Perth Voice Interactive

A PLAN to provide out-of-hours childcare for Maylands Peninsula Primary School families has been narrowly shot down by Bayswater council, with mayor Filomena Piffaretti using her casting vote to break a tie. 

The school has undertaken a five-year search for its own OSHC centre, as there’s no room on its own grounds for a new building and nearby providers have waiting lists so long most students will graduate before securing a spot.

Bayswater council stepped in to help with the search after a push by councillor Elli Petersen-Pik in 2021, and MPPS has been hoping it will allow a provider to take up a lease in the adjacent Gibbney Reserve pavilion.

The pavilion has been leased by Football West since 2003, but that expires in January 2024.

Cr Petersen-Pik, whose kids attend MPPS, supports the pavilion move and had two previous attempts to secure a deal voted down along factional lines before he fronted council’s November 21 meeting hoping for third time lucky.

He’d previously put up a two-year lease extension for Football West before it would have to relocate, and this time offered an additional two years, but again the mayor and supporters Steven Ostaszewsjyk, Josh Eveson, Michelle Sutherland, and Cr Assunta Meleca (who initially supported the idea in 2021) voted him down.

In favour were Cr Petersen-Pik, Dan Bull, Giorgia Johnson, Lorna Clarke, and new councillor Nat Latter.

“That is a 5/5,” Ms Piffaretti announced, “and I will use my casting vote against, so that is lost.”

Usually the council would have 11 members to prevent ties, but Ms Piffaretti will have a casting vote up her sleeve until a new councillor is voted in to the ward she unexpectedly quit just prior to the election (“Shock resignation,” Voice, October 21, 2023). Her resignation thwarted the chances of former councillor Sally Palmer to pick up a spare seat – she’s previously backed Cr Petersen-Pik’s plan.

Cr Petersen-Pik said Football West had supported the two-year extension back in August, but by the November 14 council briefing they’d thrown up a strong defence which included Football Futures Foundation, a FW-controlled entity supporting disabled sports.

“I thought it was a done deal, and all councillors would be happy to support that win-win outcome,” Cr Petersen-Pik said on November 21.

“I shared this update with all of you many hours before the meeting.

“Afterwards, some of you were in touch with Football West, and later Football West decided to withdraw their support hoping that the council will now support a new 10-year lease over the building,” Cr Petersen-Pik claimed of his colleagues.

Football West CEO Jamie Harnwell initially denied at the meeting having and contact with elected members, but later by email said he forgotten a brief and inconsequential phone call with Ms Piffaretti.

Mr Harnwell said their change in stance was largely related to delays in moving to the new state football centre and they wanted to keep using the Gibbney Reserve space for now.

by DAVID BELL

BAYSWATER mayor Filomena Piffaretti and Youth Advisory Council members Isabella and Lucy are hoping to hear from 12 to 25-year-olds about activities, events and initiatives they’d like to see in the city over the next few years.

Bayswater council’s first youth action plan ran 2019 to 2023 and saw the development of more youth-focused events like art activities, under-18 music events and fashion-design workshops. Preparation for the next five-year phase of the plan is now underway, and Ms Piffaretti says “we want to know what matters most to you and how we can support you”.

There’s a survey up at engage.bayswater.wa.gov.au from now until February 29.

BAYSWATER council has delayed signing off the minutes of its October 31 meeting after a resident fact-checked a claim by an unsuccessful candidate in that month’s council elections.

Nirmal Singh had spoken out at the meeting against the council flying the Aboriginal flag at half mast following the failed Voice to Parliament referendum, claiming “all the polling booths in the City voted no – 51 per cent”. 

Along with being quoted in the Voice, Mr Singh had requested his words be printed in full in the official minutes of the meeting.

They were due to be ratified at Bayswater’s November 21 meeting, but resident Georgina Ker stepped up at public question time last week to fact-check the claim. 

Ms Ker, who’d had an unsuccessful run for the mayor’s spot in the same election, said there was a “factual error” in Mr Singh’s preferred wording.

“I was wondering if the minutes can reflect that it’s not actually true that all of the polling booths in the City of Bayswater voted No to the referendum, as five of them actually voted Yes,” Ms Ker said.

Cr Lorna Clarke agreed the minutes should include an annotation to Mr Singh’s assertion. 

“These minutes go into the history books,” Cr Clarke said. “I was in a meeting the other day in another context where there was literally a set of minute books from 100 years ago. Fascinating reading. 

