Armadale is the south-eastern-most suburb of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia.
My name is Bret Busby, and I have lived in Armadale, WA, for 14 years (as at September 2007).
I have created and published this web page, to publish material relating to issues affecting Armadale in Western Australia.
This web page is new, and I will be working on it as time goes on.
I have been advised that the Armadale Chamber of Commerce objects to my having spoken out about about issues affecting Armadale and its people. But, when the people of Armadale are treated with disregard and made to feel unwelcome in our own city centre, as I have been advised, and when we have buildings such as the new train station, which are reasonably described as unwelcoming in appearance and inconsistent with the character of Armadale, and with the new train station being not wanted by the people of Armadale, unless it is the ambition of the Armadale Chamber of Commerce, to drive the people of Armadale away from the Armadale city centre, the Armadale Chamber of Commerce should be using whatever influence it has, to make Armadale be given back to the people, and, to make decision making that involves development of Armadale, decided by the people of Armadale, instead of people who have no interest in making Armadale a place where its residents feel welcome.
New web pages, relating to entry statements shown by various entries into Armadale, and dereliction by the city council, have been added, with links from the Pictures web page, at Pictures .
As you may or may not be aware, from time to time, the local newspapers publish Letters To the Editors, from me. To see the full text of the letters that I have sent, go to the web page at Letters To Editors .
Further information has come to my attention, and misrepresentation by local media has occurred.
A Special Meeting Of Electors of the Armadale City Council, has been requisitioned
Details are on the web page, which has been updated, at Minnawarra House .
The Armadale Redevelopment Authority apparently has plans to remove Minnawarra House, for the sake of a supermarket expansion, which would be a great loss to Armadale, including a loss to the heritage and character of Armadale.
The full story about Minnawarra House, Armadale, is at Minnawarra House .
The Armadale City Council has a policy of inducing the greatest possible greenhouse gas emissions and maximising environmental damage.
More information is at ACC Anti-environment web page .
The declared results for the Lake Ward of the Armadale City Council election for 7 May 2005, show a couple of things.
The first is that, as valid ballot papers were received for only 1154, out of the 4506, or 25.61% of the eligible voters in the ward, it appears that 74.39% of the eligible voters wanted neither June MacDonald nor me to be elected to the council for the ward.
The second, is that, as I got only 477 valid votes, or 10.59% of the eligible votes, for me, it shows that 89.41% of the electorate wanted for me to not be elected to the council, for the ward.
The third, is that, as June MacDonald got 677 valid votes, or 15.02% of the eligible votes, for her, it shows that 84.98% of the electorate wanted for her to not get elected to the council for the ward.
Thus, 74.39% of the eligible voters wanted neither June MacDonald nor me, to get elected to the council, for the ward, and 89.41% of the eligible electors wanted for me to not get elected to the council for the ward, and 84.98% of the eligible electors wanted for June MacDonald to not get elected to the council for the ward, and, as she had less people wanting for her to not get elected, than wanted for me to not get elected, she won the election.
So, the eligible electors of the ward, have made their decision, and they have decided that June MacDonald should be the new city councillor for the Lake Ward, and if they are not happy with that, and if they did not vote for me, then they should have voted otherwise.
A bit more information being published in the local media, about the election and the candidates, that included publishing photographs and profile/policy statements for all candidates, may have got more votes cast in the election, which would have been far better for everyone. It is significant and worthy of mention, that the only ward in Armadale that had no such information published in the local media, the Lake Ward, had a significantly lower voter participation than the other wards in Armadale that went to a vote, and the Lake Ward had the lowest voter participation for any ward in the state, where postal voting was used in the local government elections.
Maybe, one day, we will get local print media here, that is sufficiently interested in local issues, to keep local residents properly informed about local issues, and that will provide proper and balanced information to local residents, about candidates in local government elections.
As at Friday 29 April 2005, the Lake Ward in the Armadale local government election for 2005, had the unenviable distinction of being the ward with the lowest, for the whole state, voter response in the 2005 Western Australian local government postal elections, with only 22.39%, or less than one in four, of the ballot papers for eligible voters in the ward, having been received by the electoral commission.
It is an interesting coincidence, that the Lake Ward is one of the wards in the area, for which the local publication mentioned in the item above, did not publish any candidate profile/policy statements. So, this is one aspect of the local publications failing to keep the local public, properly informed about local issues.
However, if people who are eligible to vote, do not make the effort to read the candidate profile statements as supplied with the ballot papers by the electoral commission, and vote, then they cannot justifiably complain about what either the council, or the councillor who wins the election, does, during the term of the elected councillor, as they have chosen to not have any say in what goes on.
Has anyone noticed how the only local paper that published candidate profile/policy statements, published these for only the candidates that also had paid advertisements in the paper? I do not refer to it as a newspaper, as news and issues of local interest, appear to be of low importance to the publication.
It is unfortunate that the local media has such low regard for keeping the public informed as to who are their candidates, and for what they stand. This also applied to the recent state election, where the local media was not interested in publishing candidate's profile/policy statements. It appears that generating revenue for the publication, is the only issue about which the local publication has any interest, and it appears that the local publications think that the public have no right to know anything about their candidates (like for what they stand, or, who of the candidates standing for each ward, lives IN the ward), apart from what is published in the brief candidate profile statements distributed with the ballot papers.
So much for local publications, publishing news and issues of public interest.
The state election did not work well for Armadale or for the candidates who stood for Armadale. The local media did a lousy job of covering the election.
The full story about the state election as it relates to Armadale, including analysis of the results, is at 2005 State Election .
I can be contacted by email by clicking on the link at Bret
For issues relating to this web site, send an email to the webmaster by clicking on the link at webmaster
This web page was last updated on 5 September, 2007