Perth Voice Interactive

THE local government standards panel has found Lisa Scaffidi’s actions at a November 1 meeting last year “fell below the standard of conduct that is expected of the lord mayor” as the presiding officer.

The panel also rejected a complaint from the lord mayor stemming from the same fiery meeting.

Mrs Scaffidi complained about councillor Jemma Green for criticising a council decision, but the panel stated “the complaint relies on a misunderstanding of a relevant legal principle”.

Last year Cr Green put up a motion aiming to make it easier for businesses to serve food and drink in alfresco areas rather than navigating the current red tape obstacle course.

Criticise

The majority of councillors voted against starting a six-month trial.

After the vote Mrs Scaffidi alleges Cr Green continued to “lobby and criticise the resolution by contacting various stakeholders” and said “this conduct has damaged the reputation of the City of Perth and elected members”.

These included emails to other councillors as well as Australian Hotels Association WA boss Bradley Woods.

In her complaint Mrs Scaffidi argued this constituted a minor breach of the Local Government (Rules of Conduct) Regulations because it constituted “securing personal advantage or disadvantaging others”.

The standards panel that polices councillor behaviour declared Mrs Scaffidi’s complaint had misunderstood the “relevant legal principle” and said “therefore, the panel has decided to refuse to deal with the complaint and no further action will be taken in relation to the matter.”

Improper

The panel also dealt with a complaint that the lord mayor prevented Cr Green from moving a motion she had foreshadowed, as required under the standing orders.

Instead, one of Mrs Scaffidi’s allies, Janet Davidson, jumped in and moved it as a “pro forma motion”, which has no standing under the procedural rules. That prevented Cr Green from introducing and closing the discussion on the motion.

The panel noted Mrs Scaffidi’s “conduct fell below the standard of conduct that is expected of the lord mayor and was an improper use of her office” and agreed with Cr Green that she had the right to move the motion.

But it wasn’t enough to constitute a breach, because “the panel is not satisfied that the lord mayor engaged in the conduct to directly or indirectly cause detriment to the complainant or the city,” as she still let Cr Green speak after Cr Davidson introduced the motion.

by DAVID BELL

AFTER 42 years the Mount Lawley Bowling Club has a women’s team back in the first division following a big pennant win.

The last time the women’s team won a pennant flag was 1958, but at last Wednesday’s grand final at Yokine Bowling Club they defeated Kardinya by an aggregate of five shots across the three four-women “rinks” (a mini-team that makes up the 12-person team).

Team captain Karen Lewis says “this is a wonderful achievement by the ladies and something that does not occur often. We had the right mix of players at the right time.

“Some of our players are in their early 80s and have been members of our club for more than 30 years.

“We also have a number of younger members who have contributed to our success and will continue to do so in years to come.”

Club manager and skipper Rosemarie Lenzo says bowls has attracted younger people lately.

“We run barefoot bowls and we get a lot of young people,” she says.

“The majority are in their 20s and Thursdays and they have a bit of fun, they really enjoy the bowling, and I think they enjoy the cheap drinks on a summer evening.”

by DAVID BELL

A NEW honey bee research centre led by UWA will bring together industry and academic experts to help secure the insects’ future.

It’s in the interests of bee product sellers and humanity at large to keep honey bees safe; their products — honey, beeswax, royal jelly and venom (used to treat ailments like arthritis) — is a $125-million industry in Australia.

UWA’s Liz Barbour says bees are also vital for crop production: “what is often overlooked is that 44 of our food crops wholly, or in part, rely on honey bee pollination which adds an additional farm gate value of $6.5b.”

Globally bees are in decline, with diseases, parasites and chemicals ravaging European populations.

In parts of China, the bee population is so low that some apple crops must be painstakingly (and expensively) pollinated by hand.

But here they’re still doing okay.

Dr Barbour says; “The low price of most honey bee products from Australia doesn’t reflect their unique and pure qualities. Australia, especially WA, has one of the healthiest bee populations in the world so no antibiotics or chemicals from bee husbandry contaminate the products…through our quarantine efforts the worse [bee diseases like the mite Varroa] have not yet reached our shores.”

If bee disease reaches here it’ll be a disaster, potentially cutting our agricultural production by a quarter.

“Claims have been made that Australia’s honey bee population has little resistance to foreign diseases,” Dr Barbour says.

“If true, any disease invasion would be catastrophic.”

by DAVID BELL

PERTH council has put up signs effectively banning charities from collecting in the Perth station pedestrian overpass, but the Salvation Army says they won’t contest the rule.

