Perth Voice Interactive

WITH Notre Dame de Paris still smouldering and the full extent of the damage unknown, Perth’s St Mary’s Cathedral has decided to donate proceeds from the first concert of its 2019 series to the restoration efforts.

St Mary’s Cathedral has a special connection with the medieval Parisian cathedral: In February Notre Dame organist Johann Vexo and singer Damien Rivière visited Perth and gave a recital at the cathedral, and Vexo gave lessons to the cathedral’s organ scholars while he was here.

“We at St Mary’s feel for our brothers and sisters in France who grieve at the damage to their mother church, and this concert – an initiative of our music director Jacinta Jakovcevic – is a small expression of our solidarity with them,” says St Mary’s Cathedral dean Sean Fernandez.

“We join with Catholics and people of goodwill all over the world in offering our support and hope that this tangible expression of fraternité will be of some comfort to them.

“I am sure that Notre Dame de Paris will rise again.”

Ms Jakovcevic says the organ here is “in terms of it tone colours and general tonal concept, almost like a small-scale version of the one at Notre Dame – it was rebuilt in 1963 specifically with French-style stops added to make it able to produce the powerful, colourful effects of the vast French repertoire of the 19th century”.

The first concert of the series, titled “Resurrexit”, will now incorporate works of Louise Vierne, one of Notre Dame’s most prominent organists and composers who played there from 1900-1937.

The concert is on Sunday April 28 at St Mary’s Cathedral at 7.15pm, tickets are $25 ($22 concession) from ticketswa.com or 6488 2440.

by DAVID BELL

JOONDANNA speedster Rahul Jegatheva has taken out his second national aquathlon title in a row.

The 17-year-old UWA student defended his 19&Under crown on the Gold Coast earlier this month, setting himself up for the international aquathlon championships due to be held in Pontevedra, Spain, next month.

Aquathlon’s essentially a triathlon without the bike leg.

Rahul finished more than a minute ahead of the closest competitor in his age bracket, but showed his promise by coming in second overall; he held the lead for a while, but was overtaken by national surf and ironman champion Isak Costello.

“I am really lucky to be able to learn from and get inspiration from three different sources,” Rahul said.

“My swim coach Eoin Carroll of the Perth City Swim Club, run coach Professor Grant Landers of UWA Triathlon Club and the brilliant athletes of the North Coast Triathlon Club where I have honed my aquathlon techniques, as they have a 12-race aquathlon series over the summer.”

Last year the youngster’s win was noteworthy for the mad dash that followed; he’d been chosen to carry the Queen’s baton for the Commonwealth Games in Stirling the day after the race, but with no direct plane flights he had to endure a seven-hour, nighttime drive along the Alpine Highway just to get there in time.

POLICE seized more than $200,000 worth of jewellery during a raid on a Perth second-hand dealer on Tuesday.

More than 900 items were taken from the Hay Street Mall jewellers which police will allege were stolen.

A subsequent search of a residential address in Thornlie uncovered further jewellery and paperwork related to the business.

As a result of the raids, a 36-year-old Thornlie man has been charged with laundering and possessing a prohibited weapon; the latter charge relating to an extendable baton that was found at the jewellers.

The man’s second-hand dealers licence has been cancelled, and he will appear in the Perth Magistrates Court on May 2.

The police have put together a booklet of the seized jewellery for people to check out for missing bling, which will be available to view at http://www.police.wa.gov.au

GREENS MLC Alison Xamon has called on the McGowan government to expedite an inquiry into Perth council.

The North Metro MP told Parliament last week residents were calling her office to complain about not having an elected council for almost two years.

“The current situation is highly dissatisfactory, and if this drags on unnecessarily it raises very grave issues around the issue of democracy at the local government level,” Ms Xamon said.

Perth’s councillors are on suspension while lawyer Anthony Power probes dysfunction at the city.

Mr Power was appointed in April last year and the inquiry was pencilled in for 12 months, but in December the deadline was extended to January 2020 because of the volume of information he had to look through.

Ms Xamon wants local government minister David Templeman to give Mr Power additional resources so he can speed things up.

