Perth Voice Interactive

Half-a-million bucks disappear after election:

Mt Hawthorn primary school was quietly short-changed $550,000 in the WA state budget, infuriating its P&C.

Before the March 9 state election the school was promised $1.25 million for infrastructure upgrades. That was slashed to $700,000 when the Budget was announced two weeks ago.

P&C president Tim Swart says the school community has already spent the money in its head on extending undercover space for assemblies and performing arts.

“When we found out about the shortfall we had a meeting with Liberal Perth MP Eleni Evangel—she is going to try and get us the rest of the money,” Mr Swart told the Voice.

“Hopefully she’ll get back to us soon and we can sort this out. It is disappointing, because we are a growing school and we were banking on the extra space.”

Mt Hawthorn was a key battleground between then-Labor MP John Hyde and Ms Evangel. In February the Liberal heavily promoted the promised upgrades, including resurfacing the carpark and tennis and basketball courts.

The Voice contacted Ms Evangel for comment on this story, but she didn’t get back to us.

On Wednesday WA Labor leader Mark McGowan visited the school, saying the promised funding was needed to help it cope with growing demand across the inner-city.

“It’s just another broken promise,” he says.

“The school community has been arguing for this money for some time. Now those upgrades will have to be scaled back, it’s very disappointing.”

Mr McGowan’s visit came a day after WA education minister Peter Collier broke an assurance he’d given Friday about staff cuts. Four days after saying there would be none, he announced 500 jobs would go.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

Stirling mayor David Boothman has declared war on the Barnett government’s amalgamation plans, describing them as a “fiasco”.

On Tuesday the council—one of WA’s biggest—voted to lobby the government to keep Wembley Downs, Churchlands, Woodlands, Inglewood and parts of Mt Lawley and Dianella within its borders.

Cr Boothman says Stirling residents are aghast at the implications of the government’s planned changes, shifting them into neighbouring councils they have no connection with.

“Stirling is collateral damage in this whole fiasco and would seem to some to be an easy target given our excellent financial standing,” he says.

“Two months ago we were assured there would be no change to our boundaries and the city was held up as a poster child in terms of the model that all local government should be aiming towards.

“Then three weeks ago we were told of the proposed carve-up to our boundaries, which includes six of our current suburbs being devoured by neighbouring new mega-councils to make them sustainable to our detriment, and that only minor tweaks would be considered in any submission back to the local government advisory board.”

Plans to include half of Vincent in Stirling have already unravelled, with all of the tiny city now likely to end up in a bigger Perth. A Stay in Stirling Facebook page has been created and the Mt Lawley Society has organised a protest rally at the Astor Theatre on August 28. The council is rolling out Obama-style posters of the mayor, with the word “STAY” replacing “HOPE”.

Residents have also banded together to fund a full-page ad in this week’s Voice to advertise the rally.

Cr Boothman says the boundary changes have no benefit for Stirling residents: “Bottom line, the proposed changes are not consistent with the intent of the reform process and more importantly, there is not a single benefit in it for Stirling residents.

“Our suburbs should stay in Stirling and not be transferred over to other new councils for the sole purpose of making them sustainable, which we all know this is what it is all about.”

Cr Boothman urges residents to “Like” the “Stay in Stirling” Facebook page and complete a survey at http://www.stirling.wa.gov.au/vote, to be included in the final submission to the LGAB on October 4.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

Watching his 100-year-old grandmother read stories to rapt young nieces and nephews, Garth Kearvell realised she wouldn’t be around forever.

That gave the Mount Hawthorn man the idea to launch NonnaVoce—Nana’s Voice.

Mr Kearvell visits homes and records grandparents reading bed-time tales. The recordings can then be played long after the reader has gone to the happily ever after in the sky.

“The baby boomers are getting older, my parents are getting older, that’s all going to be lost and people don’t realise that at some stage they won’t be around,” Mr Kearvell says.

He says the service has also been popular with fly-in/fly-out workers: “Maintaining that connection with kids is important, and having those stories, they can go to bed listening to mum and dad.”

He’s done a few so far and says the most popular stories are the classics like Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs (they’re also in the public domain, which alleviates any potential copyright snags).

“There’s a plethora of older stories, myths and legends like Mother Goose and Grimm and the stories of Monkey that we all watched as kids, all this literature and these classical works that have survived over time. Aside from the nursery rhymes I encourage them to do an intro and an outro, so for the recording it might be something like ‘Hi little Bob and Jenny, it’s grandma here and this is the date and when I’m recording this you’re three’.”

Previously a state manager for “fast-moving consumer goods” (companies like Arnotts, Kraft, Coca-Cola) Mr Kearvell says, “I hit around 40 and wanted to step out of the corporate world and wanted to do something gentler”.

There’s more info at http://www.nonnavoce.com

by DAVID BELL

Paid parking at train stations faces a backlash, with locals and Bayswater councillors joining Labor’s opposition to the plan.

Free parking at stations will be abolished from next July.

WA transport shadow Ken Travers says $2 a day doesn’t sound like much to pay but over a year the $460 makes a huge difference to low-income families already battling rising costs and charges.

“It’s bad news for public transport commuters who will suffer huge blows to household budgets,” he says.

“Utility bills and the cost of living are shooting up—this is just another blow to families struggling to make ends meet.”

