Perth Voice Interactive

THE candidate who fell just 33 votes short of booting out Stirling mayor Giovanni Italiano from his council ward is “concerned” there might have been a miscount, and wants the WA electoral commission to review its systems to remove future doubt.

Teresa Olow read the Voice’s stories last week about alleged problems at counts in Bayswater and Canning and says she is “now concerned after reading the articles about how the counts were conducted”.

“As this is my first time running for council, I would expect that the electoral commission to do the counting in a professional manner,” she says.

“I would like the electoral commission to review the way the counting is done.”

Votes for Stirling’s Osborne ward were counted three times because it was so close, and on the third count, Cr Italiano had two scrutineers and Ms Olow just one, she notes.

However, Ms Olow’s scrutineer Mudji Nielson told the Voice ”they did very well” and is confident votes were counted correctly.

Cr David Lagan was in the room at the time and he says nothing looked awry. But he notes the returning officer Raymond Smith, who’d run the election on behalf of the commission, had only done the job previously in state elections.

Cr Lagan says “three or four” boxes arrived in the room half an hour into the count, and he never found out what they were for, despite asking about them on the night.

Voice calls and emails to Mr Smith went unanswered.

Cr David Michael was a scrutineer for Cr Italiano and he says there were “no problems”. He did not recall the allegedly unaccounted-for boxes.

In Perth, Cr Reece Harley, who ran against lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi, says he’s confident everything ran smoothly.

The Voice reported last week that former Bayswater councillor Michael Sabatino is taking the commission to court, claiming “something went terribly wrong” during the count.

He believes the count was rushed and got “complicated and piles were mixed up” after new counters joined the table.

The court was due to hear the matter on December 11, after the paper’s deadline.

by EMMIE DOWLING

THE honey made in John Faherty’s North Perth backyard is lemon-yellow and tastes like lollies.

In Karrinyup it’s a bit salty, whereas in rural Chittering bees feeding on red gums produce dark, molasses-like honey, he says.

Mr Faherty is on his way to setting up a beehive in every Perth suburb—all 120-odd—as part of his Postcode Honey business.

So far, he has keen residents on board in 40 urban and 30 rural yards.

Pointing to a jar labelled “6020”, he says, “that’s an old workmate”. Honey from 6286 is his father-in-law’s place and 6018 is where his brother-in-law is based.

Each postcode, and season, offers different accents of flavour and colour: it’s a far cry from the stuff stocked on supermarket shelves.

Scraping aside wax to taste his fresh, raw honey, Mr Faherty says his last batch was darker and slightly bitter because nearby peppermint trees had been in bloom.

He suspects the lemon-yellow honey he’s getting now is mostly because bees are feeding on box trees. His network of collectors has slowly grown since July, when Mr Faherty quit his oil and gas job to create the business.

“I worked for a beekeeper about 20 years ago as a student in New Zealand,” Mr Faherty says.

“I guess the interest in honey was reignited by an old guy at work who was bringing in jars of honey from his backyard. I set up my hive last year and started giving it away to friends and family.”

In a year, he’d collected 70kg—more than any sweet-toothed family’s domestic needs. He expects to harvest 100kg over the next year.

The 6006-postcode man says business is buzzing. Over the weekend, more than 200 people contacted him, wanting to set up their own hive.

He says he’ll take his time, and aims to have all postcodes covered in four years. His Italian neighbour, who’s quit using pesticides on his vegie garden, swears his bountiful crop is due to improved pollination from the 50,000-odd bees now living across the road.

Wax by-products are donated to the local bowling club to aid grip on bowls.

Find Postcode Honey at New Norcia Bakery in Mount Hawthorn, the Little Cheese Shop in Bayswater and North Perth’s Hobart Deli.

For more information, visit http://www.postcodehoney.com.au.

by EMMIE DOWLING

THE verdicts are in and punters want to see the old disused sewerage pump station on Langley Park turned into a cafe.

