Perth Voice Interactive

FROM a crowded field, City of Perth Western Residents has endorsed one lord mayoral contender and four for council.

President Anna Vanderbom says they chose independent candidates who weren’t part of a faction or voting bloc as that had led to a lot of trouble under the old regime, and “we want them free from conflicts of interest”.

CoPWR covers parts of Crawley and Nedlands taken over by Perth council in 2016. 

The group’s been satisfied with improvements made at the city by recently outgoing CEO Murray Jorgensen, but they don’t want to risk another period without elected members hence their caution around potential conflicts of interest, eligibility and factionalism. 

CoPWR secretary Jane Boxall says they wanted to make sure their preferred candidates were “people who want to give back” and who’ll work with the neighbourhood communities and aren’t in it for ego.

For the lord mayoral spot they’ve endorsed Spacecubed founder Brodie McCulloch.

“He’s the only person we can see standing as a lord mayoral candidate with real leadership experience, and he has a track record of building a team,” Ms Vanderbom says.

For council they’ve endorsed Aimee Smith, Liam Gobbert, Reece Harley and Terresa Lynes.

“They’re all community service people, they want to give to the community and not just take,” Ms Boxall says.

While a lot of the committee’s criteria were city-wide, locally they’re focused on protecting Kings Park and Matilda Bay, and they’re satisfied all candidates chosen fit the bill on that front.

They like Ms Smith, a climate change policy adviser, for her environmental credentials as the group’s concerned about the heat island effect in the city, the way waste is disposed of, and protecting King’s Park and Matilda Bay.

Mr Gobbert got their endorsement in part because of his previous local government experience as deputy mayor of Joondalup, and his planning and transport expertise.

They’ve dealt with Mr Harley in his previous time on council and Ms Vanderbom says he was a “great conduit between us and the administration”.

Ms Vanderbom says they chose Ms Lynes because she has “very good experience, [she was] a deputy mayor, she has a qualification in local government administration, she knows how things work in council meetings”. 

CoPWR plans to drop flyers to the neighbourhoods advising locals of their recommendations, and they say it’s an area with pretty high voter turnout. The top-scoring candidate at the last election, Steve Hasluck, had their endorsement in 2017. 

by DAVID BELL

THE owners and occupiers roll for the Perth council election is far slimmer this year.

Following the inquiry into the City of Perth finding evidence of bogus voters, there was increased scrutiny of the roll and it’s now 700 shorter than at the last election. Given some candidates get over the line by just a handful of votes, that equates to a significant chunk.

In July the council announced business owners or non-resident occupiers wanting a vote would have to prove they’re eligible by showing a lease or other documentation. The Local Government Act empowers council staff to check this, but didn’t require them too, so it wasn’t previously done.

Scrutinised

Last week the City of Perth also confirmed that those who’d applied to vote since the last election would also have their claim retrospectively scrutinised.

They didn’t tell us how many people had been rejected, and it’s likely some voters were too shy to reapply amid the controversy surrounding the roll, but we now know that the owner and occupier roll contains just 2,603 voters compared to the 3,322 from the last election. 

Resident voters aren’t affected, as they’re automatically added from the state electoral roll. 

The change might mean residents’ voices will outweigh the usually-dominant business vote. 

Last year’s election got 5,427 votes, and while there’s no breakdown of resident to non-resident votes, it’s likely businesses who’d gone to the trouble of applying would go on to vote compared to residents who were on the roll by default. 

TAGGERS have been hitting Vincent’s laneways so hard lately, the council’s sole graffiti cleaner can’t keep up.

A tour through Highgate’s lanes this week revealed a spaghetti mess of tags through Blazevic, Marocchi and Martyr Lanes, and St Alban’s Ave looks like a paint bomb went off.

Many councils have free cleaning services to quickly get rid of graffiti, hoping taggers will be deterred if they know their piece will only survive briefly. 

Highgate resident Franca Di Natale says she’s been unable to get graffiti removed in months, and “the laneways look disgusting and unsightly”.

