FIRST up, Cameron Schuster isn’t planning to sell off bits of Shirley Strickland Oval, as we had him doing last week when we confused sporting fields.
The Melville councillor, who’s recontesting his Mt Pleasant-Applecross ward in the October elections, is happy to see the Mt Pleasant Bowling Club grounds sold off to pay for upgrades at Shirley Strickland, though.
Second, he voted against the Wave Park proposal at Tompkins Park on the basis he didn’t think it was in the right place.
Which kind of makes it strange that the Alfred Cove Action Group is backing Steve Keppert to run against him, but Cr Schuster says the activists are just trying to portray him as part of an “Aubrey cabal”.
He says that’s an unfair portrayal, as there’s been 713 decisions made by the council since his election and 70 per cent have been unanimous: “That would make it a cabal of 13, then,” he says.
• Cameron Schuster
He’s broken it down even further, to show that of the remaining 200-odd contested decisions, he has been opposed to mayor Russell Aubrey.
Cr Schuster says despite his opposition to the wave park’s location, when it became obvious the numbers were against him, he and colleague Matthew Woodall spent many hours ensuring the lease contract benefited the council as much as possible.
“We spent considerable time going through the lease and making sure there were bonds, conditions and a sunset clause – that was due to me.”
Cr Schuster said that was to protect the council from ending up with a white elephant on its hands should the wave park not prove as financially viable as first thought.
He says he’s also fighting to stay on council to ensure residents in the transition zone of the Canning Bridge structure plan get a better deal.
He’s trying to push through amendments that would allow people to build single-storey homes in the zone, after helping a couple who got stuck with a property they couldn’t sell and advice from the council they weren’t able to build a modest home instead.
He also wants to oversee the introduction of the three-bin system across the whole city, having been a key architect of the trial.
He says it will improve recycling and composting rates, and will be cheaper in the long run because the SMRC will be able to switch off its turning composters.
Cr Schuster also wants to be involved in the development of the lower Heathcote lands, saying boundary issues with the South of Perth yacht club had been resolved.
by STEVE GRANT