Perth Voice Interactive

TRYING to get the Perth council’s admin to support local businesses is “deeply frustrating”, says Perth Labor MP John Carey.

“There seems to be, within the administration of the City of Perth, just a complete resistance to ideas that other cities around the world are embracing,” Mr Carey said after reading the briefing agenda for the next council meeting.

He says any of his ideas, or those originating from his Perth City Summit with traders and locals, are shot down in flames.

Parklet

Mr Carey highlighted two recommendations from city staff to commissioners he finds particularly troubling: continuing an effective ban on “parklet” sitting areas in CBD car bays, and sticking with fees for cafe alfresco areas.

The yearly alfresco fee is currently $40 per sqm, with a $98 application charge. It costs some restaurants several thousand dollars.

While Perth’s fee isn’t the priciest, nearby councils Vincent and Bayswater have scrapped theirs to encourage traders to liven up the street with sidewalk dining.

In July the three commissioners who’ve replaced the suspended Perth councillors, asked staff to review the fee to see if it should be reduced. The report’s come back advising “no”.

Some councillors—Reece Harley, James Limnios and Jemma Green—wanted the fees scrapped last year but didn’t have the numbers against lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi’s majority.

The other concern for Mr Carey is parklets: the little outdoor public spaces that have replaced some carbays throughout other suburbs.

Oxford Street in Leederville had the first couple in the state.

In February, just before being suspended, Perth councillors asked staff to draft up a parklet policy so they could put a few in the city.

The report’s come back saying temporary parklets should be limited to outer suburbs because they would hinder “movement and activity” in the CBD, and it will all need a policy.

“That just doesn’t make sense,” says Mr Carey.

“How can you facilitate something when there is actually no simple policy to guide it?

“These are not ‘City of Vincent ideas’ or ‘Fremantle ideas’ or ‘my ideas’ – all the stuff that’s being done in Vic Park, Fremantle and Vincent, they’re ideas that have been taken from great cities around the world.”

Liberal bent

He said in parliament last year Perth council, majority aligned to the lord mayor, had a Liberal bent and would shoot down ideas coming from councillors Harley, Limnios or Green.

Chair commissioner Eric Lumsden says the council has to manage competing demands for space, balancing the need for safety, cleanliness, shade, the impact on infrastructure, bus lanes, clearways and businesses.

He says parklets will form part of the city’s future “Precinct Plans”.

Mr Lumsden says the $40 per sqm alfresco fee is among the cheaper rates in the metro area, and the alfresco policy has been drafted after extensive consultation, “and overall there was support.

He adds the draft guidelines make for a “simplified policy to ensure clarity for businesses and provides a framework that encourages a high quality experience which contributes to vibrancy and practicality befitting of a capital city.

“Every area is completely unique, there are no two areas, precincts, local governments or cities that are the same and the City of Perth has tried to come up with a solution which will work for the areas under its control.”

Mr Lumsden says Perth has looked at other cities and councils to develop its plans for the CBD which will be a “huge improvement”.

He said the council would review the policy after a year to see if it needs refining.

by DAVID BELL

EVEN God isn’t immune from WA’s economic slump.

After 74 years, Carols by Candlelight at Langley Park has been cancelled due to a lack of sponsors.

Organiser Variety WA is $290,000 short of the $350,000 it needs to hold the event, and on Monday announced the nativity set won’t be coming out this year.

Perth council had agreed to inject $60,000, but other sponsors hadn’t re-committed.

Last year naming rights went to IGA, but the event had to be cancelled due to terrible weather.

Variety WA CEO Tony Hume said they’d negotiated with LotteryWest, the WA Symphony Orchestra and corporate sponsors but realised there’d be a shortfall.

“We understand the current economic climate has forced many businesses to re-examine their giving capacity,” Mr Hume said.

“We had to consider whether we were in a position to underwrite the event, or whether we should instead be directing those funds to help children with needs in WA.

