Perth Voice Interactive

AUSTRALIA’S auditor-general is investigating a $50 million crime prevention fund overseen by federal justice minister Michael Keenan, which allocated $550,000 to Mr Keenan’s own seat of Stirling.

The Stirling grant—which paid for 33 CCTV cameras—was one of the biggest single allocations in the country from the “Safer Streets” fund.

Ninety per cent of grants approved have so far gone to Coalition-held seats (30 of 34).

Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan, whose Perth seat neighbours Stirling, says Safer Streets should be renamed Safer Seats.

“We’ve got some good old-fashioned pork going on here,” she says. “The lack of subtlety is so great that it continues the story of Liberal arrogance: they did so little to make this look evenly remotely plausible.

“In WA, it’s 73.4 per cent of funding that’s gone to Coalition seats, so we weren’t quite as bad.”

She applauds $298,034 allocated for CCTV in Maylands and Morley in her seat, but notes Bayswater mayor Sylvan Albert was a former Liberal candidate.

Fremantle Labor MP Melissa Parke says Mr Keenan should release information about how the funding was approved.

“There is legitimate cause to examine a program that is clearly skewed to Coalition electorates and it’s disappointing that Michael Keenan, the responsible minister, is opposing the release of further information, especially when his own electorate was a huge beneficiary of the program in question,” she says.

“All government programs need to be based on proper process, not political interests or patronage.”

Mr Keenan’s spokesperson Emily Broadbent says applications must meet Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 funding guidelines.

“In the lead up to the 2010 election the Coalition government committed to making communities safer, and we’re delivering on those commitments.”

Under Labor, Safer Streets was known as the National Crime Prevention Fund.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

RARELY seen chambers and off-limits corridors in WA’s parliament house will be opened to the public for this year’s Perth Heritage Days.

Just as Canberra’s parliament is arming guards with semi-automatic weapons and restricting visitors’ privileges, WA’s parliament is preparing to let people into prestigious surrounds of the members’ library (built as a grand ballroom but never used), the members’ corridor and even the swank dining room. The chambers—usually limited to a peek from the public gallery above—will also be completely accessible.

“They’re the business areas of parliament,” says parliamentary information and education director Kat Galvin, often too packed with pollies and apparatchiks for public tours.

With a lot of Heritage Day stuff geared towards the upcoming war centenary, parliament house’s role in the war will be on show.

While a lot of authority was nested in the still-new federal government, the state parliament was still responsible for trade legislation, anti-profiteering laws and rationing rules.

Ms Galvin says it also had to come up with rules to deal with the flood of “benevolent groups” popping up to raise money for the war. “There was no control over that,” Ms Galvin says. “A lot were saying they were Red Cross,” but many weren’t.

Re-enactors from the 10th Light Horse Regiment will also be there in full regalia and with authentic ‘Waler’ horses used in the era. The 10th was infamously massacred in the World War I Battle of the Nek, despite protestations of commander Noel Brazier who’d attempted to call off the charge saying “the whole thing was nothing but bloody murder”.

The British top brass didn’t listen and 372 of 600 soldiers in the 3rd brigade died. Fewer than 10 Turks died in the exchange.

The house is open 10am to 4pm on October 19 and the 10th rides again at 11am.

by DAVID BELL

IT’S the last thing the residents of Barlee Street ever wanted to see again—a sheet-pile driver rolling onto the site at the corner of Beaufort Street to start hammering.

Five years ago reverberations from the same kind of machinery were blamed for destroying Lyndon Rodgers’ office next door.

With earth-shattering power, sheet-pile drivers smash steel sheets into the ground to shore up ditch walls.

Mr Rodgers’ damages case has consumed five years of his life and he says he was forced to sell to cover legal fees. Residents from as far as 150m away reported damage to homes with lines spidering up walls and spas springing leaks.

The Voice was told that when a council inspector went out to check on the site he reportedly suffered vertigo from the vibrations and had to sit down with a cup of tea. Vincent council even considered banning the method.

But now the sheet piling’s back in an effort to dewater the site, and work’s been going on without authorisation.

The site is still owned by Steve De Mol (who’s tied up in litigation with his old builder Jamac and other minions over who’s responsible) and now Danny Psaros is on board as the new builder to finish the mixed office/apartment block.

