Australia Day 2013

The best Australia Day ever! Lots of people said so. Two hundred volunteers, a big crowd, from all over the planet, a trusting, positive, friendly atmosphere, absolutely no rubbish at all, smiles everywhere and a fabulous fireworks finale. I really like the way that it has become better every year, partly due to the power of volunteers. Thank you to everyone who was there. You make a difference!

The pictures tell the story. For a whole album of 118 photos you can find it on Facebook (just click and scroll) or click here for a web gallery (zoom for bigger display). Feel free to 'Tag' yourself and your friends and click on Share or Like. There are quite a lot of other photos that I didn't upload, available free to your group.

For me Australia Day in South Perth was inspirational. My volunteering task was great fun. I walked the entire shore length many times, welcoming residents and visitors, handing out event guides. That’s been my role every year. I love a chat and look forward to it.
I hope you had a fabulous day too. How was it? How are we ever going to improve on this? Comments?

Our Own Future: Yes Please!

Not just “me too!” Not just like the suburb next door. Not just another dormitory with a big box full of cheap shops. The idea horrifies me. This place is unique; let’s plan for a unique future. Let’s look to the needs of today’s residents and of those fifty years hence.

In South Perth we already see six hundred thousand visitors to the zoo each year, and this even with no rail station. Fresh, exciting plans show development of the Civic Triangle around the Post Office, with community facilities, offices and a residential spire with views to east and west. Nearby landowners want to get this patch moving, with coherent planning. Completion of the rail station will let this happen, and without more traffic too.

Recently I’ve seen architect’s plans for Mill Point, with a cultural museum featuring both Noongar and Colonial history, cycle facilities, coffee shop, a restaurant on the river bank, a marina facing UWA, a zip-slide ride down from Kings Park and careful preservation of the historic Old Mill. Perhaps we really can have a small but significant focus on Tourism. Some people even speak of a recreational area on Sir James Mitchell Park, akin to Brisbane’s Southbank.

For real imagination let’s look at who we are. South Perth has a large proportion of educated people, professional and managerial employees and business owners, a huge range of multi-lingual residents and proximity to the freeway, the rail line, light rail, three universities and the Fiona Stanley medical precinct plus links to the National Broadband Network, being installed right now. Surely this suggests that we can promote a much more knowledge-intensive economy.

With more intense zoning and development in areas such as at South Perth Station and Canning Bridge there is opportunity for Tri-generation energy (click) sources. These would reduce energy consumption, diminish greenhouse gas emissions and save money.  Tri-generation involves building a small gas turbine to generate electricity, using the surplus heat piped around the precinct to run air conditioning and floor heating, while maintaining a connection to the power grid only for emergencies. Lots of other ideas link with this, including grouped solar panels, smart glass, reduced energy transmission losses and co-operative design. This is already being done by Sydney’s CBD.

Preston Street is in a beautiful location but is drowning in Beige. Street art, sidewalk cafés, creative art fashion could thrive here. The business owners are keen but uncertain of Council support. Colin Stiles, owner of the Cygnet Theatre (click) says he’d like to propose imaginative projects but fears that Council would reject them. The restaurant owners too want to get the streetside busy.

Karawara is presently dominated by students, low-rent and social housing. Surely with its proximity to Curtin Uni, Bentley Tech Park and the Pawsey Centre it can be developed as a hub in the knowledge economy. Already Curtin University has exciting plans that include links with surrounding suburbs (click for the link).

Manning and Salter Point have been left behind. Here our population is especially diverse. We have very many people in older, rental places and who really deserve to share in the City’s future. There are numerous Noongar people who provide a link with the long and deep history of our riverbank City. More recent arrivals have built large and costly houses and would also like to feel part of a connected community. The Manning Hub development, which we’ve worked on for about six years, can be a place where all can share the library, sports facilities, shops, meeting places and conversation. Let’s keep this project moving.

Trains now run frequently between Canning Bridge and the City and mean that it is entirely possible for a person to get from their Como home office to a client’s City office more rapidly than they could from another City location. This means that we can already think of South Perth as an extension of the CBD; Similarly we have rapid links with Fiona Stanley Medical precinct and Curtin Uni. With Light Rail as well we can link east and west too.

We could benefit from development of intense, physically small but economically large business centres with diverse services available. Right next to Canning Bridge and South Perth Stations would be ideal.

