FREMANTLE HERALD CELEBRATES 30 YEARS

 

 

Congratulations to Fremantle Herald owner Andrew Smith and all the staff to the 30th birthday of our own iconic Freo rag.

The Chook is no doubt an institution in our port city and has done itself proud with many exclusives and even more controversial articles over the three decades.

It takes a lot of effort and commitment to publish a community newspaper, especially during the hard times when the advertising dollars dry up significantly, but Smith and his team just kept going.

I too have fond memories standing in for the Chook photographers when they went on holidays or were sick.

All of us in Fremantle need to realise that the Herald can only survive if it gets the advertising support it needs, and we also need to be aware what a great loss it would be for Freo if the Chook were no longer published.

Thanks Andrew, Steve and all the great people who make the Fremantle Herald what it is!

Roel Loopers

FREMANTLE IS MAGNETIC FOR DEVELOPERS

 

There is a very good article about Fremantle by Kim Macdonald in the WestBusiness Insider magazine of the West Australian newspapers.

The front cover headline is Freo, The Billionaires&The Future with photos of Andrew Forrest and Angela Bennett.

The five-page article mentions that there is a lot of interest for investment and development in Fremantle by some of the biggest players in Western Australia, such as Bennett, Forrest, Adrian Fini, Sirona Capital, Silverleaf Investments, etc.

Sirona Capital’s Matthew McNeilly is quoted as saying that there is a lot of love for Fremantle….because you cannot find another Fremantle anywhere else in Australia.

Angela Bennett’s son Todd is the executive director of AMB Capital that wants to do a major development in the Fishing Boat Harbour south of Little Creatures, with residential and short-stay accommodation, retail, food, etc.

Twiggy Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation owns the Spicers site on the corner of William Street and the Henderson Street mall and they are doing a feasibility on developing that into a lifestyle boutique hotel, while the Fini Group wants to develop the Italian Club site, south of the Esplanade, into apartments, a boutique hotel and wellness centre.

Silverleaf Investments is busy developing the Mannings Building, is close to starting the Woolstores hotel development, and also have approved plans for the former Police&Justice complex between Parry and Henderson streets.

Silverleaf’s Gerard O’Brien told WestBusiness that Fremantle is magnetic. Perth wants the CBD Fremantle has got.

It is really good to see the West Australian acknowledging the huge and positive transformation Fremantle is going through. It is a shame though to hear from a Freo newsagent that the magazine was not inserted in the newspapers he got on Thursday, so many people who asked for it were disappointed it was not available.

Roel Loopers

 

 

MORE WEST AUSTRALIAN ATTACKS ON FREMANTLE MAYOR

 

Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt is being attacked again by columnist Paul Murray in today’s West Australian in regard to the City of Fremantle’s claim of carbon neutrality.

While I believe it is unfair to attack the Mayor instead of all the elected members who make decisions for Fremantle, there are valid points in Murray’s column and the City of Fremantle needs to do much better in responding to them.

Here on Freo’s View Murdoch University master student of sustainability and renewable energy Martin Lee has asked pertinent questions, which Brad Pettitt promised to respond to in detail, but he has now decided he won’t be doing that and leave Lee’s questions unanswered. That is not good transparency and public relations.

Murray’s attack on what Brad Pettitt earns should be part of a much bigger picture where some local council CEOs and directors earn as much or more as the Premier of Western Australia. That is ridiculous. Are Mayors also overpaid when they are part of a team of elected members and the others receive less than $40,000 a year while the Freo Mayor gets around $ 160,000? That is something the Minister for Local Government might want to look at.

But transparency is the important issue here and that reminds me that some weeks ago the convenor of the South Fremantle Precinct asked the City of Fremantle for a copy of the consultant engineer’s report on the bad state of repair of the former Civic Centre. This report was quoted on many times as the reason why it was essential for Fremantle to demolish the old building and build a new one at Kings Square, but convenor Sean Hefferon was told that the consultant report could not be found. That is unacceptable!

