LAST week’s Thinking Allowed article by Anthony Brown (Enough) and letters by Heather Marchesani and Don Sivyer sparked a flurry of responses. Here are some of them. If yours isn’t here it’s probably because it was too long! Shorter, folks!

On the money
ANTHONY BROWN is pretty much on the money with his observations about the sad state of the City of Fremantle.
The mayor and councillors appear to have abrogated their responsibility to do the job they were elected to do: which is to keep the city safe and clean, ensure appropriate facilities for all residents and provide an attractive and interesting place for tourists to visit.
It is not their brief to interfere in federal politics….the companies referred to have been carrying out contracted work in accordance with government policy. If you don’t agree with the policy you have the opportunity of voting the government out at the next election, but for heaven’s sake don’t risk ratepayers’ money by incurring possible legal costs when the city is clearly in the wrong.
Remember, the problems referred to were created by a Labor government.
It was just the sort of mess the city is in that a group of us in East Fremantle worked so hard to avoid being part of last year when we ran a successful campaign to ensure the referendum asking East Fremantle residents whether they wanted to be part of Fremantle was lost.
Having said that, we in East Fremantle are also exposed to drug dealers plying their illicit trade about which the police seem to do very little. Where are the police?
It’s time the mayor and councillors in the City of Fremantle concentrated on the things they were elected to do: manage the City of Fremantle and make good planning decisions.
Jono Farmer
Sewell St, East Fremantle

Thoughtless
IT appears little to no real thought occurred during the writing of last week’s Thinking Allowed.
Anthony Brown rails against the council for a modest and reasonable action on refugee rights, and engages in pathetic name-calling. Is it really that unreasonable to refuse to do business with companies that profit from child abuse?
I was proud to stand with the council when we presented the petition. And, as a young man living in Fremantle, I’m glad the council is investing in young people.
After reading the rest of Mr Brown’s whinge I was not at all surprised to see he felt angered by “mobs of unruly skate people”.
Yes, Fremantle has issues, but we have a bright future and bashing progressive councillors and — by proxy — progressive Freo-dwellers in your local paper isn’t going to solve anything. I doubt he felt much better after writing it either.
Liam Carter
Harbour Rd, South Fremantle

Be found
WELL said, and long overdue.
The central flaw in democracy as it pertains to councils is we, the ratepayers, seem to forget our councillors are elected and people who think like Anthony Brown are nowhere to be found on election day.
Instead, we have a few — almost always from the ‘left’ — extremists volunteering their services unopposed and guess what … the vocal minority has its way. We need people who know about budgets, management, efficiency, planning to stand up and get involved.
Graeme Fisher
Wardle Rd, Beaconsfield

Vomit misses its target
ANTHONY BROWN lists a whole lot of problems in Fremantle in his rant. Most are things that are the responsibility of either the WA or federal governments. His projectile vomit was largely misdirected.
However, Fremantle does have the power to decide what sorts of companies it will have dealings with. Choosing a security provider who is not implicated in callous behaviour in the off-shore detention centres is sensible. Cr Sam Wainwright is to be congratulated for having moved the motion and the rest of council demonstrated its morality by supporting it.
Well done, Fremantle.
Barry Healy
Holland St, Fremantle

A field day
OH! What a field day of comments.
Don Sivyer does not think refugees are a local issue — apparently only the feds are allowed opinions on that subject, and yet we, the people, elected all of them. Heather Marchesani seems to be of a similar view, lambasting people with a social conscience — apparently refugees fleeing their war-torn country should stop and ask for a passport. I’m not sure how a passport helps inform us on “what type of person they are” and to argue “detention is detention wherever it is” lacks humanity — socialist or capitalist!
As Australians we can provide better than third-world conditions.
Finally, Anthony Brown’s Thinking Allowed seems to think Fremantle councillors have control over police [crime], state housing, and who doesn’t get to pay rates [church/university]. He seems to think the skateboard park encourages hooliganism, but that is not apparent at the park where families, young and old, gather to enjoy the diversity of facilities and friendliness.
Whilst he can blame Labor for the commencement of detention centres, to argue it “is being managed as best as possible by the [conservative] federal government” seems a contradiction in terms — does this include paying people smugglers?
However, I must applaud him on his conviction that the outer harbour should be built as soon as possible, but hang on, isn’t that why those “left-wing/green activists, including the mayor and several councillors” have worked so hard to achieve by trying to stop the Perth Freight Link? And who asked them to do that?
Jim Meckelburg
Davies St, Beaconsfield

