oneperth.com.au | Perth news

STAFF REPORTER

Police were called to break up eight out of control parties across metropolitan Perth last night …

BAYSWATER BASH

9:00pm – Salisbury St Bayswater – Reports of gate crashers climbing over fence to get to a 16th Birthday party.  Offenders moved on.  Nil injuries.

CLARKSON CARRY-ON

9:55pm – Galvin Heights, Clarkson –  Reports of a large group of youths in the street throwing bottles at passing cars. About 10 police cars attended. Party closed down.  A noise abatement notice  was issued.  Nil injuries.

KELMSCOTT CANINES

10:10pm – Merrifield Avenue, Kelmscott – Reports of large group of people running in the street, kicking parked cars and smashing bottles.  Party host and police closed down party.  22 police cars attended including Dog Squad.  Nil injuries.

SEVILLE GROVE SMASHUP

10:15pm – Westfield Road, Seville Grove – Group of about 50 youths standing in street, bottles being smashed. An 18-year-old man was whacked on the head and he fell back, hitting his head on the ground.   He is in an induced coma in Royal Perth Hospital with a fractured skull. He is in a serious but stable condition. Police inquiries are continuing. Twelve police cars attended.

BALGA BIFF

10:20pm – Conniston Way, Balga – About 120 youths at a party and creating a disturbance in the street. A 37-year-old male police officer was knocked unconscious and taken to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. He has since been released and investigations are continuing. Three people have been charged: A 21-year-old man with two counts of obstructing police, refusing to supply details and escaping custody; a 17-year-old girl with obstructing police and disorderly conduct; and a 45-year-old with obstructing police and disorderly conduct. Thirty-one police cars, mounted police, Dog Squad and the police helicopter attended the bash.

MADDINGTON MADNESS

10:30pm – Apley Street and Gold Court, Maddington – Several reports of fighting between 70 party-goers and gate crashers. Another party was being held one street away in Gold Court. Both parties were shut down. Nil injuries. Twenty police cars, Dog Squad and the police helicopter attended.

BURNS BEACH BRAWL

11:17pm – Burns Place Burns Beach – Reports of about 50 people fighting in the street. A 15-year-old boy was assaulted, receiving bruising to the face. He was treated at the scene by ambulance officers. Six police cars attended and inquiries are continuing.

CLARKSON CALLOUT

01:32am – Tindall Way, Clarkson – Reports of 20 people fighting in the street with bricks and bottles. One man was hit on the head with a brick and taken to Joondalup Health Campus for treatment. His injury is not believed to be serious.

CHRIS THOMSON

EXCLUSIVE: Claims he will get the divided WA Rail, Tram and Bus Union back on track have helped a Perth train driver beat a Public Transport Authority demand that he return to work.

Neal Paterson is a train driver by trade and a union chief by choice.

He has been on unpaid leave from the PTA since September 19, 2011.

This is mainly so that, as one of two interim executors of the union’s WA branch, he can help ensure it is restructured, its membership is valid according to union rules, and fresh elections are held.

The PTA had granted Mr Paterson unpaid leave until yesterday and dictated that his break would not be extended without good reason.

After complications in getting the union’s act together, National Secretary Bob Nanva – the other interim executor – asked the PTA to extend Mr Paterson’s unpaid leave until about May 31.

The PTA declined the request and the matter went to arbitration before the WA Industrial Relations Commission.

Commissioner Stephen Kenner on Friday noted there had been times when turmoil within the union and conflicts between groups of workers had disrupted the workplace.

“In this particular case, I am satisfied that the scales are tipped in favour of the union, primarily on the ground of community interest in having the proper conduct of the affairs of the union regularised,” Mr Kenner concluded.

He noted the union had, rightly, agreed to pay any retraining costs needed to eventually get Mr Paterson back into the driver’s seat.

Mr Kenner granted the union’s request to hold onto Mr Paterson as a fulltime paid executor until May 31.

STAFF REPORTER

Tenants across metropolitan Perth are facing higher rents, with the vacancy rate for rental accommodation dropping to 2.3 per cent in the three months to February, according to figures released today.

The preliminary Real Estate Institute of Western Australia statistics also showed that for the volatile month-only reading for February, Perth recorded a rental vacancy rate of just 1.6 per cent.

The month-only figure was well down on the 2.8 per cent at the end of last year. The last time a reading of 1.6 per cent was recorded was four years ago, for the December quarter of 2007.

REIWA President David Airey said the tightening in the market had seen the median rent for units, apartments, villas and townhouses increase by $10 to a median of $390 per week.

Mr Airey said rents for multi-residential dwellings had risen but rents for houses remained steady at $420 per week.

