Perth Voice Interactive

‘Too much corruption’

AFTER elections marred by stolen votes and forged signatures, a veteran Stirling councillor says it’s time to bin postal ballots and bring on in-person voting.

Cr Elizabeth Re, serving since 2005, says “it has been recognised that ballots have gone missing, or people have been found guilty of taking them out of letterboxes”.

After Stirling’s first postal election in 2003 former mayor Adam Spagnolo was fined for arranging people to collect ballots from ratepayers, while he forged the signature of one voter.

During Perth council’s 2011 mayoral election between incumbent Lisa Scaffidi and contender Anne Bontempo, the latter claimed to have received “hundreds” of calls from people whose ballot packages never arrived. At least six votes were confirmed to be stolen out of mailboxes, filled in and lodged according to the WA Electoral Commission.

Postal ballots posed a problem again at Perth’s 2017 election when councillor Keith Yong set up “sham leases” to have 45 ballots mailed to PO boxes controlled by him and his family, according to a state government inquiry.

Then at the 2021 election in Serpentine-Jarrahdale locals performed a citizens arrest on two people who’d stolen around 50 ballots, and the election results are still under a cloud as a court case plays out. 

Cr Re says the postal ballot system’s too open to abuse and reckons WA needs to switch back to in-person voting. The state government’s currently consulting on local government overhauls and Cr Re urged people to put in a submission to help get fairer elections.

“Have the council office and the libraries open for three weeks,” she says, noting people already have to find a postbox to mail in so the current system requires an outing anyway. “People can get out of their homes to come to the library and the council office.

“It’ll ensure less corruption of the votes, it provides less opportunities to misuse the votes, but more importantly than anything else it’ll give people an opportunity to look at what’s going on in their suburb, to understand what’s going on… it’s a way of empowering people and it’s a way of educating people.”

She says: “We have such a multicultural population that have left where they’re from because they haven’t been able to vote, that’s why it’s so important” to have fair elections here.

In person voting typically has a lower turnout than mail in elections but Cr Re says it’s time to make local election voting compulsory, as that ought to prompt people to do their research and get more involved. Postal votes could still go to those truly unable to attend like in other elections. 

Submissions on the state government’s reform plans are due February 25 via http://www.dlgsc.wa.gov.au/lgactreform 

Most councils are currently mulling over their submissions, but Bayswater got in early to form an opinion at the December meeting. 

It’s backed state government suggestions to have all major councils switch to a system where the public directly elects the mayor, rather than councillors choosing among themselves. Bayswater’s one of the last councils to still pick a mayor from among councillors, which caused some discontent after the last election when the balance of power on council saw a majority support Cr Filomena Piffaretti as new mayor over incumbent Dan Bull.

by DAVID BELL

INGLEWOOD’S Julius Caesar Re has been awarded an OAM for his lifetime’s work popularising soccer in Australia.

Mr Re is considered a “visionary” by the Football Hall of Fame WA for seeing a game with potential and helping professionalise the sport. 

involvement in soccer dates back to when Mr Re’s oldest brother Frank was one of the founders of the Perth Azzurri soccer club in 1948. 

Mr Re became the club’s secretary in 1959 and he says “when I started the game was dead – we couldn’t get anywhere” with chaotic players and messy relationships between unorganised organising bodies. 

“So I formed the professional federation,” he says, the Soccer Federation of WA, a proper organising body aiming to up the standards and turn the game professional. “That started it off, and from there all sorts of things snowballed.”

Teams flocked to the new organisation. Other states followed suit and soon an Australian Soccer Federation was established in 1960. 

But years passed with WA unable to get a game with interstate teams, so Mr Re looked north for others to play against.

“I said if you people don’t want me, I’ll go to Asia and see if they’ll play football with us.”

“There was this Malaysian fella, we got talking, and he said ‘you’ve got a good story’.”

“He was the president of their football association,” Mr Re says, and also “the prime minister of Malaysia,” Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Malaysia had an upcoming soccer tournament coming up, a prestigious international competition where countries sent teams of their best players. 

