Perth Voice Interactive

Bayswater mayor Terry Kenyon is being sued by his lawyers for unpaid fees.

Lavan Legal is seeking $324,767—plus interest and costs—for representing him in his defamation action against councillors Mike Sabatino and Mike Anderton.

Cr Kenyon is contesting the bill and a directions hearing has been scheduled for November 6.

The mayor is also being sued by Crs Sabatino and Anderton for his alleged breach of a July settlement of the defamation action.

The settlement had included a non-disclosure clause which the pair allege Cr Kenyon breached by discussing particulars of the settlement in front of more than 100 guests—including politicians and business leaders—at the council’s mayoral dinner (Voice, September 28, 2013).

Meanwhile, Cr Kenyon is seeking re-election to council at this month’s elections.

“The mayor has confirmed that if re-elected he would like to stand for another term as mayor and will re-contest the position,” council media adviser Martyn Boyle says.

The Voice contacted Lavan Legal and Cr Kenyon but both declined to comment.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

Mack McCormack reckons his seaplane business could be the next big thing for WA tourism—except the Swan River Trust is standing in his way.

The Catalina Airlines boss says he’s “lost two years and millions of dollars in turnover” because of what he regards as petty environmental wrangling from the soon-to-be-disbanded agency.

“The Trust asked us to do environmental studies a year ago because they were worried about us killing dolphins and seabirds,” he told the Voice, speaking from Cygnet Bay north of Broome. “I can’t find any other study of dolphin strikes anywhere in the world.

“We have been put through the grinder, there is no environmental issue. We’re ready to go.”

He’d originally applied in 2012 to land and launch seaplanes on the South Perth side of the Narrows but hit opposition from local Liberal MP John McGrath, concerned about amateur yachties being clocked on the head. Mr McGrath suggested a site near the old brewery on the Crawley side of the Narrows and Mr McCormack obliged.

In a December 21, 2012 letter to Mr McCormack the Swan River Trust states “no major issues were raised” but 10 months later he still has no approval.

The Trust says it is considering an application for a trial period of approximately 12 months for two seaplanes to operate with a total of six movements a day.

Mr McCormack wants to operate two seaplanes, one carrying up to 10 passengers and the other up to 24, flying to Rottnest, the Abrolhos islands off Geraldton, Mandurah, Margaret River and other sight-seeing, diving and snorkelling destinations.

“Visitors don’t want to sit in a hotel room all day when they could visit the best diving sites in the state without having to drive hours to get there,” he says.

“It takes one hour and 20 minutes to fly to Geraldton, which is delighted at the new tourism opportunities. There is millions of dollars sitting on the ground doing nothing right now.”

The ex-SAS trooper and WA entrepreneur of the year says all that stands in the way is the Trust’s bureaucratic culture.

by CARMELO AMALFI

Sally Palmer is no stranger to heartbreak.

On the eve of migrating to Australia with her husband and two young boys in the 1980s, her husband died suddenly of a heart attack while playing cricket.

The distraught widow decided to push ahead and continue with the fresh start in Australia with her then-seven and nine-year-old sons, leaving bittersweet memories in England.

Thirty years later Ms Palmer has built a career as a real estate agent, has two grandchildren and served as a Bayswater city councillor from 2007-2011.

After two years’ cold turkey she’s keen to get back in the fray, seeking election to the council under a banner of compassion and social justice.

Formerly a central ward councillor she’s seeking election this time to south ward, where she’s up against local cafe owner John Rifici and Jahanna Frederickson

“Life has taught me that compassion is a necessity in all walks of life,” she says.

“You really need it as a councillor and I feel that I am a people person that can engage and help people in the community.

“Last week I saw a disabled man in his gopher knocked over by a car, but nobody came to his aid, it made me really sad—where’s that sense of the good samaritan gone?”

During her last stint Ms Palmer spearheaded a community campaign opposing a concrete batching plant being built close to homes, on the fringe of the city’s light industrial zone.

The campaign attracted a record number of people to council chambers: The council rejected the proposal for Collier Road after receiving 400 protest letters.

“The plant would [have been] located over the fence from Joan Rycroft Reserve, where there is a playground and kids’ play soccer and cricket,” she says.

“Young children and dust don’t mix.”

In March Ms Palmer contested the state seat of Morley for the Greens.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

 

Axing the Swan River Trust could jeopardise funding for projects along the Maylands foreshore says Bayswater mayor Terry Kenyon and local Labor MP Lisa Baker.

