Perth Voice Interactive

TRICKY black-fronted dotterels at Eric Singleton bird sanctuary are befuddling visitors by pretending to have broken wings.

The quirky birds lie on the ground feigning injury to distract potential predators from their nest, which is pretty vulnerable since they just lay eggs on the ground. If anyone goes near them the cheeky beaks flutter away, leading a pursuer further from their babies.

The “broken wing act” is common among these types of wading birds (called plovers), and some types will do a “rodent run” where they hunch down and scurry away from the nest pretending to be a delicious (and flightless) small mammal.

When our photographer Matthew Dwyer dropped by, a mating pair attempted to befuddle him with a two-bird ruse. First the papa would dart away from the nest, staying just in range to appear reachable, then he’d disappear and mama bird would step in to take up the con, scurrying further away.

Willy wagtails don’t nest on the ground but they also do the phony injury act attempting to get people to follow them. Noongar lore knows them as “Djitty Djitty” after the sound they make, and legend says they can lead children into the bush to be lost forever.

by DAVID BELL

KIM TRAN was a social leper growing up in Perth’s northern suburbs.

The Highgate business-woman, who immigrated to Australia from Vietnam at age three, says she and her older brother were the only Asian students at school, and thus suffered from racism.

Puberty did her no favours either, she says. “They called me ‘Asian pizza’ because my face was so pussy from my acne,” the now 27-year-old says.

“I grew up with a single mum who knew no English, and in a culture where children aren’t allowed to talk around adults because it’s rude.

“So I didn’t talk at school. I had a squeaky voice, too, so I was the just the little quiet girl in the corner. I didn’t feel like I had a voice. I was depressed and bullied because of my skin. I struggled with social skills and stand up for what I believe.”

Ms Tran overcame her insecurities after Year 12 — at just 16, a year younger than most students — going to beauty school, and starting her own business at 19.

This month she won the prestigious Telstra WA young businesswoman of the year award for work at her North Perth beauty clinic, La Belle Peau.

Ms Tran says it was only as an adult, while studying and working, that she finally developed the courage to start her own business and help others with skin problems.

“I’m so blessed to be able to transform people’s lives,” she says.

“Some come in with their heads down, but after each visit, life comes back to their little faces.”

She shares her successes with her mum, whom Ms Tran admires for being able to raise a family on limited funds, in a foreign country.

by EMMIE DOWLING 

VINCENT’S ºnewish CEO Len Kosova has been dubbed “competent” and “effective” at his first annual performance review, but the process has revealed deep flaws in the way the council historically handled its CEO contract renewals.

Mayor John Carey says this time round the council deliberately pushed Mr Kosova’s contract renewal decision until well after the election. That’s because when CEO John Giorgi had his contract renewed back in 2009 it was done by councillors just four days before an election that would see two of them voted out and another retire.

Back then the Nick Catania-led council extended Mr Giorgi’s contract another five years. The timing raised eyebrows since he was only three years into his previous five-year contract, and it meant the new council would have no say in who their CEO was until then.

“I’m highly critical of how it was previously done, I just don’t believe it’s fair to a new council,” Mr Carey says.

“There’s no way on my watch I would suggest to council that we do that a week [before an election].”

Back in 2009 that council gave Mr Giorgi a “satisfactory” mark and awarded him a $15,000 performance bonus (only Dudley Maier opposed it)

There are no provisions in Mr Kosova’s contract for performance bonuses.

by DAVID BELL

LISA SCAFFIDI has kept her lord mayoral chains, scoring 54.76 per cent of the Perth vote despite the release of a damaging corruption and crime commission report in the middle of her campaign.

But her loyal deputy, Cr Rob Butler—who was also outed for having not declared a trip (this one paid for by the Malaysian government) — didn’t fare so well: he was the only incumbent to lose his seat. The other three councillors running for re-election on the “team Scaffidi” ticket were effortlessly returned.

In a Facebook post Sunday night Mr Butler posted a screenshot of a Perth Voice article reporting the undeclared trip. He said Perth city council CEO Gary Stevenson and WA local government minister Tony Simpson should have come out to “repudiate on my behalf”.

The Act says travel contribution from “Commonwealth, State or local government funds” don’t require declaration. While the terminology and capitalisation might suggest Australian government funds, Mr Butler believes it applies to foreign governments too.

He told his Facebook friends that Mr Stevenson and Mr Simpson should have defended him on that point.

“CEO had opportunity to repudiate on my behalf and so did minister for local government Tony Simpson who should have known said section in local government act and did publicly discuss but not diffuse the accusation on my behalf but added ‘further investigation’—midstream my electoral campaign and disrespect my reputation… I am disappointed that they should allow such journalism to discredit myself and local government sector”.

Details of other councillors’ potentially problematic non-declarations had been provided to the CCC in August by Mr Stevenson (as is his duty) and are currently being reviewed.

Mr Butler was first elected in 2003 and served on Subiaco council before that.