“The fella rang me up and said ‘we’ve invited Australia but they won’t come. Australia won’t come because they had the White Australia policy’, which was a stupid bloody thing in the first place.

“We were up there in 67, 68, 69 and 70. I think we were instrumental in going up there for there for four years, breaking the ice.”

From 1969 to 1975 Mr Re was a Perth city councillor and networked to get high end world soccer teams to come to WA to play, bringing over Chelsea, Manchester United and Roma, helping build the state’s profile.

But it’d be a long time coming before we’d get our first team in the National Soccer League, arriving in 1995 with the founding of the Perth Glory. 

Mr Re was a founding member of Glory and as he turns 90 this year he’s hoping he’ll stick around long enough to see them bring home the championship for the first time, and to see a World Cup held here.

“We’ll have it one day,” he says. 

A WRENCH has been thrown into Aldi’s expansion plans with Bayswater council voting against letting the supermarket set up in the Guildford Road industrial area.

Aldi sought a change to the council’s planning scheme to allow a shop in the industrial zoned site at 508 Guildford Road, currently a Reece’s Hire (“New Aldi sparks fear of retail creep,” Voice, January 29, 2021). 

That prompted concerns from surrounding factories, warehouses and mechanics that a sensitive use like a supermarket would cause conflicts and lead to their operating hours being cut, or they’d be forced into expensive noise or emissions reductions.

It’d also make it harder for new industrial businesses to move in as old ones moved out, leading to a gradual de-industrialisation seen in other areas.

After considering submissions from local businesses, retail competitors, and listening to a procession of reps from Aldi, a majority of Bayswater councillors voted against allowing the supermarket in.

Cr Josh Eveson said either option had pros and cons but it all came down to proper and orderly planning, and having an Aldi at that spot “reinforces what I see as an outdated, car-based planning model, not a focus on vibrant, active, walkable communities”.

Council planning staff had advised that an Aldi there might harm chances of one day getting a supermarket in nearby Bayswater town centre, a more walkable spot with lots of small retail businesses around that could use the support of spillover supermarket shoppers.

Cr Eveson added “the state, as a whole, is grappling to retain centrally located industrial land.

“Industrial land is being replaced with housing and other land uses rapidly, destroying much-needed economic centres, employment hubs – yes, jobs.”

Cr Sally Palmer supported the rezoning , saying it was “anticompetitive” to stop them setting up shop and pointing out the state authorities like the PTA, Water Corp and Development WA had no objections to the plan.

She said it’s well placed being near a train station and close to residential areas and is a “sign of progress – it’s always been an aspiration to improve the Guildford Road” area. 

Crs Dan Bull and Michelle Sutherland agreed the Aldi was alright to go in but were outvoted by the majority.

by DAVID BELL

RESIDENTS living around Peninsula Farm in Maylands are worried it’ll turn into a party zone as it becomes more commercialised.

The National Trust owns the site and for 10 years has mainly hosted a few annual community events like an Anzac Day sunset service, Christmas Carols and an Easter Family Day. 

Corporate

The outdoor space has been very sparingly hired out for low-key corporate events or private functions; permission is needed every time from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

Now the Trust wants blanket permission for 10 commercial events a year with up to 99 people so they don’t have to go cap in hand to the department each time. They’d still need one-off approvals for bigger events of up to 350 people. 

The National Trust says its plan won’t lead to more intense private use of the site, but just “simplify” the process of getting DBCA permission. 

Bayswater council staff didn’t see it that way, and neither did the 22 locals who wrote in objections with concerns it’d be a wedge leading to more private parties.

Nearby neighbour Kenneth George told Bayswater councillors “the attempts by the National Trust and others to commercialise peninsula reserve has been a lingering frustration and a cause of great angst to the ageing demographic in the area, and have mostly been deemed by the wider community to not be appropriate for a heritage site,” given “it’s environmental and cultural values, as well as its close proximity to the residential area”.

