Press - May - June 2009
ABC News On-line 13 July 2009
WA Premier says corruption allegation
borders on bizarre
WA Premier Colin Barnett The corruption watchdog has received a complaint about the Premier Colin Barnett. The WA Premier Colin Barnett has revealed he is the subject of a complaint to the state's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).
Mr Barnett says he was told by the CCC two weeks ago that it had received a complaint about his efforts to remove a Peppermint Grove property known as "The Cliffe" from the Register of State Heritage Places.
Mr Barnett argued for its removal from the register as backbencher in 2007 on behalf of a constituent, Mark Creasy.
The motion was approved by both houses of parliament.
Mr Barnett says he has since learnt that Mr Creasy is a major shareholder in a company chaired by his son Russell Barnett.
He says the allegation against him suggests he was motivated by a desire to benefit his son.
"This complaint is false, it is spurious bordering on the bizarre, however, a complaint has been made and the CCC commissioner has a responsibility to act on that complaint," he said.
"What angers me about this is that is will impact on my son and his role as a company director."
The CCC says it is unable to investigate the allegation because it relates to parliamentary privilege, so it has referred the matter to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
Mr Barnett says he has no intention of standing aside while State Parliament deals with the complaint.
POST NEWSPAPERS 11 July 2009
‘List The Cliffe to save it’
The historic Cliffe in Peppermint Grove could be protected by restoring it to the Heritage Register with a court application, says a supporter of the building’s retention.
A study has put up options for preserving the building, including subdividing land around it, for a net cost of as little as $50,000.
But the study, known as the Hocking Report, says the house cannot be re-listed for five years after it was taken off the register by a vote in Parliament.
The report calls the building “exceptionally significant”.
A demolition licence has been issued for the house, but the owner, prospector Mark Creasy, has delayed the demolition until other options have been explored.
Bleddyn Butcher, who has campaigned to save the building, says the Heritage Act also says the Supreme Court can initiate the re-listing of the building at any time.
The Minister for Heritage can also issue an interim listing where it appears conservation of its heritage value is in jeopardy.
Mr Butcher has urged the Shire of Peppermint Grove to apply to take this action.
He says the original reasons for removing the house from the register have since been shown to be wrong.
Peppermint Grove shire president Brian Cavanagh said the council would take advice on the issue.
Meanwhile, an application for emergency listing of the house on the national Heritage Register was still being considered, a spokeswoman for federal Heritage Minister Peter Garrett said this week.
The WEST AUSTRALIAN 7 July 2009
$50,000 may save homestead
BY BEATRICE THOMAS
Historic Homestead Grove homestead The Cliffe could be saved for as little as $50,000 and result in $10 million return for millionaire prospector Mark Creasy by reconfiguring the building and subdividing the 4800 sqm estate, a new report says.
The valuer’s report, part of a broader study for Peppermint Grove Shire-led committee, said the move would retain the house, unlock the highest value land and provide a site for a two-storey building.
The option, which the council will consider on July 20, says flipping the façade to face north to local landmark Devil’s Elbow would retain a large garden and create a “heritage street” façade on Bindaring Parade.
The report outlines seven options and says a 1500sqm lot valued at $5 million, on McNeil Street, could then be subdivided and an adjacent lot sold for $300,000-$400,000.
Selling The Cliffe would result in a $5 million -$5.5 million return, bringing the net realisation for Mr Creasy to as much as $10.9 million.
The study says subdivision would cost up to $50,000 but conservation works on the building, which was taken off the State Heritage Register by the former government last year, would cost $1.4 million Other options include selling the property for $7 million - $7.5 million in its current form with a conservation and heritage agreement; demolition and existing subdivision plans generating the highest return at $11.8 million; relocating the house resulting in a $9.7 million return but costing up to $2.5 million.
Fremantle deputy mayor John Dowson, who was on the committee, said yesterday The Cliffe should be retained and restored, adding it might not net the highest yield but had conservation merit. “Too often massive compromises mean a heritage house gets carved up to pieces," he said.