Her home backs onto St Alban’s Avenue and her garage doors and back fence are often getting hit. But she hasn’t had any luck getting Vincent’s graffiti cleaner out, calling twice in May, then in June.

“We rang again on September 8 and this time [were] told that because the graffiti was in the right of way they are no longer carrying out any graffiti removal – only if it was in the front.

“I said ‘so if it’s not visible, then their motto is ‘don’t worry about it’.

“And the response was: ‘Unfortunately, that is the case’.”

The Di Natales have cleaned it up several times themselves and gave the kerb a new paint job after it was emblazoned with nonsense. But it’s an uphill battle due to the amount of graffiti and the different substances across different surfaces; some needing cleaning, some abrasion and others needing a new paint job.

Mayor Emma Cole acknowledge the graffiti surge had left Vincent unable to keep up: “In the last financial year, over 2000 incidents of graffiti have been removed and the demand continues to increase. The City of Vincent’s resources are under pressure and we don’t have capacity to remove graffiti from private property.

“We do understand that graffiti in our laneways needs attention, especially as our laneways continue to evolve and develop, with more laneways having their own unique streetscapes. 

“I have requested that the graffiti removal policy be reviewed, so that cleaning graffiti in our laneways is clarified, and that the cost of additional graffiti removal be provided to Council so that we can stay on top of this growing need in our parks, on public property and in our streets and laneways.”

Perth and Stirling councils clean graffiti on private property if it’s visible from the street.

by DAVID BELL

THE “ludicrous” need to hold a driver’s licence has been listed as a job requirement for Vincent council’s new Active Transport Officer, whose role is to get people to drive less.  

The successful applicant will be required to “achieve a reduction in private car use through the promotion and enhancement of walking, cycling and public transport” according to the council’s job description.

That seems at odds with the need for a driver’s licence, according to local active transport enthusiast Andrew Main, who featured it on his 

“Walk Ride Perth” Twitter account.

“The requirement for an active transport officer to have a driver’s licence is ludicrous,” he said. 

“But it’s a reminder about how many jobs require a licence, and how discriminatory this is. 

“How many jobs need a licence, and what is the impact of this on decisions made by young people?”

Vincent’s admin is just four kilometres from the furthest reaches of its domain, and it wasn’t uncommon to see the former ATO getting around on his bike.

We asked Vincent council why that role would need a driver’s licence, and found out there is some leeway. 

CEO David McLennan writes: “The position doesn’t use a car daily, but on occasion does transport bikes and equipment for events.

“If the preferred applicant didn’t have a driver’s licence it wouldn’t disqualify them from the role.”

by DAVID BELL

BANKS Reserve playground reopens in time for the school holidays with the first playdate set for Friday September 25.

After months of Covid-enforced playground closures and then works taking longer than expected with gas pipeline-related complications, the finishing touches were being put on the sprawling mixed-age nature-based playground week. 

Mayor Emma Cole tells us “after a pretty tough year all round, people are really excited about it”.

She says the focus was “to make sure there’s something there for all ages,” with play equipment for younger kids, nature play for the adventurous, a skate and skooter area, and a ballgame court.

The previous playground was Vincent’s oldest, with some bits dating back to 1992, and it’s memory will live on in the new version.

“We had a local 11-year-old who grew up with the old playground and she had lots of really happy memories,” Ms Cole said.

“She said it would be nice to have 

a nod to the old playground and we thought that was a brilliant suggestion, so there’s a little wooden bridge that works well with the natural elements that’s been kept.

“[The playground] weaves through the trees and down the bank, and we’ve made it a lot more accessible now, we’ve put in a footpath down the bank and we’ve got this fantastic area for people to meet and have barbeques.

We dropped by this week for a pre-opening peek and the reviews were glowing, with the kids saying they’d plea for their parents to bring them back on the opening day.

The project already had the $500,000 cost assigned as part of the 2019/20 budget and the tender closed last December, pre-Covid, so it went ahead as planned.  