Ms Scaffidi’s challenger, Cr Reece Harley, came much closer than her last contender, scoring 45.24 per cent. He remains a councillor, sitting amongst six Scaffidi allies — who all signed a statement sticking by her, regardless of the CCC misconduct findings — and new councillor Jemma Green, who knocked off Mr Butler.

The environmental researcher calls herself an independent but appeared in a joint mailout with Cr Harley.

The pair’s chumminess led to Cr James Limnios, a Scaffidi man, posting to her Facebook page: “Jemma you must take the City of Perth electorate as stupid…!

“You claim to be independent however all your electoral material was posted with Lisa Scaffidi’s opponent!

“Jemma don’t underestimate the ratepayers and occupiers of the City of Perth, they see right through political games and rhetoric! You are clearly aligned with Reece Harley!”

Ms Green says, “lots of campaigns share postage because it saves on resources”. “I am an independent candidate… I have demonstrated my independence in everything that I have said and done throughout this campaign.”

Perth only has one ward. The four councillors elected, in order, were: Janet Davidson with 15.12 per cent; Jim Adamos (14.09); Jemma Green (13.76); Lily Chen (13.23).

Rob Butler missed out by 123 votes, getting 12.38 per cent. Andrew Toulalan scored 9.65 per cent, Matthew Clarke 7.39, Francois Shiefler 7.37 and Chris Hardy 7.02 per cent.

by DAVID BELL

WHEN police don’t want lots of journalists trampling through murder scenes, or traumatising victims of crime, they’ll ask them to “pool footage”.

What this means is, one crew takes the footage and then shares it with journos from rival organisations.

On Tuesday night, journalists were informed just one crew — the ABC — would be permitted to film “pool footage” of the swearing in ceremony of the new Perth city council. Given the council is not short on space, and regularly entertains multiple crews, we can only guess as to the reasons why.

A promised 15-minute post-ceremony “doorstop” interview with lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi and the council was then cancelled, “due to a ceremony scheduling change”, stated council PR coordinator Jane Grljusich.

Ms Scaffidi has been turning down interviews since her win. In a written statement she said: “I am humbled to be re-elected for a third term as the lord mayor. The vote follows a tough campaign which focused on errors I have made. I accept full responsibility for those errors.”

JOHN CAREY was re-elected Vincent mayor last Saturday by the skin of his teeth, with just 81.18 per cent of the vote. Yep, really scraped over the line.

Every candidate he endorsed was also elected. Despite this, the mayor says there’s not going to be any voting bloc.

“I’ve been voted down seven to one as mayor,” he says, already having endorsed candidates Laine McDonald and Emma Cole.

“Any resident who comes to our meeting sees there’s a lot of different views and we vote in all different ways.

“Unlike previous times at Vincent, there isn’t pre-caucusing on issues, we don’t operate like that, I don’t badger councillors to take a certain position. I’m incredibly proud that our council is not factionalised.”

Harley returned

Deputy mayor Ros Harley was returned to north ward with just over 32 per cent of the vote, with Dan Loden picking up the ward’s second spot with 30 per cent. Mark Rossi’s third tilt earned him 18 per cent but no seat, with Shannon Davis (10.5) and Lauren Tracey (8) rounding out the field.

In a busy south ward race Leederville carnivale organiser Jimmy Murphy bagged a seat with 25.88 per cent of the vote, followed by Highgate local Susan Gontaszewski with 20.88 per cent. Former councillor Dudley Maier’s re-election hopes were dashed on 17.07 per cent. Malcolm Boyd (10.94), incumbent John Pintabona (10.46), Anthony Fisk (7.87) and Amanda Madden (6.9) brought up the rear.

As well as running for south ward, Mr Boyd also took on Mr Carey for mayor. Despite his visible campaign, with utes rolling through town and billboards promising he’d be “a friend on the council”, he hoovered up just 13.76 of the vote. After the election he declared, “you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. When the public realise who they elected and how they were manipulated things will change”. The second challenger, Leederville cafe owner and perennial Carey-critic Debbie Saunders, ran a low-key campaign and pulled in just 5.06 per cent.

While there was a mutter on election night of the new council being “wall to wall Labor” the only Labor-ish candidate Mr Carey endorsed was Cr Harley—an ex party member.

Mr Boyd’s campaign pushed a message there were many people unhappy with the council, and Mr Carey says the vote blows that out of the water.

“It was a rejection of this really negative agenda that’s being put forward by both my opponents. The things people say to me is we can see the changes, the greening plan, the town centre renewal, the Braithwaite Park playground, people say we love it and want more of it.”

Election turnout was 26.5 per cent, and it has been getting progressively weaker.

Incredibly, Mr Carey’s 81.18 per cent wasn’t the highest vote of the weekend: former MP John Bowler was elected mayor of Kalgoorlie with 87.67 per cent.

by DAVID BELL

STIRLING mayor Giovanni Italiano says he almost lost his ward seat last Saturday because his only rival was a woman.

Re-elected to the top job by his council colleagues during the week, he told the Voice there had been a “gender issue” leading up to the poll.

