride, rainbows, trans activism and drag be thrust upon toddlers and young people when they are naturally inclusive and unprejudiced.

The article seemed to make it too personal about the drag queen Cougar Morrison; it should not be about him/her, you could have any drag queen reading story time, regardless of how they are dressed, the controversy would still be the same and the objections should be heard rather than vilified in such a biased and demeaning way.

Gene Lorenzon
Mt Hawthorn

The Ed says: Gene, drag queens and people with a transgender identity are not the same thing, but aside from that, let’s be clear: No one – ever – has turned gay because someone in a sparkly frock read them The Hungry Caterpillar. They might learn that it’s ok if people don’t fit ‘the mold’, and that’s a good lesson to carry through your life.

I’ll be voting no to Voice

THE TV news coverage of the launch of the “Yes” campaign for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, which will be held later this year, I found poses more questions than it answers.

To the woman who attended it and said her reason for supporting the Voice was to get her son and grandson out of jail – “because jail’s not a very good place”… What exactly is it that these people think they’re going to get out of the referendum?

To be treated differently before the law than the other 26 million Australians?

This only re-enforces my view that I will be voting NO to the Voice referendum.

All Australians need to be treated exactly the same before the law.

To write it into our Constitution that one group of Australians is special and has more importance than another goes totally against everything that we stand for as Australians.

And the Federal Labor Government is really keeping everyone in the dark about what the Voice is really all about. All the more reason to vote NO.

Matt Eggleston
West Perth

Ed’s note: The Voice will only advise the government of the day so it can make decisions that address, rather than compound, Australia’s legacy of dispossession and ethnocide – including the misrepresentation of First Nations people in our legal system. It won’t be a magic bullet and won’t hand Indigenous Australians special privileges, but even the discussion we’re having about why a mechanism is needed, helps.
The hidden cost

April 13, 2023

WITH the Development Assessment Panel soon to decide on a five-storey block of units opposed by neighbours and the local council, Coolbinia resident JAN RAVET argues there are little-considered social costs to these projects.

IN regard to the proposed development on the corner of Adair and Walcott street, I need to express my concerns about the costs involved.

Yes, there are clerical and administrative costs relating to the processes of design and approval.

However, I am much more concerned about the social costs, which appear to have escaped the attentions of the designers and of those involved in the approval process, despite our efforts to warn about the dangers.

It seems silly to worry about the aesthetics of a building whose main impact relates to safety and sanity. The problem is one of scale. Bigger is not better.

In this case, it is more dangerous because from what I can see it has not been adequately provided.

High density living has its own social costs – which are only partly borne by the inhabitants.

Other costs are imposed upon the surrounding community.

Access and accessibility need to relate to the proposed occupancy and usage, which in turn relate to location.

Yes, there is a bus service along Walcott Street, giving some access to the shopping centres in Dog Swamp or Flinders and also toward the city, but most residents are going to be reliant on their own transport.

It therefore seems essential to have more parking spaces within the development than there are units to be occupied by residents.

Further, it seems likely that a significant proportion of the units will be occupied by more than one resident, especially in the upper price brackets.

The cross-roads is already causing concern – at least to this resident who all too often hears the scream of brakes, tooting of horns and the noise of vehicular impacts.

On my walks, either morning or afternoon, I see the children going to or coming from the local schools as well as other walkers, cyclists, scooters and skateboarders, some more alert than others to their surroundings and hazards.

While it is nice to receive apologies from those who manage to avoid a collision, there are too many near misses for comfort.

Having shops and businesses at street level must put further pressure on parking.

It seems improbable that any of those businesses should have less than one person involved in the running of the business, or that any of them should have less than one client at a time.

The proposal makes no accommodation for these people.

Street parking is already a problem‚ however minor, but the proposed development is, in its current form, bound to make this significantly worse.

Once local parking has been taken, other traffic looking for the elusive parking places will constitute a greater hazard: to other traffic, to themselves and to the pedestrians – whether those emerged from the amenities, parked cars or the local schools.

The social costs in quality of life are of moderate concern – let the buyer beware – but the cost in lives is of greater concern to me.

I really fear that kids could die if this short-sighted development is not condemned?
Fatty rescue

April 13, 2023

TWO fat blokes came to my rescue on Easter Monday.

