Press - 13 Aug -16 Sept 2009
The West Australian 10 September 2009
More information in Cliffe probe
BY ROBERT TAYLOR
State Parliament’s powerful privileges committee has received submission from a range of players in the continuing saga of historic Peppermint Grove home The Cliffe.
The committee is investigating claims that Colin Barnett on behalf of the property’s owner, millionaire mining entrepreneur Mark Creasy, pushed to have the house removed from the State’s heritage register to benefit Mr Barnett’s son Russell.
The men making the claim, Sydney public servant Brian Waldron and photographer Bleddyn Butcher, have responded to request for more information from committee chairman and Legislative Assembly Speaker Grant Woodhams. Mr Woodhams said Mr Creasy and Russell Barnett had also given information to the committee.
The POST Newspaper 22 August 2009
Creasy asked to sell the Cliffe
BY ROMY RANALLI
The Cliffe’s lucrative development potential was acknowledged by the shire of Peppermint Grove this week.
The council had hoped a $55,000 study would find a solution to the controversy, but councillors admit the results have done little to convince owner Mark Creasy to restore the property.
They voted to tell Mr Creasy that preserving the house, gardens and outbuildings could best be achieved by selling the property to a heritage-friendly buyer.
The report also investigated the sizes of blocks the property could be subdivided into, with and without demolishing the buildings. Councillors voted to tell Mr Creasy they might be prepared to consider limited planning concessions.
But councillor Rachel Thomas said the options could lead Mr Creasy to believe a high-density subdivision could be possible.
“Let’s not lead him to believe he has the right to a number of R25 lots that I don’t think the community would back,” she said.
“The report discusses options that require concessions within our town planning scheme that are more excessive than we are able to make.”
Councillor Dominic Ward dismissed a 900-signature petition of Cliffe supporters submitted by Sydney public servant Brian Waldron, saying the council should not be concerned as most names were from outside the shire.
Mr Ward said Mr Waldron should be condemned for complaining to the Corruption and Crime Commission about the role Premier Colin Barnett had played in the removal of The Cliffe from the State Register of Heritage Places.
Mr Waldron’s claims are now before a parliamentary privileges committee.
The committee’s chairman, Legislative Assembly Speaker Grant Woodhams, said the committee met this week and was waiting for more information from Mr Waldron before it met again next month.
Mr Woodhams said that if the committee decided to call witnesses the sittings could be held in public.
Committee member and Labor MP Mark McGowan, who last week had pushed for the matter to go before the committee, said he would not take part in the investigation.
“As part of the debate, I made a number of allegations against Mr Barnett which makes it inappropriate for me to sit in judgment as a member of the committee,” he said.
The POST Newspaper 22 August 2009 - Letters
Cliffe listing answer enigma
Brian Waldron
Woolloomooloo, NSW
In one of his many interjections during The Cliffe debate in Parliament on August 12, Premier Colin Barnett agreed that part of his argument for the removal of the property from the State Heritage Register was that the owners didn’t know of the house’s heritage significance.
Leader of Opposition Business Mark McGowan put it this way: that the people who purchased the house had no knowledge there might be any heritage issues and, therefore, the argument went, according to the Premier, that it was unjust that the house be heritage-listed.
This is extraordinary – for the life of me, I cannot think of a time when the listing of a property on the State Heritage Register could possibly occur before someone bought it.
If it were to be listed before its current owners bought it, then it would have been listed after it was bought by a previous owner – either Chris Shellabear, the McComb family, Cotswold Investments, the Brisbane family, Jessie McNeil, or Neil McNeil.
Any such listing in the past 100 years would have occurred after someone’s purchase.
The only alternative I can imagine would require heritage listing to take place prior to construction. Even then someone would still own the property.
Perhaps Mr Barnett could explain how a more just system of heritage listing could take place, particularly given the Heritage Minister said recently that the Heritage Act required no amendment.
The West Australian 18 August 2009
Council votes to retain The Cliffe
BY BEATRICE THOMAS and ROBERT TAYLOR
In a largely symbolic move, Peppermint Grove Shire Council last night backed retaining and restoring the historic home The Cliffe which is at the centre of a heritage row.
The council considered seven options presented in a study on the future of the homestead.
It voted unanimously to advise owner Mark Creasy of its preference, which includes that the property be marketed with a conservation plan and heritage agreement, and said it was prepared to consider planning concessions to make it happen.
A 900-signature petition organised by Sydney man Brian Waldron to the council in support of The Cliffe being restored on the heritage register was also noted.