“If you’re not careful you end up ruining the very thing that you’re supposed to be protecting. What I would be fighting for is to keep the house and garden and have someone come along who really appreciates that.”
The study includes a conservation report detailing 40 policies, including extensive restoration work and seeking council approval for any changes.
As foreshadowed in The West Australian last month, it said The Cliffe was “a significant heritage place” that satisfied State heritage listing but was precluded from being relisted for five years.
The study said Mr Creasy, who bought the property in 1995 and got a demolition licence last year, wanted to sell the property but would allow the homestead to be moved at someone’s expense and consider leasing it, provided the lessee met restoration costs.
POST Newspapers 27 June 2009 - Letters
Barnett should own up on Cliffe
Brian Waldron
Woolloomooloo, NSW
If Premier Colin Barnett read the report, “Cliffe report contradicts Barnett” (POST, 13/6), he would have discovered that the house wasn’t quite the dilapidated old wreck he described to Parliament in August 2007.
Furthermore, he would have seen that the restoration would cost something less than half what he quoted.
Mr Barnett, his colleague Peter Collier, former Labor Heritage Minister Michelle Roberts and others have spent the past two years trying desperately to maintain their views about the Cliffe, but they are now being shown to be untrue, viz:
- The threat that retaining the Cliffe on the Heritage Register would cost the government $20 million; and
- The notion that the Cliffe was dilapidated beyond repair and would cost $2.8 million to make it liveable and more to restore.
Remember it was the alleged state of the Cliffe in 2007 that was given as a reason for its delisting.
Ms Roberts’ notice in the Government Gazette of September 1, 2007, said: “The property was dilapidated beyond reasonable repair, compromising its heritage value.” That was wrong.
Isn’t it time Mr Barnett, Ms Roberts and current Heritage Minister John Castrilli admit they got it wrong on the Cliffe?
And if you hear Messrs Barnett and Castrilli saying there is nothing they can do about it now, that is simply untrue, too.
POST NEWSPAPERS 20 June 2009
Garrett eyes the Cliffe
An emergency listing of the Cliffe on the national heritage register is being considered by federal Environment and Heritage Minister Peter Garrett.
Mr Garrett’s office said he is seeking advice on the Cliffe’s heritage values.
Mark Creasy, owner of the controversial Peppermint Grove property, has been issued with a demolition licence but is holding fire while a new report is being considered.
The application for emergency listing was made by Brian Waldron, a Perth-born and now Sydney-based Commonwealth public servant.
Mr Waldron is one of a loose international group who support The Cliffe via a Save The Cliffe website.
“As a friend of the McComb boys (David McComb was a member of the Triffids rock group), I visited the house and thought it the most beautiful I’d ever seen. Still do,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Mr Garrett said the application had been received. The criteria for consideration was that the Cliffe exhibit “outstanding national heritage values”.
It must also be “under threat of a significant adverse impact” where “that threat is both likely and imminent”, the spokeswoman said. Mr Waldron’s application lists the history of the house and says it is in very good condition, contrary to statements by Premier Colin Barnett that it was dilapidated and falling down (POST, 13/6).
Mr Waldron said that, as an economist, Mr Barnett had no qualifications to assess the condition of the house.
In 2007, Mr Barnett told Parliament he had visited the Cliffe, and it was “in an extremely poor condition”.
He urged then Heritage Minister Michelle Roberts to remove it from the state heritage register, saying it would cost a minimum of $2.8 million to repair. Mrs Roberts agreed.
The property was removed from the register after a motion from Mr Barnett and a speech of support in the Legislative Council from Peter Collier, who said it would cost $3 million to restore the place.
But a report prepared by heritage experts says the restoration costs are about one-third of that amount.
The figure of $3 million was put forward by Peter Bacich, a property developer and former Peppermint Grove shire councillor, who was then chairman of the council’s town planning committee.
Mr Bacich told the POST he did not tell Mr Barnett his figure.
