Perth Voice Interactive

NORTH PERTH reader Andrew Douglas has a mystery on his hands: his backyard olive tree is slowly ailing from an unknown sickness and experts are baffled.

Mr Douglas contacted the Voice to see if any readers can shed some light on the problem.

The tree, “is about 50 years old so I consider it part of the family and would like to save it”, he says.

Experts including a retired horticultural lecturer, a professional arborist and various tree pruners have all left scratching their heads.

“Nobody seems to know what is happening to this tree or why,” Mr Douglas says.

Symptoms include “the bark is falling off the thicker trunk-like branches and they are cracking. Despite this, new shoots are still sprouting and there’s growth in other parts of the tree, and olives are still being produced.”

That’s been going on for about 10 years, and now entire sections are shrivelling and dying off.

“Surely there must be some knowledgeable migrant folk in this town, familiar with the beloved olive tree who can advise me.”

Fifty is young in olive tree terms as they can easily live to 500.

If you have any ideas get in touch with the Voice on 9430 7727 or news@perthvoice.com

by DAVID BELL

RATEPAYER-FUNDED gifts of up to $1000 for retired and defeated councillors are under scrutiny from a new Bayswater councillor.

Catherine Ehrdhardt, elected in October, wants the council to look into whether the practice should continue.

Her move comes as Michael Sabatino, defeated last year, received $1000 for his more than 10 years’ service.

Fellow departees Mike Anderton and former mayor Sylan Albert (whom Cr Ehrhardt defeated) got to keep their council-issued laptops valued at $170 each.

Cr Ehrdhardt says the council’s “recognition of service” policy, refreshed in 2014, needs review before the next election in two years.

“There’s no real urgency to do this now,” she says.

“I think with computers especially, there should be something done about making sure computers are wiped of sensitive information.”

She also suggested the used computers could be better off with people in real need.

Before 2014 councillors had to serve four years before receiving a departure gift valued between $500 and $1500.

Now, in line with local government regulations, outgoing councillors get $100 for every year they serve, capped at $1000.

Two years ago Bayswater ratepayers’ association chief Tony Green urged the council to dump the practice entirely.

Gifts to acknowledge service were appropriate when councillors weren’t paid, he said, but now they are paid between $30,000 and $136,000 a year (the mayor).

“Now that elected members get paid a living wage, with the mayor receiving a higher wage than our local state MP, there is no need for them to receive this extra payment when they leave council,” Mr Green said at the time.

“Elected members are not in full-time employment by the City of Bayswater, and it is not normal practice in industry to make such payments to casual or part-time staff.”

by EMMIE DOWLING

IT’S been 100 years since Mount Hawthorn locals banded together to build a house for a wounded World War I veteran.

Anne Chapple is the granddaughter of Private Cuthbert John Porter, one of the first to return from Gallipoli. Shot through the left leg on the first day of the landing and unable to work, he was chosen to live in the house that was built by the Mount Hawthorn Progress Association as an alternative to a memorial.

“He was very embarrassed by it,” Ms Chapple says of her grandfather being gifted the house, “and actually wrote to the war council and asked that it not be given to him, and said there were others more deserving.”

The humility only convinced the war council and the association he was the right person.

Two busy bees were held in the leadup to the construction, one on January 29, 1916 to clear the block with axes and saws, and on February 5 a half-mile long procession of stone, timber bricks and paint was marched to the site.

On February 12, 200 men set to work, cheered on by 4000 onlookers and a “score of ladies” supplying hot meals. In one day they nearly completed the building, with only a few finishing touches to go.

In her history of the cottage, Ms Chapple says her grandfather lived out his days there, raising the flag every Anzac Day and Remembrance Day till his death in 1964.

This year’s centenary will mix solemnity with celebration. There will be music, plays, and the opening of a time capsule, sealed by Mt Hawthorn primary school children 10 years ago at the 90th anniversary.

Ms Chapple is also recreating a fowl tradition from the 1916 opening: “on the actual day it was opened they had eight-dozen ducks auctioned off,” Ms Chapple says.