The Cliffe is at the centre of a complaint to the Corruption and Crime Commission about the roles played by Premier Colin Barnett and former heritage minister Michelle Roberts in its removal last year from the register.
Sydney-based Mr Waldron has alleged that Mr Barnett could have used his position as an MP to have the home de-registered in order to benefit his son Russell who is the director of a company whose major shareholder is Mr Creasy.
Parliament's powerful privileges committee, which is inquiring into the issue, yesterday asked both the CCC and Mr Waldron, who made the initial complaint, if they could offer any more information on events surrounding the delisting.
Labor's Mark McGowan has removed himself from the committee's investigation after leading the debate on the matter from the Opposition's point of view in Parliament last week.
Mr McGowan said he had made "partisan" statements in the parliamentary debate and did not think it was appropriate that he now participate in the inquiry.
His withdrawal means that the Government will now have three MPs including Mr Woodhams to the Opposition's one on the committee for the inquiry.
Peppermint Grove councillor Dominic Ward last night described Mr Waldron's actions in making a complaint to the CCC as "mischievous" and "counter-productive" to the shire's efforts and should be condemned.
Councillor Gunnar Vikingur said the council should not act as if it had any power, with Mr Creasy free to demolish the building at any time.
Councillor Rachel Thomas said it would be a tragedy if The Cliffe was lost.
The WEST AUSTRALIAN 18 August 2009
Backing for restoration
Peppermint Grove Shire Council last night backed retaining and restoring the historic home The Cliffe which is at the centre of a heritage row.
It considered seven options for the future of the homestead.
The Cliffe is at the centre of a complaint to the Corruption and Crime Commission about the roles played by Premier Colin Barnett and former heritage minister Michelle Roberts in its removal from the State register.
Parliament’s privileges committee yesterday asked both the CCC and Brian Waldron, who made the initial complaint, if they could offer any more information surrounding the delisting.
POST Newspapers 15 August 2009
Barnett faces Cliffe probe
BY ROMY RANALLI
A furious Premier Colin Barnett failed to head off an inquiry into allegations about his handling of the de-listing of heritage house The Cliffe during a heated debate in Parliament this week.
Mr Barnett said the allegations were frivolous and damaging to his son Russell, whose business relationship with The Cliffe’s owner, Mark Creasy, has been raised.
But he was forced to accept an inquiry after at least two government supporters threatened to cross the floor if he blocked an investigation.
On the second day of Parliament after an eight-week break, the Premier endured almost four hours of unrelenting debate over his role in the de-listing of the only property ever scrubbed from the state heritage register.
Labor’s Mark McGowan called for the allegations against Mr Barnett, and Labor MP Michelle Roberts, to be investigated by the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).
“Parliamentarians should not be investigating themselves, the public has a perception problem with that,” Mr McGowan said.
Mr McGowan tried to change what he described as an anomaly in the law to allow the allegations to be investigated by the CCC, but the government refused.
Instead, the handling of the removal of the 115-year-old Peppermint Grove house’s heritage protection will be investigated by Parliament’s procedures and privileges committee.
The committee is made up of Mr McGowan, another Labor MP and three government members, including Legislative Assembly Speaker Grant Woodhams.
It has the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.
An angry Mr Barnett said the inquiry should not be allowed to go ahead.
“Personally, I don’t care because it is going to go nowhere,” he said.“I won’t stand in the way.
“But I will hold members accountable for their actions if they choose to do so; I won’t let that go through to the keeper.”
Mr Barnett said tens of thousands of dollars could be spent on an inquiry, and reputations damaged.
“I don’t think it should go to the privileges committee because I know they are false, spurious and vexatious, malicious claims,” he said.
Mr Barnett told Parliament the suggestions by NSW public servant Brian Waldron, who is involved in a campaign to save The Cliffe, were defamatory.
Mr Barnett said the suggestion that he helped remove the home’s heritage protection to assist Mr Creasy, who is the major shareholder in a publicly listed company owned by his son, Russell Barnett, was defamatory.
Mr Barnett said the people rallying against his handling of the affair did not genuinely care about the historic house and were instead trying to re-ignite interest in the band The Triffids, whose lead singer grew up at The Cliffe.
“These guys are promoting the re-issue of The Triffids’ records,” Mr Barnett said.
“They don’t care about the heritage, this is about promoting The Triffids.
“I’ve even heard that their sales have gone up in recent weeks.”