Proud and filled with hope
I CONGRATULATE Fremantle council on its decision to stop doing business with companies profiteering from the abuse of our fellow human beings in offshore detention centres.
I declare my interest in this matter as a member of the Fremantle Refugee Rights Action Network and partner of Councillor Sam Wainwright.
Furthermore my mother came to this country as a refugee. She suffered the humiliation of being kicked out of primary school in Italy because she was Jewish. Two years later her family fled the Japanese advance on Singapore. If Australia had denied her shelter I wonder what her fate would have been?
I was horrified when I read the comments in last week’s Herald letters and Thinking Allowed by Heather Marchesani, Don Sivyer and Anthony Brown. Care and concern for others surely doesn’t begin and end at our municipal borders?
Indefinite mandatory detention of people who have committed no crime already constitutes a human rights abuse. In March 2015 the UN went further — finding that Australia was systematically violating the International Convention Against Torture by detaining children and holding asylum seekers in dangerous conditions.
Do these facts also cause you to choke on your drink, Heather?
I wonder if Heather, Don or Anthony had to flee war and persecution, only to be locked up in substandard conditions and made to experience further persecution, sexual abuse and degradation — would they not wish their fellow citizens of the world would stand in solidarity with them?
Fremantle council has “Thought Globally and Acted Locally”. It’s about time some level of government showed leadership on this issue. We surely ain’t getting any from Turnbull and Shorten, and it was very disappointing to read that Chris Brown has no intention of challenging Shorten on this if preselected by Labor for the seat of Fremantle.
I was in the gallery the night Fremantle council adopted this motion. I left feeling both proud and filled with hope for the message this will send to our community, to other councils and to government at all levels.
As citizens of the world, ensuring the fair and dignified treatment of people seeking our protection is absolutely within the jurisdiction of us all; wherever we reside, whatever level of government we represent, whoever we are.
Janet Parker
Jarvis St, O’Connor

Refreshingly balanced by Brown
YOUR paper must be congratulated for publishing last week’s Thinking Allowed, which contained an accurate and frank appraisal by Anthony Brown of the general cultural, political and financial malaise which prevails in the City of Fremantle. It was the most refreshingly balanced article I have seen published in recent times.
As a Fremantle boy more than seven decades ago I saw the port city go into gradual decline until the 1970s when open-minded and progressive councillors, supported by energetic and dedicated staff, began revitalising the area.
This culminated with restoration projects in readiness for the America’s Cup. Unfortunately since then the council has been inclined to rest on its laurels, basking in the glory of the past and not giving any thought to the future, except councillors’ own political ambitions.
The city has now become a magnet for anti-social and welfare-dependent types who contribute to the decline of customers who used to shop in the town. No wonder the retailers are deserting the precinct in droves.
While the current crop of municipal misfits guide the destiny of the city there is no hope for its viable future.
Daryl Binning
Norton Ridge, Winthrop

Unbury the head
HEATHER MARCHESANI has concerns about Fremantle council severing ties with Wilson and Broadspectrum due to the well-documented human rights abuses of asylum seekers in offshore detention centres.
Putting aside the misinformation in her letter (eg, “these people broke our law”), I would like to assure her that all proper security and health checks are carried out before asylum seekers are allowed into the Australian community.
As for the passport situation, it is true some asylum seekers do not have a passport when they arrive. There are many reasons for that (eg, if they are caught by officials with their documentation as they flee, they risk imprisonment and worse), but most are able to send for such documentation when they arrive.
I have visited detention more times than I care to remember, and have had asylum seekers stay in my home after their release. I also research extensively in this area.
Ms Marchesani asks “what type of people are they?”.  In my experience, they are courageous people who have suffered a great deal, and want nothing better than to be “a good Australian”.
She also asks “where are we going to put these so-called refugees”. One solution is in the homes of Australians who have already offered to put them up (eg, Enough Room).  Research is quite clear on the life-destroying impact of detention, especially offshore detention, on vulnerable people.
Australia – we cannot bury our head in the sand on this issue any longer. Fremantle council – good on you.
Anne Pedersen
Adjunct A/Professor
Centre for Human Rights
Education, Curtin University