In his Osborne ward he collected just 33 more votes than Teresa Olow, 2286 to her 2253.

‘A gender thing’

When asked, “so you think she got so many votes purely because she’s female?” he replied, “I’ve got no reason to think any different because I’ve done a lot for my community…I could not have done a great deal more”.

“There was a gender thing,” he says, “and she’s not a person really from here. A win is a win. I have no hard feelings.”

Ms Olow was astounded when the Voice asked her what she thought of Cr Italiano’s comments.

“Did he really say that?” she asked.

She says she doesn’t personally know Cr Italiano, but has worked in the same building as him throughout his 14 years on council: she worked in administration at Stirling for almost seven years, ending about a year ago.

“I’d never met him before in my life — not until the campaign period,” she says.

“We met at an introduction night and another time when he cornered me in a cafe.

“I know he had great concerns about this election…Mr Italiano cornered me at a cafe at Stirling Shopping Centre asking me why I am running against him.

“My reply is that I am running for the community and it’s not against him. It’s not a personal issue. I don’t know the man.

“He informed me that I had no chance of beating him as he had the support of the Labor party.”

Ms Olow told the Voice residents had asked her to run, saying the council needed fresh blood.

She says she’s more than a just a woman: she owns a small construction business and works casually in administration at another council she wouldn’t name.

“He can’t make that statement against females,” she says.

Merit

“All those other women, like Lisa Scaffidi, who were voted to council, they got there on merit — not because they’re women.”

Priding herself on campaigning hard and replying to every elector who’d contacted her, she says she’ll run again in two years.

This year, all but one incumbent councillors were returned. Bill Stewart was dumped for businessman Mark Irwin in Coastal ward.

by EMMIE DOWLING 

WA’s most-populous council, Stirling, is not so popular when it comes to voting.

It had the lowest average voter turnout of all four councils in Voiceland, with just 26,300 of 134,800 electors bothering to cast a ballot in last weekend’s council elections.

In its Inglewood ward, just 20.5 per cent of its 19,000 electors could muster the energy to fill out some boxes and post back their voting slips.

The turnout is well below the state average of 27.5 per cent, according to the WA electoral commission, which now handles almost all state’s local government elections.

“I think there’s apathy,” says mayor Giovanni Italiano, who scraped back into his Osborne ward seat. “People think they don’t really have to do it.”

Deputy electoral commissioner Chris Avent says he’s not surprised Stirling attracts a lower turnout.

“As a general trend, the largest urban local governments, in terms of residential elector numbers, tend to have the lowest elector participation rates,” he says.

“What local issues are running will impact on turnout as will the profile of the candidates, hence variations from one ward to the next.

“There is no particular target or universal benchmark for such voluntary elections, however the commission would like to see participation rates well over the current figures in most metropolitan local government districts.”

He says Wanneroo and Joondalop — both of them very large councils — had the lowest voter turnout percentages.

The highest was Perth, with a 37 per cent turnout rate for the highly publicised lord mayoral ballot.

by EMMIE DOWLING

BARRY McKENNA is Bayswater’s new mayor. The veteran councillor was voted in by colleagues after Sylvan Albert lost his ward seat at last weekend’s council elections.

Cr McKenna won the mayoral ballot 7:4 against Cr Terry Kenyon, a two-time former mayor.

Following a high-profile south ward campaign, Mr Albert lost his seat to Catherine Ehrhardt, who started the Maylands Hawkers Market.

Also tipped out on the weekend were deputy mayor Michael Sabatino and councillors Mike Anderton and Martin Toldo, replaced by Sally Palmer, Brent Fleeton and Dan Bull.

Cr McKenna had previously flagged he’d put his hand up (Voice, September 18, 2015) but the loss of Crs Albert and Sabatino had spurred him on.

“There was a vacuum at the top,” the 54-year-old told the Voice, saying he was “moved and surprised” by the strong show of support.

“It’s the first time I’ve put my hand up for mayor.

“I thought it’d be a good time to go for it, and we certainly have talent around the table.”

Cr Stephanie Coates was voted in as deputy mayor.

First elected almost 25 years ago, Mr McKenna says it’s rare for such a clean-out at election time: Cr Chris Cornish was the only incumbent to be returned.

“It’s a sign people want change,” says the new mayor, who served as deputy from 2009-13 under Cr Kenyon.

He says all outgoing councillors made “significant contributions to the community”.

“We all did the work, but it wasn’t the direction the people wanted to see,” he says.

His major priority as mayor is to improve community consultation.

Other issues he plans to tackle include revisiting town planning schemes, increasing the scope of the city’s tree canopies, and better providing sporting and recreation grounds.

He told the Voice he will leave his job as humanities teacher at East Perth’s Trinity College next year to be a full-time mayor.

In 2013 the mayoral allowance was upped to $136,000, making it a viable full-time role.

In Bayswater the mayor is a councillor, chosen by councillors, every two years.

by EMMIE DOWLING