Very unhappy council CEO Len Kosova confirms the works are unauthorised and says his staff issued an order to cease the sheet piling.

“I have a zero tolerance approach to that stuff,” he says. “Our staff went out almost immediately, we spoke to the relevant contractors and site supervisors there, and they advised they would not cease sheet piling.

“Because they advised they weren’t going to cease, staff drafted emergency stop-work orders which I signed and were issued yesterday.

“My staff have told the developer that if they persist, we will prosecute. They must stop unauthorised works because what they’re doing is contravening legislation.”

by DAVID BELL

A LOCAL community group wants the Barnett government to consult with the public over the sale of the East Perth power station.

The 8.5 hectare site, located on the banks of the Swan River, is one of 20 assets to be sold by the government to reduce WA’s staggering $21 billion debt.

The Banks Precinct Action Group wants the heritage-listed building to become a community asset.

“We don’t want this building to be sold off and would like something creative and sustainable done with it,” says BPAG co-chairperson Caroline Cohen.

“No-one asked our opinion and we feel, as a community, that things have moved very quickly. There are many stakeholders, including local people, indigenous people, the Swan River Trust and the National Trust, who need to be consulted.”

In 2004 the BPAG commissioned an architect to create a mixed-use vision for the site that was tabled in state parliament.

Ms Cohen says she would not be adverse to parts of the site being residential if the main building remained intact as a community asset.

WA lands minister Terry Redman was circumspect over the building’s future use and any community consultation.

“The department of lands will work closely with metropolitan redevelopment authority and all relevant government agencies to ensure properties are appropriately deconstrained prior to sale and take into consideration its best use within its surrounding context,” he says.

WA Labor leader Mark McGowan wants strict conditions put on future public use of the site.

“We don’t want to see our waterfront privatised without a real vision that will activate the area into an inner-city precinct for public use,” he says.

“We don’t want to miss an opportunity to create a vibrant public space on our riverfront just to provide a quick fix to feed Barnett’s spending addiction.

“It is crucial we protect the local environment and incorporate the heritage listed facility into a precinct that will benefit all West Australians.”

Mr McGowan notes the projected $250 million raised from the sale of 20 state-owned properties will pay for just two months of interest on the state’s debt.

The BPAG was formed in 1996 to fight a move by then-planning minister Richard Lewis to approve a concrete batching plant for the former power station site. In the years since a number of projects have been proposed for the site, which have all come to naught.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THREE alleged car thieves were apprehended while chowing down on takeaway chicken in Inglewood.

The trio was arrested in the Chicken Treat carpark on Beaufort Street, following a call to police about suspicious behaviour.

The Toyota Corolla they were in had been stolen the previous night. The three were charged with stealing a motor vehicle, possessing stolen property and burglary. The vehicle was impounded to be forensically tested.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE sight of an elephant chained and suffering in a stark Egyptian zoo seven years ago sparked North Perth teacher Janet Thomas’ entry into animal activism.

The asian elephant had been locked to a short chain and had stood on concrete with no shade for 35 years. With its big 5kg brain—elephants are one of the only animals known to ritualise mourning—it had full cognisance of its suffering and was in poor mental health.

“I contacted a welfare group in Cairo and I just happened to get on to the right man,” Ms Thomas says.

Negotiations were difficult but eventually led to a few hard-won changes. “We got her off her chain through the day, we got her a shelter, we got some better food for her,” Ms Thomas recalls. “Then we moved onto the chimpanzee enclosure, which was horrible.”

She quickly realised the job ahead was enormous: she was supposed to go on to a job she’d lined up in Pakistan, but she changed her mind and headed back to Australia to set up Animal Aid Abroad.

“From there we now help in Egypt, Israel, Afghanistan, about five places in India, Nepal, Thailand… we’ve just taken on a new project in Indonesia.

“All of the places we work in are very poor regions. We don’t go where there are existing programs, we go where they’re poor and desperate.”

AAA focuses on aiding smaller groups that operate locally, rather than swooping in with a team of foreign boots on the ground for a short stay. One group she funds in Afghanistan was started by a soldier in the British army who, during his tour of duty, was touched by the poor treatment of street dogs. He now partners with locals who know how to best raise the issues with their countrymen.