If the report exists is must have been added as an attachment to council and committee meetings and all elected members must have received one, so surely the report must have been archived. All reports should be kept for future audits, for transparency,  accountability and integrity, so please make it public and available CoF.

So things are not going well in the PR stakes for Fremantle, and the entire Council and administration is to blame for that. It is not right that the other elected members and CEO Phil StJohn are happy for the Mayor to receive all the criticism while they remain silent.

Roel Loopers

FREMANTLE GAZETTE CHANGES PUBLICATION DAY

 

 

It has gone largely unnoticed that the publication day for the Fremantle Gazette has changed from Tuesdays to Thursdays.

The Fremantle Herald’s publication day is Saturdays but the distribution of that community paper starts already early on Friday mornings.

Roel Loopers

ENJOYING SUNNY NEWS

 

 

While the forecast is for a very pleasant week with temperatures in the mid twenties, the mornings are still very crisp.

This gentleman found a sunny spot in the Fremantle High Street mall this morning to read the news.

It helps to feel warmed by the sun when reading all the nastiness that happens in the world.

Roel Loopers

IS BIASED NEWS FAKE NEWS?

 

Tomorrow, Tuesday May 28th the Fremantle Network welcomes special guests Bobbie Mackley, National Secretary of ABC Friends WA and Andrew Porter, Academic Chair of Murdoch University School of Journalism for it’s monthly Politics in the Pub.

The discussion starts at 7pm at The Local hotel in South Fremantle. All welcome!

It’s not an easy time for Australian media, especially its traditional forms. Print journalism in particular has been challenged by the growth of social media and is struggling to retain readership numbers and advertising revenue. The ABC and SBS have suffered from funding cuts for many years now.

Then there are all the allegations of bias. The ABC is under relentless attack from governments and many commercial media for its alleged left-wing bias. At the same time, many are disgusted by what they see as the Murdoch media’s blatant cheering of right-wing conservative politics, totally the opposite what we expect from our media – serious balanced reporting and holding power to account.

Roel Loopers

POLITICS IN PUBS DEBATES THE MEDIA

 

Fremantle’s Politics in the Pub next week will have a very timely topic after the election about the media in Australia.

Problems in the media: is the solution as easy as ABC?

It’s not an easy time for Australian media, especially its traditional forms. Print journalism in particular has been challenged by the growth of social media and is struggling to retain readership numbers and advertising revenue. The ABC and SBS have suffered from funding cuts for many years now.

Then there are all the allegations of bias. The ABC is under relentless attack from governments and many commercial media for its left-wing bias. At the same time, many are disgusted by what they see as the Murdoch media’s blatant cheering of right-wing conservative politics, totally the opposite what we expect from our media – serious balanced reporting and holding power to account. Fake news, anyone?

On Tuesday May 28th The Fremantle Network invites you to have your say on these issues that are central to the health of our democracy. We are pleased to have a special guest to get our discussion started:

Bobbie Mackley, National Secretary, ABC Friends WA
and
Andrew Porter, Academic Chair, Murdoch University School of Journalism

It is on at The Local hotel on Tuesday May 28. Arrive 6.30pm for 7pm start.

Roel Loopers

PETER GRESTE AT FREO NOTRE DAME ON FAKE NEWS AND FALSE HISTORY

 

 

Renowned Australian journalist Peter Greste, who was a political prisoner in Egypt for a considerable time, will be the keynote speaker at Notre Dame University during this year’s Fremantle Heritage Festival.

Fake News and False History: The use and abuse of truth and lies will be the topic of Greste’s talk in Tannock Hall in Cliff Street.