“The fall in the vacancy rate is not surprising as we have seen the volume of property listed for rent fall 24 per cent since the start of the year, from 2900 homes to 2200 at the end of February,” he said.

“It’s also the case that there is strong seasonal demand for rental property in the March quarter.”

The figures show the vacancy rate along Perth’s coast from Scarborough north at just 1.2 per cent for February and 1.5 per cent for the three months to February.

In the western suburbs the rate is steady at 2.3 per cent.

“The vacancy rate has tightened in Perth’s outer southwest corridor where the monthly vacancy rate for Kwinana-Rockingham has fallen one percentage point from 2.5 per cent in January to 1.5 per cent in February, which means that in the three months to February the vacancy rate was 2.2 per cent,” Mr Airey said.

He said the pressure was coming from people opting to rent rather than buy.

Growing rental demand for accommodation from new migrants was also a factor.

“The long term equilibrium vacancy rate in Perth is three per cent and the lowest point we have recorded was just 0.8 per cent in the March quarter of 2007,” Mr Airey said.

STAFF REPORTER

Facebook, gatecrashers, bottle-throwers and brawlers all had a part to play in a night of party violence quashed by mounted police, police dogs and the regular constabulary across suburban Perth last night.

According to police spokeswoman Ros Weatherall, her colleagues dealt with no less than eight out-of-control soirees in the city’s north, south, east and west:

1. SORRENTO STOUSHES

Just before midnight, police arrived to find about 80 people on Frobisher Street in seaside Sorrento.

Ms Weatherall said many of the street occupants were fighting.

She said police tried dispersing the crowd, many members of which were abusive and aggressive.

Mounted police and police dogs were deployed.

Ms Weatherall said that a man in the crowd was “aggressive towards a police horse, and also toward a dog handler”.

A police dog was let loose, Ms Weatherall said, for the officer’s safety, and succeeded in bringing the man to heel.

A second male intervened, and the dog released the first man.

Ms Weatherall said the man who had been bailed up by the dog did not report an injury to police.

2. WARNBRO GETS WILLING

Ms Weatherall said police were called to a large fight in Coronata Drive, Warnbro about midnight.

Attempted gatecrashers of a party were fighting among themselves.

Bottles and bricks were smashed on the road.

Police found a large group of youths wandering the streets.  The group was monitored until the area was quiet.

3. GOSNELLS GATECRASHERS

At about 11.15pm police were called to a party in King Street, Gosnells.

Ms Weatherall said about 200 people were at the get-together.

Police believe many of the revellers were gatecrashers.

Ms Weatherall said bottles were thrown at police, and other disturbances occurred around the area.

4. MANNING MOVE-ON

Ms Weatherall said police were called to a house on Parsons Avenue in Manning about 10.40pm in response to a noise complaint.

She said that bottles were thrown at police.

The party was shut down and all people moved on.

5. BANKSIA GROVE BASH

Ms Weatherall said police received reports of several disturbances in the area after a party was held in Kandalee Gate, in the northern Perth suburb of Banksia Grove.

Police attended the area at 11.30pm and 1am after receiving reports of weapons and assaults in nearby streets.

Ms Weatherall said no offences were detected, but two cars were found to be damaged.

Dhe said that more than 100 people were milling around the area of the party.

Police car damaged in Midvale.

6. MIDNIGHT IN MIDVALE

About midnight, police attended a sixteenth birthday party for the second time, after reports of noise and fighting.

As the party-goers were dispersed from the party venue in Rowe Place, a bottle was thrown at a police vehicle, smashing the rear window.

Ms Weatherall claimed that “more than 200 people at the party” were “uncooperative” when asked about the incident by police.

7. KARRINYUP CALLUP

Ms Weatherall said that police attended a home in Clubb Street, Karrinyup, just before 3am after reports were received of people fighting in the street, and throwing bricks.

These people had come from a party advertised on Facebook that attracted gatecrashers.

A small number of people were creating disturbances, and were moved on.

8. BALCATTA BROUHAHA

Ms Weatherall said police were called to several disturbances just after 11pm, after people tried gatecrashing a party in Albert Street, Balcatta.

CHRIS THOMSON

One of Western Australia’s highest ranking cycling officials – who faced the prospect of punishment for allegations of harassment – has won his fight not to undergo disciplinary procedures twice.

Russell Miller is president of the state’s oldest cycling club (the Melville Fremantle one) and has officiated at Olympic games, Commonwealth games, and world championships. He helped organise two world cycling championships in 1993 and 1997.

In November 2009, two then commissioners of the WA Cycling Federation, staff members of the WACF and a consultant to the WACF lodged complaints about Mr Miller’s conduct – including allegations of harassment.