Maylands Labor MP Lisa Baker says the charge comes on top of a flagged 20 per cent increase in fares over the next four years. She says train commuters will start clogging local streets to avoid the fees.

“They will likely end up parking in residential streets near Meltham, Bayswater and Maylands train stations.”

“It’s only going to get worse—if people have a choice between paying and not paying, they will ditch their car in the street,” resident Nick Suess says.

Councillor Marlene Robinson says the council will end up wearing the cost of regulating parking in surrounding streets.

“We are already inundated with calls from residents about illegal parking,” she says.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

John Carey is running for Vincent mayor.

Founder of the Beaufort Street Network and a co-founder of the hugely popular Beaufort Street festival, Cr Carey says, “we’re really at a critical time for our city”.

With the roll-out of town centre upgrades in various states of completion, Cr Carey says he wants to continue the momentum and keep the upgrades of villages, parks and playgrounds coming in the lead-up to amalgamation with Perth, especially given Vincent’s baby boom.

“We really need a strong voice for local residents and someone who’s prepared to stand up to the government to keep our community together.”

Unlike mentor Alannah MacTiernan, a fierce supporter of Vincent’s capital city amalgamation, Cr Carey’s preference is to keep Vincent as it is. But, bowing to the inevitable, his next preference is merging all of Vincent with Perth and resisting the government’s initial plan to splice half into Stirling.

The 39-year-old environmental consultant has had a busy two years on council. As well as his festival work he initiated a register that allowed same-sex couples to register their relationships with the city. A largely symbolic precursor to what he hopes is equal marriage legislation, it does provide some modicum of official status. He’s also sought to crack down on the number of vacant blocks that plague the city like broken teeth, and proposed a plan for the parking squad to blitz streets where locals were getting parked out by commuters.

He’s called for improvement of the council’s tortuous community consultation system and supports the mayor’s name and shame program for kerb crawlers.

Cr Carey says he’ll be a full-time mayor if elected, and plans to take leave from this week to start knocking on doors.

He’s a Labor party member concerned with equality and worker’s rights. His dad Jack, a meat worker and WWII veteran, was a long-time member.

If elected Cr Carey will continue an unbroken run of Labor party figures—Jack Marks, John Hyde, Nick Catania and Alannah MacTiernan—leading the council from its 1994 formation to its 2015 end.

by DAVID BELL

Alannah MacTiernan is backing Cr John Carey to succeed her as Vincent mayor.

“I believe John Carey is the best person to succeed me—he has the enthusiasm and drive to do the job,” she says.

“People want somebody that can get things done and make change happen.

“I’ve know John and his father for many years—Vincent will be in safe hands.”

Labor’s federal Perth candidate says she will step down as mayor following the September 7 federal election—even if she doesn’t win.

“I will post-date my resignation to avoid a by-election and any expense for the city,” she says.

“This will ensure a smooth transition at the council elections in October.”

Ms MacTiernan says Cr Carey—a 39-year-old ALP member—has enough life experience to don the golden chains in the two years till amalgamations with Perth start to take effect.

Meanwhile, Vincent deputy mayor Warren McGrath plans to retire in October.

“My workload has increased significantly and I just don’t have the time to juggle everything,” he says.

Cr McGrath will be acting mayor between September 8 and October 19. He’ll take two weeks’ leave during that period, meaning the council will have to elect an acting acting mayor.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

If the CFMEU’s anti-457 visas billboard on the side of his building gave federal Perth Liberal candidate Darryl Moore a headache, this one’ll give him a migraine.

No sooner had the union billboard gone up than it was being pasted over—with a big poster of Mr Moore’s ALP rival, Alannah MacTiernan.

Attempts to get Mr Moore’s comments were stymied by the Liberals’ media control-freakism (which so far includes banning Liberal candidates in multicultural seats from attending community forums).

Liberal media wrangler Joey Armenti asked that we email questions about the billboard but we said we wanted to speak to Mr Moore like a real live human being. We never heard back.

As for the tactics of whacking her giant face on the Liberals’ building, Ms MacTiernan merely says, “all’s fair in love and war”.

She quips Mr Moore has taken up so much advertising space around the city her campaign team was left with few options.

by DAVID BELL

Bayswater mayor Terry Kenyon is under siege with a raft of candidates said to be opposed to his leadership nominating for the October council elections.

His two supporters in north ward, Graham Pittaway and Alan Radford are being challenged by high-profile candidates Michelle Sutherland and Mark Whitehouse.

Both are pledging to be independent on the notoriously faction-riven council but are understood not to support Cr Kenyon.

Ms Sutherland (Voice, August 10, 2013) is married to Liberal MP Michael while small businessman Mr Whitehouse is a pioneer of the Morley Soccer Club (now Morley Windmills) and a former president of the Central Eastern Business Association.

At Bayswater the mayor is elected by the council, not the people. If Crs Pittaway and Radford were to fall, Cr Kenyon’s grip on power—assuming he retains his own west ward seat—would end.

Mr Whitehouse says Morley deserves more business love and he wants security patrols doubled.

“I feel that Morley is underrated—it’s close to the city and the airport, and properties are reasonably priced—I would love to see it fulfil its potential.

“I want to get technology companies, who are paying exorbitant rents in West Perth, to move here and pay far less. Getting the NBN rolled out quicker would help that.

“I am also keen on establishing an eco-park for sustainable businesses.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK