Perth Voice Interactive

BARBED wire fencing surrounding Litis Stadium came down this week, marking a much-warmed relationship between landowner Vincent council and tenant Floreat Athena Football Club.

As of January 15 people can freely walk between the stadium and public space at Britannia Reserve, though they’re been asked to keep bikes and dogs off the pitches.

Exclusive

Up until recently Floreat Athena had been pushing for a long-term lease guaranteeing exclusive use of all its grounds, but following a board change it softened its stance and in November last year reached an agreement with Vincent that only the clubrooms and tiered seating would be off-limits to the public.

The council will now seek expressions of interest from summer sports clubs to use the grounds in soccer’s off-season, and it could also be used for events like school sports carnivals.

Mayor Emma Cole said Litis, built for 1962 Commonwealth Games, was “historic” and it was important it was accessible to everyone.

“The removal of the fence will open up the space to more users and benefit our growing, inner city community,” Ms Cole said.

“It will also allow rangers to better patrol the stadium and will give the city the chance to better promote the site for summer sports.”

Club secretary Emmanuel Takoniatis said in November the interim board was glad to secure another 10 years at Litis, as the council had initially only offered five. 

The agreement also means the club’s a step closer to unlocking a $3 million federal grant for facility upgrades. The grant was secured by One Nation senator Peter Georgiou from a federal fund with vague rules, leading Labor to brand it a slush fund and claim the grant was part of a “deal” stitched up between the Morrison government and Pauline Hanson. The Morrison government hadn’t even checked that Vincent, as the owner of the site, agreed with an upgrade.

The council and club will now confer over how the money’s spent.

by DAVID BELL

WORKSHOPS to untangle WA’s new live music protection laws will be held for residents and venue owners.

A grab bag of state  departments and Perth council are trying to formulate laws to protect Northbridge venues from noise complaints.

The efforts have been complicated by problems like heavy bass music blasting through sound proofing, and disagreements over what’s too noisy.

Some venue owners are worried the draft laws may dampen the city’s late-night clubbing scene.

Connections nightclub owner Tim Brown is no fan of a suggestion to cut back noise levels after 1am.

“Most of [the laws] I’m extremely happy with,” he said, but added that Northbridge’s venues were generally pumping at 1am so a curfew would be tough.

Eric Marshall lives near Russell Square. Not a big fan of amplifiers, he told the meeting building construction standards have exacerbated the problem.

“We think that our apartment building was not constructed in a way that was designed to cope with all these levels. We shut our windows, we have our earplugs shoved all the way in our ears, we still hear the bass noises,” he said.

There’s information sessions for venues on January 21 and 22, then for residents and businesses January 22 and February 6, info at consult.dwer.wa.gov.au

by DAVID BELL

KINGS PARK’S future is being reimagined, with the city’s flagship park suffering from recent cuts in corporate sponsorship.

The Botanics Garden and Parks Authority is working on its next five year plan (2020-2025) with a draft to go to the state environment minister for approval mid-year.

The BGPA has released a survey asking people to rank the park’s priorities like maintaining “presentation” of the gardens and parklands, providing leisurely space for recreation and picnics, providing access for people with special needs, promoting Noongar culture, maintaining war memorials, protecting the bushland, and continuing its scientific work (the park has about 30 research projects on the go, on topics like seed conservation and species recovery). 

Survey takers are also asked if they think the park should “build new visitor attractions” or “offer a wider range of eating and drinking options”.

Last year the authority’s annual report noted Kings Park’s financial sustainability was a “significant issue” with “additional revenue opportunities” a key.

Over the past five years corporate sponsorship has dried up from 15 per cent of the park’s revenue to 7 per cent this year.

A 15-year naming rights deal with a main sponsor expired in mid-2017, when “Synergy Parklands” was renamed “May Drive Parklands”. 

The $9 million, 12-year partnership with Rio Tinto which funded Naturescape is scheduled to wrap up in 2020 if not extended. 