“In the end, we took the very difficult decision that we could not afford to continue to run Carols by Candlelight in its current form and we are very disappointed to have had to make this choice.

“We hope that West Australians will understand that our priority is helping children who are sick, disadvantaged or have special needs, and we need to be able to meet the high demand for our services.

“We need to focus our efforts on things like providing scholarships, wheelchair accessible vehicles, adjustable beds and sensory play equipment to children,”

There may still be a smaller event run with the City of Perth’s money.

Lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi, currently suspended along with the rest of the Perth council, said via Twitter: “The state government & City of Perth should co-sponsor Carols by Candlelight ‘18 in a year of need.

“A family tradition that must not be lost despite corporate sponsorship difficulty. The spirit of Christmas is important for children/families. Just like Skyworks on Australia Day.”

A BIKE trail at Hinds Reserve is gaining momentum after Bayswater councillors narrowly approved a $9000 feasibility study.

Councillor Catherine Ehrhardt moved a motion in June to look into an externally funded single trail, but since then the scope of the project has expanded to include three trails at a cost of about $319,000.

The main trail would be for mountain bikes, taking advantage of the naturally bumpy terrain.

Pump track

The second would be a BMX challenge “pump track” with sharp turns and steep slopes, and the third would be a small education course to teach kids about road rules and how to ride.

“It’s certainly much larger than I originally anticipated when I started looking into this two years ago,” Cr Ehrhardt said at last week’s council meeting.

“In my mind back then it was just a simple trail, but I quite like what [council staff] have come back with, with multiple uses.”

She said there’s a “high likelihood” of the trail being fully paid for by external grants, assuming a favourable feasibility study.

The council’s identified a few options for external funding, including Lotterywest, the state sports department, and private sponsors like Telstra or RAC, who both run grants programs for projects that improve people’s health.

The land on Hinds Reserve is owned and managed by the state planning department, so they’d have to agree to hand it over.

In their report to council, officers reckon the department would be “keen” on that because of the annual $5000 it has to spend on maintenance.

Councillor Filomena Piffaretti told the meeting the city should be wary of onerous costs.

“I’m totally against the city taking over the management of Hinds Reserve from the state government and burdening our ratepayers with the maintenance costs in perpetuity, of firebreaks, weed management, rubbish removal, revegetation, tree management and boardwalk maintenance”.

Bayswater mayor Dan Bull and councillors Georgia Johnson, Lorna Clark and Sally Palmer voted in favour of the feasibility study, with councillors Piffaretti, Chris Cornish, Elli Petersen-Pik and Michelle Sutherland voting against.

by DAVID BELL

A RALLY is planned for October 29 to save the Brian McKay mural at the Central Park building in the CBD.

The building’s owners, Perron Group and Frasers Commercial Property, want to move the huge wall of murals by about four metres to make way for refurbishments.

The Perron Group, founded by Perth philanthropist Stan Perron, says they’ve got expert advice it will not damage the murals.

But newly formed group Hands off Our Central Park Art has received conflicting advice, and in any case argues “murals are not moveable heritage. They are integral to the building form”.

Janet Holmes á Court, friend of the late artist McKay, has been at the forefront of the no-move campaign and she applied to the WA Heritage Council to have the building heritage listed.

The rally’s planned for 9am at the corner of William and Hay Streets.

The artwork was inspired by McKay’s time living on the small Greek island of Kythera.

In a Byzantine chapel he saw a 9th century Greek script etched into the walls of a crypt.

The Cyrillic script resonated with him and he incorporated it into the Central Park mural, although the letters are chosen for their aesthetic beauty and the text has no known meaning.

THE life and death of WWI pilot Alaric Pinder Boor will be commemorated in a special remembrance concert at St Mary’s Cathedral on November 4.

Historian Richard Offen will narrate the story of Lt Boor, a Christian Brothers College (now Aquinas) student who died ahead of the famed Battle of Beersheeba in Palestine.

Lt Boor was studying medicine at Oxford University when war broke out.