The grievances related to the allegedly overbearing way Mr Miller dealt with staff in his role as commissioner and treasurer of the WACF. No suggestion of impropriety was made.

In 2010, the Australian Cycling Federation convened an investigation panel that in February 2011 made adverse findings against Mr Miller and recommendations relating to penalty.

Then, in May 2011, the ACF Board decided to convene a disciplinary tribunal.

Recently, before Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Martin, Mr Miller essentially argued ‘enough was enough’ and that the second disciplinary process was unwarranted.

In a decision published today, Justice Martin found in Mr Miller’s favour.

Justice Martin concluded the ACF should probably pay legal costs, to be determined after further lawyers’ submissions.

However, Mr Miller may not yet be out of the disciplinary woods – with Justice Martin noting the ACF board could still follow another path to possibly expel or suspend the eminent cycling official.

Justice Martin noted that any such decision would be subject to appeal to a general meeting of the ACF.

Photo: Antoine Letarte

STAFF REPORTER

Most Perth houses have changed very little in 200 years – except to abandon their most energy efficient traits – a University of Western Australia researcher has found.

A survey of 400 Perth homes by Masters of Environmental Design researcher Dirima Cuthbert found many Perth project homes were not energy efficient.

Ms Cuthbert also found that building regulations did not encourage home builders to change.

Energy-saving verandahs, deep eaves and high ceilings had all but disappeared in new housing developments, she noted.

In their place, were massively bigger floor spaces, dark roofs, low ceilings and double-brick walls that made air conditioning a necessity.

And as people spent less time at home, the efficiencies of being able to open windows had been replaced by the energy consumption of an average two-hour return trip to work for many people who had built homes in new outer suburbs.

Comparing cars to houses, Ms Cuthbert said small cars had become an acceptable status symbol − but small homes had not.

“If people chose their houses like they choose their cars, we might see project homes − which now represent 80 per cent of new houses being built in Perth − develop new ways of reducing energy consumption,” she said.

Ms Cuthbert said that Australian building codes, that included setbacks from the street and neighbours, and consistency in streetscape appearance and building type, restricted the ability of house designers to reduce energy consumption.

Preliminary survey results suggested the answer was not to encourage people to ‘do the right thing’ and reduce energy consumption for the sake of climate change.

Instead, somehow changing people’s desires from their “4WD” home to a “trendy five-door hatch” would be the way to go, Ms Cuthbert said.

CHRIS THOMSON

An experienced security guard who left a loaded semiautomatic handgun in a petrol station toilet and did not return for 45 minutes has been banned from carrying firearms.

Antonio Aquilia had been on duty on April 20 last year accompanying a technician who was servicing automatic teller machines.

The security guard of 14 years standing was carrying a Glock semi­automatic handgun fitted with a magazine containing 10 rounds of ammunition.

He had been suffering bowel problems and went to a service station to use its public toilet.

Mr Aquilia entered the toilet.

HYGIENE REASONS

He removed the gun from its holster for hygiene reasons because its weight had dragged his pants on to a particularly dirty floor.

He put the firearm on top of a wall cabinet.

A decision published today by State Administrative Tribunal member David Aitken said that when Mr Aquilia left the toilet he forgot to take the gun with him.

He did not realise he had left the gun behind until 20 minutes later – by which time a member of the public had handed it to service station staff for safe keeping.

Mr Aquilia returned to the service station, arriving about 45 minutes after he had left.

He retrieved the gun from the service station manager who had secured it in a safe.

He immediately told his employer and on April 25 last year ceased employment with the security company.

LAPSE

On July 25 he was contacted by police and in an interview that day admitted the incident was a lapse in concentration.

Mr Aquilia was charged on August 31 with failing to ensure safekeeping of a firearm.

He pleaded guilty to the firearm offence and was fined $300 and handed a spent conviction.

Police decided on September 2 not to grant a firearm endorsement on the grounds Mr Aquilia was not a fit and proper person to keep a gun.

He appealed that decision before Mr Aitken who heard police testimony that Mr Aquilia’s actions were reckless and careless.

The police argued that had the gun fallen into the wrong hands, the incident could have been very different.

Mr Aitken dismissed an appeal from Mr Aquilia against the firearm ban.

Photo: Ildar Sagdejev

CHRIS THOMSON

Elderly residents of 11 Brightwater Care Group homes across Perth have been denied their regular outings after a bus funded by state government agency Lotterywest was controversially used for deliveries.

The bus’s former driver Jenny Pescud, pictured beside the $108,000 vehicle, says its use for resident outings has been much curtailed since her employment with Brightwater abruptly ended in September 2011.

This claim is backed by a Brightwater resident who wishes to remain anonymous. She says that elderly residents at her home have not been on a bus outing since Ms Pescud was shunted from Brightwater.