When we say punters, we mean the 13 who responded out of the 1200 that Perth city council asked.

The station was built in 1912 as part of a new sewerage system to counter the problem of Perth “living on a dung hill”. But along with two others it’s been sitting dormant since 1989, when a new central sewerage station was built to take over.

Ideas for what to do with the heritage-listed block have come and gone but after a pow-wow with interested locals a cafe seems to be the go.

If the council agrees it’ll hit up the water corporation (which has part responsibility for the building) for some cash to fix it up and see if it can be leased to a restaurateur.

Council staff reckon a small cafe or healthy takeaway venue would be the go since there’s low foot traffic and a bunch of casual sporting types using the park.

by DAVID BELL

BAYSWATER council has dumped its “meals on wheels” mobile catering service for the elderly because of a 75 per cent drop in clients since 2001.

From July 1 Stirling will extend its service to feed Bayswater’s frail and elderly.

Bayswayer’s MOW, established in 1983, had 242 clients in 2001 and now there are about 60.

Last year, there were 64, and five years ago 141.

Council spokesman Julia Kogan says the service is no longer economically feasible.

“The number of clients using this service began to declining from 2010 onwards,” Ms Kogan says in an email statement.

“This was because of the increasing availability of alternative options, such as affordable frozen meals, commercial contractors and other food service options offered by providers of Home and Community Care services.”

Under Stirling’s much larger management, clients will continue to receive “high-quality meals” as well as a more-affordable service, Bayswater mayor Barry McKenna says.

But he and council staffers are unable to say what the exact cost implications are.

Bayswater’s MOW costs users $8.50 for two courses. Costs are expected to be reviewed by Stirling at budget time.

by EMMIE DOWLING

THE cash that Vincent council pulled from its seniors reserve to help plug a massive budget bungle has been replaced.

Last year it snaffled $745,000 to help cover a surprise $8 million deficit racked up under the previous administration.

It was a contentious decision, drawing fire from former councillor Dudley Maier as well as several candidates looking to unseat incumbent councillors at October’s election.

Now, with the budget looking healthier under new CEO Len Kosova, the cash has been returned.

The still community-active Mr Maier fronted public question time to remind councillors “you shouldn’t have taken [it] out” while expressing his doubt about the health of the budget, but wishing them a merry Christmas nonetheless.

Mayor John Carey described Mr Maier as “a lone voice that preaches doom and gloom”.

Meanwhile, another failing of the previous regime has been discovered that is likely to cause a paperwork nightmare.

The cash in the seniors fund comes from the council-run Leederville Gardens retirement village and, by law, it should have been kept in a tightly controlled Trust for the benefit of Leederville Gardens. But instead it had been sloshing around in a general “cash for anything to do with oldies” reserve.

Mr Kosova says it’s an obvious mistake: “It’s frustrating… anyone with any local government experience would know there’s distinct parts of the legislation that deal with the Trust and that deal with reserves.”

His staff now have to go back and see if any of the money was spent on general senior things, and research the legal ramifications.

by DAVID BELL

AFTER a long and fruitless search for the gumnut baby stolen from Stirling Gardens, Perth city council looks likely to shell out $27,000 for a new one.

The bronze bub was nicked around March 23. Whomever made off with it had come prepared, because they had to cut through four “substantial” steel rods fixing the nutty nipper to the concrete.

The council offered a $1000 reward but no luck. Now staff recommend going back to artist Claire Bailey to birth a new gumnut baby, which will cost $27,000 to make and install.

Ms Bailey no longer has the original moulds so the work must be recreated from scratch. This time the council will mount the baby on a cast bronze rock to conceal the rods connecting it to the concrete so it’ll be impossible to cut away without damaging the work. If all goes well and councillors approve, it should be in place by March 2016. Staff hope insurance will cover the cost, minus a $5000 excess.

by DAVID BELL