The other significant issue listed in last year’s report was “balancing recreational and conservation interests”.

The survey’s up at http://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au until January 31. 

Environment minister Stephen Dawson said in a statement: “Kings Park belongs to the people of WA and it is important we consult with the community on its future. The park has a long history of involving the community in the care of the park and I look forward to seeing this continue.

“I encourage Western Australians to complete the survey and contribute to this important process.”

A GIANT 80-year-old Kurrajong tree has been successfully moved to make way for the Metronet upgrade of the Bayswater train station.

Bayswater resident Lazar Radanovich had called for the tree to be saved at the 2018 Bayswater council AGM, which was then endorsed by the council and agreed to by the McGowan government.

This week the tree was pulled out by one crane, swapped to a mobile crane, then slowly driven down the road to its new home at Bert Wright Park.

Maylands MP Lisa Baker said “preparation works for the tree relocation began in May 2019, when a trench was dug around the tree and its roots trimmed. 

“Soil was then backfilled into the trench, and the tree was left for six months for careful monitoring over the winter.”

It’s now being nourished by reticulation pipes and will be monitored closely to ensure it survives. The first 12 to 18 months are critical, but it can take up to five years for these trees to fully settle into their new homes. 

by DAVID BELL

PUBLIC comment is open on plans for a new Woolworths at 318-330 Charles Street, just south of the Angove Street intersection.

Six lots (including three vacant blocks and two empty buildings) will be conjoined for a three-storey building with a supermarket, small liquor store, medical centre, child care on level two, and a couple of retail stores.

There’ve been three attempts over the past five years to put up apartments on varying combinations of the lots, with Woolies’ latest application noting those plans were killed off by the lack of pre-sales.

“There is uncertainty of whether there are sufficient urban amenities in the area required to attract residential investment,” the application notes (apparently the neighbouring six-star brothel Club 316 wasn’t enough of a lure for buyers). 

But Woolies says its $43 million centre will help turn that around by adding to amenity to the area along with 680 jobs. 

The plans will be decided by the state government’s Development Assessment Panel.  

The plan is slightly outside some planning rules, having only 5.5 per cent soil landscaping instead of the required 15, a 3-metre setback from the eastern laneway instead of 6.5m, and it’s short on bike parking. 

The application predicts most customers will be vacuumed up from Dog Swamp (which stands to lose an estimated $12.7m, or 9 per cent of its trade), North Perth’s Fitzgerald Street district (to drop $8m/7.5 per cent of its trade), and Mount Hawthorn (pegged to lose $7.2m/7.3 per cent). 

Woolies’ estimates are only just within the “normal competitive range” of 10 per cent and it says the impact will be mostly borne by the high trading supermarkets in those centres, and not the littler shops. 

Comments are open until January 31 at imagine.vincent.wa.gov.au under the development applications panel. 

by DAVID BELL

SHORT films about orphaned joeys, dances inspired by talking walls and a local street choir have taken out this year’s Vincent film festival.

The winners of the short film fest, which is run in conjunction with Revelation, get $5000 for their pitch and will be mentored by industry vets to produce a short film in time for Rev’s Perth International Film Festival in July.

The winners are:

• Spirit of the Streets: The tale of the choir based at St Alban’s church hall in Highgate, where disadvantaged and people usually excluded from society come together to perform. Filmmakers David Downey, Cat Albright-Peakall and Erin Devinish will follow the choir as they regroup after the Christmas break and prepare for their first big gig of the year.

• Raising Joey: Local animal photographer Alex Cearns stars in this film by Jennifer Friend, Stephen Bartley, Andrew Silberstein and Kaela Halatau, a short documentary about orphaned kangaroos being raised by human carers.