The mayor fears the cash-strapped state government will attempt to get councils to pick up the tab.

Last week the Barnett government announced the SRT—formed in 1989 to protect the Swan and Canning Rivers—would be folded into a new parks and wildlife department.

“The state government has a history of cost-shifting and given the pressures the state’s finances are under it is a real concern for us,” Cr Kenyon says.

“Local governments do not have the resources to take on the cost of looking after the Swan River and I am totally opposed to any attempt by the state government to shift their responsibility.

“We are currently undertaking a lot of work in partnership with the SRT, including the rehabilitation of the Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary to improve water quality. We also have a number of funding applications pending for future environmental projects and we are keen that these should go ahead, so there is a real concern that these may not happen.”

Ms Baker says the government’s proposed new council boundaries are in the middle of the Swan, not along the foreshore, supporting concerns that management responsibility will shift to councils.

“This is a serious policy shift: The fate of future local riverbank restoration and water quality improvement projects in Maylands and Bayswater are in doubt following the Barnett government’s decision,” she says.

“Why wasn’t it revealed before the March 9 state election?

“The Bath Street jetty foreshore stabilisation in Maylands is an example of a project that we were counting on the continuation of SRT funding to complete.

“The foreshore around the Clarkson and Maylands reserves is also in desperate need of restoration, but we don’t know whether local councils can continue to apply for grants for such projects under the new model.”

The Voice contacted WA environment minister Albert Jacob for comment, but he didn’t get back to us.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

As expected, Perth city council has formally rejected a full merger with Vincent.

It bolsters local government minister Tony Simpson’s preferred option of splitting Vincent between Perth and Stirling, however premier Colin Barnett this week said he was “disappointed” and would personally intervene to try and get a rethink.

It also means the PCC is kissing goodbye to millions of dollars in annual savings: A study it commissioned stated increasing the capital’s population to 40,000 people would generate revenues and efficiencies leading to a saving of more than $10 million a year.

Instead, the PCC’s submission to the state government recommends its northern border extend only to Bulwer Street: That would see Vincent’s commercial districts in Perth and most suburbs hived off to Stirling: “I can imagine the disappointment from a number of Vincent ratepayers and residents who were hoping that we would have gone all the way up to Green Street [in Mt Hawthorn],” Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi said.

“I don’t think it was realistic for us.” Describing the PCC as the “face of WA” she says a smaller capital—albeit much bigger than it is now—“enables the City of Perth to focus on our capital city role”.

Jim Adamos was the only Perth city councillor to break ranks. He says more people is precisely what the capital needs, noting Melbourne has 100,000 residents and Sydney 180,000.

“A larger city of Perth area will create more efficiency, better use of assets such as trucks, buildings and land, together with an increase in rates and revenues.”

He says taking in all of Vincent makes cultural, financial and administrative sense.

“The costs and complexity of transitioning a part of Vincent or any other council for that matter will be high compared to the transition of an entire local government authority.”

Expanding the boundary means the PCC can also better meet its 2031 strategic community infrastructure goals for more schools, health clubs, recreation centres and youth facilities, without having to build them from scratch nor find the space to fit them into a smaller capital footprint.

by DAVID BELL

Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi rejects accusations from Alannah MacTiernan that her council is seeking to “cherry pick” lucrative assets currently in neighbouring councils’ borders.

Ms Scaffidi says the PCC has “considered [borders] to the outermost point very solidly”.

“When you look at the western boundary we have gone for some infrastructure items that are not ratepaying, so how can we be accused of being avaricious?”

Cr Rob Butler points out the PCC wants QEII medical centre in its borders: “We don’t get rates out of that, so we’re not exactly cherrypicking, we don’t get them out of the university [of WA].”

Ms Scaffidi has also hit out at neighbouring councils for staging emotionally-charged rallies instead of doing “due diligence”: “What disappoints me personally is we’ve seen a lot of rallies and reactions but we haven’t seen the due diligence coming from other local authorities to the extent we’ve done it,” she told her councillors.

Cr Butler supportively chimed: “The City of Perth, instead of getting out there and waving placards and yelling and screaming, sat down and got to work, and put together a very, very, very comprehensive plan.”

To underscore the point he struggled to lift the massive file. “That’s how heavy it is,” he wheezed.

Vincent acting mayor John Carey says his council chews gum and walks at the same time, staging big rallies while also swotting behind closed doors to prepare detailed reports on the city’s financials.

