Perth Voice Interactive

ONE of Australia’s last bastions of movie rentals is set to fall, with Network Video Mt Hawthorn closing at the end of February.

Owner Mel McInerney says the internet and “age of convenience” had been mortal enemies, though rents at The Mezz shopping centre delivered the coup de grace.

“In 2012 when I purchased this business, my rent was almost 50 per cent less than it is now,” Ms McInerney said.

It’s been a long time since she took a wage herself, but it’s become a struggle paying the rent and she doesn’t want the store to feel like a burden.

Vibes

”I don’t want those vibes over the store… that was my happy place.”

Network was her childhood video store, and she wasn’t even a movie buff when she bought it out of “nostalgia”, wanting to keep alive her memories of browsing through the thousands of titles on the shelves.

Long past the rental industry’s prime and despite the rent, the store’s been kept chugging along by Ms McInerney’s legendary customer service and kindness, mentioned to the Voice by just about anyone who’s been there, and the main theme in the award-winning short film The Throwback.

“I hold some of my fondest memories from owning it,” Ms McInerney says.

“I really wish to thank everyone for all the support over the many years, it has been very humbling to be loved and appreciated by so many wonderful people.

“My staff and I will miss you all so much.”

She says it’s been hard to tell the six staff about the decision.

“My staff are amazing people that have become like family. I don’t think there has been a week that I haven’t been asked ‘Is that your daughter? Is that your son? Is that your sister?’ And the funniest one of all, ‘Is that your partner?’

“We hug and kiss, we’ve supported each other, and we shout out ‘love you!’ upon exiting the store. It’s no wonder our customers are confused.”

Anime

She’s had a lot of people calling in asking about purchasing titles, especially rare ones no longer in production (quite a few punters are keen to get hold of her Japanese anime series that can costs hundreds).

But she doesn’t want to sell them. They’re going into storage in the hope that one day she might reopen as a nostalgic time capsule.

“In five, six, ten years, if I ever get to open that retro diner that I always wanted to have, or that little hub for the film industry.”

by DAVID BELL

ONE of two custom surfboards stolen from a Mt Lawley couple has been discovered by “Brad the awesome truckie”.

Just before the new year, Hannah and Cameron Etchells’ Landcruiser Troopy, their camping gear and three surfboards were stolen from near their Chelmsford Road home (“Surf’s down,” Voice, January 11).

Cracked

Last Friday the awesome truckie found the custom surfboard made by San Fransiscan shaper Danny Hess stashed in bushes next to a Bullsbrook truck stop..

The board named “Cricket” was in good condition except for a crack through the centre fin, while someone had also cleaned off its wax.

It was a convoluted chain of hands to get it back to Ms Etchells; Brad (who’s happy just being “the awesome truckie”) saw her name under the glass and realised it must be a custom number, so he texted a surfer mate, who texted another surfer mate, who’d posted it on the Surfin Perth Facebook group, where local board shaper Ross Rutherford saw it and called Ms Etchells to arrange its return.

The two custom boards and a third rare foamie would be tough to sell locally because their rarity makes them stand out, and Ms Etchells feared the thief might try to offload them oversees.

The remaining missing custom board “Twistie” is a Pete Dwyer 9’4” orange longboard, while the missing white foamie is a 5’6” with pineapple print – a “Ben Gravy special” and probably the only one in the state.

Ms Etchell’s hopeful the return of the Hess board means the rest of her gear and the car might still be around. If you see anything similar, call police and let Ms Etchells know too at hannahcjetchells@gmail.com

by DAVID BELL

THE future of the Kidz Galore daycare centre at Haynes Street Reserve will be mulled over by Vincent councillors at a special meeting on January 28.

The council owns the land at the corner of Haynes and Sydney Streets and Kidz Galore has been there for 17 years, with its lease ending in December this year.

KG offered to buy the block in 2016, but council staff unearthed a caveat dating back to 1941 which legally requires the lot to be used for “public recreation”.

Caveat breach

The council says it can only remove the caveat if it can convince a judge it’s “impossible, impractical or inexpedient” for it to remain in place and will only offer KG a five-year lease. The council would have to show the space is “surplus to need,” which would be tricky, since its own public open space strategy says there’s a shortage.

The council held consultation in November and 51 per cent of respondents wanted Haynes Street Reserve to be used as public open space (with an all-ages playground a popular priority), and 44 per cent wanted the childcare to stay.

On January 28 councillors will vote on a staff recommendation to write to attorney general John Quigley, acknowledging the city’s currently in breach of the 1941 caveat and seeking approval for a five-year transition plan that will allow the current cohort to finish.

Vincent mayor Emma Cole says Kidz Galore has been a great tenant providing a valuable service to the community, which made the vote a difficult decision.

“I think [the five-year lease] strikes that balance that we needed, to allow the childcare centre to have the certainty they’ve been seeking, allowing them to transition to find the permanent home they’ve been looking for, but does it in a way that doesn’t disrupt the service,” Ms Cole said.

Open space

During consultation another popular option was to move Kidz Galore to the east side of the reserve which is currently leased to the state government for a special needs dentist (the lease ends June 2021).