• These Walls: An abstract turn for the film festival, this poetic documentary starts by asking owners of buildings what would their walls say if they could talk. That’s then turned into an interpretive dance by performers from three backgrounds (contemporary, Indian classical Bharatanatyam, and ballet), to provoke people to think about their relationships with their buildings. By Sophia Vertannes, Brodie Rowlands, Alice Stephens and Zain Awan. 

One of the film’s from last year The Throwback (the story of the Mt Hawthorn video store) won four awards including the overall grand prize at the Canada Shorts Film Festival.

Pre-production starts now.

by DAVID BELL

Former Bayswater councillor CHRIS CORNISH says while PM Scott Morrison’s copping some heat over his government’s response to climate change, Mark McGowan seems to have escaped scrutiny by hiding behind some bushes.

WHILST some West Australians are criticising our prime minister for his Liberal government’s handling on climate change, they should also take the opportunity to focus on the McGowan state Labor government. 

If it is to be accepted that climate change is occurring and greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the dominant cause, then the state government is asleep at the wheel.

At best they have committed to the federal government’s 26-28 per cent reduction target by 2030, which illustrates that the federal government is the one driving change, not the state. 

Yet what is the state doing to assist in this reduction?

Rejected

So far they have rejected attempts by the Environmental Protection Authority to introduce tougher measures for new major resource projects.

This is despite the federal government’s March 2018 Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory stating national greenhouse gas emissions increases were “mainly driven by LNG production for export”.

Fast forward to the latest available report, March 2019, and the reason for the increase is again “primarily due to increased LNG exports”. 

This isn’t a discussion on whether climate change concerns should trump industry and commerce, but it begs the question on why the state government continues to allow the Gorgon LNG project to not bury the carbon emissions as originally planned, and why they are not insisting on more robust carbon mitigation measures for new projects.

Of far greater concern to me is the State government’s proven disregard for trees. There are few simpler steps in helping to address climate change than planting more trees and protecting the existing tree stock. 

Not only do trees offer an immeasurable number of benefits to the environment and society, but specifically they reduce electricity consumption via their cooling effects through shade and evapo-transpiration.

And as trees grow, they help counter climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the air, storing carbon in the trees and soil, and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. 

Trees are carbon sponges.

A recent study published in the journal Science states “the restoration of trees remains among the most effective strategies for climate change mitigation”.

Yet what is our State government doing?

Next to nothing I’m afraid. 

The government departments they manage show a callous disregard to trees. 

Main Roads appear to love nothing more than cutting down mature trees, and paving large median strips instead of planting trees. Meanwhile, the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage neuter any local government attempts to protect trees.

This was recently illustrated by a Development Assessment Panel giving a developer authority to cut down trees on public land. 

The West Australian Planning Commission continue to act negligently in not placing a greater emphasis on tree retention within their Model Scheme Text which forms a basis for all local government town planning schemes. 

Concerned citizens should take their gaze off Scott Morrison and place it firmly on Mark McGowan. 

PERTH’S Australia Day Skyshow will be turned into a fundraiser for bushfire relief in the wake of calls to scrap the fiery show.

A small online petition circulated this week calling on Perth council to cancel the event.

“It is not the time to celebrate when the rest of Australia is currently on fire. The money spent on Skyworks can be utilised on other worthy causes,” the petition read. It reached a modest 58 signatures. 

But council commissioners announced the Skyshow would go ahead and there’d be fundraisers among the crowd collecting cash and eftpos donations.

“We understand the emotional turmoil these fires have caused for the community,” chair commissioner Andrew Hammond said in the announcement.

“The City of Perth Skyworks is the biggest Australia Day event in the country. Let us use this event to build community spirit and show our support for our fellow Australians.”

Premier Mark McGowan supported the initiative.

“As I have said, Western Australia stands ready to support the bushfire relief efforts in any way we can,” Mr McGowan said.

“The event creates an opportunity for attendees to make a donation to support those in need. The support from the community has been outstanding, and I look forward to seeing Western Australians dig deep as part of Skyworks 2020.”