as posted here
FORMER Fremantle mayor Peter Tagliaferri has criticised the City of Gosnells for its treatment of Thornlie’s “tree man”, claiming the council has been “seriously heavy-handed” with Richard Pennicuik.
Mr Tagliaferri said he wanted to help Mr Pennicuik, who he believed had been given “bad advice” about dealing with Gosnells.
“I don’t think the council has the right to order him out of the tree,” he said.
Mr Tagliaferri said Mr Pennicuik’s lawyers should have made a proper application to the council and allowed the matter to go through due process.
However, Mr Pennicuik’s lawyer John Hammond said he did not believe that going through due process with the council would have gotten Mr Pennicuik anywhere considering the council’s current attitude.
Mr Pennicuik has been camped in a tree on the verge outside his house on Hume Road in Thornlie since December 7.
The City of Gosnells claims the tree’s limbs pose a danger to the public and must be cut down.
However, Mr Tagliaferri said the tree could be better maintained so that it would not have to be chopped down.
“The same trees are at Kings Park and no one wants to cut them down,” he said.
Mr Hammond sent a letter to the council’s lawyers offering to end the saga if the council agreed only to remove limbs deemed dangerous by an independent arborist. He also suggested the council pay for the arborist and drop its prosecution against Mr Pennicuik.
However, City chief executive Ian Cowie said the matter would be discussed only once Mr Pennicuik came down from the tree.
“The City has a copy of an existing independent arborist’s report commissioned by the protestor or his supporters which sets out a series of recommendations if the tree were to remain,” he said.
“The City estimates the cost of these works to ratepayers would be around $4000 per tree initially and a total of around $10,000 per tree over a four-ear period. The City will not inflict these costs on ratepayers.”
Mr Pennicuik has been summonsed to appear in the Armadale Magistrate’s Court on April 6.
Mr Tagliaferri said he would visit Mr Pennicuik this week to share his advice.
as posted here
Sunday 4 April 2010
Perth man charged with people smuggling
AS POSTED HERE ---> Perth man charged with people smuggling: "A 21-year-old has been charged with smuggling at least five people into Australia.
The man from Thornlie, 18km south of Perth, faces one count of organising or facilitating the proposed entry of five or more persons who are unlawful non-citizens, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement.
He is due to face Perth Magistrates Court on Saturday and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison"
The man from Thornlie, 18km south of Perth, faces one count of organising or facilitating the proposed entry of five or more persons who are unlawful non-citizens, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement.
He is due to face Perth Magistrates Court on Saturday and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison"
Thursday 1 April 2010
School director guilty of fraud - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
AS POSTED HERE ---> School director guilty of fraud - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "The director of three Islamic schools in Perth has been found guilty of illegally claiming millions of dollars in Federal and State Government funding.
Abdullah Magar had been on trial for the past three weeks accused of inflating the number of students attending the schools to claim additional funding in 2005 and 2006.
He set up the schools in Dianella, Kewdale and Thornlie.
The principal of one of the schools was also found guilty of five fraud offences, while the principal of a second campus was acquitted of three charges.
Magar will face a sentencing hearing next month."
Abdullah Magar had been on trial for the past three weeks accused of inflating the number of students attending the schools to claim additional funding in 2005 and 2006.
He set up the schools in Dianella, Kewdale and Thornlie.
The principal of one of the schools was also found guilty of five fraud offences, while the principal of a second campus was acquitted of three charges.
Magar will face a sentencing hearing next month."
Tuesday 30 March 2010
Eureka Stockade, Hume Road, Thornlie, Western Australia
as posted here
This evening I visited 'the tree' (right click here) on my way home from work and was surprised to see an ugly 'cyclone fence' erected around what the Gosnells City Council consider to be their property.
Eureka Stockade
Neighborhood: 100, Hume Road, Thornlie
Supporters in Richard Pennicuik's 'camp' see things differently and consider this to be a violation of their rights under Commonwealth Law.
Cameron Johnson still remains parked up the beloved yellow box tree. A number of supporters are within the fence.
All in 'base camp' are rallying as much support as they can muster and inciting as many as hundreds of people to surround the tree from first light tomorrow. They will welcome anyone who wants to turn up in their support.
If the tree gets cut down I will feel like wailing.
It is a magnificent, gracious indigenous yellow box tree who recently survived Perth's 'storm of the century' intact, without shedding as much as a leaf.
