LANDSLIDE FREMANTLE MAYOR WIN FOR HANNAH FITZHARDINGE

Freo’s Mayor elect Hannah Fitzhardinge with future leaders of our city

The landslide win by Hannah Fitzharding, to be elected Mayor of Fremantle, clearly shows that the Fremantle community rejects the vitriolic negativity of the election campaign by the so-called independents and their supporters, who were lead by South Fremantle Councillor Marija Vujcic. I wrote in a previous post that Fremantle was better than the nastiness, character assassination, misinformation, lies, conspiracy, innuendo and defamation, and the election results are proof that I am right, and that is a real relief!

All the Independents were rejected by the Fremantle voters, and that should send a clear message to those who decided that negativity and looking at the past were more important than positivity, progress and a focus on the future.

The message is also very clear that the Fremantle Inner City Residents Association-FICRA only represent a small group of entitled wealthy West End people, but are not representative of the inner city residents, who are never consulted by the group.

The results last night also show that the once important Fremantle Society is no longer relevant, due to the relentless negativity of its president.

And there is a huge message here also for Cr Marija Vujcic, who once responded to my criticism of her for not playing by the Fremantle Council processes and procedures, that she was elected because she is not a team player. The voters in South Fremantle strongly rejected that, by giving Fitzhardinge 1027 votes and Vujcic only 581.

Cr Vujcic needs to leave her ego at home, accept the fact that she is not the brightest star in the firmament, and stop pretending that she is the God-sent saviour of Fremantle Council. The Freo community wants her to make a positive contribution, instead of wasting her and our time with backward focused obstructionism. She needs to start cooperating and collaborating with her fellow Councillors and start accepting the expert advise from City staff.

The Fremantle people have spoken, and the relentless knockers and haters need to accept the democratic process and outcome. It is now time to move on to a positive future, with our new Walyalup Civic Centre opening in just a few weeks, and developments near completion and other major ones starting soon, including two hotels.

I strongly believe that Fremantle has a very bright future, and that Mayor Hannah Fizthardinge will make an excellent contribution, and that she will lead a Council that will be positive with a strong focus on the reactivation of the inner city, while also going back to the basics of looking better after our streets, parks, gardens, beaches and heritage assets.

The two new faces on Council will be Ben Lawver in Hilton, who won by a landslide, and Fedele Carmada in Beaconsfield. I am certain they will both be positive contributers.

The Mayor and Councillors will be sworn in on Monday at 6pm in the Fremantle Townhall

Roel Loopers

P.S. The vote counting was excruciatingly slow and the last Ward result was only announced at 11.30pm. Why were only the Mayoral votes counted and a dozen staff were sitting and waiting for hours, before they started to count the votes for the Wards?

WILL COMMUNITIES BECOME VOICELESS WHEN STREAMLINING PLANNING SYSTEM ?

The WA State Government is seeking community, industry and stakeholder feedback on the next phase of reforms to streamline the planning system, slash red tape, and create and provide consistency across local government.

A series of legislative, regulatory and policy reforms have already been implemented, including consistent community consultation requirements for Local Planning Strategies, scheme amendments and Structure Plans along with a radius model and new onsite signage requirements for complex Development Applications.

The reforms also saw changes to the Development Assessment Panel (DAP) system, including improved governance and transparency requirements.

Seven proposals have been approved under the new significant development pathway, with another 13 currently under assessment.

To date, the reforms have seen the number of DAPs reduce from nine to five panels and from next year, the number of DAPs will reduce from five to three and will see the appointment of permanent DAP members for consistency of decision making.

A Special Matters Development Panel will also be created to continue to consider State-significant developments.

The State Government is now seeking the views of all Western Australians on measures to further reform the planning system, including reforms in the local government sector that can support changes in our planning system and identify changes to encourage more community participation through improved processes and greater access to information.

Over the next three months, the community, industry and planning professionals will be consulted on a number of proposed reforms to help inform the drafting of legislation.

This consultation will be led by the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage Planning Reform team, in consultation with the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, and will be open until late October.

A local government red tape working group will be established to identify and test potential reforms in regards to local laws and reform.