If your copy of the Voice was delivered early you might still be able to make the opening at 3.30pm September 15. 

by DAVID BELL

BASIL ZEMPILAS has pledged to hold monthly town hall meetings for residents and ratepayers to quiz council if he’s elected, saying the historic building should be used more for community events.

“This would be a more informal opportunity for the public to quiz myself and the council about our decisions, offer up their ideas and tell us about their City and their expectations they have of us,” Mr Zempilas said.

Perth council meetings are nine floors up past a manned desk, and they’re pretty formal and stuffy affairs, opening with a prayer and strict rules limiting speakers.

It’s only in the past few years people were allowed to speak at public question time, but take-up’s still been low compared to the pre-Covid packed houses at Vincent, the question time battle-royale at Bayswater, or the impressively long public filibuster sessions at Stirling.

Mr Zempilas was in hot water with the WA Electoral Commission this week, which told him any future columns in The West about City of Perth business would need an authorisation and might need to be declared as a campaign contribution. Mr Zempilas argues his column is “his job” and he was doing it well before running for mayor, but says he’ll abide by the warning.

BRUCE REYNOLDS announced he’d forego $50,000 of his annual allowance if elected lord mayor.

Mr Reynolds says he’d like to give the $150,000 saving across the three-year term “back to the city with the hope we can set up a youth board to create new leaders for our future”.

He also decline a mayoral car: “I have a car, there is no need for the ratepayers of the City of Perth to fund another one.” Meanwhile candidate Tim Schwass says he will take a mayoral van, which he’ll give to the Alliance to End Homelessness for homeless people in need of transport. 

ALL lord mayoral candidates are talking about homelessness, but this week Mark Gibson announced he’d already sealed a deal with a backpackers’ hostel in East Perth to use it as transitional accommodation for homeless people.

He announced it at a Shelter WA candidates’ session and says if it all goes well it could house 50 people by the end of October, and if elected lord mayor he’ll lobby the state for 15,000 new homes for the 14,000 people on the public housing waiting list and the 1,000 sleeping rough.

Di Bain told the Shelter WA session she planned on a “By-Name” list so the council can learn the names and stories of people on the streets to better target services and get results, she also wants accommodation to be found in council buildings or backpackers’, and said a free shuttle bus is needed to get people on the street to the service providers.

Tim Schwass said the Moore Street homeless services ‘hub’, currently just a carpark, should be turned into an actual building open 24/7 for the Alliance to End Homelessness to operate out of.

HUGE money is being spent as candidates’ declarations of their campaigning gifts roll in. 

So far Di Bain has made the lion’s share of election gift declarations, at about $60,000 in cash donations and several waived costs for event hire, printing and campaigning. The biggest was $36,800 worth of donated PR services from long-time Labor campaigner Daniel Smith. 

Basil Zempilas so far declared $1,800 in “creative services and content production” from former Barnett government PR director Dixie Marshall, now of Marketforce Group.

Brodie McCulloch declared a $7,500 in-kind contribution from the company he founded Spacecubed, for using office space during the campaign. The other lord mayoral candidates have stated they’ll eschew donations. 

Sandy Anghie said the city needs an independent lord mayor so she’s self funded her campaign, not sought donations or endorsements, and declared she and her husband have “no property interests or dealings in the City of Perth” outside of their offices. 

“Conflicts of interest are problematic,” her statement read. “Like property interests, all donations become an “interest” which could be perceived to affect decision making… for this reason it is important to have a lord mayor free from conflicts”.

Mark Gibson says he’s running “a grassroots, self-funded campaign on the smell of an oily rag, as a city resident wanting to make a difference to his community… if elected, I will owe favours to no one.” Among the big field of council candidates who have nominated to fill all the vacant positions, Taofeng (Leah) Xia has declared about $14,000 in gifts from 18 individuals and companies, including Sincerity Group property developers and the Jiangsu United Association. Brent Fleeton has declared just under $10,000 in cash donations from individuals.

A DAN MURPHY’S liquor barn planned for the upcoming West Perth Woolworths has locals concerned it could crowd out a 110-year-old independent store.

