Perth Voice Interactive

CARR STREET locals have formed an action group to fight a fire station planned for their residential area.

The empty site, formerly a factory that burned down in 2012, has neighbouring houses and apartments in all directions, and locals are worried about noise, traffic and health impacts.

The state government spent $8.7 million buying the site and last August emergency services minister Joe Francis announced plans for a $19m station.

Mr Francis said the new station would ease pressures on the existing one in East Perth as the city kept growing.

“The Perth city link, Elizabeth Quay and other projects will see the construction of more high-rise buildings in the CBD, and with higher density comes higher demands on the fire service,” Mr Francis said.

The new station is slated to have three vehicles and up to 12 firefighters per shift.

But the location has locals puzzled: The quadrant of Carr, Charles, Newcastle and Vincent Street is a traffic nightmare at peak hour and they reckon a fire truck would get horribly snagged in the commuter rush.

“Why a fast response service would even consider [this] location lacks foresight,” reads a flyer letterboxed by the action group.

There’s also worries about what “hazardous materials” could be stored on site, especially given the unsolved mystery of the Success fire station cancer cluster that cropped up between 2008 and 2014.

A FAQ issued by the department of fire and emergency services sought to assuage fears, telling locals studies found fire stations wouldn’t damage nearby property values and saying the swank building would “improve the aesthetics of the street scape” and be “iconic and not perceived as a standard fire station”.

The FAQ says the location was picked after they considered the lot size, the response times they’d get for nearby fires, population studies, “traffic congestion hot spots” and considering where it sits in relation to other stations.

However the department concedes that training on the grounds including car crash rescue drills and other outdoor exercises could sometimes extend to 10.30pm at night. The department also says they’ll only whack the lights and sirens on when absolutely necessary and that they generally don’t start blaring them when leaving the station.

We’ve asked the department to address questions about any hazardous material that could be stored on site and are awaiting a response.

Vincent city council is handling the community consultation but mayor John Carey says they have zero say over whether the station gets built, they can only pass on the consultation forms to the state government with the WA planning commission to make the final call.

by DAVID BELL

PERTH city council’s administration has poured cold water on lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi’s suggestion staff should’ve been helping her declare travel and gifts

At Tuesday night’s meeting Ms Scaffidi reiterated previous statements that she didn’t know she was breaching rules, and that staff hadn’t given her proper advice on disclosing all gifts.

“It should be a team effort,” Ms Scaffidi said.

Comprehensive induction

But a “clarifying” statement issued by media officer Michael Holland on behalf of the administration on Wednesday evening, says all councillors “are provided a comprehensive induction on their roles and obligations under the local government act 1995”.

“Administration is unambiguous in its advice that the content of annual returns and gift registers are the responsibility of the individual.

“Suggestions to the contrary are incorrect and do not accord with the legislative requirements”.

Hammering the point home, the statement says councillors are given “detailed, prescriptive instructions on the accurate completion of annual returns, including by providing case studies and examples of correct returns”.

Local government minister Tony Simpson also took a swipe at the council’s elected members outside parliament on Wednesday morning.

“The administration is working well. The acting CEO [Martin Mileham] has made a raft of changes to policy, bins are being picked up, services are being done,” Mr Simpson said.

But he described councillors as “acting like children”.

PERTH lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi handed down an edict to “freeze out” newbie councillor Jemma Green, deputy lord mayor James Limnios has revealed.

Cr Green stood as an independent last October, and was the only person elected without the endorsement of Ms Scaffidi.

At Tuesday’s meeting Cr Green revealed she’d tried for two months to meet Ms Scaffidi to discuss plans for greater transparency at the council.

Cr Green wants the council to have a more thorough online travel register and register of every councillors’ interests.

While likening Cr Green’s motions on Tuesday to an ambush, Ms Scaffidi defended the lack of communication, saying “there is no requirement to engage with councillors at 11 o’clock at night or whenever someone sends you an email”.

Cr Limnios then revealed the lord mayor had orchestrated a planned freeze-out among her allies: “When Cr Green was talking about your refusal to meet with her, why didn’t you tell the truth? You wanted to bar us from speaking to Cr Green.”

Cr Limnios tried to continue but the lord mayor cut him off.

This week Cr Green publicly stated she thought the lord mayor should step aside pending the outcome of the SAT process to halt “even more damage to the reputation of the City of Perth and the office of lord mayor”.

“I’LL be here to the bitter end,” was the message from lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi as she fended off one call after another to resign at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Perth residents from across the city, not just her demesne, submitted statements to public question time calling on her to stand down.

About half a dozen were read out, while CEO Martin Mileham knocked another couple out on the grounds they weren‘t in the spirit of the local government act.

From Yokine, Mandurah, Northbridge and Crawley the critical queries came, but Ms Scaffidi was resolute: she’d stay until the state administrative tribunal case concluded.

Only one submission gave her some support; it was an attack on deputy James Limnios, querying how he could keep his position if he didn’t support her.

Step aside

During the week Cr Limnios and colleague Jemma Green called for Ms Scaffidi to step aside pending the outcome of the SAT hearing.

At Tuesday night’s meeting the tables were turned as Ms Scaffidi’s allies turned on Cr Limnios, serving up a motion of no confidence on the grounds he hadn’t attended enough events.

Long-time Scaffidi ally Janet Davidson said that of the 90-odd events the deputy lord mayor had been invited to he’d gone to only a third.

A spreadsheet of the events was handed out, catching those outside the Scaffidi camp off-guard.

Cr Green complained of being “ambushed” and Cr Reece Harley asked for time to read it before voting.

Shortly after he noted that on one occasion Cr Limnios was reportedly AWOL, he’d been at another city event, while on another occasion it was his son’s birthday.

Cr Limnios pointed out others were due to a death in the family and his father’s ill-health.

“I’ll call it for what it is — political blindsiding, in my view.

“Completely unacceptable,” Cr Harley said.

Crs Jim Adamos, Janet Davidson, Judy McEvoy, Keith Yong and Ms Scaffidi voted for the no confidence motion, while Crs Lily Chen, Jemma Green, Reece Harley, and James Limnios voted against.

Cr Limnios claimed the vote was “payback” for speaking out agains the lord mayor.

He refused to step down.

“It’s your failings that have led us to this position,” he told the lord mayor, while still claiming to be able to work with her in her professional capacity.

The lord mayor summed up the meeting by telling the audience not to be distracted by the spectacle and that it was “business as usual”.

Cr Harley added “business as usual looks pretty poor to me”.

stories by DAVID BELL