Opportunities to mirror reforms across the local government sector to further cut red tape, improve transparency and support better decision making across all levels of government will also be explored in consultation with local governments, the Western Australian Local Government Association and key stakeholders.

To have your say on planning reform, visit https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/planning-reform

GOOD LOCAL COUNCIL REFORM A MUST

It is interesting to hear that the WA Auditor General believes that the State Government’s oversight of local councils is inadequate and not pro-active enough. A recent report states that moving away from pro-active early intervention and instead have long and expensive inquires, as was the case with Melville, Cambridge and Subiaco, has not been good.

The report says that the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries is not providing efficient and effective regulation and support to the local government sector.

The Auditor General’s report found that the department had limited understanding of how effectively it was supporting local councils and it failed to provide councils with timely guidance on financial matters.

It is quite remarkable that successive State Governments have failed to make significant inroads into real local council reform. Even the most recent one under Minister David Templeman appear less than adequate and just a lip service to those who criticise local governments.

Roel Loopers

NON VOTERS GET THE COUNCIL OTHERS ELECT

 

There is something hypocritical about people complaining about local councils, and demanding more and better community consultation, when seven out of ten people in Fremantle can’t even bother to vote at the Local Government Election, and most of them don’t come to precinct or community consultation events either.

One only has to look at what one of the two South Ward candidates is promising. She will get rid off the speedhumps along South Terrace, but they were installed after lengthy and thorough community consultation. The same candidate also promises that she will only do what the community wants, so how can she get rid of the speedhumps when traffic calming was demanded by the South Fremantle community she wants to represent?

Recent comments to this blog demand consultation about mural art on public and private buildings, but how could we even believe to get consensus on what is good and appropriate art for a building and a street when our tastes are so different? And how many people would in reality take part in that process? Probably just a handful, as history shows.

In City Ward a former Councillor wants parking fee reductions when he is well aware that this populist promise is nonsense because parking revenue is important for Fremantle. If we have less income from parking fees and fines council rates might have to be increased, and no one would want to pay higher rates so that people from out of town and Notre Dame students can park cheaper and longer.

I already mentioned the ignorant nonsense of an East Ward candidate who claims Fremantle Council has done nothing about the impact the High Street Upgrade project by Mainroads will have on the public golf course, when the fact is that the City has engaged a team of architects and golf course designers, and also will build a new clubhouse and cafe on the border with Booyeembara Park.

The disappointing fact is that the majority of people in our community are not well informed about what goes on at Fremantle Council, so they are gullible to believe just about anything, and that is why some wannabe councillors engage in negativity and make accusations not based on facts, and make promises they won’t be able to keep.

Democracy is a two-way road and if you decide not to participate in the process you really have no legs to stand on when you complain about the council you get. And don’t forget that a single candidate will not be able to change anything unless they get the support of other councillors.

Taking unrealistic promises and false accusations with a huge grain of salt is a sensible way of dealing with election campaigns.

Roel Loopers

MODEST RATES RISE FOR FREMANTLE

 

Council rates in Fremantle will only rise by 1.8% and that put our local council at number 16 on the list of local government rates rises.

Our neighbours East Fremantle come in at number 9 with a 2.4% rise, Cockburn at number 14 with a 1.9% rise and Melville at number 21 with a 1.1 rates rise.

The top of the list at number 1 is the City of Rockingham with a 3.6% rise, no doubt to reflect the status of being the home of the WA Premier Mark McGowan. 😳

Cottesloe is number 2 with a 3.5% rise and Nedlands comes in at number 3 with a 2.95% rise.

Roel Loopers

CITY OF FREMANTLE STAFF COST DOWN

 

Critics of Fremantle Council will argue that there are not many positive stories coming out of the City, but today’s article about council staff costs in the Sunday Times is well worth a mention I believe.

While staff cost at the Town of East Fremantle were up by 8 per cent the staff cost at neighbouring City of Fremantle went down 0.9 per cent.

Mosman Park’s staff cost also went up 8.8 per cent, so Freo is doing something right.

Roel Loopers

HAVE YOU VOTED YET? DO IT TODAY!

