Perth Voice Interactive

PEOPLE with disabilities should get priority in a rebuilt Stirling Towers in Perth so they can live close to the city and essential services, Vincent mayor Alison Xamon says.

The public housing building on the corner of Stirling and Smith Streets in Perth was closed nearly 10 years ago and successive governments have not been able to progress the rebuild.

In December the Cook government announced a proponent had been found to handle the first stages of the project under the newly named “Smith Street Build-to-Rent project”. 

A consortium made up of Community Housing Limited and Tetris Capital won the job to demolish and prepare the site for redevelopment into a mix of social housing and affordable rentals in a “build to rent” model with a 50-year ground lease. 

At this week’s Vincent council meeting, Ms Xamon said: “I first want to say how pleased I am to see that the derelict Stirling Towers, which was vacated of all the social housing quite some time ago, is finally looking to get redeveloped.

“As someone who lives in that local area I want to say what a relief it is, and not only for myself and my family but I think for everyone around there.

“It’s been very unfortunate that since Stirling Towers was cleared out that it has effectively become a hub of antisocial behaviour and vandalism and that continues to cause considerable distress for local residents around that area as well, as the fact that it’s a lost opportunity to ensure that we’ve got social and affordable housing in what it what should be a high density area.”

Ms Xamon said there’d been some discussions between Vincent council and the state government’s Department of Communities about what the final build would look like, and she had been advocating “that it’s quite important that priority be given, with the social and affordable housing, to people with disability, most notably people with physical disability.

“People with physical disability often need to be located centrally… to be able to access services but importantly a lot of people with physical disability have limited mobility and may not have a car. And so that means that access to public transport and to affordable Ubers and taxis becomes really quite critical.”

Building inner-city apartments without car bays has long been the urban planners’ dream across the globe, with visions of public-transport reliant tenants who don’t add to local road traffic. But it’s been tricky to accomplish so far, with most Perth citizens being reluctant to say goodbye to their car during an inner-city move. 

In this case Ms Xamon said it could be a win-win for the people and the locale. Reducing the number of parking spots frees up space and funds to make the extra accessibility upgrades in the apartments, and has the side-benefit of lowering congestion.

While Vincent council won’t actually get to make any decisions relating to this state government-led project, Ms Xamon said talks were ongoing and “I look forward to continuing to have very productive discussions with the Department of Communities to try to ensure that we can get these outcomes, because I think it’s positive for our city but it’s also importantly a very positive development for people with physical disability who otherwise may be left in outer suburbs and fairly stranded”.

Housing minister John Carey told us: “My understanding is there is some NDIS housing, however it will be confirmed as part of the final design which will go out as part of community consultation.”

A state government media release says further detail on construction is due “early 2024”. 

by DAVID BELL

AN IMMENSE fundraising effort by Mount Hawthorn Primary School’s P&C has seen $56,550 raised for new basketball courts.

The old courts were getting hammered hard by phys ed classes, after-school training, and being open out of hours for community use. 

The worn and cracked surface had seen a few scratched knees in recent years so the tight-knit school community pulled together for a series of fundraising events throughout term three last year. 

It all culminated in a monumentally messy colour run on the last day of term 3 in September 2023 as students ran a gauntlet being covered in coloured cornstarch.

The efforts saw an enviable $56,550 profit raised by students and parents, allowing the resurfacing to go ahead over the Christmas holidays in time for the new term.

The event was coordinated by P&C events team members Kirsten Petrovski and Natalie Cameron, and Ms Petrovski said “when the school gave the P&C the fundraising goal to revamp the basketball courts, the school community rallied; the students showed incredible drive and passion, and their parents and families matched that with unwavering support”.

Ms Cameron said “it was a very special collaboration throughout a whole term that included plenty of teachers being ‘slimed’ along the way”, with staff pledging to let students cover them in buckets of slime when funding milestones were reached. 

While the courts are already a hit compared to the knee-graters of old, there’ll be an official launch Friday February 23 with an after-school students v teachers basketball game.

FEEDBACK is sought on the draft concept design for Bayswater’s Urban Forest to be built along Riverside Gardens. 

The draft was drawn up following consultation last year (“Fertilising forest plan,” Voice, November 4, 2023) and includes new landscaping, revegetation, upgraded paths, quiet picnic nodes, and new furniture and amenities.

The concept design is available for viewing and feedback at council libraries and the civic centre or at engage.bayswater.wa.gov.au and submissions are open until February 19

RENAMING “Banks Reserve” to “Warndoolier” has been endorsed by Vincent councillors subject to receiving approval from the Noongar elders in the Boordiya Reference Group.

But concerns were raised at this week’s council meeting that the complete renaming may lead to backlash against Aboriginal people.

Out of 276 submissions during consultation, 55 per cent were in favour of changing the name to Warndoolier outright, 22 per cent supported adding Warndoolier as a dual-name alongside Banks Reserve, and 20 per cent opposed a change (“Support for Noongar name,” Voice, February 10, 2024). 