Mr George says locals enjoy the community events but commercialisation should be kept to commercial areas.

Bayswater staff said only the four annual community events should be allowed, and any one-off private event should have to get individual permits from the DBCA. Part of that’s to make sure to make sure stages or marquees don’t impact the site, as the area is rich in Aboriginal and settler history and artefacts have been found there during recent digs.

Councillors Dan Bull and Sally Palmer opposed the plan to streamline party approvals but a majority of councillors reckoned it was alright, and went two better by saying they were fine with 12 low-key events a year. They’ll still need approval to go above 99 people or party past 6pm. 

Bayswater council’s recommendation for approval now goes to the DBCA for the final call.

by DAVID BELL

WHILE the Winter Olympics will open to great fanfare in China this weekend, a group of local protestors were planning to rally outside East Perth’s Chinese consulate on Thursday to raise some uncomfortable questions for the communist superpower about its human rights record.

A coalition of Uyghur, Hong Kong, Tibetan, Taiwanese and Chinese human rights activists have vowed to boycott coverage of the games, but are hoping the publicity it brings will also give them the opportunity to let ordinary Australians discover the oppression their compatriots back home face. The rally will feature speeches and a display of material to back their claims.

Opaque

“I think the political circle are aware, but for the general public they are not that aware,” says Perth Anti-CCP Association organiser Richard Lue.

In Hong Kong, for example, a lot has happened since 2 million protestors gained international headlines for standing against a proposed law allowing suspected criminals to be extradited to the mainland and its notoriously opaque legal system.

Mr Lue said in response to the protests, Beijing introduced a national security law without consultation, banning gatherings and introducing broad definitions of subversion and terrorism that have seen a raft of pro-democracy advocates arrested and gaoled. Unless people could prove themselves a “patriot” they were banned from running for office.

A media crackdown also saw the main pro-democracy newspaper forced to close, and Mr Lue says that means any sign of opposition has disappeared. Once-regular images of people gathering in Victoria Gardens every year have stopped.

“Even people holding a banner are detained and sent directly to gaol,” he said.

He said the internment of up to 3 million Uyghurs in the concentration camps in the country’s northwest had been recognised by seven countries, including the US, as a form of genocide.

“People are forced to stay there – they are behind fences and they can’t leave – and they have to do heavy labour with little pay, or no pay at all,” Mr Lue says.

There are also claims Uyghur women are routinely raped and forcibly sterilised, while the children of internees are taken to “kindergartens” surrounded by security fences and brainwashed with pro-Beijing propaganda – all allegations China has strenuously denied.

Mr Lue, who was born in China, says here in Australia protestors are regularly harassed by groups he believes are regularly communicating with the local consulate.

“The Perth Hong Kong students held protests, but many of those students experienced life threats and a car followed them home.” He said their family back in Hong Kong were subsequently harassed by officials as well.

Threats

He’s also been on the brunt of the threats himself, but said he’d worked with police to get restraining orders.

“For myself, working with the police was enough to stop them, but I think because of what their families might face, some of the students would be too scared to speak up,” he said.

Many countries have imposed a diplomatic ban on the Olympics this year and won’t be sending anyone other than athletes to the opening ceremony.

China has hit back strongly, with it’s UN representative last year taking aim at war crimes allegedly committed by Australian troops in Afghanistan: “…they are still at large today,” Jiang Duan said, while also taking aim at our offshore detention regime.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Ligian also described allegations about Uyghur mistreatment “the biggest lie of the century”.

by STEVE GRANT

WA will get the rare opportunity to showcase its writing talent – and its patchy public health record – during an online writing festival today (Saturday February 5).

WA author Michelle Johnston’s book Dustfall will be the focus of the local stage of LitFestBergen when it kicks off at 9pm. Published in 2018, the novel was inspired by the Pilbara town of Wittenoom, where workers and residents were knowingly exposed to life-threatening amounts of blue asbestos.