Richard, and his team have a number of arborists' reports attesting to the integrity and safety of the tree.
There are many dangerous trees in the City of Gosnells that the City Council has made no attempt to prune or cut down recently. There are trees endangering small children and traffic that the City Council has chosen to ignore.
They seem to be targeting the tree that has become known as the Thornlie Tree Man, Richard Pennicuik's tree.
This is a 'call to arms': to save this beautiful, old and indigenous Australian tree and to protect what many believe to be their constitutional rights against illegally operated City Councils.
For those of you interested in the constitutional argument refer to the links in my previous article which has been linked in the first sentence. here.
Of particular ecological interest are the daily movements of the indigenous birds that Richard daily observed during his 108 day vigil in the tree. Richard even noticed how the black cockatoos that are endangered traverse 'his tree' at particular times of the day
as posted here
This evening I visited 'the tree' (right click here) on my way home from work and was surprised to see an ugly 'cyclone fence' erected around what the Gosnells City Council consider to be their property.
Eureka Stockade
Neighborhood: 100, Hume Road, Thornlie
Supporters in Richard Pennicuik's 'camp' see things differently and consider this to be a violation of their rights under Commonwealth Law.
Cameron Johnson still remains parked up the beloved yellow box tree. A number of supporters are within the fence.
All in 'base camp' are rallying as much support as they can muster and inciting as many as hundreds of people to surround the tree from first light tomorrow. They will welcome anyone who wants to turn up in their support.
If the tree gets cut down I will feel like wailing.
It is a magnificent, gracious indigenous yellow box tree who recently survived Perth's 'storm of the century' intact, without shedding as much as a leaf.
Richard, and his team have a number of arborists' reports attesting to the integrity and safety of the tree.
There are many dangerous trees in the City of Gosnells that the City Council has made no attempt to prune or cut down recently. There are trees endangering small children and traffic that the City Council has chosen to ignore.
They seem to be targeting the tree that has become known as the Thornlie Tree Man, Richard Pennicuik's tree.
This is a 'call to arms': to save this beautiful, old and indigenous Australian tree and to protect what many believe to be their constitutional rights against illegally operated City Councils.
For those of you interested in the constitutional argument refer to the links in my previous article which has been linked in the first sentence. here.
Of particular ecological interest are the daily movements of the indigenous birds that Richard daily observed during his 108 day vigil in the tree. Richard even noticed how the black cockatoos that are endangered traverse 'his tree' at particular times of the day
as posted here
Police called to tree man's home
as posted here
Police and security guards have been called to the home of Thornlie's tree man, Richard Pennicuik.
Mr Pennicuik's partner Rose Malumbrus told thewest.com.au that the City of Gosnells had erected a fence on their front yard.
Related content: Gallery: Tree man's journey | Video: Tree man comes down | Protest ends | New tree protest
Protesters flocked to the home, prompting police and security guards to head to the Hume Road address. They linked arms around the trunk of the tree.
Only one of two protesters who yesterday vowed to tough it out up the tree throughout winter is currently sitting in the eucalyptus melliodora.
That protester, Cameron Johnson, was served with an official warning, saying he faced prosecution if he remained up the tree.
The City of Gosnells also revealed that it would continue to pursue Mr Pennicuik throught the courts, claiming he continued to obstruct council's attempts to remove the tree.
A spokesman for the council confirmed a fence had been erected around the tree to define the area as a work zone. People who enter the work zone without authorisation may face prosecution, the spokesman said.
The council also issued a notice to remove a platform that has been erected in the tree. The protesters have 24 hours to remove the platform, which has previously been removed.
The council wants to remove the tree, claiming it poses a danger.
Mr Pennicuik sat in the tree for 110 days in protest of the council's decision. He says the tree is safe and should not be removed, adding it survived one of the worst storms to lash Perth in decades
as posted here
Police and security guards have been called to the home of Thornlie's tree man, Richard Pennicuik.
Mr Pennicuik's partner Rose Malumbrus told thewest.com.au that the City of Gosnells had erected a fence on their front yard.
Related content: Gallery: Tree man's journey | Video: Tree man comes down | Protest ends | New tree protest
Protesters flocked to the home, prompting police and security guards to head to the Hume Road address. They linked arms around the trunk of the tree.
Only one of two protesters who yesterday vowed to tough it out up the tree throughout winter is currently sitting in the eucalyptus melliodora.
That protester, Cameron Johnson, was served with an official warning, saying he faced prosecution if he remained up the tree.