Brightwater General Manager Jennifer Lawrence tells a different story.

She says the bus is now being used as per normal after the service was “reduced briefly” following a review of the bus’s use.

“Brightwater has reviewed the bus service for residents, as is normal practice for any new service within the organisation, in order to ensure that the service meets the needs of our residents,” Ms Lawrence told oneperth.com.au.

However, there was nothing routine about the review – with Brightwater advising Ms Pescud by letter dated September 21 that the review arose from “a number of issues raised about the operation of the bus service”.

Ms Pescud had earlier complained that the bus’s use for deliveries was compromising its use for resident outings.

The Brightwater letter also told Ms Pescud that the bus service would be suspended pending outcomes of the review.

As a result of the suspension – which largely arose from Ms Pescud’s complaints – Brightwater decided not to renew her 12-month contract.

Ms Lawrence says that when the bus is not being used to transport residents it is employed to deliver specialised equipment to Brightwater homes for residents’ use.

This use is contrary to Lotterywest’s understanding – communicated to Ms Pescud by letter on September 9 – that Brightwater had agreed to use the bus only to transport residents.

“We have made contact with senior management at Brightwater and been advised that there were considerations to use the bus for a purpose other than resident transport, but that it has been decided that this path will not be pursued,” Lotterywest senior manager Mark Teale wrote after Ms Pescud raised her concerns with him.

“We have been advised that the bus will only be used to transport residents.”

Ms Lawrence said that, due to the review, Brightwater was recruiting a full time therapy assistant to operate resident outings.

“The bus outings continue for the residents until this happens,” she said.

“Therapy assistants from the aged care facilities operate the service in the interim.”

Lotterywest told oneperth.com.au that incidental use of the bus was acceptable under its $97,075 funding contract with Brightwater.

CHRIS THOMSON

A full-time staffer of a state government law agency has had her application to become a lawyer rejected after failing to reveal key details of past criminal convictions.

Ronelle Anne Jarvis, 46, is an Edith Cowan University law graduate employed full-time by government statutory body Legal Aid WA.

She appealed a decision by the Legal Practice Board not to facilitate her application to be admitted to the bar.

The Board had considered Ms Jarvis eligible for admission because she had the necessary academic and practical legal training. However, her application had disclosed four criminal convictions.

These ranged from obtaining a financial advantage from Centrelink in 2008, stealing as a servant in 2002 and in 1989, and giving a false name to police in 1985.

After a formal inquiry, the Board concluded Ms Jarvis was not “currently a fit and proper person to be admitted”.

After noting she had failed to disclose key details of some of the offences, the Board considered she might not disclose all relevant facts when required to do so – an essential trait of a lawyer.

In a decision published today, State Administrative Tribunal Deputy President Tim Sharp dismissed Ms Jarvis’ appeal against the Board’s refusal.

Judge Sharp concluded her criminal record and lack of candour demonstrated the Board’s decision was correct.

STAFF REPORTER

The government will compel younger school leavers to arrange a 21-year-old key holder if they want to book accommodation on Rottnest Island.

Tourism Minister Kim Hames said the new regulations would help ensure responsible supervision of younger school students who wished to celebrate the end of the school year on the island.

“In the past two years, there has been a rapid growth in ‘Juvie Leavers’, where students in years 9, 10 and 11 visit Rottnest Island to celebrate the end of the school year,” Dr Hames explained.

“This is an important time in the lives of these young people, when they may fall in love with Rottnest for the rest of their lives.

“But it comes with challenges that must be managed.”

Dr Hames said the new restrictions would mean accommodation booked during the 10-day period of ‘Juvie Leavers’ – immediately after the last teaching day at most WA private schools – must have a key holder older than 21.

“This change in regulation is only applicable to this specific period – this year from Monday December 3 to Sunday December 16,” he said.

“Juvie Leavers can be a success and we are taking lessons learned from normal Leavers’ celebrations and modifying them for younger students.

“There is nothing that can replace the responsible supervision of an adult in a situation like Juvie Leavers,” Dr Hames counselled.

Dr Hames said he “expected” parents and guardians to take an active role in end-of-school celebrations to ensure their children remained safe.

In his second Rottnest media release for the afternoon, Dr Hames announced the island campground would received a $750,000 overhaul.

In his third Rottnest media release for the afternoon, Dr Hames announced a $300,000 boardwalk on the island’s west end had been opened today.

In his fourth Rottnest media release for the afternoon, Dr Hames announced the island’s golf course would get a $300,000 overhaul by course designer Davey Shearer.

Unaided by media release, oneperth.com.au can reveal the government also plans to demolish and replace four tennis courts on the island – two at Geordie Bay and two at Kingstown.