Mr Waldron said he and fellow supporter Bleddyn Butcher were friends of David McComb, the late Triffids frontman, but did not stand to profit from the publicity.
“Neither of us make a red cent, a brass razoo or any money at all from the sales of records by The Triffids,” Mr Waldron said.
“The Premier would do well to remember that he chose to publicise our complaints to the CCC and The Triffids’ long association with The Cliffe.
“There is not a single reference to the band in our complaints.”
Mrs Roberts told, Parliament she welcomed the scrutiny of an inquiry.
“I would much prefer that doubt be removed,” she said. She said she would have released a report by the Heritage Council advising her to keep The Cliffe’s listing if she had been asked to.
The Opposition also raised claims about Mr Barnett’s original motion to remove The Cliffe, saying it was plagued with errors and misled the House.
Mr McGowan said Mr Barnett told Parliament in 2007 that The Cliffe was bought by Mr Creasy and his wife Sharon in March 1995 and there was no indication it would be subject to any form of heritage listing.
But Mr McGowan said a lands record showed the property was transferred to the Creasys on July 17, 1995, and a Heritage of WA Act memorial was lodged on the title two weeks earlier.
Mr Barnett denied the opposition’s claims, explaining the property was purchased in April by the Creasys’ agent, with Mrs Creasy’s name listed on the title in July.
He said any such error did not deserve an inquiry.
Mr Barnett said: “If there was an error in the grievance, should that go to the privileges committee? I don’t think so.”
During the long debate, Mindarie MP John Quigley supported Mr McGowan’s call to amend the law and send the investigation to the CCC.
After assessing Mr Waldron’s complaint the CCC sent it to Parliament, advising Mr Woodhams that it had formed the view the allegations raised against Mr Barnett and Mrs Roberts were of serious misconduct.
The CCC told Parliament it could not investigate because the issue related to words spoken in Parliament and therefore protected by parliamentary privilege.
One of Australia’s most experienced parliamentary experts, Harry Evans, Clerk of the Australian Senate in Canberra, said that since the allegations had been deemed as serious misconduct, they fell outside the watchdog’s powers.
Mr Evans said Western Australia was the only place that had provisions for an outside body to investigate the conduct of politicians, unless they were of a serious nature.
“This provision is an attempt to allow the commission to inquire into matters which would otherwise be immune from its inquiry by virtue of parliamentary privilege,” he said.
“The provision, however, only applies to allegations of misconduct not being serious misconduct.”
Mr Quigley told Parliament: “If you’re a bigger crook in Parliament you won’t be investigated, but if you’re a little crook then you will have to face the spotlight.”
Attorney General Christian Porter said law was not an anomaly.
“It is not an anomaly or glitch but was meant to give the Speaker discretion,” he said.
“There may well be cases where complaints are so vexatious and without merit that it allows us to say it requires or merits no further investigation.
The WEST AUSTRALIAN 15 August 2009
STATE POLITICS View from the hill
State Parliament resumed with Labor deserter Vince Catania escaping vilification, except to be called ‘custard guts’ by shadow attorney-general, John Quigley. Accusations that Premier Colin Barnett used his position as an MP to push for historic Peppermint Grove house The Cliffe to be removed from the State’s Heritage Register were referred to the parliamentary privileges committee and Alannah MacTiernan, who announced on Sunday that she would seek preselection for the Federal seat of Canning, came under fire from Mr Barnett, who asked: ‘What is she going to take to Canberra?’
X-Press Magazine 15 August 2009 - Letters
Cliffe Notes
SCOTT, via email
I just saw the Save The Cliffe show at the railway Hotel. It was excellent. Martyn P. Casey (the Triffids, The Bad Seeds) took to the stage with The Morning Night to play a few Triffids numbers like Monkey on My Back, Trick of The Light and Wide Open Road, the latter being sung by Adrian Hoffman joined by Matt de la hunty.
It was a great night with Jill Birt and Alsy MacDonald in attendance watching from the sidelines. Green Member Giz Watson got up to speak about The Cliffe and how significant it was to WA’s cultural heritage beyond just simply The Triffids connection. Alex Manfrin kept the witty banter up between the bands and the night was a big success.
Both Adrian and Shaun Hoffman were thanked by many for working to put the show together and all had a great evening in the name of a good cause.
The WEST AUSTRALIAN 14 August 2009
Trifling Triffid Trivia
INSIDE COVER with Daniel Hatch
If you feel the need to catch some Zs, IC can suggest nothing better than a new book called Vagabond Holes.