However, he had based his estimate on what he had spent on restoring Colwyn, his imposing three-storey brick mansion on the riverfront at Claremont.
BLURT-ONLINE 18 June 2009
Triffids House Sparks Aussie Dust-up
BY FRED MILLS (http://www.blurt-online.com/news/view/2429/)
114-year old home where David McComb once lived and practiced with the band to be demolished - unless a certain Midnight Oil vocalist steps in.
Fans of Australia's Triffids - whose latest reissues were reviewed by BLURT - will recognize the name David McComb. The late vocalist is suddenly in the news again in the wake of his former house in Western Australia being slated for demolition.
Known as "The Cliffe," the 114-year old McComb home, located on Devil's Elbow overlooking Freshwater Bay, apparently holds significant historical and archival importance well beyond the Triffids connection, and supporters trying to block the demolition have organized a petition and letter writing campaign to halt its imminent destruction and, ultimately, to have the aging structure restored. Many of those signing it, of course, are Triffids fans, but the effort has significant support among the non-musical community as well.
A local councilor, John Dowson, was quoted in Australian papers as saying, "The valuations for the property have come down, making the place more affordable to prospective buyers and restoration more feasible. New reports on the condition of the property have contradicted those that the government relied on when making its decision to scrap its heritage listing and given the place a very high tick of approval as a heritage gem. But we understand that everything hinges on the goodwill of Mr Creasy."
The "Mr. Creasy" mentioned refers to mining entrepreneur Mark Creasy, the current owner of the house; he has apparently agreed to "wait for a list of alternatives" to demolition.
The Australian government is taking an interest in the matter, and the government minister in charge of making the final decision is none other than Environment Minister Peter Garrett - that's right, the frontman for Midnight Oil who turned politician.
For more details on the story, go to the Save The Cliffe site. [That's here]
In other Triffids news, band watchers have known for some time now that a book about McCombs and the band was in the works, and now word arrives that Penguin Australia will be publishing it in August via the Fremantle Press imprint. In the publisher's advance blurb for Vagabond Hole we are advised thusly:
It is over thirty years since David McComb's haunting music and lyrics inspired a generation. Now, thanks to sold out tribute concerts Australia-wide and the remastering of the complete Triffids oeuvre, a new generation is discovering his life's work. Editors Niall Lucy and Chris Coughran bring together friends, family and fans in this book of stories, poems and artworks about the Triffids.
Contributors will include Nick Cave and a host of musicians and journalists, including BLURT's own Wilson Neate, plus Jonathan Alley, Jill Birt, Martyn Casey, David Cavanagh, Nick Cave, Claire Colebrook, Chris Laurie Duggan, John Dyer, Robert Forster, Judith Lucy, Niall Lucy, Alsy MacDonald, Andrew McGowan, Robert McComb, Gavin Martin, Steve Miller, Denise Nestor, David Nichols, Rob Snarski, Jon Stratton and others. No word yet on whether the book will be made available in America.
The WEST AUSTRALIAN 17 June 2009
The Cliffe can be restored: report
BY BEATRICE THOMAS
Historic Peppermint Grove homestead The Cliffe is in good condition and could be restored for over $1 million, says a report which is at odds with Premier Colin Barnett’s claims that it is dilapidated.
Peppermint Grove Shire president Brian Kavanagh said a report from the committee established to find a way to save The Cliffe recommended the 115-year-old Bindaring Parade home be preserved at the site.
He said conservation expert Ian Hocking found the building was structurally sound and would cost $1 million to $1.5 million to restore – far less than the $2.8 million suggested by the Premier, who had pushed in Parliament for the building to be taken off the State heritage register. The report, which will be tabled at the council’s July meeting, put seven options for The Cliffe, including a conservation management plan, restoration and moving it.
Cr Kavanagh said that apart from ceiling damage and additions which were run down, the house was “nowhere near the state of disrepair” Mr Barnett claimed.