Woolies is planning a supermarket on the corner of Murray and Thomas Street in West Perth; the old Princess Margaret Hospital staff carpark sold by the WA government for $12 million. 

Woolies also wants an adjacent 399sqm Dan Murphy’s there and is currently gathering support with surveys going out to nearby mailboxes last week. 

The survey questions indicate the liquor store will be well integrated with the supermarket, asking respondents if they’d find it convenient to be able to do their grocery and liquor run as part of “one-stop, single trolley shopping”.

The survey says Murphy will bring “a curated range handpicked with the local customer in mind”.

Gangemi’s Fine Wines and Food, established in 1911, feels they already offer that at their store about 100m away, and they’ve got support from local community group West Perth Local, which supports the supermarket but not a competing grog shop.  

West Perth Local chair Steve Wellard says the group is working with the developer on the overall site concept. 

“We totally understand Woolworths intend to have a liquor distributor incorporated into that site. Our only request is that whatever liquor offering is finally included does not compete directly with our great, locally owned, fine wine distributors, namely Gangemi’s but also Liquor Barons near Gordon Street.

“Our preference is for a smaller scale ‘budget-booze’ BWS be included on the site instead of the Dan Murphy’s as described in the survey document.”

Competition

Gangemi’s owner Edward Johnson told us “I don’t want to tell a sob story that it’s going to kill my business – competition is fair enough, but I just don’t see a need for it in the area.

“It will be a huge dent in trade. I would have to seriously consider my business model and range.”

Mr Johnson says an influx of cheap booze could lead to more street drinking and alcohol related problems. 

“I took over this store nine years ago… I put a minimum floor price on. We don’t sell any wine that’s cheaper than $10 a bottle… all of our spirits are priced $45 upwards”. There’s good evidence from many studies that a floor price has reduced alcohol-related harms in areas it’s been introduced.

Mr Johnson says he’s further able to weed out problem drinkers by having a one-strike policy and they have the local knowledge to enforce it.

“We know everyone in the area. We have a one strike policy, that if anyone causes trouble or drinks in the street they’re cut off immediately, because it’s a bad look for us as a business.”

He also believes there’s problems with having a liquor store and supermarket so closely integrated, as he says it “normalises alcohol shopping as part of grocery shopping”.

The McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth also holds concerns about the growth of liquor stores attached to grocery stores and booze making its way into supermarket catalogues onto receipts. The centre wrote to the WA parliament’s Education and Health Standing Committee in 2018 saying “alcohol is not an ordinary commodity like bread and milk, and the harmful use of alcohol comes at an enormous cost to society. We have concerns that the close association of liquor stores with supermarkets may contribute to the normalisation of alcohol in our community.”

By DAVID BELL

If we’re prepared to yield and we see billboards emerge across the City of Vincent I think that it will really change the character and visual amenity of our area. – Emma Cole

THE longstanding “no billboards” policy has endured in Vincent with councillors knocking back a proposed 82sqm third-party advert at 12 Newcastle Street.

Only one councillor supported seeing a big billboard on the office building at Vincent’s September 15 meeting. 

Cr Joanne Fotakis said while she didn’t support their proliferation across Vincent, Newcastle Street was just metres from the border with billboard-friendly Perth counciul and it made sense to have transition areas.

But colleague Dan Loden disagreed: “The policy is clear. It is old, I acknowledge that… [but] I would still support that policy for the city and it does outline these are not allowed.”

Deputy mayor Susan Gontaszewski and mayor Emma Cole both said approving the Newcastle billboard could set a precedent which might lead to a run on the state administrative tribunal by others who’d had their applications knocked back. 

“It would potentially lead to aftermarket additions of large scale signs of top of existing buildings to display third-party advertising across the city, and I don’t accept that that is a benefit to the people who live here or who move through the city,” Cr Gontaszewski said.

Ms Cole worried how that would affect the look of the city.

“If we’re prepared to yield and we see billboards emerge across the City of Vincent I think that it will really change the character and visual amenity of our area,” she said.

Signs that advertise the attached business are allowed, just not those spruiking unrelated products.