He served in the light infantry in France, Greece and Italy before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

On the morning of the Battle of Beersheba on October 31, 1917, Lt Boor flew out on a reconnaissance mission.

Mission

Along with his observer John Herman Muller, his mission was to scout the German and Ottomon stronghold at Beersheba and see if an attack was viable.

In the days before most planes were equipped with radio, Lt Muller’s report confirming a viable attack was written down on paper, wrapped around a weight, and dropped to the allies.

They continued their flight back to El Buzzar aerodrome, but their plane crashed at about 10.30am.

His unit commander Major Horace Haycock wrote to Lt Boor’s parents “whether his controls jammed or not it is impossible to say but knowing his skill as a pilot I cannot help believing something went wrong with the machine.”

The aircraft Lt Boor was flying, the RE8, had a reputation as being particularly difficult to fly.

Lt Muller died on impact.

An unconscious Lt Boor was pulled out of the wreckage, but he was fatally wounded and sadly didn’t hold on to hear about the allied victory later that day.

Aged 25, he was buried in Beersheba war cemetery.

A Rhodes Scholar, photographer, champion sportsman in boxing and cricket, Lt Boor was one of many talented young men whose promising lives would be cut short: In 1909 he was photographed with 12 other CBC prefects. Six of the 13 pictured would die in action.

It was said the CBC principal Paul Nunan “was never the same again,” according to CBC historian Kevin Paull. “His heart, like his boys, had died on the battlefields.”

The story will be accompanied by one of Australia’s leading trumpet players Yoram Levy, along with Perth Soprano Katja Web, the St George’s College Chamber Orchestra and the Cathedral Choir and pipe organist.

Remembrance by Candlelight is on November 4 at St Mary’s Cathedral (Victoria Square), tickets $25 via http://www.ticketsWA.com or 6488 2440.

by DAVID BELL

A LIFEGUARD at the Terry Tyzack Aquatic Centre has won a WA Bravery Award.

Tanika Buscombe was on duty at the centre when a man was found unconscious across the road at Wordsworth Reserve.

She rushed across and provided CPR until a St John’s ambulance arrived.

This month, Ms Buscombe was recognised by the Royal Life Saving Society for her efforts at an awards ceremony at King’s Park.

She has been employed by Stirling council for eight years and worked her way up from lifeguard to duty supervisor.

Karl Mallet, from the council’s aquatic services, said he was proud of Ms Buscombe and other staff who had been recognised by the Society.

“These incidents are a timely reminder of the challenging environments the staff at the city’s aquatic facilities work in and the dedicat[ion], responsiveness and professionalism shown by all of the recipients at the most confronting of times is a real credit to the individuals and the broader teams,” he said.

ANGOVE STREET will be crammed with skeletons, ghouls and dismembered corpses later this month.

No, it’s not the venue for the next party room meeting of the Liberal government, but the street’s annual Halloween bash.

Part of the street will be closed to traffic, providing a space for kids to trick or treat.

There’ll be Halloween-themed music from local surf rockers Day of the Dead, with support from Catzilla and Simone & Girlfunkle.

The Perth Symphony is also sending along a quintet to play spooky tunes.

The free event is from 4.30pm to 8.30pm on October 31 and is run by North Perth Local, the suburb’s town team, and mostly funded by Vincent council.

Please no complaints about American imports: One of the event sponsors, Perth MP John Carey, pointed out this week that “contrary to popular opinion, Halloween isn’t a US tradition, it harks back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain”.

DIANELLA secondary college have a launched a new program to help migrant pupils and their families feel at home.

The suburb has some of the highest levels of refugee and migrant settlement in WA.

The Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre will work with the college to provide support services, including an annual camp for students and their parents, workshops and information sessions held in relevant languages and an annual “Harmony Day” at the school.

The program is funded through a $480,000 federal government grant.

“Economic and social integration by new migrants and their families is vital to their future,” said Stirling federal MP Michael Keenan.