“We wanted to come out and really refute Colin Barnett in relation to that,” he said. “They’ve come in and said, ‘Look, the building is still of exceptional significance’.”
A 13-year battle by millionaire prospector Mark Creasy to demolish the house came to a head last month when the Upper House upheld an unprecedented decision by then heritage minister Michelle Roberts to take it off the register. Cr Kavanagh said the decision was wrong. Restoring the house was the best option because it would lose a lot of its heritage significance if moved.
Mr Barnett stood by his comments in Parliament last year. “I have walked through the property and it is dilapidated,” he said. “it is structurally unsound, the floors are uneven and the ceiling is falling down. The homestead is privately owned and I do not support the State purchasing it.”
Mr Creasy, who received council permission to demolish The Cliffe last year, has refrained from doing so until being presented with options on how to save the building. He said he would wait to see the shire’s report before deciding what he would do with the house.
POST Newspaper 13 June 2009
Cliffe report contradicts Barnett
BY BRET CHRISTIAN
The historic Cliffe is in sound condition and will cost much less to restore than the figure put forward in Parliament by local MP Colin Barnett, who is now Premier.
Peppermint Grove shire president Brian Kavanagh said this week: “The Premier came out and said the building was dilapidated, but it is in very, very good condition.”
He was commenting on a report prepared this week for the council for options for the building, including a conservation management plan.
The committee heard advice from leading architects and conservation experts.
They identified the “exceptional heritage significance of the Cliffe and the work necessary for the retention of its heritage values”, Mr Kavanagh said.
“Exceptional” is the highest rating for heritage buildings. The finding was in contrast to comments made by Mr Barnett when he was urging Parliament to remove the Cliffe’s heritage listing under the Carpenter government.
Mr Barnett said then that recent reports by several architects and builders had found the house uninhabitable, and estimated it would cost at least $2.8 million to make it liveable and much more to renovate it completely.
Mr Barnett urged the then Heritage Minister Michelle Roberts to remove it from the State Heritage Register. He said it was too costly to repair and served no heritage value.
North Metropolitan MP Peter Collier said the house was falling down. Major parties then supported a motion to remove it from the register, and it was.
But the study has shown that the restoration cost for the Cliffe would be closer to one-third the amounts asserted by Mr Barnett and Mr Collier.
The experts found that the jarrah house was structurally sound and did not have white-ant damage.
Mr Kavanagh said details of the costs involved would remain confidential until the report was tabled.
Options identified include valuations and costings for restoration of the Cliffe on its current site, or possibly relocating it to another site in the shire.
However, the option of retaining it on its present site was favoured.
The study also highlighted the invidious position of the shire to protect a place of exceptional heritage significance when the state’s heritage system had failed monumentally, Mr Kavanagh said.
He said owner Mark Creasy had been very co-operative with granting access to the committee and in not exercising the demolition licence he held for the building.
“Mr Creasy has also been very helpful with background information,” Mr Kavanagh said. He said the owner saw no historic value in the house other than its connections with the Triffids, the internationally famous band that was born in the house, owned by the parents of David McCoombe, the band’s founder.
The council has just received a petition signed mostly by 700 Triffids supporters from around the world.
“That has been a real eye-opener,” Mr Kavanagh said. The 30-room Cliffe was built high above Devil’s Elbow in1894 by timber exporter and miner Neil McNeil, partly as a showpiece for WA timber. The property originally extended from Bindaring Parade to Stirling Highway and includes the houses now in McNeil Street.
It is the biggest surviving jarrah house in the suburb. Soon after it was built, the then road board later legislated against timber houses.
After the house was removed from the heritage register, the WA Greens revealed that legal advice to the Carpenter government suggesting the state would be forced to buy the property to keep it on the list was incorrect
The SUNDAY TIMES 7 June 2009
Cliffe still on edge
Historic Peppermint Grove homestead The Cliffe could be relocated and restored under a plan being considered by the local council.
And worldwide fans of former Perth rockers The Triffids have signed a petition in a last-ditch bid to save the group’s one-time source of inspiration from becoming a pile of dust.