South Perth has quite a lot of land occupied by large soakage pits. If these were filled with porous, strong cells we could build on top of them, providing land for community and commercial facilities such as medical centres, crèches, sports centres and gyms, etcetera. In total this is valuable land going unused. We’ve already done this in Angelo Street where the car park is constructed over one of these pits, while it still works for rain water to recharge our aquifer.

About two thousand home businesses exist in the City. Some of these are small; others are huge. All Black and Decker tools distribution in WA ran for years from a home garage with internet connection. Many other quite large import and distribution businesses, design firms, games designers and data specialist operate from deceptively small home bases. These are often multi-million dollar operations. Such businesses need a very different support than that required by retail shops. Clustering of people with ideas always brings yet more imagination. Is it something in the air?

Through all these ideas there’s a common thread of the unique riverside environment we share. People worldwide like to live and work in a place that they enjoy and value. The rivers deserve our very best loving care.

Our weakness has been that we’ve usually planned for what we already have. Let’s look beyond today. I believe that we can step onwards from here to build a truly exciting future if we plan for the City that we imagine for the future.

Let’s get on with it. What are your thoughts? Click on Comments below.

Good People Doing Amazingly Good Things

Gee I love where I live. Here’s some of what’s been going on recently and more about events happening soon..

Neighbours looking after each other. Our Neighbourhood Watch group promotes this every day. You can help too. Click here to find out more www.spnw.com.au

Last weekend the Moordij Keila group and Lifestreams Church celebrated the opening of their new meeting place in Karawara.

There’s been a fair bit of sweat, a lot of humour and  people making new friends at the Community Garden. https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/McDougallPark

Just yesterday the Mosaic Group and the Craft people held a stunning Open Day. There were happy potters, whimsical painters, detailed lacemakers, skilled bookbinders and much more. Here’s one of the works:

Forthcoming Events:

Canning Bridge Structure Plan Community Workshop:  The latest on what’s happening and an opportunity to be part of the conversation about our City’s future.

The next community workshop for the Canning Bridge Structure Plan will focus on a series of options for the Structure Plan. Conference Room, City of Melville Civic Centre, 10 Almondbury Road, Booragoon, 6-9pm, Thursday 22 November, Contact: City of Melville 1300 635 845 or City of South Perth 9474 0777

Manning Community Hub: Residents deserve to have some of the wealth of South Perth directed to this end of town also. We've worked hard for years to renew the tired old Manning Hub. Hundreds of residents, all the shop owners and nearby businesses have been involved in the progress of this plan. In response to lots of consultation the plans have been improved several times. The centre will have new sports exercise facilities and change rooms, clean meeting spaces, fresh shops, a library,  parking and a Town Square for community events. The visual impact will be gentle. Very many residents, some Councillors and several community groups have brought this exciting centre to the stage where it's about to happen. It's so much better to be part of the group, not shouting from over the road. Come and join us while we make this place better for our today and our children’s tomorrow.

Public meeting Monday, 26 November at the Manning Community Hall. Please come along to make sure this goes ahead before Council amalgamation puts a stop to it.

Centre plans to be seen here http://www.southperth.wa.gov.au/Documents/Out-for-Comment/Manning-Community-Hub/ManningCommunityHub_brochure.pdf

Thank you everybody who’s done something for others this week.

Have your say. Click on Comments below. (Comments are now open but offensive material will be removed.)

Taking Back Local Authority

The State Government has ripped our local voices away. The big decisions about what gets built in our WA communities are now taken by appointed Panels of five people, with only two of them Councillors elected by us. And wait, it gets worse! The local Council briefs to the panels are prepared without any input from our Councillors. And there’s more! The two representatives are not even required to give the opinion of their Council, and can say just give their own views.

Any development in WA with a value of more than $7million ($15million in the City of Perth) must go to a Panel for permission to proceed. They bypass the Council. Additionally, any applicant with a project over $3million ($10million in City of Perth) can just go straight to the Panel, again bypassing the Council.

It’s time we did something about this. Let’s take back some strength for our local voices. There are things our Councils can do.

Council’s elected members give some of their decision-making roles over to the employed staff. This is called Delegated Authority and gives the power to process the thousands of procedural matters over to employees with the appropriate skills and training. Only when matters are large, contentious or in dispute do these decisions actually come to the elected members.