“I think this is a really uncomfortable place for residents to have to inhabit, especially as the city is currently working through some very large community engagement projects, such as the draft city planning strategy, which is effectively going to shape the face of the city over the next 10 to 15 years,” she said.

The city is currently being run by three state-appointed commissioners; former Perth Education City boss Gaye McMath, former Rockingham council CEO Andrew Hammond, and former WA Planning Commission head Eric Lumsden.

“The commissioners have to walk a very fine line,” Ms Xamon told parliament.

“They have to remember that, of course, they have not been elected; they have nevertheless been appointed to be the final decision-makers on all council matters.

“However, these residents have not had a say in electing these commissioners, and they are not going to have a say in how and when elections are finally going to take place.

Western residents association president Anna Vanderbom represents locals from Crawley and Hollywood who were shunted into the city from Subiaco council during council amalgamations in 2016, only to be left without elected representation less than two years later.

“[The] three commissioners appear to have been simply parachuted in to activate an agenda that is a far cry from their mandate which is to temporarily represent the ratepaying electors,” Ms Vanderbom wrote to Mr Templeman in December last year.

She says it’s a convention of Australian democracy that caretakers avoid major projects or decisions.

She point out that the recently-initiated Swan River masterplanning process was a “major undertaking without the authority of an elected council”.

Mr Templeman’s office said the extension was requested by Mr Power and it was important his inquiry be given time and resources to complete its work.

by DAVID BELL

A 31-YEAR-OLD West Perth man has been charged with multiple offences following a police raid that netted methylamphetamine, butanediol, cannabis and MDMA.

The raid last Friday in Coolgardie Street, West Perth was carried out by the police Gang Crime Squad who are targeting Rebels bikies and their associates.

Apart from the drugs, more than $12,000 in cash was seized.

A 28-year-old Bunbury man was also charged.

“This seizure and arrest of two men with links to an outlaw motor cycle gang, again demonstrates the propensity of these criminal groups to distribute illicit drugs for profit, with no concern for the detrimental effect is causes to our community,” Det Insp Mark Twamley said.

EAST PERTH residents have been urged to keep an eye out for European wasps as WA’s agriculture department struggles with a spike in infestations.

The number of wasp nests spotted in the metropolitan area has almost doubled this season to 125, and while many have been in hard-to-reach areas out in the Perth hills, two nests were spotted in East Perth.

Chief plant biosecurity officer Sonya Broughton said nests could mature over winter and release many queens in spring.

“It is imperative that we find as many nests as possible and everyone in Western Australia, even outside of the metropolitan area can help by keeping an eye out and reporting anything that might be a European wasp,” Dr Broughton said.

The wasps are drawn to human and pet food, and the department said they’ve been spotted this year in lunchrooms and picnic areas.

It’s concerned that if the pests get established near popular parks, picnicking could turn into a painful nightmare.

Pets might also have to be fed inside in case they get a sting on the nose.

The wasps also present a major threat to WA’s orchard industry.

European wasps look similar to the yellow paper wasp, but are slightly longer, have black antennae and fly with raised legs (all other wasps dangle theirs).

The department says the wasps are becoming more and more established over east, leading to more queens making their way to WA on cargo.

BAYSWATER council will attempt to rejuvenate the ailing Lake Bungana in Maylands using an experimental dredging technique.

Bungana and nearby Lake Brearley are artificial lakes constructed from abandoned claypits at Maylands Peninsula, and they’ve been plagued with toxic levels of algae for years because of nutrient buildup.

The lake’s wildlife is also suffering – except for the mosquitoes who love the stagnant water – and the stench is often unbearable.

A report on the lake by council staff states “this project is relatively unique” because of the depth of the lake and the need to “precisely remove a large volume of sediment”.

At this week’s council meeting, councillors unanimously voted to spend $251,000 to hire Drainflow Services to perform the precise, experimental dredging.

To further fight the funk accumulating in the lake, they’ll apply “Phoslock”, a CSIRO-developed absorbent clay that binds with phosphorous; one of the major feeders of algae.

If the dredging is successful at Bungana, it will be carried out at Lake Brearley.

by DAVID BELL