It’s all for nothing
THE decision to merge areas of Cockburn with Kwinana, Fremantle and Melville can be blamed on the Cockburn Community Steering Committee (CCSC).
The CCSC was funded and supported by members of Cockburn council and was a group of individuals who submitted its proposal to the WA local government advisory board and had further discussions.
The CCSC didn’t consult the ratepayers of either Cockburn or Kwinana. They took their proposal on themselves to the Walgab.
The Walgab did not consider the submissions from ratepayers, City of Cockburn or Kwinana council.
I am sure Kwinana will welcome ratepayers from Cockburn into our council region.
WA local government minister Tony Simpson is a toothless tiger and a wimp. He is too frightened to stand up to premier Colin Barnett or the Walgab.
Minister Simpson has stated he has no control over the Walgab recommendations and can only approve or reject them.
This council merging project will cost ratepayers a large increase in rates and other council charges—all for nothing.
Steven Cruden
Edwards St, Kwinana 

Shame, Herald!
IT was with anticipation our family opened the Herald this week to see if our friend’s son was recognised in our local paper for his well-deserved award, at his year 12 graduation through the school-based traineeship by South Metropolitan Youth Link.
We were astonished to see that of all those amazing young teenagers photographed with MP Ken Wyatt, none were credited with names. We read and re-read the article and wondered whether this was sloppy journalism or were the photos just fillers for a story to accompany an inflammatory sub-headline—“30 years of success: ‘It’s good, but it’s not good enough’.”
What a shame this inspiring achievement by our youth was marginalised by a story on the low numbers of year 12 graduating indigenous students. Yes, this is an important issue and deserves an in-depth analysis and reportage but at the expense of those who have done the hard work?
This article frames the discussion on indigenous education as a problem that needs to be fixed, which not only demeans these students’ achievements but diminishes them.
Shame Herald! On behalf of my family, our friends and our community I wish to congratulate all those young men and women for their incredible achievement. Stand proud, your success is recognised and acknowledged by us! Ultimately our children’s success contributes to the social value of our community. Surely that is something to celebrate.
Carol Leen Huish
Hope St, White Gum Valley
The Ed says: Sorry about the names. We’d thought tags would be readable for us to get names for the captions but we learned in the wee small hours of production night, long after we could have called someone, that some were illegible. The sub-headline was drawn directly from Sam Gowegati’s address but we’re sorry you feel it diminishes the students’ achievements.

A human right
LIKE many others, I am always concerned about the homeless in this state.
I have listened to the premier banging on about the amount of government-owned properties he is going to put up for sale (Woodside and Kaleeya hospitals, etc), to no doubt pay for his grandiose plans for the Perth CBD.
I for one believe in the most basic human right, which is food in your mouth and a roof over your head. Why can’t these hospitals be turned into accommodation for the homeless?
In Liverpool, UK, they have a homelessness strategy that says anyone who is threatened with homelessness is prevented from becoming homeless wherever possible. Second, no individual who is sleeping out on the street for the first time is sleeping out more than one night. Third, anyone who is homeless today is supported into appropriate accommodation tomorrow. This is not Utopia.
Why then, in this rich state of ours, are these people being ignored. Go on Colin, embrace the homeless strategy. Then you will really make a name for yourself.
Norman Warburton
Kardinya

Keep your muzak malls!
MUCH has been written recently about the future of Fremantle, much of it bewailing the loss of large venue shopping opportunities.
But for me, Freo is much more than this. Why do I go into Freo almost every day? Most days, I go in for a good coffee with cheerful service. Other times it is the council library, a haircut, the bank, my eye doctor, an alternative food store, the vegie markets, an interesting film, a meal with friends, the chemist, a good bookshop, the travel agent and so on.
If I want a bland, muzak-filled glitzy shopping experience, I would go to Garden City. Lets not get to hung up on parking and department stores and keep Freo as a vibrant, unusual space which has sidestepped the onrush of mindless large-scale commercial growth.
Gordon Payne
Jenkin St, South Fremantle