There are two steps that Councils could take to strongly influence the way the local area develops. Elected members might not always realise it but they have the power to withdraw Delegated Authority. Council can take back this authority and require briefing papers for the Development Assessment Panels (DAPs) to be prepared jointly with our elected members. Next, Councils can insist that their two minority representatives speak on behalf of the Council, not as individuals.

This way we can ensure that our community voice is stronger and is heard. I know Julie Matheson in Subiaco Council has a similar view and that many Councils are feeling powerless. Do you support this? Are there other actions to keep our Councils strong? Can we still have a say in what happens around here? Click on Comments below. (Comments are now open but offensive material will be removed.)

Our City, the Census and Economic Development

Are we just a dormitory, a placed to sleep before we go to work, then come home, sleep and do it again? I think we can be much more. What’s it take to make this the very best place to be? What do we need? Where might we go?

Of course feeling safe is import to us, with respect to crime, graffiti and much more. It’s about road design, knowing the people in our street, trusting each other, having a good footpath, safe windows that still let the breeze in and so much more.

We want our city to be healthy for all of us, with good medical care, walkways and cycle tracks, social connections, places to meet, fresh air, light and space, trees, Black Cockatoos and a living river.

We also need a lively economy, that vital arm of a good community, so that our safe, healthy city endures and improves. What do we need to make this work? To the south is the extensive Fiona Stanley Health complex and Murdoch Uni. To the north is Perth’s CBD. On the east is Curtin Uni, with its plans for thirty thousand students soon. Next door we are building the most powerful computing centre on Earth. Light rail will very soon give us quick travel across the metro region.

The 2011 Census helps us think about the future by telling us what we are now. (Click for our info). There are forty thousand of us in South Perth. We average 36 years of age. We have 70% of a car each, including kids. A surprising 37 per cent of us are students. Not so surprisingly, our education levels are a little bit higher than average. About 60 per cent of us were born in Australia; after that we come from England, Malaysia, New Zealand and China. More than 60 per cent of us are immigrants or the first- generation children of immigrant parents. Nearly a quarter of us use two or more languages at home. Only 51 per cent of us live in separated houses. Forty per cent of us live in rented accommodation. More than half of us over 15 are not working; that includes students, parents at home and retirees.

Sooo, what’s this say about our potential? I suggest it means we have fabulous links to other countries and that our professionals, managers, new immigrants and students have friends and families around the globe and are multi-lingual. We have great education and are well connected. Some of us are a little more wealthy, many are not and many of us work hard to make a go of it in our new home in Australia. My family has been here since 1835 and I think it’s always been that way.

I think this places us well to provide worldwide services based around technology, that don’t require large infrastructure, that use high intensity professional skills and that thrive on diversity. We need fast internet, good links with the airport and universities and a lot of local services. We need support services that operate around the clock, spanning the time zones. Schools and universities right here can use technology to service all of the world, especially Asia. Local businesses can offer employment for people to work near their homes, making this a magnificent place to both live and to work.

Our city planning will think ahead, think beyond perceptions of traditional 2+2 families where Dad goes out to work and comes home to sleep. We’ll think about different styles of homes, of transport, communications and workspaces. We’ll plan too for the lifestyle of retired people and of students. Much of the change has already happened, we just need to recognise it and plan for the future we choose in the place we’ve already chosen.

Behind all this, to ensure that our city is still a wonderful place to live, we still need that safe, trusting community, healthy rivers and clean air. On a Perth spring morning we still want to breathe in and feel as though champagne bubbles are tickling our noses.

What’s your dream?

Landowners Win Lotto

Land near rail stations is worth more, all over Australia. On ABC 720 Mornings today John McGlue and his property adviser guest made this very clear. The Melbourne Age today had an article on the same point, headlined “Ticket to a Prize Location.”
As our freeway chokes and petrol prices go up, more of us walk a short way to the train station. And we love to do it; the trains are very well used. For people near Canning Bridge and the proposed South Perth Station this is good news. Leave the car until the weekend. Use less energy. And smile while your property appreciates. What a deal!
South Perth City Vision seems to have been right on the money five years ago when the community took the first steps of our Canning Bridge plans. When hundreds of residents put their heads together with the City Planners, good things happened.