 

If you have not voted yet for the Fremantle local government election, do it today and definitely before 6 pm on Tuesday, as your ballot paper might otherwise not make it in time!

Local government is real grassroots democracy, so make sure you’ll get the best possible representation and select the candidate that will deliver.

 

FREMANTLE LIGHTRAIL NOT A PIPE DREAM

 

How nice to hear local councils in the Fremantle area working together for a change, instead of viewing each other as competition.

They could not agree on local government reform, council amalgamations and the Roe 8 highway, but now the South West Group of Cockburn, Fremantle, Melville, Kwinana, East Fremantle and Rockingham are planning ahead together for light rail, according to a report in today’s Sunday Times.

A Fremantle to Murdoch lightrail corridor is a high priority according to the report, but also a loop with Rockingham and the coast.

There is no doubt in my opinion that lightrail from Fremantle to Rockingham would be used extensively by locals and tourists alike and connect the two cities.

The South West Group report also considers lightrail from Fremantle to Canning Bridge and linking Cockburn and Fremantle.

Long-term planning by local councils for lightrail and traffic corridors is essential to pin point where new residential and commercial development should be encouraged so that planing schemes can be introduced to accommodate that.

Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt told the Sunday Times that local councils had a role to play in planning transit systems as they would need to rezone areas for transport hubs.

Lightrail has been on Fremantle’s wish list for a long time but low residential figures make it difficult to build a sound business case for it. However the development boom in Fremantle and Cockburn and along to coast to Rockingham is starting to make lightrail a very good option for the not too distant future, and we need to plan for that now.

Roel Loopers

 

FREMANTLE STAFF NOT WALKING THE COUNCIL TALK

Some Fremantle residents have suggested that the age of entitlement for Councillors should be over as far as free parking is concerned. Councillors receive one year free parking for every year they have been on Council, e.g Councillor Doug Thompson will get twenty years of free parking for his twenty-year service as Councillor should he decide to leave in October or not get re-elected.

The argument was that free parking was introduced when Councillor were volunteers but now that they get paid for doing the work they should no longer receive that perk. It was pointed out that the federal government has recently scrapped the life-long free travel pass for former MPs and Senators.

One can also question if a Council that strongly works toward increasing bicycle use and discourages cars in the CBD should give free parking to ex Councillors.

In that context one also has to wonder why on average 115 City of Fremantle staff park their car for free at the Queensgate carpark daily. That is one-quarter of CoF staff receiving free parking! Why does CoF encourage staff to come to work by car instead of walking the talk and promoting bicycle and public transport use?

One of the requirements for the Department of Housing to move to Kings Square was that the new offices had to be in walking distance to a train station and other public transport, and that is also one of the promoted attractions for inner city high-density infill.

CoF Manager of Economic Development and Marketing Tom Griffiths says that staff parking at Queensgate came at no cost to the City but once Sirona Capital takes possession of the carpark CoF will be looking for alternative free staff parking arrangements that will not take up parking bays that could be used by visitors, and that will have a minimum financial impact on the City.

However a recent CoF financial report stated the City had lost over $ 700,000 in parking revenue due to the sale of Queensgate, so did Sirona Capital provide free parking for the 115 City staff as part of the Kings Square Project contract last year?

There are plans for new public parking at Fremantle Park in Parry Street and the Stan Reilly Centre next to Fremantle Oval, as the inner city will be losing the Point Street carpark as part of the Hilton Doubletree development and also sold the carpark on the corner of Pakenham and Bannister streets for residential development.

Roel Loopers

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BULLIES FREO COUNCIL

I find it quite amusing to read that the Federal Assistant Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke has threatened Fremantle Council that the government could revoke Fremantle’s ability to conduct citizenship ceremonies because it will no longer have an event on Australia Day on January 26, but instead a big concert on January 28.

The Ass. Minister said council could not politicise the national celebrations of Australia Day.

Citizenship ceremonies all over Australia are held on days other than Australia day, so I see no reason why the City of Fremantle should be forced to hold one on January 26.

I would also like to know how many WA councils and shires celebrate Australia Day with events other than citzenship ceremonies. Has anyone in the commercial mass media bothered to check?

Roel Loopers