Appropriately, LitFestBergen’s theme this year is Dust.

Johnston said the festival was an incredible opportunity WA stories and their writers.

“Traditionally it hasn’t been easy to get international exposure for Western Australian authors, despite our plethora of talent,” she said.

“It’s an honour to be able to reach out beyond our backyard.”

Writing WA CEO Sharon Flindell said Dustfall was the perfect choice for the 2022 lit fest.

“This novel is about those decisions and often mistakes that directly impact public health,” Ms Flindell said.

“Literature remains one of the most important ways for humans to understand ourselves and the world we live in and there’s never been a more critical time for that endeavour.”

GROWING concerns over crime has prompted Bayswater council to draw up a new crime prevention plan with high tech measures a big focus. 

New councillor Josh Eveson pushed for the new plan saying it was in response to “ongoing concerns from our community about crime and safety.

“People deserve to feel safe in their homes and for many in our community this isn’t the case.”

Crime stats recorded by police have been fairly steady in Bayswater over the past few years but that’s not matching the perception on the ground; last year’s community survey showed a rising perception of the rate of crime and fear for safety. 

AI cameras

The council’s five-year Community Safety and Crime Prevention Plan has expired and Cr Eveson says it’s time to take advantage of the latest tech.

“A new plan enables inclusion of vastly updated smarter technologies, AI cameras, numberplate recognition etcetera, to reduce administrative burdens and reduce response times – a more effective deterrent and prevention service,” Cr Eveson said. 

The council has a few numberplate recognition cameras currently, which have so far lead to admissible evidence being handed over to police relating to a series of commercial burglaries and a recent murder.

Cr Eveson said the new plan could include incentives for ratepayers to install CCTV, keeping an eye on their own properties as well as the street, “like the recent example of arson around Tonkin Highway, where a suspect was quickly apprehend with assistance of key details and footage retrieved from community CCTV”.

The council put more funding into rangers last year after complaints about delayed response times. Cr Eveson says the new plan could include benchmarks to make sure problems are addressed promptly, which would be easier with more automated tech freeing up personnel.   

It’ll cost about $30,000 to bring in experts to draw up the new plan.

by DAVID BELL

BAYSWATER council has decided against punishing a tree-pruning Maylands ratepayer by plonking a big three-metre sign on their front verge.

Bayswater staff advised councillors to take a tough stance over what they called a “vandalised” public tree on the verge outside 1 Sussex Street, but the owners claimed a misunderstanding leading them to think they had permission to prune the tree.

Homeowner Kiera Treloar fronted up to a council meeting, saying the tree was dropping branches during winter rains and during wild weather the family slept downstairs out of fear it would come down on top of the house.

Danger

She says her husband called the council and “spoke to a youngish sounding man who told us that there was a huge backlog in the pruning team and that if we believed the tree was posing danger to the property that we could take appropriate pruning action”.

Thinking they had the all clear they brought in an arborist to prune and lower the tree. It was a pretty close cut and initially looked so stark Bayswater staff advised councillors “the tree 

in question was not pruned or trimmed; the top was completely lopped off which constitutes vandalism as it has severely damaged the natural form and function of the tree”. They said they didn’t know if it would even survive.

But reports of its near-death were premature and Ms Treloar says “it’s grown back in five months, so it’s about two metres shorter than it was but it’s still growing and flourishing”.

She cited the Miriam Webster definition: “Vandalism is wilful or malicious destruction or defacement of public or private property.” 

“So given the information presented I’m hoping you’ll agree that us pruning our tree to protect our family and the property we own does not fit that definition.”

Councillors unanimously voted not to install the big shame sign as staff had recommended, instead just requiring the residents to pay for a new tree “to the satisfaction of the city”.

Cr Catherine Ehrhardt moved the lighter sentence, commenting “the best possible outcome in this scenario, instead of having just a big massive billboard to shame someone, is to get more trees in”. 

by DAVID BELL