Cut the ties
I HAVE lived in Hilton for more than 20 years and I am in full support and absolutely exhilarated by the front page of the Herald (“#LetThemGo!” February 27, 2016).
Yes! Fremantle is a city that supports human rights and is now cutting business ties with Broadspectrum (Transfield) and Wilson, companies that profit from Australia’s policy of locking up asylum seekers indefinitely in detention centres.
You might ask: how has it come to this? The Coalition government with bipartisan support from the Labor opposition are not listening, and have not been listening to the compassionate argument for a very long time.
So now the refugee rights’ movement is targeting those who profit from a system renowned around the world for human rights’ abuses.
And yes, the refugee rights’ movement will continue to name those businesses and also those who gain from their sponsorship.
Let’s start with a very Fremantle institution – the Fremantle Dockers Football Club. One of its major sponsors is Decmil (the company that has been paid millions for building Manus Island detention centre). Come on Freo! It is time to dropkick Decmil as a sponsor! See DropkickDecmil our f/b page.
Murdoch University, our local “social justice” university leases space to Serco (the company that runs onshore detention centres in Australia). It is well and truly time for Murdoch to ditch Serco from campus. Its contract comes up for renewal early this year.
Fremantle council dropping business — this is just the beginning!
Shelley James
Griffiths Pl, Hilton

Morose Melville
I ATTENDED the inaugural meeting to reform the Melville ratepayers association on  March 1, 2016.
There were many unhappy ratepayers voicing their dissatisfaction with the lack of transparency, the decision-making processes and policies of the Melville city council. Perhaps the most important function of this group should be to keep reminding councillors and the mayor they are elected by ratepayers to serve their interests and they can be voted out.
We trust this group will help foster the democratic process on how the council is run, lead to more transparency and participation before decisions and policies are made.
 Karl Kelers
 Clydesdale St, Alfred Cove

Don’t lose the Leeuwin
I ENCOURAGE all residents of East Fremantle interested in the future of river foreshores to contact their ward councillor to express an interest in the development of the Leeuwin Barracks site. An outline of the general plan for the area is recorded in the council minutes of 8 December 2015 (see the council website) and I recommend that residents read these minutes.
The main part of the barracks land was the subject of compulsory purchase by the defence department in the early years of WWII for the shore base known as HMAS Leeuwin. Leeuwin had a proud wartime history as the main WA support base for the maritime defence of the of the country. In 1942, British, American and Dutch submarines based in Fremantle attacked Japanese ships in the south-west Pacific at a very precarious stage of the war.
Leeuwin became a training establishment with facilities to train sailors in the various forms of naval warfare but in particular anti-aircraft defence. The Fremantle harbour defences which included the anti-submarine ‘boom gate’ for the port and Cockburn Sound were manned by personnel based at Leeuwin.
In July 1960, Leeuwin commenced training junior recruits for the navy and this was the main purpose of the establishment for the next 23 years. With the construction of HMAS Stirling naval base at Garden Island, the naval use of Leeuwin ceased and the area was transferred to the the Army and became Leeuwin Barracks in November, 1986.
The defence department has within it an organisation dealing with defence property and its aim is to make as much money as possible by selling the site to a developer.
As I see the situation, Defence has the legal right to follow this course of action and the only control in WA hands is via planning by East Fremantle council and “rezoning” control by the WA planning minister. I lead a group of former Naval Reserve officers with an historical interest in the site and wish to have the drill hall heritage listed, with some form of acknowledgement of Leeuwin’s wartime role. I believe the development of the former Heathcote hospital site in Applecross is a great example of what can be achieved with a former government site. East Fremantle town council minutes advise the planning process will include a “community consultaion and design charrette” and I presume a date will be forthcoming soon.
John Andrewartha
Moreing Rd, Attadale

Nuts to Tuarts
THE Bunnings carpark trees issue (Herald, Feb 13 & 20, 2016) has struck a chord with many patrons of the store at the corner of Leach Hwy and Norma Road.
While I was similarly upset by the removal of shady trees, I understand the need to provide a safe place for patrons to park and walk to the hardware store.
However, to replace these trees with Tuarts is ill-thought out. Having spent a few minutes on the internet looking at descriptions of Tuart trees, I discovered they grow to 40 metres in height, their bark flakes into small pieces and they have 2cm nuts that grow in clusters.
So, in a number of years Bunnings will have enormous trees, dropping nuts on customers’ cars and causing a hazard for pedestrians. If the Tuarts have been put in underground concrete boxes, in a number of years they will become root-bound and possibly need replacing.
So when will we get those mature shady trees? Perhaps it would have been better for Bunnings to discuss the issue with the council, whose experienced officers could have assisted in selecting appropriate trees for that carpark.
Katy Mair
Booragoon
The Ed says: Ms Mair is a former mayor of Melville.