A committee of local councillors and businessman this week submitted a report to the Shire of Peppermint Grove outlining a number of options for the 115-year-old jarrah bungalow on Devil’s Elbow, overlooking Freshwater Bay.
The Cliffe Committee chairman and Shire President Brian Kavanagh said an option of moving the house to another site was expected to cost the shire at least $1.3 million. Councillor Kavanagh said Keane’s Point has been flagged as one potential site for the house, which could be turned into a foreshore restaurant or historical library.
The Shire is expected to make a decision on the future of the Cliffe at its meeting next month
POST Newspapers 6 June 2009
Will Garrett save the Cliffe?
By ROMY RANALLI
A 700-signature petition could be the last hope for the historic Cliffe homestead on Devil’s Elbow, overlooking Freshwater Bay.
A demolition licence for the Peppermint Grove property has been issued.
Signatures, mainly those of fans of Australian rock legends the Triffids who lived at the house, have come from around the world.
The petition to save the sprawling jarrah bungalow has been sent to federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett, the WA Government and the Shire of Peppermint Grove.
Supporters hope the cause will appeal to Mr Garrett, the former frontman of another legendary Australian rock band, Midnight Oil.
The petition begs the government to reinstate the Cliffe on the WA register of heritage places.
Supporters say the 114-year-old house was removed in error and its demolition is imminent.
Peppermint Grove has issued a demolition licence and the Cliffe’s owner, mining entrepreneur Mark Creasy, has agreed to wait for a list of alternatives to demolition.
John Dowson, a Fremantle councillor and member of a committee looking at ways to save the house, said the recession might be the home’s saving grace.
“The valuations for the property have come down, making the place more affordable to prospective buyers and restoration more feasible,” he said.
“New reports on the condition of the property have contradicted those that the government relied on when making its decision to scrap its heritage listing and given the place a very high tick of approval as a heritage gem.”
“But we understand that everything hinges on the goodwill of Mr Creasy.
“If Mr Creasy can give someone like Presbyterian Ladies’ College, next door to the property, time to raise the funds to buy the place, and a restoration could also be done with some form of work for the dole scheme.
“But this outcome would still rely on the philanthropy of Mr Creasy, who could otherwise pursue a maximum dollar return from other development options.
“Inviting expressions of interest may flesh out other acceptable buyers of the property, some form of small scale health facility for example.”
The petition calls for the government to support a rehabilitation program that will restore the building itself to its former glory.
It says: “We suggest immediate negotiations with the present owners to prevent the building’s needless demolition and to ensure that its unique contribution to our heritage can be preserved and maintained for future * generations.”
POST Newspapers 16 May 2009 - Letters
Barnett must fix Cliffe mess
John Dowson
Mouat Street, Fremantle
It is most unfortunate that Premier Colin Barnett continues to make ill-informed comments about the heritage of our state.
Yet again in the POST (25/4) he is quoted as dismissing the value of the Cliffe in Peppermint Grove.
Mr Barnett has already shown little understanding of heritage by attacking the precinct listing for Cottesloe Beach, a sensible proposal for guiding future development there.
In January he said former Prime Minister John Curtin’s house should be moved to Curtin University, a move which would destroy the value of the site context and devalue the heritage.
Mr Barnett was part of a shocking decision to remove the Cliffe from the Heritage Council register.
It was made without reference to the Heritage Council advice which was NOT to remove it from the register, and advice that the government would NOT be liable for any damages.
The Premier has, in part, based his comments on the importance of the Cliffe from advice provided by owner Mark Creasy’s consultant.
That advice is hardly independent.
However, a report just completed states that, despite Mr Creasy’s neglect since he bought it, the Cliffe is “an exceptionally significant place”.
This new report shows that the place could have a fabulous future with someone who appreciates the rare dwindling heritage of Western Australia, who values the magic of a timber house showcasing the jarrah ripped from our forests, and who would not have to spend the $3 million quoted to make it liveable, but a figure closer to $1 million.