The majority of restaurants in Mt Lawley were shut, including the new Mexican I had planned to visit, so with the wife and hungry kids in tow, the pressure was on.

Thankfully 2 Fat Indians were open for business, although there was a 10 per cent holiday surcharge.

Situated on Beaufort Street, just down from the Astor Theatre, the Indian stalwart has been around for years, thumbing its nose at covid and the various economic catastrophes that have come and gone.

Despite its longevity and popularity, I had never eaten there – the Voice likes to take the road less travelled and 2 Fat Indians has always looked a bit polished and mainstream.

But I put aside my prejudices and buried my head in the oversized menu which had a wide range of curries with chicken, lamb, seafood, paneer, goat or veggies.

All the old favourites were there including korma, madras, tikka masala, vindaloo and biryani, as well as some chef specials like dum pukht chicken curry (classical dish from Lahore with slow cooked pieces of chicken in a sealed pot with aromatic spices) and Laal Maas (traditional lamb dish from Rajasthan which is smoked and spiced and flavoured with fresh garlic).

There was also a comprehensive range of starters including tandoor dishes from the clay oven, samosa, onion bhaji, lamb chops and soft shell crab, as well as banquets to share.

I was disappointed they didn’t do the tandoor clay oven as a main meal option, as that is one of my favourites, and they also didn’t have any pakora.

The service was warm and welcoming with lots of smiles and “Hellos” and they asked how our meal was throughout the night.

It’s a welcome change from some eateries I have visited recently and probably one of the reasons the fat blokes have outlasted the competition.

We kicked things off with some onion bhaji ($15.50) The presentation was great with four giant balls of fried onion wobbling precariously on the plate. Fresh, light and crammed with flavour theses were superior bhajis that didn’t sit in your stomach like a bowling ball and warmed your tastebuds up nicely for the main event. They were accompanied by a little bowl of soothing raita.

My Adraki prawn masala ($29.95) was a moreish delight – lots of plump juicy prawns in a thick masala sauce with fresh ginger and cilantro.

They had got the heat spot on – you could still taste the lovely stir-fried prawns while getting a latent spicy kick.

There was a bit of a hiccup with the saffron rice ($7.50) which didn’t arrive with the rest of the meal, but once I informed the manager he quickly brought it over and gave us another free rice on the house. So great recovery and service.

The fluffy aromatic rice went well with the curries and had a light fragrant quality.

My wife “Special K” is a sucker for a sweet Kashmiri naan ($7.95) and this was one of the best she’s had – taking great delight in dunking it into her lamb korma ($26.95).

“A nice thick sauce and the lamb is just falling apart when you touch it with you fork; although it feels ever so slightly dry,” she noted. “But overall a lovely dish.”

I liked the restaurant’s modern interior – it was spacious and uncluttered with great views of Mt Lawley from the large floor-to-ceiling windows. The view was the star as opposed to lots of baroque decor trying to feebly recreate downtown Delhi.

Across the table, Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles were enjoying their butter chicken curry ($26.95) which they wolfed down with no complaints.

2 Fat Indians is getting up there price-wise for a curry and it may not be the most cutting-edge dining experience, but the food, service and location are great and I doubt you’ll ever get a bad meal there.

However, given the recent controversy over the word “fat” in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I wonder how long before the restaurant is renamed 2 Rotund Indians.

2 Fat Indians (Mt Lawley)
607 Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley
twofatindians.com.au

by STEPHEN POLLOCK
More laughter

April 13, 2023

Frankie Rowsthorn

DESPITE Covid and the stuttering Aussie economy, Perth Comedy Lounge has enjoyed the last laugh by opening a new venue in Fremantle.

Situated upstairs in the Sailing For Oranges restaurant on the Cappuccino Strip, Comedy Lounge Fremantle opened its doors in late February with Saturday night shows.

Over the years the Perth venue has played host to some of the biggest names in comedy including Chris Rock, Jim Jefferies, Gary Meikle, Luke Kidgell, Georgie Carroll, Arj Barker and Rove McManus, as well as plenty who can’t be named because of non-disclosure agreements.

Famous comics often do intimate, edgier shows at the Lounge after playing bigger venues in the city.

