Perth Voice Interactive

AN assault charge against Leederville cafe owner Stuart Lofthouse has been tossed out of court.

Police couldn’t prove the two Vincent rangers who’d tried to haul him from the council chamber were acting as “public officers performing a function of their employment”.

On July 22, 2014 Mr Lofthouse had continually interjected during a monthly meeting and refused to comply when mayor John Carey asked him to leave.

Mr Carey called the meeting to a halt and he and most councillors left the room when two rangers in plain clothes—Steve Butler and senior ranger Simon Giles—approached Mr Lofthouse and asked him to leave. They showed him their ID and when he didn’t comply they tried to haul him out.

In the ensuing struggle Mr Lofthouse was taken to the ground and restrained, and a cut on his head spattered blood on the carpet.

The offence summary states, “the accused resisted and a struggle took place. The accused placed his arm around the victim’s [Mr Butler’s] neck in a headlock”.

The charge of assaulting a public officer in the course of their duty carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.

The magistrate dismissed the charge as it couldn’t be proved the pair was acting in the course of their duties.

For that to be the case they would have had to follow the standing orders, which would mean the meeting would have to be reconvened and Mr Carey would have had to direct the rangers to remove Mr Lofthouse.

Instead it appeared they’d acted of their own volition during the break, approaching Mr Lofthouse while the mayor was out of the room.

Whether the disputed headlock took place was not tested, with the case ending before defence witnesses were called.

by DAVID BELL

A STATEWIDE review of buffer zones around industrial sites could snuff out WA Limestone’s controverial plans for a concrete batching plant on Collier Road, Bayswater.

Mayor Barry McKenna is hopeful the review means his council and local community will win their four-year battle against the proposal.

He supports the Environment Protection Agency’s proposal to restrict industrial sites being built near “sensitive land” such as housing. The EPA’s draft “environmental assessment guideline” will require buffers—ranging up to 5km —between sensitive areas and producers of harmful gases, odours, dust and noise.

A concrete batching plant would require a 300m to 500m buffer, depending on the size of the plant.

Council officers say they’re concerned about how buffers will be measured, especially in urban areas.

WA Limestone wants the zone measured from its sprawling property’s centre, just skimming past a line of houses. Mayor McKenna says that’s a developer “just doing whatever he can get away with”.

He says the council prefers a 500m buffer but will settle for 300m, as long as it’s measured from the property’s perimeter.

Meanwhile, the EPA says the proposed plant’s noise levels and air quality have been calculated to comply with its standards.

“WA Limestone has demonstrated that the site is suitable for use for this development,” an EPA-commissioned report states.

The EPA is giving the community seven days, ending Monday November 16, to comment on the application.

Options include:

• no public review (limited local concern about the likely effect the proposal will have on the environment);

• environmentally unacceptable (likely to have a significant detrimental impact on an environmental value);

• public environmental review (wider concern about the effect on the environment and there should be a public review period).

Cr Sally Palmer is emailing residents urging them to back the second option.

“Annually 432,000 cubic metres of batched concrete [will be] heading out of the plant, meaning 96,000 full truck movements, and that’s not including the ingress of trucks and materials to the site,” she writes.

Cr Palmer says she’s crunched the numbers for an average 10-hour working day.

The council rejected WA Limestone’s first application in 2011, citing concerns over dust and proximity to houses and Joan Rycroft Reserve.

An appeal is before the powerful state administrative tribunal. To have your say, visit consultation.epa.wa.gov.au.

by EMMIE DOWLING

THE Beaufort Street Festival’s back for its sixth year today, Saturday November 14, after more than 150,000 packed the streets in 2014.

While the early years resembled a bit of a big music fest, this year there’s a big family focus with a sideshow alley, the Gymbus double-decker full of tunnels and ladders, and the folks from Remida want kids to help build their silver web play installation made from recycled products.

The dog show’s always a big hit and this year it’s back at 3pm at the Vincent community stage, and art makes a big comeback this year with arts team Ololo making remote-controlled chicken sculptures that punters can race around a barnyard track.

Parking is always a horror show so don’t drive if you can help it, check http://www.beaufortstreetfestival.com.au for info on public transport or just walk there from the city.

by DAVID BELL

BAYSWATER police officers are taking on counsellor-like roles and becoming “more intrusive” in people’s lives in a bid to tackle domestic violence.

Acting police officer-in-charge Ross Whitmore says his team has changed tactics to deal with a rising number of reports, and says an “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” attitude does nothing to help affected families.

Latest statistics show domestic assault reports for the central metropolitan district (which covers Bayswater) rose from 152 to 207 in the year to September. Threatening behaviour—which Mr Whitmore linked to domestic violence and assault—almost doubled from 66 to 105.

But don’t be alarmed, he says, because it’s better to acknowledge the issue and get it reported than keep it behind closed doors. “It’s not a negative, it’s actually a positive when you look at it,” he says. “That figure there is because we’ve become more intrusive on people’s daily lives. We take a two-pronged approach.

“You go in there and look at the criminal aspect to it but you also look at social side of it. We now find ourselves trying to be counsellors.

“So you go in there and have a look at the family unit as a whole and try to find out what the driving forces for it are. Usually…a lot of it boils down to money and living arrangements, and the weight of those day-to-day pressures.”

He says officers liaise with agencies such as the Salvation Army and child protection services because “it’s too hard to deal with it…alone”.

“To outsiders, it looks like an intrusive police style but we don’t look it like that,” he says.