It’s a volume about the pain-in-the-Sputnik has-been band du jour The Triffids – the ones desperately trying to save on-again-off-again heritage-listed hovel The Cliffe in Peppermint Grove.
We’re not suggesting Vagabond Holes is so dull it will put you to sleep. In fact it might well be an interesting read. We don’t know, we can’t be bothered wading through it. When we say Zs, we literally mean it is full of Zs.
Despite being about a WA band and published but a WA publishing house (Fremantle Press), throughout the book words like “realise” are spelt the American way, with what Americans would call a “zee”.
Theze miztakez are ezy to make but you think someone would realize!
The WEST AUSTRALIAN 13 August 2009
Cliffe affair headed to privileges
committee
BY ROBERT TAYLOR Sate Political Editor
Claims that Colin Barnett used his position as an MP to benefit his businessman son Russell when he pushed for historic Peppermint Grove house The Cliffe to be removed from The State’s Heritage Register will be investigated by the parliamentary privileges committee.
Amid Rowdy scenes in Parliament yesterday, the Government decided not to oppose the Opposition motion to send the allegations to the committee after they were first sent to Assembly Speaker Grant Woodhams by the Corruption and Crime Commission.
The substance of the allegation, by Sydney man and Save The Cliffe campaigner Brian Waldron, is that Mr Barnett led the charge to have the house re-registered because its owner, mining entrepreneur Mark Creasy, was the major shareholder in a company run by Russell Barnett.
The committee can call Mr Barnett, his son, Mr Creasy and Mr Waldron to give evidence. An angry Mr Barnett told Parliament that the complaints had been made my fans of the former rock band the Triffids, whose lead singer David McComb grew up in the house.
“This has been driven by a group of people who are fans, friends, associates of the Triffids,” Mr Barnett said.
“Good luck to them if they think the Triffids were so good and good luck to them if they want to re-release the records. But that does not give them the right to accuse me of basically criminal conduct, or my son, or Mark Creasy.
“It does not give them the right to do that and this Parliament does itself no good service to give credibility to those sort of claims.”
But the Government supported the move to send the matter to the committee after three MPs who support the Liberal-Nationals alliance indicated they would cross the floor to vote with the Opposition.
After a torrid four-hour debate, Opposition Leader Eric Ripper said while he could understand the Premier’s anxiety about members of his family, the Parliament could not ignore an allegation referred to it by the CCC.
“We haven’t asked a question in question time about this, we haven’t brought on a matter of public interest (debate) on the matter, we haven’t taken any other action than action in response to the fact that the CCC has placed something on the table of this House.” Mr Ripper said.
“We have done that because we at least believe there’s a public interest in the institution of Parliament being seen to properly resolve a matter like this.”
Mr Ripper said the Premier has been shown to have a “glass jaw” on the issue.
The committee consists of three Government and two Labor MPs, including chairman Mr Woodhams, a National MP who said last night that he hoped to convene the committee as soon as possible but could not say whether all the hearing would be in public.
The role of former heritage minister Michelle Roberts in the de-registering will also be examined by the committee.
Earlier yesterday, Mrs Roberts explained why she had not recommended the State compulsorily acquire the property under the Heritage Act.
“Given that there are so many government-owned buildings in disrepair I would have thought that the general public would find it very, very strange that government would suddenly get in the business of buying private property and restoring them,” she said.
WAToday On line 13 August 2009
Corruption complainant blasts Barnett
BY CHALPAT SONTI with AAP
The man behind a corruption complaint against Colin Barnett has slammed as "ill-informed" comments the Premier made about his motivation.
Brian Waldron, formerly of Perth but now of Sydney, laid a complaint recently with the Corruption and Crime Commission over Mr Barnett's role in getting the historic Peppermint Grove house The Cliffe removed from the state register of historic places.
Mr Waldron claims Mr Barnett acted improperly in raising the issue on behalf of constituent Mark Creasy, who now owns the home, as Mr Creasy was the largest shareholder in Freedom Eye, a public company chaired by the Premier's son Russell Barnett.
The complaint, which also includes the then heritage minister, Labor MP Michelle Roberts, was referred to parliament's privileges committee yesterday. Mr Barnett lashed out at Mr Waldron, calling the complaint outrageous, irresponsible and defamatory and made by a "Triffids fan and groupie".
The Cliffe was formerly owned by the McComb family. David and Robert McComb were members of 1970s and 1980s rock band The Triffids and recorded several albums at the home.