The Premier created this dreadful mess and he should work to rectify his mistake. And, there must be someone out there who would like to buy an iconic house in an iconic suburb and make Mr Creasy a fair offer.
But Mr Creasy has been issued with a demolition licence, and time is running out.
POST Newspaper 16 May 2009 - Letters
Inquiry vital on this debacle
Peter Laws
Princess Road, Nedlands
It is always insightful when someone divorced from the local scene takes a fresh look at a contentious issue and identifies inappropriate or suspicious actions.
Brian Waldron from NSW (“We need some answers on Cliffe saga,” POST letters, 9/5), has kindly done so in what was an excellent and authorative account of the Cliffe debacle.
He joins a host of others who have raised legitimate concerns and misgivings associated with illinformed intrusion by two MPs that resulted in the Cliffe being prematurely removed from the State Heritage Register.
From reading past reports, it seems Colin Barnett was the player behind the scenes here.
In 2008, before the election, he got Peter Collier to move a motion to delist the Cliffe, yet there were critical heritage reports not presented to Parliament to assist an informed decision.
Why MPs were guided by Messrs Collier and Barnett and not our own State Heritage Council defies belief.
Something is rotten in the state of Peppermint Grove and it needs a full independent inquiry. This will not go away.
POST Newspapers 9 May 2009 - Letters
We need some real answers on Cliffe saga
Brian Waldron
Woolloomooloo, NSW
The art of politics is in not answering questions you don’t want to answer. The skill of journalism is in getting answers to questions that politicians don’t want to answer.
If this interplay is a battle of wills then, in the case of the Cliffe, the politicians are winning ... hands down.
Here is an example: Michelle Roberts was Heritage Minister in the previous Labor government.
On September 7, 2007, a week after then Liberal back-bencher Colin Barnett’s grievance motion on behalf of the Cliffe’s owner, Mrs Roberts placed a notice in the Government Gazette proposing that the property be removed from the Register of Heritage Places.
The reasons given were that:
- The property was dilapidated beyond reasonable repair, compromising its heritage value; and
- There was no perceived public utility in maintaining the heritage listing;
Importantly, these reasons did not include any mention of a hypothetical financial burden on the state.
So who said the property was dilapidated beyond reasonable repair? Not the government’s experts in the Heritage Council.
In fact, on November 20, 2007, Heritage Council director Ian Baxter said: “Notwithstanding the current condition of the place, there have been numerous examples where properties have been restored by a sympathetic owner that are in far worse condition.”
Mr Barnett said the opposite. He said it was dilapidated. Despite the expert advice she had received, Mrs Roberts said it was dilapidated, too.
Neither is an expert. Mr Barnett was an economist before he became a politician. Mrs Roberts was a teacher and a public servant before entering parliament.
Neither is an engineer, a builder or an architect. Neither is listed in the Heritage Council’s directory of heritage consultants. They are not experts.
When they talk about the integrity of the building’s structure, their opinions are unqualified, unquantified and unbelievable.
Mrs Roberts gave only one other reason for removing heritage protection – “that there is no perceived public utility in maintaining the heritage listing”.
What she meant by this is unclear. To qualify for listing under the Heritage of Western Australian Act 1990, the criteria are that a place “is of cultural heritage significance, or possesses special interest related to, or associated with, the cultural heritage, and is of value for the present community and future generations”.
If Mrs Roberts is suggesting “perceived public utility” as a replacement expression for the criteria outlined in section 47 of the Act, then the existence of this continued “perceived public utility” is clear.
It is clear in the assessments undertaken by the Heritage Council and in the advice the council provided to the minister.
It is also evident in the Cliffe’s inclusion of other registers of cultural and heritage significance:
- Classified by the National Trust (1984);
- Included on the Register of the National Estate (1992);
- Included on the WA Register of Heritage Places (1995); and
- Included on the Peppermint Grove Heritage Inventory (1999).