“We actually want it to reflect historical facts and what the Australian Electoral Commission data is, to the extent that we can.”

Councillors agreed to hold off on ratifying the minutes until staff could confirm Yes-voting booths.

The Chook’s perusal of the booths aligned with Ms Ker’s finding of five where Yes votes prevailed: Bayswater (65.45 per cent yes), Bayswater North (58.6), Bedford (53.38), Maylands (62.45) and Maylands East (64.13).

by DAVID BELL

A MEMORIAL to Rwandan genocide will be erected in Stirling Civic Gardens despite concerns it could lead to the council becoming a de facto arbiter of complex ethnic conflicts. 

Rwandan Community Abroad Perth asked Stirling for space to install a memorial for “remembrance, honour, and education” for victims of the 1994 genocide.

Many Rwandans and other Swahili-speakers from neighbouring African countries observe the annual ‘Kwibuka’ (‘to remember’) commemorations across 100 days in April and July, marking the dates when an estimated 600,000 to 1 million people were murdered.

Rwandan-born Rosemine Mutamaliza told the council in October: “Many of the survivors, include those living in Perth, continue to bear lifelong physical and emotional scars. 

“Many are not able to travel back home in April every year. This is why a remembrance and a memorial is a crucial part of our community and our healing process.”

The issue was deferred as too politically charged while the council was in caretaker mode in the lead-up to the October 21 elections.  

But at the November 21 meeting the memorial won support, with yes votes from councillors Andrea Creado, Joe Ferrante, Damien Giudici, Tony Krsticevic, Suzanne Migdale, Teresa Olow, Rob Paparde, Stephanie Proud, Lisa Thornton and mayor Mark Irwin.

Councillors Michael Dudek, Karlo Perkov and Chris Hatton voted against the motion, concerned about local governments being drawn into complex and contentious international events.

Complex

“We should endeavour to help the Rwandan community liaise with the federal government to find an appropriate place for this memorial,” Cr Dudek said.

Noting the passion of RCAP members in representing their community, and the genuine suffering during a conflict whose origins were “brewing before I was ever born”, Cr Dudek said it might open the floodgates for other similar requests.

“We’ve seen the troubles that councils over east have encountered in navigating the issues for the Israel-Palestine conflict and I think it’s something that federal government is better placed to deal with,” he said.

The historical study of the Rwandan genocide is similarly politically charged. 

In 2018 the United Nations officially renamed the killings “The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda” in recognition of the systematic targeting of one minority ethnic group.

But thousands of moderate Hutus who opposed the killings and a third of the indigenous Twa people were also slaughtered, while the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front of Paul Kagame was reportedly responsible for killing between 30,000 – 40,000 Hutus after it won back control of the country – scholars are still divided on whether this constituted an attempted genocide.

Cr Dude said the memorial was being proposed by just one of the ethnic groups involved in the conflict.

Troubled

“I’m troubled by this. I’m troubled that we’re going to potentially vote on something which is going to in fact highlight one ethnic group of one country over the other two ethnic groups that also exist in that country and the surrounding countries.

“I absolutely sympathise with anyone who’s had family and friends and so on in in wars… [but] this will create problems which we are not properly prepared to deal with.”

RCAP describes themselves as an “inclusive” group and their application does not mention ethnicities apart from using the UN-approved “Genocide against the Tutsis” title. 

Cr Krsticevic voted in favour of the monument, but also had reservations: “I don’t want to be the person judging who deserves a memorial and who doesn’t,” he said.

Mr Irwin, who with the RCAP and supported the memorial, said the decision was clear cut: “I don’t know any other ethnic group that in our modern history had a million people slaughtered in 100 days,” he said.

Other ethnic groups would also need to show that, like the RCAP, they had a significant population in Stirling and a significant reason for a memorial.

Previously Stirling sidestepped complex conflicts via a ban on monuments for events occurring outside its boundaries. 

Councillors changed that in August 2023 following the RCAP request.

After the half-hour debate on the monument, Mr Irwin apologised to the Rwandans in the public gallery, saying it would have been difficult to listen to.

“But I do also applaud council. It’s important that council are true to themselves and debate something in terms of their feelings and in that way it’s brave for them to be able to speak out as well so I ask for your understanding in… the discussion they had to have then.”

Council will spend about $2,000 to prepare the site, and RCAP will pay $30,000 for the production and installation of the memorial, and will be responsible for ongoing costs.

by DAVID BELL

THREE years since the idea was floated, a trackless tram is being tested in a carpark course in hopes it’ll one day run from Glendalough train station to Scarborough Beach.