The City of Gosnells also revealed that it would continue to pursue Mr Pennicuik throught the courts, claiming he continued to obstruct council's attempts to remove the tree.
A spokesman for the council confirmed a fence had been erected around the tree to define the area as a work zone. People who enter the work zone without authorisation may face prosecution, the spokesman said.
The council also issued a notice to remove a platform that has been erected in the tree. The protesters have 24 hours to remove the platform, which has previously been removed.
The council wants to remove the tree, claiming it poses a danger.
Mr Pennicuik sat in the tree for 110 days in protest of the council's decision. He says the tree is safe and should not be removed, adding it survived one of the worst storms to lash Perth in decades
as posted here
Tree Man Protest Is A Farce
AS POSTED HERE ---> Tree Man Protest Is A Farce
Didn't Richard Pennicuik scrub up a treat yesterday?
Resplendent he was in tie, suit, shave and polyester Hushpuppies, courtesy of a Perth commercial radio station.
And, lest the erstwhile 'Tree Man' be accused of selling out, he issued a stark warning.
"You do know I'm going to use this," he announced ominously over the airwaves.
"There are big things to come."
Mr Pennicuik was true to his word.
For even before the clippers had descended upon his wiry sideburns, two of his supporters had scaled the Thornlie gum he vacated on Friday after his four-month arboreal protest against its felling.
There's a lesson in this for the next local council vexed with a similar tree man and/or woman.
And that is, the moment the gum-nut finally winches themselves down from their lofty perch, act swiftly to fell their chloro-filled tower of babble.
Gosnells City Council contends tree surgeons were in short supply after last Monday's mega storm.
But surely, some trees were being lopped in the area, post storm. And surely the one outside Mr Pennicuik's Hume Road home should have been made a priority, with a special penalty rate paid to the successful lopper.
Certainly his neighbours - who've been bedevilled day and night by TV crews, vandals and passing bogans (or perhaps a bizarre intersection set of all three) - would have supported a bounty being placed on the errant eucalypt.
Let's remember, the tree in question is not a West Australian native.
The species is an introduced weed - an Eastern states eucalpyt among several dubbed 'widow-makers' because their hefty limbs tend to crash unexpectedly to the ground.
And the council was planning to plant new - probably WA native - trees anyway.
Instead, due to council procrastination, the farcical stalemate will drag into a fifth month - with those who've stepped into the shoes of the 'Tree Man' saying they're prepared to ride out the winter.
And with Mr Pennicuik now taking a leaf from Darryl Kerrigan's book and quoting chunks of the Australian Constitution, Perth Airport could be next on his hit-list
Didn't Richard Pennicuik scrub up a treat yesterday?
Resplendent he was in tie, suit, shave and polyester Hushpuppies, courtesy of a Perth commercial radio station.
And, lest the erstwhile 'Tree Man' be accused of selling out, he issued a stark warning.
"You do know I'm going to use this," he announced ominously over the airwaves.
"There are big things to come."
Mr Pennicuik was true to his word.
For even before the clippers had descended upon his wiry sideburns, two of his supporters had scaled the Thornlie gum he vacated on Friday after his four-month arboreal protest against its felling.
There's a lesson in this for the next local council vexed with a similar tree man and/or woman.
And that is, the moment the gum-nut finally winches themselves down from their lofty perch, act swiftly to fell their chloro-filled tower of babble.
Gosnells City Council contends tree surgeons were in short supply after last Monday's mega storm.
But surely, some trees were being lopped in the area, post storm. And surely the one outside Mr Pennicuik's Hume Road home should have been made a priority, with a special penalty rate paid to the successful lopper.
Certainly his neighbours - who've been bedevilled day and night by TV crews, vandals and passing bogans (or perhaps a bizarre intersection set of all three) - would have supported a bounty being placed on the errant eucalypt.
Let's remember, the tree in question is not a West Australian native.
The species is an introduced weed - an Eastern states eucalpyt among several dubbed 'widow-makers' because their hefty limbs tend to crash unexpectedly to the ground.
And the council was planning to plant new - probably WA native - trees anyway.
Instead, due to council procrastination, the farcical stalemate will drag into a fifth month - with those who've stepped into the shoes of the 'Tree Man' saying they're prepared to ride out the winter.
And with Mr Pennicuik now taking a leaf from Darryl Kerrigan's book and quoting chunks of the Australian Constitution, Perth Airport could be next on his hit-list
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