On mornings like this one, the views are artistically hazy but our eyes and lungs don’t like the air. One more reason to get moving and get Light Rail going, now. With the news that people are buying into the area near the rail stations there’s even less reason to hesitate.
Next time I hear about a community forum on where we want our City to be fifty years from now, I’ll be there. Will you come too?
Please pass this message on as far as you like. Have your say by clicking on Comments, below, (log in as Name) or just email me and I’ll publish for you.

Heroes Come First, Others Later

Blue lips, no breath, floral tights, soft feet, lying beside Manning Road on a Saturday afternoon. Asthma, drugs, heart attack, who knows? A hundred cars whisper past, not seeing. Death crept closer.

Two off-duty coppers slow down and have a look. Quick, jump, mouth-to-mouth, no time to think. Colour returns, breathing again. Whew, that was close.

Thank you for caring. I don’t know any of the people involved. The bloke who gave his breath washed his mouth with hand-cleaner, for the next fifteen minutes. I sure wish more of us cared this much.

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Same day, not far away. Beautiful day on the river. On the path at Salter Point. A local resident has donated big bucks for hundreds of trees. Built new steel steps for walkers too.

I sure wish more of us cared this much.

_____________

Same day, same place, same view. To the right is more river mercury than anywhere else in Perth. In front the dominant fish species is an import from the Gulf of Mexico. Underwater cane toad. Upstream, water hyacinth, just found. Covers thousands of square kilometres of lakes and rivers in Africa. Deadly to the river. Imported and dumped. Grows fast.

The SERCUL team is onto it. I sure wish more of us cared this much.

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Same day, same river. Shiny wagon, deep tracks, our river bank, who cares?

I care. I sure wish more of us cared this much.

Please pass this message on as far as you like. Have your say by clicking on Comments, below, (log in as Name) or just email me and I’ll publish for you.

How to Choose a Council

Oh dear Professor Black, lecturer in Politics at Curtin Uni (quoted in the Southern Gazette), so you vote according to who lives nearest to you? Around here I like to believe that we vote for whoever best represents our values, shares our view for the future and is likely to promote the sort of community that we hope to pass on to the next generation. Isn’t that what participating in democracy is ...all about? So you don’t like the idea that compulsory voting would engage everyone in the issues of the day and would help people to take notice of their Councils?

Surely a more honest view is that Councils have a vital role in grassroots democracy, giving voice to all of us. In South Perth our City’s Mission is about “Working Together to Create a City for Everyone”. This everyone includes more than just special interest groups. It surely includes the forty per cent who live in rental houses, the thirty two per cent single parent families, the students who stay a few years, the Homes West tenants, the FIFO mine workers, the new arrivals who’ve escaped danger to share our wonderful country and even the homeless lady and her bicycle.

The real question is around what we see as the role of Council, representing our entire community, and how we come together to build a shared, safe and positive future for all of us and for the generations ahead.

Clean Up Australia Day

Sunday 4 March is Clean Up Day. We’ll be cleaning up around James Miller Oval in Manning, starting at 9:00 am. We’ll meet on the north side of the buildings, near Moorditj Keila and the club rooms. That’s behind the shops on Welwyn Avenue.

 

You can click here to see more details and to register your names. We have a Facebook event here too. Our group has challenged to Millennium Kids to see who picks up the most rubbish. They are working on the Como Beach shoreline.

If we get sufficient people we’ll move on and do some of the Salter Point shoreline too. Come and join us, (bring some water), have fun and make a difference in our neighbourhood.

Please pass this message on as far as you like. Have your say by clicking on Comments, below, (log in as Name) or just email me and I’ll publish for you. See you on Sunday!

Welcome, and Happy Australia Day

Wow! Summer time in Perth is just so good. Cricket, the Arts Festival, blue skies, time with friends, a little travel, good conversation and Australia Day.

We live in a wonderfully safe country, we have jobs and businesses in a booming economy, our health and education services are very good indeed, our community is safer every year, our parks are green, our tap water is healthy, our transport systems flow freely, we are tolerant of others, our legal system works, our public services are excellent. There is so much to be thankful for.

On Australia Day I’ll do as I have for five years: join the volunteers, take a big bag of Council Welcome flyers and walk the foreshore from end to end all afternoon, welcoming people to South Perth’s free family events. It’s a marvellous way of meeting thousands of people, with smiles all around. On New Year’s Eve in Melbourne, when walking the whole length of the City area, with a total ban on public alcohol, through six hundred thousand people from six to midnight, I noted not even one aggressive incident. Perth: we’ve started a trend, we don’t need a boozy Australia day!

