Perth Voice Interactive

PLANS to reincarnate Hay Street’s Piccadilly Theatre were put on ice during a meeting of the Perth sponsorship committee on Tuesday night.

The art deco building housed Perth’s last inner-city cinema before falling into disrepair and closing down in 2013 when the lease-holder started missing rent payments.

It’s still vacant (although it’s rumoured to be haunted by the ghost of a former manager) and event promoter Brad Mellen hopes to restore some life to the historic venue.

Refurbishments are projected to cost over $3 million, so Mellen Events have asked Perth council for a 10-year sponsorship deal totalling $1.7 million, promising night-time activation of the Hay Street mall in return.

Mr Mellen is keeping details of the project under wraps to avoid “putting the cart before the horse”, but says it won’t get off the ground without council support; the lease agreement with the Malaysia-based owners will only be triggered if he can get backers signed on.

The committee went behind closed doors for deliberations on Tuesday night, with Crs Keith Yong and Janet Davidson moving to defer the decision.

If the Piccadilly gets up and running, Mr Mellen’s promising a “wide range of theatrical events” and hopes to initially attract 52,500 people across 75 shows each year, ramping up to 98,000 punters across 140 shows.

“I believe we’re very well placed to oversee the revised Piccadilly Theatre”, Mr Mellen said in a deposition to the sponsorship committee.

“I don’t think I need to outline to you the social benefits that come with activating that part of town at night.

“We’re not planning to compete with, nor can we compete with the big cinemas like Raine Square.”

While waiting outside the meeting room for a decision, Mr Mellen got caught in a terse head-to-head with another player in the entertainment industry, Miles Hull – who had attended to ask the committee some probing questions about whether the unusually high sponsorship would be extended to similar local businesses.

Mr Hull is involved with the restoration of Rechabite Hall on William street in Northbridge, which is also being resurrected as an entertainment and culture hub.

The sponsorship committee is expected to make a decision at February’s meeting.

by TRILOKESH CHANMUGAM

SEASONED Bayswater councillor Terry Kenyon is appealing his bankruptcy.

On January 16 a federal circuit court ordered Cr Kenyon’s estate be sequestrated under the Bankruptcy Act after Laval Legal sued him over unpaid legal fees.

But on January 25 judge Toni Lucev ordered a stay until the previous decision can be reviewed, with a hearing scheduled for May 18.

Last week the Voice reported Lavan was seeking $324,767 in legal fees but Cr Kenyon’s new legal rep James Eley says that figure is outdated. Cr Kenyon argued the bill was incorrect and he has referred it to the Legal Professions Complaints Committee as a potential case of overbilling. Mr Eley says the court’s since ordered the bill be slashed to roughly $95,000.

What’s now in dispute is how much Cr Kenyon has already paid and how much is still owed.

Cr Kenyon’s 23-year tenure at Bayswater council is at stake; bankrupt councillors are disqualified from holding office for three years and one day. The council’s acting CEO Carissa Bywater says the city has “sought legal advice on the effect of that order on the disqualification provisions of the Local Government Act”.

by DAVID BELL

LABOR will fund a $45 million school within the city link precinct if elected, says leader Mark McGowan.

Due to open in 2020, it would be integrated with a relocated and expanded Scitech and the two would take over Perth Modern’s role as the go-to school for Perth’s smarties. It would revert to being the intake school for local students and get a small upgrade to cater for 200 new places.

Public transport

Premier Colin Barnett’s unimpressed with the idea of a high school in an entertainment district, while Mr McGowan says the location benefits from being close to public transport and the state’s main theatre, art gallery and library.

Perth Labor candidate John Carey says “look where the density infill is: The growth is in the inner city areas” and with the government so gung-ho on density there needs to be the schools to cater for new families moving in.

Last year East Perth parent Andrew Flavell said the inner city needed a high school option. His daughter’s currently at Highgate primary but once she hits high school the closest option is Mt Lawley.

Alex Castle has a child in year 5 at Mt Hawthorn. She’s usually a Labor voter and the city school plan “cements how I would vote anyway”.

“I think it’s fantastic that both sides of government have realised it’s a pretty important issue and it’s great to have so many options,” she says.

“I really like the education central plan, I feel that it’s actually exciting and looking towards the future in a better way that what the Liberals are proposing.”

One concern the Voice has often heard from parents is the possibility the Liberal plan for a new City Beach school could redraw intake boundaries. Ms Castle says “a lot of families have made a choice on where to buy a house based on which school their child can go to”. Mr Carey says this new plan won’t force anyone to go to a different school: “If you’re currently a parent right now living in those suburbs, we’re keeping that choice because I know some people have made a decision about buying property [so their children can] go to Churchlands or Mount Lawley.”

by DAVID BELL

THE Wildnerness Society is hitting the Mt Lawley electorate hard in an attempt to unseat pro-fracking incumbent Michael Sutherland.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves drilling underground and pumping in a mix of water, chemicals and sand to force open tiny fractures and release gas. Proponents see it as a more environmentally-friendly energy source than coal, while protestors claim it’s environmentally damaging and can lead to the gas and chemicals leaking into ground and surface water.

While the industry gets accused of whitewashing concerns, anti-fracking protestors have also dabbled in scaremongering: Queensland Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham claimed fracking had made a local river flammable because of leaking gas, setting the surface on fire to make his point. The CSIRO said the gas was naturally occurring.

Labor will declare the Perth Peel and South West regions “frack-free” zones in October if elected while the Greens want that ban extended to the Mid West, Pilbara and Kimberley.

There’s no fracks planned for the electorate but Wilderness Society polling says “83.8 per cent of Mt Lawley voters are concerned about fracking, with 62.5 per cent saying they want a ban on the practice, [and] 32.4 per cent” wanting a permanent ban.

TWS’s state director Jenita Enevoldsen says “with growing support for minor parties, the major parties need to show they are listening to the community, and this polling shows the vast majority of voters are concerned about fracking, want the practice banned and are more likely to vote for a party that supports some sort of ban.”

Mr Sutherland says WA’s extensive shale gas resources are an important resource.

“Fracking in WA is not new,” he told the Voice. “Over the past 60 years there have been over 700 fracking activities without any major negative incidents.

“WA has strict multiagency approvals processes in place before fracking is allowed, which includes the Department of Water, Health, Planning, Parks and Wildlife, and Environmental Regulations,” Mr Sutherland said.

by DAVID BELL