The idea of an outright name change was raised by then-mayor Emma Cole last August.

Preference

At this week’s council meeting, former councillor Dudley Maier reminded current councillors during public question time that a complete rename came after consultation with elders had already been carried out. 

“It’s important to make it clear what the preferences is of the elders’ group,” he said. “Do they prefer a standalone name, or do they prefer co-naming?

“That should have been determined right at the very start. I think it’s dangerous to assume that they would prefer a particular outcome. They should have been presented with both options.”

He said there was a variety of views among Aboriginal people on renaming, and added they needed to consider “the potential difficult situation you might put members of the Aboriginal community in”. 

Mayor Alison Xamon said she’d been in two minds about whether renaming or dual-naming was the right option. 

She said Vincent took a lot of pride in recording its European history by means such as funding its Local History Centre, “and so I was thinking, well how does [renaming the reserve] actually sit with that?”.

“The other thing that I’m always concerned about is making sure that we aren’t doing things that are … potentially going to harm Aboriginal people within our community, mindful of how hurtful the debates around the referendum were, and how much pain that actually caused,” Ms Xamon said.

The mayor referred to her work advocating for refugees, saying: “I’m also conscious that working with people who are so often othered and misrepresented… is how much they say ‘please don’t do these things in my name, because we end up copping all the flak, but this is not something that we’ve actually asked for’.

“I’m going to be supporting this motion but I am doing it with some reservations, because I want to make sure that we’re not doing anything that’s inadvertently going to cause greater division. At the same time it’s so critical that we do recognise the original First Nation’s heritage of this land.”

The vote to endorse renaming was unanimous, and the proposal now goes to the Boordiya Reference Group elders. If they are happy with the idea, an application for renaming then goes to Landgate.

by DAVID BELL

HUMAN rights lawyer and hostage survivor Rabia Siddique is among a lineup of formidable women speaking at this year’s week-long International Women’s Day celebrations put on by Bayswater council.

The headline event “Women’s Impact” is an afternoon discussion with Ms Siddique, a Perth-born retired British army officer, international human rights lawyer, and a survivor of a 2005 hostage-taking by extremists in Basra, Iraq. 

She’s speaking on March 7 alongside Carol Innes, co-director of Aboriginal-led collective ‘Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together’ project to improve relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. 

Other talks include career counsellor Aly Bannister on running a business for first time female business owners and “mumpreneurs”, and Nikki Di Costa’s session on “Busy Women’s Syndrome” and how to navigate the mental load of multiple expectations of motherhood, a career, and a social life. 

While it’s International Women’s Day, mayor Filomena Piffaretti says the celebrations “cover a wide range of topics, from sustainable fashion and health and wellbeing, to technology and business,” including a girls’ coding workshop. 

“Whatever your interests or background, there’s something for everyone”.

The talks are free and times and bookings are via bayswater.wa.gov.au/IWD

WITH 58 per cent of adults in Vincent being overweight or obese, Vincent council is considering a new “Healthy Food and Drink Policy” calling for a reduction in unhealthy foods at council venues and events and a ban on sponsoring unhealthy brands. 

A report to Vincent councillors this week says that along with the high number of overweight or obese adults, 45 per cent have less than two servings of daily fruit, and 82 per cent had less than five serves of vegetables. 

In 2022 the food and drink offerings at two council-owned venues, which both have a privately-operated food and drink caf√©, were benchmarked against state-based “Healthy Options WA” criteria.

It found more than 50 per cent of food and drink items were classed as “unhealthy”, being high in saturated fat, added sugars or salt.

Following in the footsteps of Cockburn council’s 2018 policy, Vincent wouldn’t outright ban unhealthy foods, but the draft policy calls for the city to “ensure that healthy food and drink: is available where food is sold to community members at city facilities, including in cafes, kiosks and vending machines”.

It also ensures healthy food and drink “is predominantly offered and encouraged, and unhealthy food and drink is limited and discouraged when catering is provided at city meetings, workshops, functions and events at city facilities”.

Advertising containing unhealthy food will also be “discouraged”. 

Companies complying with the policy would be taken into account when awarding tenders for food supply or tenancies for kiosks.

The policy also says “the city will not engage in sponsorship of brands and businesses directly associated with unhealthy food and drink options”.

Mayor Alison Xamon said this week there’d been some chatter about the idea on “talkback radio – always fun”, but that some critics “are perhaps really not looking at what it is we’re passing”.

She said it was wise to look at what was on offer at council venues and events, and discouraging the marketing of unhealthy was important given “the invidious way that advertising can impact on healthy food choices”.

The policy was in the making since 2020, well before Ms Xamon became mayor in 2023, but she said “I have to say as a vegetarian who eats low carb I welcome a better range of food that I’m going to potentially be able to eat”. 

The draft will now go out to 21 days of consultation. 

by DAVID BELL