On Clean Up Australia Day - Sunday 4 March 2012 we’ll be working around James Miller Oval and Manning Hub in South Perth, starting at 9:00 am. You are very welcome to join us, to make our neighbourhood cleaner and have a chat too. Our event is on the web: click here to register or just turn up. With a few more volunteers I’ll even put on a free barbecue. Pickup bags are supplied free for you.

These are such positive events, where we get to connect with others, to make a difference around us and to help neighbours. We don't have to look far to find people much less fortunate, doing it tough, with physical and mental health issues, affected by discrimination or misfortune. Yet there seem to be numbers of ordinary people who are a little grumpy. My experience is that there’s a simple fix for a lot of this feeling - get out and help someone else, volunteer.

Our country is incredibly diverse in so many ways. Through events like these we can meet people from different backgrounds and rebuild some of Australia’s famous trust and friendliness. We have some inspirational community leaders. Can we join them in building our communities and connecting people? I feel really good when this happens, and hope you can too.

Please pass this on as far as you like. Have your say by clicking on Comments, below, (log in as Name) or just email me and I’ll publish for you.

River Care and Mosquitoes

"Poison the river! Drain the swamp!" These are the calls in South Perth for a public meeting about mosquitoes, tomorrow, Tuesday 17 January.

We love our rivers. They are where Noongar Wadjuk people lived, where the Swan River Settlement was formed in 1829. We swim, fish, sail and walk in and by the rivers most of our lives. In 1930 the City tried to drain wetlands and imported Gulf of Mexico mosquito fish. It didn't work; the fish just ate other stuff and are now the most common fish in the Canning River. In 1940 we built Canning Dam, reduced flow by 98%, stopped fresh water flow and left wetlands around Wilson, Shelley and Manning permanently salty. By the 1960s mosquitoes drove families indoors at sunset.

A group of residents wants the City to fog wetlands and lay bait for young mosquito larvae. Fogging chemicals kill all insects, including bees, dragon flies and moths. Larvicide kills all larvae, of all types. Species that naturally eat mosquitoes are eliminated; our rivers are poisoned and natural balances disrupted. The effect of fogging on mosquitoes lasts only a few hours.

We love our rivers; they belong to all of us. We love watching moon rise over the water, pelicans skimming low at sunrise, swans nesting. We are horrified about dead dolphins and disappearing birdlife. These rivers are at the core of our lives and we want them managed with the depth of appreciation that we all share.

Even during the recent, spirited debates about Canning Bridge development, residents, the Como Action Group and Ward candidates spoke and wrote of a desire for “pristine rivers.”

On 7 p.m. 17 January, tomorrow, Tuesday, South Perth is hosting a public meeting at the Civic Hall, corner of South Terrace and Sandgate Street, South Perth. A group is attempting promote an argument to poison the river. Please be there to provide a voice to speak up for care of our beautiful waterways and their complexity, to say that this is just not on.

Please feel free to add your thoughts for all to see, by clicking on Comments below or by emailing me. (Anonymous comments might be edited.)

More New Ideas in the City

A recreational club with two thousand members, operating seven days a week, with strong competition and a buzzing social scene? This can be a new South Metro Bridge Centre. An expanding demographic of older players could really appreciate a new facility for this rapidly growing pastime. With goodwill and some imaginative funding this could be easily achieved. The present club is on City land zoned R80, being very valuable and potentially contributing to a new centre.

South Perth Bridge Club is feeling squeezed by new developments near their Como home of thirty years. Melville Club has been given two years to vacate their old building to make way for Riseley precinct developments. There is opportunity to start afresh. With a new site on Manning Road, close to the freeway, Canning Bridge Station and the new light rail service, this could be easily accessible to the whole Perth region. Merging the two local clubs and bringing in new members could easily create an exciting new venue near the Manning Library, on Council land. Regional tournaments could be accessible to all between Mandurah and Joondalup. Can we make this happen?

More events last weekend included a spirited party hosted by Moorditch Keila, with food, music and smiles. Wow, Dena, Garry and friends do wonders in our community.

Speaking of making things happen, the McDougall Farm Community Garden people are a bundle of energy. Another workshop on Sunday brought more people and ideas together. John McBain and friends are about to commence preparing worm farms and compost, ahead of an anticipated Spring 2012 planting.