“Feeling connected to their new home or school, and being part of Australian society creates a sense of worth and belonging.

“Students will receive active support enabling them to explore their options for training and education post-high school.

“The program will also encourage greater engagement with other recreational activities, including sport and the arts.

“The Federal government remains committed to helping humanitarian entrants, especially during their first five years after arriving in Australia, so that they can build a better life and become self-sufficient, fully functioning members of our community.”

The program is also being rolled out at Balga Senior High School.

LIVING with the debilitating and somewhat controversial Lyme’s disease and caring for a terminally ill son, Vicki White struggled to get help from WA’s labyrinthian health system.

The former nurse and special needs education assistant says she was shuffled from service to service to answer her many questions, and the rigmarole soon became part of the problem.

“It was extremely frustrating and and exhausting,” Ms White says.

“When you’re sick, you just don’t have the energy and resources to deal with your condition, let alone juggling the minefield that is the health system.

“People are unaware of the of the resources available, and more often than not, stumble across them by accident or not at all.”

Realising there was a niche, last year Ms White created the company LaurenKate and markets herself as “Australia’s first chronic health doula”.

The name doula has its origins in ancient Greek, where it reportedly meant female slave; in the late 60s it was coined to describe a companion who looked after a birthing woman’s every need.

For Ms White it means being a shoulder to cry on when someone becomes overwhelmed by their chronic illness, which is described as an ailment that lasts more than three months. It can include asthma, diabetes, endometriosis, amputations, arthritis and more.

Ms White will also provide advice on what support services are available and help work on a management plan.

“This is all about empowering people who want to step past the victim mentality and label that living with a chronic health condition can do,” the Glendalough resident says.

Living with ill health can put an enormous strain on relationships. It even affects the Australian economy; the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimated in 2014 that it cost $27 billion annually to deal with chronic diseases.

For more information contact Ms White on 0427 779 335 or email admin@laurenkatecilc.com

DECRIMINALISING illegal drugs in WA could help reduce their devastating effects on society, says North Metro MLC Alison Xamon.

She’s won bi-partisan support for a parliamentary select committee to do a study on alternative approaches to tackling the state’s drug crisis, including decriminalisation, which was introduced in Portugal in 2001.

Ms Xamon said the Portuguese had shown it was possible to take a different approach and have some successes, noting deaths from drugs in Portugal had reduced from 360 a year in the 1990s to an average of just 26 in 2016, by treating drug use as a health issue.

“It is clear that the current approach to reducing the harm that illicit drugs cause our community is not working,” Ms Xamon said.

“The crisis is getting worse rather than better because we do not have the right balance.”

She said the committee would look at the weighting given to enforcement, health and social interventions.

“The 10-year mental health, alcohol and other drugs services plan paints a concerning picture of drug use in WA, with one in 25 having recently used amphetamines or methamphetamines,” Ms Xamon said.

 “We know that between 30 and 50 per cent of people with alcohol and other drug problems have a co-occurring mental illness – and there is frequently an increase in use before a person dies by suicide.”

Ms Xamon said WA had seen the greatest increase in accidental drug-related deaths with numbers doubling in the past 15 years.

She said while meth was not the main cause; illicit drugs were a key contributor.

Life expectancy

“Drug related problems significantly impact the health and life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Western Australians; they play a role in the removal of children across the state; they are a huge problem in our prisons. They are costing the state both socially and economically.”

Other MPs on the committee are Labor’s Samantha Rowe, Liberal’s shadow attorney general Michael Mischin, Colin Stephen de Grussa from the Nationals, and the Liberal Democrats MP Aaron Stonehouse.

The Liberal Democrats party’s national policy is to legalise “all drugs which cause less harm than alcohol and tobacco” and to decriminalise personal use of other drugs.

Mr Stonehouse also chairs a select committee inquiring into laws that “restrict personal choice ‘for the individual’s own good”, scrutinising bans on vaping and compulsory helmets for cyclists.