The Fremantle Lounge celebrated its grand opening with a top bill that included local Beaconsfield stand-up Frankie Rowsthorn, who is daughter of comedian/actor Pete Rowsthorn, best known for playing Brett Craig in Kath & Kim.

Comedy Lounge hospitality director Timothy Buckton says they have partnered with Sailing with Oranges so folk can enjoy top-notch Iberian cuisine during the Fremantle shows.

“While guests who love comedy will be attracted to the central location, we feel many are looking for something a little different when going out to a comedy club,” Buckton says

“We are aiming to create a first class casual dining experience which draws on Mediterranean cuisine – food which will equally as impressive as the event itself.”

Open since November last year, Sailing for Oranges is owned by The Warders Hotel Group, which operate several venues in Freo including the popular Emily Taylor Bar and Kitchen.

Voice intern Daniela Garbin recently went along to check out the Fremantle Comedy Lounge with her dad (he promised not to tell any lame dad jokes):

“Walking into the upstairs loft, the space has been transformed into the perfect comedy crib.

Luxurious, plump couches rub shoulders with dining tables and colourful spotlights, all facing a well-centred stage, enhanced by a small bar and smoking area on the balcony.

The layout creates a spacious, relaxed ambience, arguably better than its parent venue in Perth.

The 90-minute show, with an intermission, featured four acts with a mix of rising and acclaimed names from Australia and overseas.

In true Perth Comedy Lounge style, there was also a pinch of theatrics – the show featured a circus-style comic whose juggling act was a total novelty, if not quite polished.

The venue’s food and drink were also a highlight – Sailing For Oranges has a bar and bites menu available before, during and after the show.

My dad and I enjoyed a spritzer and beers, with the bar having a neat array of wines, sprits and non-alcoholic drinks.

Others around us enjoyed decently sized and exquisite-looking meals.

I saw several meat and pasta dishes floating around that looked delectably seasoned.

I think Sailing For Oranges’ Iberian-inspired cuisine provides a unique twist to the food experience.

There are lots of options – you can grab a meal before the show at the restaurant downstairs, or during the show, and continue the night with drinks.

The venue is a perfect fit for Freo with a casual but premium air. I am excited to watch the space grow after a lively and promising start.”

Comedy Lounge Fremantle
33 South Terrace, Fremantle (upstairs)
comedylounge.com.au

by DANIELA GARBIN and STEPHEN POLLOCK
Leafy retreat

April 13, 2023

IF you’re after a move-in ready apartment in a great suburb, check out this two bedroom number in Mt Lawley.

Situated on leafy Fourth Avenue, just off Beaufort Street, you are tucked away from the daily hustle-and-bustle but close enough to all the action when you feel like going out.

This feeling of living in a peaceful pocket is enhanced by the apartment being on the end of the top (first) floor, where you are surrounded by lush trees.

The inside of this two bedroom one bathroom apartment is just as good – it has undergone an amazing renovation with stunning floorboards, spacious kitchen, downlights and a neutral colour scheme.

The open plan living/kitchen/dining area is particularly impressive with tons of natural light and lovely views of the native trees, which create a pretty and natural privacy barrier.

The kitchen has a breakfast bar, lovely stone benchtops and loads of modern cupboards and drawers.

Slide back the glass floor-to-ceiling doors and head out to the balcony, where you can enjoy a coffee and take in the gorgeous verdure surrounding the apartment complex.

Both bedrooms are spacious with built-in robes and carpets; which will be nice and snug come winter.

The spacious bathroom continues the modern theme with feature tiles, built-in laundry and separate WC.

Situated on Fourth Avenue, it’s a short walk to Beaufort Street where you can enjoy a wide range of cafes, bars and shops including Mondo Butchers, Finlay & Sons and General Public Food Co.

If you don’t like renos and just want to move-in and enjoy a lovely new home, this well-priced Mt Lawley apartment is definitely worth a look.

Mid-high $300,000’s
7/65 Fourth Avenue, Mt Lawley
Beaucott Property 9272 2488
Drew Hancock 0411 870 780
Noongar name push for Lake Monger

April 6, 2023

Ian Wilkes leads a Galup storytelling performance. Photo by Poppy van Oorde-Grainger.