For younger residents, this weekend the new McDougall Park play area is expected to be open. What a job the City has done here :-) More new ideas in action.

People in this City are moving with energy. Councillor Gleeson speaks of visionary planning and the need to be “not tied to the dinosaur of our old Town Planning Scheme.”  Councillor Reid speaks of keeping the open feel of our neighbourhoods, not closing off our families behind high walls.

Do you have some ideas about the future? Click on Comments below to add your thoughts, or just email me and I’ll publish them here for you.

What About Small Voices?

An affordable housing development in Manning was last night refused by South Perth Councillors. The property at 4 Downey Drive is owned by Homes West and has a dilapidated house on it. In partnership with an architect, Homes West submitted plans to construct a  block of six affordable apartments with a street-facing office. They planned to sell four units on the open market, use the cash for more building, and to sell the other two units on a Shared Equity arrangement to approved buyers. The City’s planning officers recommended the application for approval by Council.

Manning has for many years comprised welfare housing, including houses for returned soldiers from the 1940s. At times as much as 50% of dwellings were social housing. That figure is now down to 17%. In recent years people have been buying land in Manning cheaply and building grand houses on their blocks. Three such new houses can be seen adjacent to 4 Downey Drive, above. The rest of the street remains mostly in its old form.

In September Councillor Sharon Hawkins-Zeeb, who lives next door, raised a petition of more than a hundred local residents to protest about this proposed building next to her property. At the consequent public meeting speaker after speaker rose to express their feelings against the amount of social housing in Manning. As each finished the crowd clapped and cheered. A representative of the Department of Housing pointed out that the development was not for social housing but that the units would be sold. His words appeared to be not understood by members of the crowd, as they continued to demand less Homes West tenants in their suburb.

At last night’s meeting Councillor Hawkins-Zeeb declared a “Proximity Interest” and left the room during debate. There was no debate. When the Mayor introduced the item not one Councillor even twitched to move or second the motion. Not a word was said. The motion therefore lapsed. Councillor Colin Cala then moved that the application be refused. He spoke of the size of the building being out of character with the streetscape, noting that as more good quality homes are being built their amenity should be protected. He said the proposed building would have far-reaching effects on adjoining property. Cr Peter Howat spoke to say that the building would affect the neighbours and was not in keeping with the neighbourhood. Not one person spoke up for affordable housing, for the needs of people who can’t afford big houses, for people such as nurses and police, whom Homes West sees as likely buyers of the proposed units.

The motion to refuse the application was supported by all except Councillors Lawrance and Hasleby. Of course I do respect that many in our City have homes that they worked hard for and can be proud of. I do ask: should not our Council represent all residents, not just the wealthy? What of young people who can’t afford a big house, the elderly with no family living at home, others who just don’t need all those rooms?

Click on Comments, below, to have your say, or just email me, to have your thoughts added to the blog.

Verges, Gardens and Economic Development

Our McDougall Park Community Garden meeting last week was full of energy. We had lots of conversation about why we are going to share a garden space, how, what our shared values are and much more. What wonderful neighbours we have around here. For more information you can click here to go to the Facebook Group. If you click “Add Friend” you can be part of the group too.

Recent Council moves to amalgamate various tiny pieces of land in the parking area behind the Windsor Hotel and to sell the combined block have caused some concerns. Some residents have suggested that they could lose walking access across the car park. Others are concerned about loss of parking spaces and about local street exit at the rear. These are important points. Might it be possible to use “and” instead of “or” in our thinking to achieve the desired development and to maintain these amenities? I’m sure this is what we can expect with good architects, planners and local input? Have your say when you get the chance.

Preston Street too is in the news. Along with ideas for al-fresco dining and street art some have suggested that if we installed more bike lock-up points there would be fewer cars, less congestion and happier shoppers. The street is wonderfully popular; now what if we changed the dominant colour to be less beige?

Back in June, after work by myself, John McBain, Mark Taylor and many others, the Council changed the verge law so that we do not need permission for:

• Natural lawns, reticulation, verges mulched with organic mulch or low-growing Waterwise verge gardens.

This means we can have native plants, mulch and even edible herbs on the verge. Click here for more details.