It will be recreated in the forms of crafted, carved and painted ducks that people are donating. “You can call me a wuss, but I really did not want 96 ducks quacking—and someone said pooping—around the place,” Ms Chapple chortled.

Today, Vincent city council owns the building, and in the early 1990s it was vested with the Vietnam Veterans Association, which rescued it from disrepair in an echo of the original community effort to build the house.

The centenary weekend is across February 13 and 14 and there’s a full program at http://www.facebook.com/Anzac Cottage.

by DAVID BELL

VINCENT council is thinking about leaving the WA local government association.

Mayor John Carey is disappointed WALGA — the peak body for councils in WA — failed to show leadership on improving transparency in councils.

Before Christmas his motions to improve transparency in local government were roundly shot down by the vast majority of WALGA representatives from other WA councils, just days before Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi was found by the CCC to have engaged in serious misconduct over travel gifts.

WA local government minister Tony Simpson agreed with Mr Carey that standards had to rise and compulsory transparency training for councillors was needed.

Mr Carey’s other suggestion—online gift registers—has since been included as a compulsory clause in the City of Perth Act that’s currently being debated.

WALGA president Lynne Craigie has said mandatory training isn’t necessary and reckons the sector is already striving for best practice.

Mr Carey says that’s not good enough.

”There are good services provided by WALGA in terms of training and discounted contractor services, but at the same time it’s my personal view that our values as a city are poles apart from the current WALGA leadership,” he told the Voice.

“I think the current leadership has become the defender of the status quo.”

WALGA membership costs Vincent $52,000 a year but he says the main issue is, “we have an organisation that we’re a member of that’s going in a different direction”.

He’s asked staff to look into the pros and cons of pulling out and councillors will aim to make a decision around May.

Nedlands council pulled out of the association in 2013, saying WALGA was effectively doing the Barnett government’s bidding on council amalgamations (which were later abandoned).

by DAVID BELL

ANYONE suffering a drone buzzing overhead has almost no legal recourse, with rules hazy and enforcement near impossible.

Last week we reported Bayswater councillor Chris Cornish had endured a drone hovering near his backyard swimming pool for three days straight, putting a dampener on swimming plans.

But it’s a game of pass the buck when it comes to figuring out who can help.

Industry body Australian Certified UAV Operators Inc says anyone worried about drones in regards to, “breaches of privacy… or other suspicious activity.. should notify the local police immediately”.

But police media officer Sarah Dyer says, “drones are an issue for the civil aviation safety authority (CASA)”.

CASA didn’t call us back but they generally cover aviation safety (eg, drones too close to airports) rather than privacy. In January 2015 CASA fined an operator $850 for a slew of offences including flying his drone too high, too close to an airport, at night, over populated areas and within 30m of people.

But the only way they discovered the offences was because the pilot uploaded his footage to YouTube and a CASA staffer spotted it online.

While there’s confusion over who’s responsible for errant drones, figuring out which laws might have been broken is also hazy.

West Perth law firm HHG Legal Group published a think-piece in August last year trying to tackle the legal side of things after, “growing concerns in the community about privacy breaches involving remotely piloted aircrafts”.

The article says the Commonwealth Privacy Act, despite the title, has little relevance for nosy drones, mostly just covering how big organisations store data.

Surveillance legislation could come into play: “In WA, the Surveillance Devices Act 1998 prohibits the use of listening and optical surveillance devices by a person to monitor or record someone engaged in private activity,” the article states.

“Although this statute was introduced to, among other things, provide protection from child abuse and voyeurism, it may nonetheless provide some protection against invasive RPA use.”

In WA there are exceptions if the person using the drone is doing it for lawful reasons and they happen to inadvertently spot you in your bikini in the backyard.

“As a result, a person cannot be penalised for the operation of an RPA resulting in the unintentional monitoring or recording of a private activity.”

Even if the Surveillance Devices Act 1998 applies, enforcement is also near-impossible.

Cr Cornish pointed out that someone could be sitting three blocks away and flying their drone remotely, relying on the onboard cameras to navigate and making the pilot near-impossible to locate.