“I’m very saddened by the attacks on the community by the Perth mayor and some of the councillors,” he says.

“We did do due diligence, but we also sought to engage with the community and there’s nothing wrong with that.

“What’s more, this was driven by the community. This wasn’t men in suits or councillors who drove this campaign, it was the residents.”

by DAVID BALL

A disappointing community consultation experience with the local development assessment panel led Emma Cole to put up her hand for Vincent council.

Ms Cole says she and her neighbours were disappointed not to have a say on a 22-unit development on Oxford Street, whose traffic will be routed through their laneway.

“I came away from that process thinking that didn’t work very well, and I thought I could get in there and work on the community consultation process and come up with something that suits our area and our times.”

Strong feelings amongst locals about amalgamations also motivated her to run for north ward.

“Everybody’s hearts and minds are set on staying with Vincent or going to Perth,” Ms Cole says.

She has the support of former mayor Alannah MacTiernan, who has high praise for Ms Cole’s approach, noting she’d arrived in the public gallery armed with facts and reasonable arguments instead of a pitchfork and torch.

“I’ve known her for quite a few years,” Ms MacTiernan says. “She’s a fantastically considered person, very intelligent, thoughtful, calm, a great listener. She would be a really excellent councillor.”

Ms Cole is a Labor party member but says her run for council is unrelated.

“I don’t have party political aspirations,” she says.

“For me it’s a really big thing to put my hand up even at the level of local government. I don’t aspire to be an MP or have some sort of party political career.”

She says as a public servant she’s acquainted with maintaining non-partisan views and making decisions based on merit and not the party line.

by DAVID BELL

Adam Duncan (right) will have another attempt at Vincent council, running for north ward.

A senate candidate last month for the Greens, Mr Duncan is a catering manager who lives in Mt Hawthorn and says bike paths, underground power and greening the streets are big priorities.

On the issue of council mergers he says, “I’m not against amalgamation as such, but when you have a community that’s been built up over a couple of years then you want to preserve that identity, and not tear it apart”.

He says in an ideal world Vincent would stay solo, but if mergers go ahead Perth is a better fit. He’s in the part of town that would be shipped to Stirling under current plans, and says Perth better understands the inner-city atmosphere.

At the last council election Mr Duncan included the Greens’ logo on his flyers. He’s still open about his party affiliation but says this time round he left the logos off because some voters saw it as politicising local government.

He says the party’s social justices stances are key for him, but the environmental concerns also rank highly.

Mr Duncan is 44, has three kids, and enjoys spending Sundays watching WAFL games.

Rachel Naisbitt (right) has been doing an old-fashioned whistlestop tour—on a bike.

She’s been getting around town on her treadly campaigning for Vincent’s north ward, and says every day she hears new stories from residents, from those worried about how long planning permission takes for simple jobs like front garages, or local business owners who are severely limited in the advertising they can put up.

Formerly an investment banker who’s now doing a stint with the WA housing department, Ms Naisbitt strongly supports greening the town with more street trees.

She decided to run for council because she got a taste for community work after joining the local Rotary branch.

“I grew up in a country town where if you wanted anything done, you do it yourself,” she says, remembering the time the bakery burnt down and the town got together to rebuild it.

Ms Naisbitt is a Liberal party member seeking election to a council traditionally dominated by Labor faces, but says her membership is secondary to her community interests.

And she’s not afraid to speak her mind, opposing Barnett government plans to split Vincent or merge it with Perth. She says small councils are more responsive.

“At the moment if a ratepayer has an issue they can easily access the local council, but if we are merged with Perth or Stirling it will be so much harder to get to and speak to someone over local issues.”

by DAVID BELL

Community Vinnie Molina (left)is hoping to turn his people-rallying skills to council when he runs for Vincent’s south ward.

The CFMEU organiser and Communist Party of Australia president supports “solidarity and a fair go for everybody”.

He says he’s proud of his background and isn’t interested in playing it down: “I can’t try to be someone else. I’m a committed trade unionist. I’m in a job I love.”

Originally from Guatemala he’s volunteered with 6EBA multicultural radio and is a carpenter by trade. He’s running because, “I’ve been heavily involved in community work for some time”. “Something that really triggered it was Colin Barnett’s forced amalgamations and restricting the community from having a say. I’m against the splitting of Vincent, it’s a unique area.”