My last achievement before leaving Council was to have the City commit to composing an economic development plan. Surprisingly, we don’t have one. One of the CEO’s KPIs for the year is to get this moving. There is so much happening and I’m hugely encouraged by the way our community joins in planning for our future. Do you have thoughts on this?

Please pass this on to your family and friends. You can add your thoughts by clicking on Comments below, or email me and I’ll publish for you.

Two and a Half Opportunities to Have Your Say

What’s a democracy? Is it somewhere that you get to have your say about the law? Here are 2.5 chances to do just that, one about now, one about later. Both are to do with our Councils, what they are and how they work.

For the first, WA State Government has a Local Government Amendment Bill currently  progressing through the Lower House; it could reach the upper house next week. It’s all about discipline, payments, investments and underground power. There’s a summary below or you can click here for a full copy and here for explanations. If you’d like to have input you could contact your State MP or you could email me to pass on, or you could click on Comments, at the end of this blog. You should be pretty quick on this one.

Your second chance is to do with the future role of Councils, what they are, what services they provide, how big they are and much more. You can go directly to the Metropolitan Local Government Review web site or read more about the 23 questions below.

Chance three is to say stuff ‘em all, I’m going to make a difference near home. The Great Freeway Clean-up is on for 27 November 2011, between The Narrows and Cranford Av, right past Mill Point and Como. Click

here for more info.

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1 Now) Local Government Amendment Bill key components:

• new disqualification provisions for council members so that they cease to hold office when elected to Parliament or when convicted of a major crime
• modifying the current power for the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal to recommend the levels of local government chief executive officer salaries and remuneration to making a binding determination which must be complied with by local governments
• inclusion of a new power for the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal to set the levels of fees and allowances paid to council members
• addition of a new head of power to enable regulations to be made to regulate the types of investments that local government may invest their money in
• clarifying the powers of local government to impose service charges for underground power and the ability for rebates to be paid under the Rates and Charges (Rebates and Deferments) Act 1992
• inclusion of a new power to enable the Minister to suspend a council for up to six months and/or require members of council to undertake remedial action where a council has become dysfunctional

___________________________________

2 Later) Metropolitan Local Government Review

Submissions should be sent to: Metropolitan Local Government Review Panel GPO Box R1250 Perth WA 6844 or mlgr@dlg.wa.gov.au

Submissions can also be made via the website: metroreview.dlg.wa.gov.au

KEY QUESTIONS

1. Do you think there is a need for better local government arrangements in metropolitan Perth? Why? Or why not?

2. If you think there is a need for a better local government system, what should the priorities of the new system be? What should its objectives be?

3. What are the best aspects of local government in its current form?

What is your vision for the future of the Perth metropolitan area?

5. What do you think are the biggest issues facing metropolitan Perth?

6. Do you think local government in metropolitan Perth is ready to face the demands and challenges of the next 50 years? If not, what do you think needs to be changed?

7. Do you think that local government in Perth will be able to deal with national and international issues such as climate change and growing populations?

8. Do you think local government should be responsible for managing these issues, or should they be the responsibility of the State or federal governments?

9. Who should pay for the social and physical infrastructure and services required to cope with these issues?

10. Is metropolitan Perth in a position to be an effective international competitor? If not, what would you change?

11. What do you think about the other governance models discussed here, such as those adopted in Auckland or Vancouver? Which aspects of these models would work in Perth? Which aspects would not work?

12. Do you know of any governance systems that work well elsewhere, either in Australia or overseas, that might work well in Perth?

13. Should more be done by local governments to engage with the community?

14. Should voting be compulsory for local government elections?

15. Does metropolitan Perth have too many local governments? What would be the advantages and disadvantages in reducing the number of local governments?

16. If the boundaries and/or roles of Perth’s local governments are changed, what should be the criteria for doing so? Are the LGAB’s factors (cited above) the right criteria?

17. Should local government boundaries be set by an independent body and reviewed at regular intervals?

18. If Perth’s local government boundaries do not change, how do you think services to communities could be improved?

19. What do you consider are the main roles and responsibilities of local government?

20. In an urban area like Perth, which functions should belong to the State or Commonwealth governments?

21. Are there any State-provided services that local government might be better placed to provide?

22. What do you consider to be the principles of good governance at a local level?

23. Do you think there should be greater State government oversight of issues, such as key performance indicators and senior local government employee appointments and salaries?

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Whew, this not being a Councillor is a busy job.

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