LAKE MONGER may be officially known by its traditional name Galup in recognition of the site’s significance to Whadjuk Noongars.

Noongar elders Liz Hayden, Glenda Kickett, Lois May and Ted Wilkes recently met with Cambridge town councillors and staff to make the case for calling the lake Galup, which means a place of home fires.

The elders were joined by the creators of the Galup storytelling project, Ian Wilkes (son of Ted Wilkes) and filmmaker Poppy van Oorde-Grainger.

Mr Wilkes had often heard stories of Galup from his father, who told him of a massacre that occurred there in 1830.

Colonist records state the commandant of the Swan River Colony’s 63rd regiment Frederick Irwin led soldiers to track down a group of more than 40 Noongars who they considered “very troublesome”.

“Several of the detachment 63rd Regt were wounded with spears… [and] 30 or 40 of the natives were kill’d or wounded.”

Irwin’s own report denied any killing took place, and he said he went looking unsuccessfully for bodies the following day.

The story formed the centrepiece of the Galup project, with an oral history from elder Doolann Leisha-Eatts adapted into an in-person performance for the 2021 Perth Festival. Ms Leisha-Eatts died in March 2022, just months before her Galup histories were recreated as a virtual reality experience (“VR turns dream to reality,” Voice, June 25, 2022).

Ms van Oorde-Grainger tells us that from the start of the storytelling project they’d sought to “increase awareness of the significance and history of Galup”, via means like a memorial or renaming.

The site was a source of stone and ochre, and a hunting ground and campsite for Aboriginal people, and was likely used as far back as 47,000 years ago.

Cambridge councillor Gary Mack proposed the motion to investigate either the “renaming, or dual naming of Lake Monger to an appropriate Whadjuk Noongar name”, and it was unanimously supported by councillors at the March 28 meeting.

Colonists renamed the area “Monger’s Lake” after an early settler, but the Noongar name Galup was recorded by colonists at least as early as 1833.

The council will have a round of public comment on the name change, and a report goes back to councillors for a decision.

by DAVID BELL
JDAP ignores council to give Willing the nod

April 6, 2023

An artist’s impression of Willing’s apartments.

CORRECTION: The initial version of this article incorrectly stated the JDAP voted to approve the development, but they’ve voted to defer it for now.

THE state government’s Joint Development Assessment Panel has deferred plans for a five-storey apartment building on a Coolbinia site that’s only meant to have three.

Local residents had hoped the JDAP would reject the project outright, and Stirling council had recommended the JDAP vote for refusal.

The JDAPs were created in 2011 to “streamline” development applications that might otherwise get held up by local opposition or objecting councils, and allow three state government-appointed members to overrule local councillors.

The Coolbinia apartments project by Willing Property on the corner of Adair Parade and Walcott Street was a prime case. Stirling council staff, the elected councillors themselves, and many locals had a range of objections (“Council beefs up opposition to units,” Voice, April 1, 2023).

Objection

But the developer argued the combination of apartments, shops and landscaping would be good for the area and the design was good enough to deserve two extra storeys above the usual limit.

The JDAP members voted to defer the item at their March 30 meeting until they could get more information about the proposed parking setup, the rubbish collection plan, and to consider concerns about the southern townhouses overlooking neighbouring properties.

Resident Jimmy Thompson contacted the Voice after the meeting, and said residents felt like spectators whose views weren’t considered: “The application in question appears to clearly breach current regulations with regards to height and scale… the JDAPs are supposed to work for the benefit of the community, but in this case, it feels as though they are working against us.

“The community should not have to sit idly by while decisions that will have a significant impact on our lives and our environment are made without our input.”

In recent times JDAPs have overridden Stirling on some big issues that locals and the council was dead against, including the 2021 approval of a massive apartment tower redevelopment at Karrinyup Shopping Centre that’s set to change the face of the suburb (residents accused one of the DAP members of falling asleep during that meeting, which was denied).

Currently any project worth more than $3.5 million can opt to go to the JDAP for a decision instead of the council.

Premier Mark McGowan announced in February that any multi-dwelling project would soon be allowed to go to JDAPs, a change welcomed by developers fed up with slow-moving local governments acting as speed bumps (“No winners,” Voice, March 25, 2023).

by DAVID BELL