Salvo collector Shirley Mort retired last year after collecting $1.7 million for charity over her 26-year volunteering career (“Charities bounced?”, Voice, March 18). On Australia Day Perth council chose her for one of its Citizens of the Year awards.

It was a valuable spot as commuters often had spare change after buying a train ticket or a coffee, but recently Perth staff put up grammatically-shaky signs enforcing a longstanding rule that bans “sitting, standing, laying [sic]” in the underpass.

Warren Palmer from the Salvos says they won’t argue the call. “If that’s the decision that the location is not available, we’ll always respect and abide by that.”

Commitment

He explained it was less the spot that was important and more about Mrs Mort herself and her tenacity in getting out there three to four days a week.

“Such was the impact that Shirley had, the commitment, the sacrifices she made, unfortunately we don’t have anyone to step into her shoes anyway.”

Long a fixture on her station spot, Mrs Mort’s in a retirement home these days and her memory’s fading, but Mr Palmer says he recently stopped by to deliver her Australia Day Citizen of the Year award and it put a huge smile on her face.

“She had such an impact on so many people. She was out there three or four days a week, rain, hail or shine, out there and connecting with the community.”

After our story last week Voice reader Val Marsden wrote in to inform us that along with the homeless and charity collectors, “the Big Issue sellers seem to have disappeared too which is a shame”.

by DAVID BELL

HENRY On Eighth owner Steve Lavell says a new council initiative could make Maylands safer and attract more businesses to the area.

Bayswater council “place makers” will host workshops with local businesses and community members to find out what improvements they want to see made to the city.

Mr Lavell said the initiative was “long overdue” and he wants a bigger security presence in Maylands.

“There has been an increase in unsavoury activity and, with a lot of charity groups in the area, a lot of homeless and displaced people,” he says.

“We are worried about the quick turnover of small businesses in the area.

“When businesses leave a vacancy it can be a real turnoff. It would be good to look into sub-leasing spaces perhaps to local artists.

“It’s time local businesses have someone we can contact about our day-to-day concerns.

“We want to create a really attractive destination for visitors as well as locals who sometimes feel they have to go elsewhere to places like Mt Lawley.”

Bayswater mayor Barry McKenna hopes improvements to shopfronts and streets will boost economic performance in town centres.

“Community input is paramount as regular users of centres are a valued resource when it comes to what is needed to bring retail strips to life at different times of the day,” he says.

Bayswater’s hiring of place makers follows the success of the initiative in Vincent, which has included pop up bars, mini festivals and made it easier for businesses to set up festivals.

The workshops are at Bayswater Hotel, March 27, from 6pm, and at Maylands’ WA Ballet centre, April 3, from 7pm.

by CHARLIE SMITH

IT’S lawyers at 20 paces with the Oxford Street skyline in the balance.

The old car park across from the Re Store is owned by Suida International, and they want to build a $17-million, six-storey, 69-apartment block with offices and two eateries below.

Vincent council staff say new rules limiting the area to four storeys should apply and have recommended the local Development Assessment Panel reject the plan.

The developer’s lawyers want this one grandfathered in under the old rules that gave DAP discretion to approve up to six storeys if they thought it was a you-beaut design.

New Labor Perth MP John Carey spearheaded the push for the reduced height limit when he was Vincent mayor.

He was in the public gallery at Tuesday’s DAP meeting, calling it a test case for the new limits.

The project’s planners, Visionary Vanguard, describe their design as “an attractive and safe residential environment comprising affordable, modern and high quality housing within an already well established urban area which helps support local businesses”.

“It does not compromise the existing character, amenity or compatibility of land usage in the immediate locality.

But nearby neighbours who attended Tuesday’s DAP meeting, including Liz Sinclair, say six storeys is too high and want the new rules to apply.

Their chief complaints include the building’s bulk, the lack of a setback onto Burgess Street, and a loss of privacy with apartments overlooking their houses.

They didn’t get to have their say on Tuesday: with lawyer’s advice flying back and forth, DAP members unanimously voted to defer the decision to get their own legal opinion from the State Solicitor’s Office about whether the old or new rules apply.

by DAVID BELL

LABOR leader Mark McGowan is taking legal advice on whether he can sack the “dysfunctional” Perth council.

Last week one of Mrs Scaffidi’s long-time allies Judy McEvoy handed around statutory declarations asking councillors to swear they hadn’t talked to the media about council CEO Martin Mileham’s contract.

Mr McGowan described that as “unacceptable”.