Governments overseas are employing drastic measures to take down rogue drones.

Japanese police equip their own drones with large nets while Dutch police are training eagles to swoop and destroy.

Meanwhile, in the US a research institute is working on a weapon that disrupts radio waves, interrupting pilot control and downing drones from as far as 400m. An ammunition company has a less elegant but equally effective solution: 12-gauge, #2 steel ferromagnetic shotgun shells sold in boxes of 25 to bring down drones “spying on unsuspecting neighbours”. Yeehaw.

by DAVID BELL

• THE saucy parade’s over, now the more family friendly side of Pride comes out this Sunday February 7 with the Pride Fairday at Hyde Park. Pride’s Michelle Rodgers says Fairday’s aimed at being “an inclusive event where everybody feels comfortable — a key part of this is it being a family friendly event”. There’ll be a giant treasure chest full of kids activities inside, plus plenty of tunes and the dog show with lots of pooches in hilarious outfits. The event’s not lost its roots though: “This year we are focusing on putting a little more ‘camp’ into the entertainment… there will never be a dull moment,” Pride president Andrew Barker barks. Entry’s $5 or free for kids or Pride members and it runs 11am to 6pm.

• Gearing up for Pride fair day. Bree Kirk-Burnnand from Happy, Healthy Hoops,  DJ Roski, Daniele Anzaldi from GALSWA, rapper Yully, musican Lee Williams, Bev Fabb from GALSWA, DJ Curlee, Jennifer Yazbek from Happy Healthy Hoops.

• OVER on William Street, local businesses have banded together to hold the Streetside festival this February 6. With a very grass rootsy feel and driven by traders and the OnWilliam group, they’re taking over William Street to turn it into an inner city playground with music, live painting, street food, free workshops and street games. Obsessive collectors can also chase the free 27-piece Northbridge edition magnet set designed by local artist Magali Dincher that’ll be scattered about the place. There’s a map of where to track them down at http://www.onwilliam.com.au/magnets

AN underground train station at Bayswater should be the WA government’s transport priority in the northern suburbs says Bayswater mayor Barry McKenna.

Like most Western Australians, Cr McKenna was gob-smacked to learn that WA transport minister Dean Nalder has been secretly working on plans to dig heavy-rail tunnels between Perth and Morley (as an alternative to the election promise of a MAX light rail route).

Cr McKenna says the government has its priorities wrong: he’s not opposed in principle to the Perth-Morley tunnel but says the council has been working on the assumption of a light rail system with bus connections.

He’s concerned that talk of the Perth-Morley route will divert attention from what he considers is a more pressing matter. “In my point of view, the focus should be on Bayswater because it needs to be done in the short term,” he says.

by EMMIE DOWLING

GAY characters in 1980/90s Perth theatre and TV were camp best friends, drag queens or drug addicts, Adriano Cappelletta says. “I’d never actually seen a story about two men falling in love that didn’t involve turmoil, disease, violence or moustaches.”

This Boy’s in Love is what he wishes he’d seen growing up. It’s the world’s first one-man gay rom-com cabaret, with hilarious and heartfelt songs, physical comedy and candid story telling, that touches on dating in the digital urban jungle–and the innocence of falling in love for the first time. It’s on at the Blue Room until February 6. Tix at Fringe World.

FRINGE veteran Shane Adamczac’s latest comedy The Ballad of Frank Allen has some hairy moments. A scientific experiment causes a janitor to shrink and become lodged in the beard of another man, but their odd-ball friendship could be just what they need to get their lives back on track. It’s on at the Blue Room Theatre (Studio) at the Perth Cultural Centre in Northbridge from February 16 – 20. Tix $25 from summernights.org.au or fringeworld.com.au.

Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster by Nicola Gunn/SANS Hotel is the story of a man, a woman, and a duck. It is an attempt to navigate the moral and ethical complexities of trying to become a better person. One incident is played out from three very different perspectives in this premiere performance at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts from February 13 – 19. Tickets $20 – $30.50
pica.org.au or fringeworld.com.au.