Faith intact
A BIG thank you to the person (or people) who returned my wallet, lost during the Fremantle departure service October 31. My wallet was returned with everything intact including a decent amount of cash. Your act of honesty has warmed my heart and is a positive example to us all.
Katharine Allen
Swanbourne St, Fremantle

New city a shared task
EAST FREMANTLE councillor Cliff Collinson (Herald letters, November 1, 2014) and I agree the current local government reform proposal represents a win in comparison to the mega-merger initially put forward involving Fremantle, East Fremantle, and Melville.
That would have been a terrible outcome for all three. But there is no “takeover” involved in the current proposition.  hroughout this process I have championed the right of local communities to choose, and in this case either Fremantle or East Fremantle can opt out through a local poll.
As someone who has been a resident in both municipalities I think that would be a mistake.
And in any case, Sean Bruce-Cullen (Thinking Allowed, same edition) is right when he says the proposed greater Fremantle will create a new local government comprised of all the suburbs and people south of McCabe Street, west of Stock Rd and north of Phoenix Rd.
This new entity will continue to have downtown Freo as its heart and strategic centre, and it’s in that sense alone that I have described Fremantle as expanding.
Our shared task, which I termed “Fremantle United”, is to help create a new municipality whose character, facilities, and services match the energy and expectations of what is already a strong community of common interests. Ensuring there is fair representation across the entire community is part of that task, which is why it’s so important we push the minister to support the continuation of a six-ward system.
Cr Josh Wilson
Deputy Mayor, Fremantle

Selective bowing
YOU report (Herald newsclips, November 1, 2014) that “Fremantle council has bowed to public opposition and will let North Fremantle residents have crack at working on a policy guiding development around the old Matilda Bay brewery”.
It’s not mentioned that most of the land in debate (approximately two-thirds) will be outside City of Fremantle boundaries under the planned councils’ amalgamations.
This new boundary issue was voiced at the council’s most recent meeting by residents from the neighbouring Town of Mosman Park. At the same meeting Fremantle deputy mayor Josh Wilson—who chaired the sitting—was dismissive of and far from “bowing to public opposition” when the council decided to push through a controversial residential development in Malcolm Street despite strong opposition from local residents.
Petr Pacak
Hilton
The Ed says: Amalgamations are still six months away at best, more than enough time for the council to adopt a binding plan for the area. 

Presence felt
I EXTEND my congratulations to all those who participated in and assisted with the organisation of the Fremantle departure service.
They succeeded in very much capturing, as far as it is possible after 100 years, the essence of the original day. It was easy in my mind’s eye to imagine the excited crowd farewelling for the second time in 15 years troops embarking for military service on foreign shores, this time as the 1st AIF of a young nation, whereas in 1899 they were distinctly Western Australians and it was not until the contingents departing after the 26th February 1902 did they become Australian Commonwealth Horse (WA).
The address by Gabrielle Egan served to remind us at a deeply personal level, the price paid by many families around the nation then and for future generations. With our best and brightest lost to the nation, one can only wonder what contribution the may have made to our future and that of humankind had their lives not been cut short by the maelstrom of war.
I sensed the presence of those mounted ghosts of the West Australian Infantry, farewelling their successors on that November day of 1914 with a salute and the ageless exhortation of one generation of soldiers to another, “keep your heads down, your powder dry and never volunteer for anything!”
Lest We Forget
Kevin Bovill
Noble Way, Success 

The wheels of change
AS someone quite new to urban riding I love the new yellow bicycles painted on the roads in central Fremantle.
They make me feel really confident riding here, and when I see those yellow bikes I think “this is the City of Fremantle, I’m riding a bike, and I am welcome here!”
Now I love taking my bike rather than my car into town and I’m so happy to live in a community that actually wants and helps me do that. And a huge thank-you to all the awesome patient car drivers who give me a bit of room and a smile as I pass.
Kathleen Burton
Livingstone St, Beaconsfield