The free event is on May 17 at 6pm and registrations are required at http://www.eventbrite.com.au

Roel Loopers

 

A WORLD OF ACCUSATIONS

 

I first thought it was an April Fools joke when I received this comment to my blog today, but it is a day early:

Roel
I am requesting you take down the story regarding World of Renovation and you defamatory and inaccurate comments immediately.
should you link not be removed within 48 hours, I will be taking legal action and involving the media for your defamatory, damaging and inaccurate story about your assumptions, not others and not facts.
https://freoview.wordpress.com/2018/04/18/world-of-renovation-closed-down/

I request confirmation of the removal of this link urgently or I will pursue with legal action against you

Sasha deBretton

This is by now a long forgotten story which I posted on April 18 last year after the mainstream media; The West Australian, Perth Now/Sunday Times, Channel 7, and others had reported that Sasha deBretton’s companies had gone into voluntary liquidation and that she owed a lot of money. See links below:

https://www.perthnow.com.au/business/perths-sasha-debretton-places-rich-list-renovation-companies-into-liquidation-ng-b88809626z

https://thewest.com.au/business/70-suppliers-and-tradies-owed-620000-in-million-dollar-makeovers-liquidation-ng-b88822231z

https://www.propertychat.com.au/community/threads/sign-of-the-times-million-dollar-makeovers-wa.31280/

Nothing I posted on Freo’s View about that is defamatory and neither is the post inaccurate as it was widely published that Million Dollar Makovers and World of Renovations had closed shop.

But I did what Miss deBretton demanded and deleted the post from last year, otherwise her threatening comment I received today would also have disappeared as it would have been attached to the post.

The news has been all over cyberspace, social media; Twitter, Facebook, and mass media and I have not read any retractions in any of the newspapers, so what is Miss deBretton on about threatening me with legal action and going to the media nearly a year after the post was published on this blog?

In my very long life I have learned that one takes responsibility for one’s own failures and not blame others, so my friendly advise to Ms deBretton is to do the same.

It is not very clever to rekindle the fire when you want to hide the facts, but that is what Sasha deBretton has done. I deleted the post, not because it is defamatory or inaccurate, but so that she realises that it is not a good idea to threaten and bully me, because now the demise of her failed businesses is in the news again.

For those who can’t remember. The World of Renovations in Fremantle’s High Street was opened by Mayor Brad Pettitt, but by February 2018 it became clear that not all was well as the great-looking cafe closed first and then the large showroom as well.

The place is still vacant and the name is still on the facade.

Roel Loopers

RESPECT CREATES A BETTER COMMUNITY

 

There is a lot of hypocrisy gong on in the mainstream media and from politicians in the wake of the white supremacist terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques.

Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to play the blame game about irresponsible social media without taken responsibility for their own contributions.

Mainstream media has moved so far right that it is not funny, with the West Australian newspaper becoming the mouthpiece for the Liberal/National Federal government and right-wing  columns by  Andrew Bolt, Paul Murray, Gemma Tognini and others.

Federal politicians have been engaging in fear mongering about Muslims and refugees, while the ultimate hypocrites must be Sunrise which puts Pauline Hanson on a weekly panel to sprout her racist nonsense, but suddenly attack her for those views after the Christchurch massacre.

There is no doubt though that social media has created a terribly negative community conversation that spreads hatred, ignorance, racism, innuendo, conspiracy and name-calling and where all respect for people with a different view point has disappeared, and that also happens on a local level here in Fremantle.

I want to believe that Australia is better than that! I want to believe that we are still the fair-go and tolerant multicultural country, where every law abiding person from all over the world can make a new home and where we welcome those who need a safe haven away from war, violence and abuse.

But we all need to be more aware of what we are writing on social media and try not to engage so dismissively and angrily when we don’t agree with posts of others, and the mainstream media needs to start to be more considerate and respectful as well and understand how damaging sensationalist reporting can be to individuals. The Jesse Hogan story of the Fremantle Dockers is such a case. This young man does have a mental health issue and he does not need to be humiliated in the media for that. Leave him alone and let him heal!

We should all take a lesson from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. What empathy and compassion, what dignity, strength and integrity, and what outstanding leadership!

Roel Loopers