But Mr Waldron, in a joint statement penned with Bleddyn Butcher, who has written extensively about The Triffids, said Mr Barnett was as ill-informed about "our motivation in seeking an independent review of the last year's shonky decision to remove The Cliffe from the Heritage Register as he is about the heritage value of the building itself".
"Neither of us make a red cent, a brass razoo or any money at all from the sales of records by The Triffids.
"The Premier would do well to remember that he chose to publicise our complaints to the (CCC) and The Triffids' long association with The Cliffe.
"There is not a single reference to the band in our submissions to the commissioner."
Mr Barnett said the government would not hinder the opposition's motion to do so but "tens of thousands of dollars might be spent on this spurious, vexatious, frivolous and false accusation".
The Premier told parliament he had been defamed, as had Russell Barnett and Mr Creasy.
"My son will be dragged through the mud ... because you've given credibility to these outrageous, vexatious, irresponsible claims."
The complaint was "all about The Triffids" rather than the "dilapidated" house at the centre of the heritage issue, Mr Barnett said.
"The people who are promoting this are not the people who care about the heritage value of The Cliffe. The people promoting this are the friends and supporters and fans of the Triffids," he said.
"They are interested in The Triffids and the glorification of The Triffids ..."
Russell Barnett had never met Mr Creasy and the Premier was unaware the prospector was a major shareholder in the company his son chaired until after the complaint was made, Mr Barnett said.
Ms Roberts said it would be difficult for her or the Premier to be exonerated unless the matter was examined by a committee.
Nine MSN News On-line 13 August 2009
WA Premier ill informed: complainant
AAP
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett is "ill informed" about the basis of a complaint made against him to the state's anti-corruption watchdog, the complaint's author says.
Mr Barnett and former Labor heritage minister Michelle Roberts were named in a complaint to the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) over the withdrawal of a Perth home last year from the state's heritage register.
The premier disclosed the complaint last month over the heritage status of The Cliffe, a Peppermint Grove residence in his Cottesloe electorate.
The Cliffe was the childhood home of two members of The Triffids - the late Dave McComb and his brother Robert McComb - and was the band's meeting place.
Millionaire prospector Mark Creasy is the current owner of the property and is a shareholder of a company called Freedom Eye which is chaired by the premier's son Russell Barnett.
Sydney public servant Brian Waldron lodged the complaint with the CCC over the home's heritage delisting, saying "something a bit crook may have been involved with these arrangements".
The allegations will be investigated by a state parliamentary privileges committee, after the CCC referred the matter to the lower house on Wednesday.
During a lengthy and heated parliamentary debate, Mr Barnett said on Wednesday the claims were spurious, false, vexatious and defamatory.
He said Mr Waldron was a "Triffids groupie" and the complaint was "all about The Triffids" rather than the "dilapidated" house.
"The people who are promoting this are not the people who care about the heritage value of The Cliffe. The people promoting this are the friends and supporters and fans of the Triffids," he told parliament.
"They are interested in The Triffids and the glorification of The Triffids ..."
Mr Waldron said in a statement that Mr Barnett was "ill informed".
"Judging by comments made in the Legislative Assembly ..., the premier of Western Australia, Mr Colin Barnett, is as ill informed about our motivation in seeking an independent review of last year's shonky decision to remove The Cliffe from the heritage register as he is about the heritage value of the building itself," he said.
In a statement on behalf of himself and rock historian Bleddyn Butcher, Mr Waldron said the Triffids had not been mentioned in the complaint to the CCC.
"Neither (Mr Butcher nor myself) make a red cent, a brass razoo or any money at all from the sales of records by The Triffids," he said.
"The premier would do well to remember that he chose to publicise our complaints to the Crime and Corruption Commission and The Triffids' long association with The Cliffe.
"There is not a single reference to the band in our submissions to the commissioner."
Mr Waldron said he and Mr Butcher genuinely cared about The Cliffe and WA's heritage.
The Cliffe was built as a jarrah showcase in 1894 and is the only house of its type along Perth's lengthy Swan River.
Its 20 rooms, built from solid jarrah wood and topped with jarrah shingles, sat amid beautiful gardens, stables, servants' quarters and a coach house and summer house.
The Triffids formed in Perth in the late 1970s and disbanded in 1989.
The rock band was hugely successful in Australia and briefly made it big overseas, playing to an audience tired of punk and wanting a folk-rock alternative sound.