Stirling mayor Mark Irwin has been a major driver behind the trackless tram plan.

“During peak hours the current road network in the Stirling City Centre, including parts of Scarborough Beach Road, is at capacity, and congestion and parking around the Scarborough precinct is a challenge,” he said in a press release this week.

“The tram offers a real possibility of getting people to leave their cars at home and use public transport, reducing emissions and making it easier for people to get around.”

Compared to a bus, the trams are auto-guided by magnetic nails embedded the road, they’re bidirectional so don’t need a huge wheelhouse to turn around, and they have more space for wheelchairs, prams and – importantly for Mr Irwin’s dream route – surfboards.

A model was brought over from China in September. Now, after a week’s work to embed magnetic nails in the carpark around Stirling’s Cedric Street, the tram has been running laps while experts run tests on how it operates, the impacts on the road surface, and the ride quality for passengers.

The public will have a chance to take a test ride during the Stirling Farmers Markets on November 26 from 8am to 11am at 25 Cedric Street.

SEVEN tonnes of rubbish had to be dumped on Lincoln Street after discarded batteries started a fire inside a rubbish truck last Monday.

The Highgate street had to be closed off after a fire was detected in the belly of a Cleanaway truck, an increasingly common occurrence with the proliferation of devices, with lithium batteries.

Vincent CEO David MacLennan told the Voice, “the fire was caused by lithium batteries being placed in a residential general waste bin.

“The truck driver followed correct procedures to dump the approximately seven tonnes of waste in a safe open space on a local street to prevent the fire spreading through the truck.”

Traffic management was called in while the Department of Fire and Emergency Services put out the fire, and then Vincent’s waste crew undertook the arduous task of sweeping and clearing the street.

Telltale cells

At the heart of the charred refuse: the telltale cells that line the inside of a lithium battery, the kind typically used to power electric bikes. 

Lithium battery disposals have caused an increasing number of truck fires in recent years. Earlier this City of Wanneroo mayor Linda Aitken announced three fires caused by incorrectly binned batteries in the space of a month, and implored residents to properly dispose of hazardous items.

Mr MacLennan said, “all batteries are classified as household hazardous waste. 

“Batteries cannot be placed in any kerbside bins as they may cause fires in bins or waste trucks which present an environmental and health risk to the community and our waste collection staff.

“Residents can take loose batteries and old rechargeable devices to convenient drop-off points at local supermarkets, office supply shops and local libraries.” Vincent has five: At the library, at Beatty Park Leisure Centre, the Mezz, North Perth Plaza, and at the Highgate Woolworths.

Other hazardous items that are risky when dumped include fluorescent globes and CFL tube lights, mobile phones, and ink cartridges.

by DAVID BELL

A PLAN to employ security robots to patrol Stirling’s crime hotspots has been shelved for now, but councillor Joe Ferrante says after he reworks the idea, “I’ll be back”. 

Cr Ferrante introduced the idea in August, suggesting they import four-wheeled robots named “Xavier” that had been used in Singapore.

They were first deployed for a trial in 2021, patrolling the streets and using artificial intelligence to analyse video feeds so they could alert a human operator to tune in if they detected suspicious behaviour. Humans can then attend the scene, or just admonish the lawbreakers through the two-way communication system attached to the bots.

Singapore used them to target smoking in prohibited areas, scooters on footpaths, and people gathering in groups (which was in breach of Covid-19 rules at the times). They’re now used in Changi Airport to “augment” human police patrols.

Cr Ferrante had wanted staff to investigate whether they could be trialled to patrol hotspots in Stirling.

But at the November 21 meeting, staff suggested not to spend employee hours undertaking a full investigation and assessment, given the many complications around the bots.

Their interim report said that as a result of Singapore’s use of Xaviers “privacy concerns were raised over the use of autonomous mobile robots to capture footage. 

“Other world-wide trials have resulted in similar concerns with autonomous mobile robots having been kicked, punched, tipped over and generated negative comments regarding government over-reach.”

Suspicious

Because the robots need humans to look over any suspicious footage and attend some incidents in-person, “this would require support from the City’s Community Patrol Service, hence likely affecting the number of officers in the field”.

After reviewing the report Cr Ferrante withdrew the idea for now, but said “I’ll rework it… I’ll be back.”

“With Xavier,” mayor Mark Irwin suggested.

by DAVID BELL