That part of the reserve isn’t covered by the recreation caveat, but the council wants to turn the whole area into public open space.

The council-owned carpark south of the dentist could be sold off to fund the park. The block’s valued at $785,000 and the park’s upper estimate is $320,000.

The special meeting is scheduled for 6.30pm, just after the AGM at 6pm.

by DAVID BELL

Last week’s opinion piece by former Bayswater councillor Chris Cornish called for more scrutiny of the McGowan government’s action on climate change. In this week’s Speakers Corner, Maylands MP Lisa Baker outlines what they have been up to in, WA, and what’s planned.

AS devastating bushfires spread across our nation and discussion turns to the failings of the Commonwealth government, there has also been talk in my community about what the McGowan state government is doing to address climate change.

We are committed to action on climate change and acknowledge the overwhelming body of scientific evidence that climate change is real. It’s here, it’s already happening, and requires coordinated action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and ensure Australia’s national commitments are met.

The McGowan government has long-held the position that a nationally consistent policy framework, which we can rely on to deliver the commitments of the Paris agreement, is needed.

A national approach can help protect the international competitiveness of key industries and avoid costs being imposed on WA businesses.

However, the state government is not waiting for the Commonwealth and has committed to developing a coordinated State Climate Policy.

The policy will focus on adaptation, mitigation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and playing our part in contributing to the national emissions target.

Climate change

A climate change issues paper released last year received more than 3500 submissions from the community, business and industry. The feedback will be used to finalise the policy and provide us with a roadmap of actions, to be released in the coming months.

We have re-established a climate change unit within the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation. The unit will do a stocktake of climate change actions and measures being undertaken across government. The previous government abolished the climate change unit.

Last August the McGowan government announced its commitment to working with all sectors of the economy to achieve net zero emissions for WA by 2050. The commitment sends a clear signal for new investments, creates certainty for business and positions our state for the global low carbon transition.

We are currently enhancing renewable energy and energy storage technologies, developing a renewable hydrogen industry, securing our water supplies and accelerating uptake of electric vehicles. We are working to unlock the state’s carbon abatement and sequestration potential, while improving the condition of our rangelands and supporting economic development in our regions.

WA has significant land mass and considerable opportunities for a thriving carbon market.

Through the State Climate Policy and work undertaken across Government, we are exploring options to support development of carbon markets and boost the state’s carbon stocks.

Carbon farming can deliver many benefits. This includes habitat restoration, biodiversity conservation, regional prosperity and Aboriginal employment.

Increasing carbon offset generation provides a pathway for businesses seeking to offset their emissions to reinvest back into the local economy and the community.

An example of this is Greening Australia’s recent announcement of a partnership with Woodside to work together on large-scale native tree planting projects.

The partnership will include research and development of innovative approaches in landscape restoration at the scales required to deliver liquidity in carbon markets, and support industry goals to lower emissions.

A Native Vegetation Issues Paper is currently out for public consultation. The paper seeks feedback on four initiatives that the Government proposes, to improve the consistency, transparency and the information base for Government decisions.

These are designed to deliver benefits to the community and industry now and make the rules and outcomes sought for native vegetation clearer. They also aim to improve the coordination of multiple decisions towards a common goal – making each decision more effective. This will help us plan the next steps to protect our State’s native vegetation assets.

I encourage all people with an interest to have their say by February 10 at dwer.wa.gov.au/consultation/nativeveg

CANS and bottles could soon contribute to City of Perth coffers, with the council buying in big to WA’s container deposit scheme.

The council hopes people will recycle up to 240,000 containers a day in city drop-off points.

It’ll cost the council $1.355million to set up two permanent refund points; one at a city storage site at Aberdeen Street and another at a Roe Street carpark with four reverse vending machines.

Under the state government scheme, the council will collect six cents per can and the depositer 10 cents, with hopes that will lead to less litter. The price of drinks will rise.

The number of bottles deposited will have a major impact on the council’s return on its investment according to a staff report.

Under the best-case scenario of 240,000 containers, the council would rake in $2.4 million a year, but if only 40,000 get deposited there’ll be just $420 profit and it would take 3226 years to pay off the set-up costs.

It will also cost $78 per hour to employ a container chief, $56 per hour for extra staff and $51 for security guards.

The city also plans to employ up to 14 people from a not-for-profit group to sort cans, budgeting $50 an hour per person. Uniting Care West, Shelter WA, St Vincent de Paul Society, St Bart’s and St Pat’s have said they’re interested in providing employees and containers.

The council will also shell out for two mobile refund trailers that can be loaned to charities who’ll the pocket the 10 cents.

It hopes the scheme will mean less money spent on street cleaning and landfill levies.

The plan was unanimously approved by commissioners at the January 21 council meeting, with Cmmr Len Kosova saying it will “contribute to environmental improvements by increasing recycling, and improved waste management within and beyond the city, [and] I think it takes advantage of the many visitors we have to the City of Perth every day and as an added bonus is going to hopefully provide a financial reward for the city”.

by DAVID BELL