All this raises plenty of questions. Now is the time for answers – real answers that explain the conduct and motivation of Mrs Roberts and the previous Labor government and current Heritage Minister John Castrilli and the Barnett Liberal government.
We have had enough of glib replies designed to deflect the question rather than inform the public. In my opinion, parliament has been misled and, if this is so, then here are the questions:
1. If government-employed heritage experts did not agree the Cliffe was dilapidated and beyond reasonable repair, why did Mrs Roberts mislead parliament regarding the state of the building?
2. What does “perceived public utility” mean and what significance does this expression have in relation to heritage?
3. Who is doing the “perceiving” when considering “perceived public utility”?
If the National Trust, Heritage Council, Commonwealth Heritage Department and the local government authority are considered fair indicators of “perceived public utility” (all have included the Cliffe on their heritage records), then what other opinions are being considered?
4. Where does the Heritage of Western Australia Act 1990 state that a lack of perceived public utility is grounds for the removal of a place from the Heritage Register?
5. Why did Mrs Roberts fail to apologise to parliament?
6. Why was no action taken to sanction her?
7. Why have Mr Castrilli and the Barnett government done nothing to correct misleading statements made to parliament?
8. As the parliamentary motion to de-list the Cliffe and the public advertisement of Mrs Roberts’ proposals to the same effect both failed to recognise the Heritage Council’s advice that the building was sound, valuable and worthy of conservation, why hasn’t Mr Castrilli used his authority under the Act to reinstate its heritage listing?
9. If the building’s deteriorating condition has been caused by the failure of the owner, Mark Creasy, to maintain the property for the past 14 years, why hasn’t Mr Castrilli exercised his powers under section 73 of the Heritage of Western Australia Act 1990 to acquire the building for its own protection?
Mr Barnett, as the individual responsible for introducing the motion to remove the Cliffe from the Heritage Register, and Mr Castrilli, as the person responsible for the protection of the state’s heritage, must explain their actions in this affair.
And they should be clear when they do this, as it looks as if heritage policy in the case of the Cliffe is being determined by Mr Barnett’s agenda, not by his Heritage Minister.
POST Newspapers 2 May 2009
Brickbats hurled over Cliffe
Angry words flew across the chamber at Peppermint Grove last week when a staff member tried to defend his decision to issue a demolition licence for the Cliffe.
A week earlier shire president Brian Kavanagh told the POST he had not been aware that Cliffe owner Mark Creasy had received the licence and that council staff had not listed this in monthly reports.
At the meeting, Mr Kavanagh asked development services manager Terry Mayor to take the matter up internally. But Mr Mayor insisted he should be allowed to defend himself because Mr Kavanagh had spoken to the POST.
“You criticised me for issuing a licence without you knowing about it,” he said. “It was bewildering for me to read that you didn’t know if it had been issued.”
Demolition was approved by the shire in November after the state government dumped the Cliffe from the state heritage register. But Mr Creasy could not pull it down until he had the paperwork.
Mr Kavanagh said Mr Creasy had done everything to comply with the conditions of the approval and there was nothing stopping him from being issued wit the paperwork. “But I never knew that he had picked up the licence, and I would have expected I would have been told,” he said.
Mr Mayor said he did not have to advise Mr Kavanagh or councillors when the matter had been finalised.
“It is not a statutory obligation to advise that a licence had been issued,” he said.
However, in last Week’s POST report, Mr Mayor reported on three occasions that “there were no demolition licences issued during the reporting period”.
Mr Kavanagh insisted the matter be discussed outside the meeting. “I’m not going to debate it,” he said.
But councillor Peter Bacich said Mr Mayor should be allowed to raise the matter at the meeting.”
“You’re stifling him,” Mr Bacich told Mr Kavanagh. “He’s been maligned.”
After the meeting shire CEO Graeme Simpson refused to discuss whether the matter had been resolved.
“It is not appropriate that I comment,” he said. “My role is to move forward and at the same time strengthen team unity.”