“We see it as caring. You do show your human side and show children police don’t just come in for an arrest…to take mum and dad away.

“What we’ve been doing more of over the past year or so, but specifically this year, is identify people and areas, and what we call ‘problem families’.”

He says station officers keep track of 10 to 16 families, most of which are blended and have low-socio-economic backgrounds.

He told the Voice about an incident which played out on Monday last week.

“There was a violent argument and assault,” he says. “So there was hitting and veiled threats like, ‘I’m going to hurt you if you don’t do this’.”

Many callers who report domestic violence to the station and relevant helplines are friends of a troubled family, neighbours and children, he says.

He commends a 16-year-old boy for recently contacting the station about a situation at home, saying all youngsters should know when to call for help and say enough is enough.

by EMMIE DOWLING

THE imag_ne artwork could be removed from Ellesmere Reserve in North Perth after vandals sprayed it, just a week after its last date with a sledgehammer.

The artwork by Emma Anna was installed in November 2011 and is a firm favourite with happy-snappers, but also with vandals who appear to take great joy in destroying or defacing its Scrabble-like tiles.

Vincent CEO Len Kosova says “we’re currently obtaining quotes to repair and recondition the work and also investigating ways to further reinforce it”.

“If this type of senseless damage continues we’ll need to seriously consider whether the artwork should remain in place.”

by DAVID BELL

ALDI is a step closer to opening at Morley’s Galleria.

Bayswater council’s development committee this week welcomed the supermarket chain’s $2.3 million plans for a store at the centre, just off Rudloc Road.

Set on a 17-hectare block, the store will replace the Morley library and Derrick Ernst Neighbourhood Centre.

The council has plans to move the library to the Les Hansman Community Centre from January (the lease expires December 27).

ALDI’s plans are out for public comment for a fortnight, and will be tabled at a joint development assessment panel meeting (the application isn’t going to the elected council).

ALDI’s media team failed to respond to Voice questions about the likely opening date.

by EMMIE DOWLING

IT looks like the Manna food service for homeless and disadvantaged people is to stay in Weld Square.

That’s despite ongoing concerns from neighbours who believe it’s attracting people who add to the violence and hooliganism that plagues the park.

Manna recently switched meal times to 1.30pm to try to separate its clients from the night-time crowds, encourage dispersal and discourage sleeping there overnight. According to a Vincent council report, “changes to the meal service times has seen positive feedback from service providers such as WA Police, Nyoongar Outreach Service and the City’s Rangers”.

The service has also been moved to the other side of the park, away from residences.

Acting Vincent mayor Ros Harley says “we have been able to come to a workable arrangement for the people in need of the service and which addresses some of the community concerns”.

“The outcome is a more dignified approach and the city provides both moral and financial support to this service for people in need.”

Resident Brayden Wardrop, who earlier this year convened a crisis meeting with the mayor and police, remains unconvinced: “The change of Manna’s service time has just exposed the issue to a different audience—those utilising the park during the day—and has had little impact in reducing the anti-social behaviour and crime in the area.”

For years the charity has been providing hot meals at 5pm, but nearby residents and business owners say it’s contributed to problems. Simon Psaros runs the restaurant Brika across the road and has had diners scared off by fighting and yelling.

Weld Square is a traditional meeting point for Aboriginal people because it’s just outside the old curfew line (back when this land’s original inhabitants were not permitted inside the capital’s borders). These days it remains popular for people from the bush who camp there, albeit illegally, extended family in tow, while visiting the hospital or other city services. Added to the mix are those existing on society’s fringe, who head down for a feed and companionship, and booze-filled pub-goers stumbling to the local Maccas for a late-night cheeseburger and a bit of biffo.

In 2014 Vincent council resolved to find Manna an alternative venue, preferably inside. Those efforts failed, as they weren’t able to find a suitable building.

Councillors want a report back to them by December next year about how the new hours are working out.

by DAVID BELL

IT’S hard to go to sleep hungry say Coral Penny and Katherine Coomer (left), and a 1.30pm meal time means your belly feels awful empty come night time.

The two women have been coming to Weld Square regularly since 1975, long before Manna started its service and, along with about 12 of Ms Penny’s mob, are people who would be there regardless of Manna.

The pair isn’t keen on the new time: they say it’s to keep rich folk over the road happy, with the time an assumption that homeless people and those in need of a feed have nothing to do during the day.

by DAVID BELL and MATTHEW DWYER

PERTH thrift shops are getting creative to attract new shoppers and keep up with mainstream retailers.

Staff at Vinnies’ retro stores—in Northbridge and Fremantle—are buying in second-hand stock such as scarves from Italy to add to their in-store collections of used and donated items.

WA Vinnies society spokesperson Carl Prowse says a shortage of ”quality” donations is behind the new move.

He says all stock has an ethical track record.

“When there are shortfalls in items for our shops, we try to source locally but there are occasions where we have to look elsewhere,” he says.

“Within the current economic climate people are holding on to their clothing longer, are selling items online—for example, Gumtree—whereas previously they would have donated them to a charity.”

He says stores have been able to keep up with mainstream retailers “only because have been adaptable and have recognised a need to evolve and try new approaches”.

“We have found this does attract more people into the shops as they know they can get good quality clothing at reasonable prices,” he says.

“These items provide a point of difference in a very competitive charity retailing market.”

He says the initiative isn’t about boosting sales, but meeting the needs of a community which likes to shop retro—and is conscious of not losing sight of providing inexpensive options for people on tight budgets.

by EMMIE DOWLING