A big focus is on the plight of working animals, often donkeys or horses worked so hard they collapse and die.

Sometimes, animals like badly treated performer monkeys can be rescued, but it’s often too idealistic for westerners to roll into town and remove peoples’ working animals.

For many poor farmers the beasts of burden are essential contributors to feeding their families, so volunteers instead teach them how to improve welfare.

“They educate the owners on how to treat the animal better, how to look after it,” Ms Thomas says.

“They provide them with some sort of medical attention because they get so injured, they’re always whipping them or putting harnesses on them that wear huge holes in them.”

Often the changes are simple and don’t interfere with the work: simple things like leaving a donkey in the shade while pausing for lunch, instead of by the side of the scalding road, can ease suffering.

Ms Thomas says her teams teach that “the animal will work better if they did these things”.

Always on the hunt to raise cash, Ms Thomas is having a garage sale.

She says it is “100 per cent profits to charity”.

The garage sale is on at 45 Emmerson Street North Perth, October 25 from 8.15am to 12.30pm. It’ll be an animal-friendly event with water bowls and treats along with all the bric-a-brac on offer for humans.

by DAVID BELL

IN a rare event the owner of 16 Queen Street in the CBD has volunteered the building for heritage listing with Perth city council.

The Chicagoesque building started life as a flour mill but restorations in the 1960s covered up much of the original material.

When Venn gallery and cafe moved in back in 2010 it sought to restore the building, uncovering original elements and picking up three honours from the Design Institute of Australia. It retains original pressed-tin ceilings, polished floorboards, steel beams, a timber staircase and feature doors and windows.

“It’s significant that the owners have asked to be on the heritage list,” Perth councillor Judy McEvoy says. “A lot of people don’t want to be on the heritage list, so this is extremely important.”

“It’s a beautiful building in a street full of many beautiful heritage properties,” says Cr Reece Harley.

Nearby, King Street is subject to a more widespread heritage conservation area, making sure developments fit in with the old-timey 1920s feel.

Efforts to apply the same protection to Queen Street were floated in 2006, and that plan now may be revived.

The council’s well aware the clock’s ticking and when the Northbridge Link project draws to completion the land will be all the more desirable, so it’s resolved to investigate a conservation area for the street next financial year.

The PCC has a slew of encouragement bonuses for anyone with a heritage-listed building. In this case the owner could claim up to $100,000 in grants, awards, and a 10 per cent rates concession.

Another big bonus allows owners of heritage properties to transfer extra storeys they could otherwise build there: keeping a two-storey heritage building in an area that normally allows 10 storeys can see development rights for the eight foregone storeys transferred to another site (or on-sold).

This week the downstairs Venn bar, cafe and shop closed, with the gallery remaining upstairs.

Local small bar hero Andy Freeman will take over the vacant area with The Flour Mill, a venue paying homage to the early beginnings of the building. Mr Freeman’s been responsible for the award-winning Luxe Bar, Varnish on King and Darlings Supper Club.

by DAVID BELL

VINCENT mayor John Carey has hit back at critics who’d accused his council of “raiding” the seniors reserve of $740,000 to cover an unanticipated budget deficit.

Just back from an American roadtrip, he arrived to former council candidate Mark Rossi’s “disgust” with the council for using money that had been set aside for seniors.

Mr Carey says the cash had always been earmarked for spending, but the original project wasn’t going ahead.

Former mayor Alannah MacTiernan had wanted to use it to upgrade the Leederville Gardens Retirement Village. Mr Carey now sits on the village board and says the residents “didn’t want a massive redevelopment of the site”.

Mr Carey wants all Vincent reserve accounts to be examined to see which of them have surplus cash. He says every buck sitting in a reserve with no purpose is an extra buck ratepayers must pay.

“As mayor I cannot honestly sit here as rates notices go out [while] we’re sitting on a $2.7 million fund that has no purpose now.”

Meanwhile, Melville councillor Nick Pazolli was roundly rebuffed and referred to the local government standards panel by mayor Russell Aubrey when he asked whether his council’s squirrelling of cash in reserves was driving up rates.

by DAVID BELL