Fremantle Ports CEO Michael Parker talks trade with ambassador Siswo Pramono.
FREMANTLE council’s new admin centre has taken out top prize at the Australian Institute or Architects WA Awards. The Walyalup Civic Centre was awarded the George Temple Poole Award, as well as the Julius Elischer Award for Interior Architecture, the John Septimus Roe Award for Urban design and a commendation for sustainable architecture. Hocking Heritage and Architecture also won an award on the night for their restoration works at the Fremantle Town Hall. WA Architecture Awards chair of juries Simon Pendal described the Walyalup Civic Centre as a beautifully designed building that was effortless in its simplicity and a place that was intuitive to enjoy and welcoming to its community.
THE council is installing a $175,000 roundabout at a notorious black spot in White Gum Valley. Fremantle mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge said the intersection of Wiluna Avenue and Hope Street had worried valley residents for some time. “This particular spot is treacherous because it has a divided road converging into a single carriageway on a hill, at an intersection and the sight lines are really bad,” Ms Fitzhardinge said. There had been five serious accidents at the intersection in the last five years. New paths and handrails are also being installed to help pedestrians.
POLICE are calling for any dashcam or mobile phone footage that captured an accident on Friday June 3 around 4.50pm when an 83-year-old pedestrian was killed trying to cross Canning Highway near the shops up at North Lake Road. Police say the man was attempting to cross the highway at a pedestrian cut-out when a Toyota Hilux pulling out of the shops collided with him. He was taken to Royal Perth Hospital but later died from his injuries.
MURDOCH University honorary professor Peter Langridge (above) has been elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science – a big gig for boffins. Prof Langridge was heralded for revolutionising plant development, specifically cereal breeding technologies where he initiated molecular markers in legume breeding programs while working at the University of Adelaide.
WHILE Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese was in Jakarta last week talking up trade expansion to reduce our reliance on China, Indonesia had already got the jump with its ambassador Siswo Pramono visiting Fremantle Ports to see how Freo could be used as a trade hub. Ports community relations manager Neil Stanbury said Indonesia was Australia’s 13th largest trading partner “and by some estimates, likely to be the world’s fifth-largest economy by 2030”. “The incoming federal Labor government has in its first week made clear the relationship with Indonesia is of great importance and it’s pleasing for us at the same time to explore with the Indonesian delegation ways Fremantle Ports can drive even stronger ties in the years ahead,” Mr Stanbury said.
COCKBURN council is set to drop its regular bulk waste and green verge collections and go for an on-demand system by 2024, saying its current waste collection team is stretched to the limit.