On Tuesday afternoon, fractious councillors unanimously agreed to spend $500,000 on a thorough independent audit of the city’s operations, carried out by Deloitte.

The audit was first approved last October, but last week Mrs Scaffidi said it would show everything was running smoothly in the wake of negative press and Mr McGowan’s threats of dismissal.

At the meeting Cr Reece Harley said he was “extremely disappointed” that the lord mayor had given the impression that the audit would show the public everything was running fine in light of recent PR troubles and the new premier’s promise.

“I was extremely disappointed to hear the lord mayor discussing this organisational assessment live on radio last Friday morning…reannouncing this audit right in the middle of a political maelstrom about her actions and actions of her council allies”.

Mrs Scaffidi interrupted twice, saying they were only there to discuss the terms of reference.

Cr Harley insisted he was speaking to the terms and continued: “The purpose of an audit of this nature is to identify holes, weaknesses, gaps and areas for improvement in the way the city operates…the purpose of this audit is not to assure any concerned ratepayers that the city is operating well as the lord mayor said on radio, but rather to objectively, independently determine where we can and must do better.

Waste

“The purpose of this audit should not be viewed by any city ratepayer, resident or stakeholder as a process to prove that nothing is wrong here at the city because there evidently are many areas for improving the way we go about our business.”

Deputy mayor James Limnios, who’s had many disagreements with the lord mayor of late, tried to make clear that the audit “has no administrative connection between the lord mayor and Deloittes”.

Mrs Scaffidi interjected: “You will retract that statement. This audit has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

“… that’s what I said,” Cr Limnios replied.

“You inferred it did by even making such a statement,” Mrs Scaffidi insisted.

Meanwhile, Mr McGowan, who this week said the audit was a “waste,” is due to be briefed on the situation and whether he can legally sack the council.

Under the Local Government Act, he can call a three-member enquiry panel to look into the city’s issues and if they declare the councillors should be dismissed then local government minister David Templeman can endorse that recommendation.

In that case appointed administrator’s would be brought in to run things until October’s elections.

Mrs Scaffidi told the media this week that things were running better than ever at Council House.

by DAVID BELL

CLARKSON ROAD residents have been unfairly labelled tree killers thanks to an ambiguous council sign, says Maylands resident Stephen Vining.

The Swan River Trust started putting up the large signs when new housing developments along the river saw selfish landowners cut down trees to improve their views. “Vegetation in this area has been vandalised,” they boldly state, the aim being to give the poisoners and chainsawers a view more annoying than a bit of greenery.

Fuming 

But the signs were usually only put up under a principle of “cui bono” when one house was a clear beneficiary of the tree being gone, so it was glaringly apparent to passersby who had done the deed.

Mr Vining and several of his neighbours on Clarkson Road are fuming that Bayswater council’s put up an ambiguously-placed sign that points fingers indiscriminately.

In a letter undersigned by four other neighbours he implored the council to remove the sign, saying many of the trees were dead long before he purchased the property so they shouldn’t be unfairly tarnished.

He says the neighbourhood has identified one dead tree which they “agree appears to be a random act of vandalism” but “all neighbours abhor vandalism of any kind and have welcomed the council’s action of planting more trees”.

They put the request to council to have the sign removed saying it was an ugly blight on amenity and damaged property prices in the area.

Bayswater mayor Barry McKenna says, “while we sympathise with Mr Vining, the purpose of the sign is to highlight such acts of vandalism.”

“The City of Bayswater takes the poisoning of trees very seriously.

“We have a strict policy on deliberate tree poisoning, it is a deplorable act of eco-vandalism that the city will not tolerate.”

Beautifying

He says with trees bringing many benefits like cooling and beautifying the city they have to take a tough stance.

“Our approach has been to call for increased community vigilance on the issue…unless we catch a person in the act of vandalising a tree, a sign is the only recourse that we have in terms of drawing attention to the deliberate destruction of trees that are valued by our community.”

In January’s council meeting, Cr Stephanie Coates put forward a motion to review the tree vandalism policy “to minimise the potential to adversely affect innocent parties in the vicinity to any suspected vandalised trees”.

A report from council staff “acknowledged that sign installation may impact on neighbouring properties’ amenity, even so the sign acts as a deterrent for future tree vandalism and encourages residents to contact the city should they observe any suspicious behaviour”.

Councillors were split, 5/5, with mayor McKenna’s casting vote keeping the strict policy as-is.

Under the policy the sign will stay for two years, or until someone stumps up the cash to replace the dead trees with twice as many.

by DAVID BELL