Recent work

I am currently freelancing with Echo News, an independent weekly covering the City of Swan, the Perth Hills, Kalamunda, Mundaring, Bassendean and the Avon Valley. Below is a selection of recent published stories, grouped by the kind of work involved. I regularly take on freelance writing, editing and photography for organisations and businesses across Perth.

Local government, planning and development

• Midland’s New Junction precinct hits road block23 July 2026 — Eight years on, stage one of Midland’s flagship town centre precinct is only just complete. Local operators, the City of Swan chief executive and a developer proposing an 11-storey vertical lifestyle village on the outcome.
• Hazelmere data centre application withdrawn21 May 2026 — A Sydney developer walks away from a contested data centre proposal after almost 1900 public submissions and a council vote against it.
• Guildford’s auction tree gets late reprieve6 August 2026 — A 20-metre flooded gum, thought to be Guildford’s oldest remaining native tree, is saved after a community campaign against a development application.
• Rates and budget update for Bassendean and Chittering13 August 2026 — What two councils’ 2026–27 budgets mean for ratepayers, from a 4.9 per cent rate rise to the projects the money is going into.
• New eco-tourism development gets conditional tick to proceed6 August 2026 — Conditional approval for a Helena Valley glamping development, and the bushfire and vegetation requirements attached to it.

Emergency services and public accountability

• Fire truck staffing shortages30 April 2026 — Figures tabled in state Parliament show appliances repeatedly taken off the road, with a volunteer captain and the firefighters’ union on what it means for communities.
• Retired volunteer firefighter disputes fire truck relocation6 August 2026 — A life member’s campaign to keep a WWII-era Ford Blitz bush fire truck in Glen Forrest rather than see it moved to Whiteman Park.
• Mundaring SES calls for more volunteersJuly 2026 — A unit of about 30 volunteers looks to grow ahead of the storm season, and what the work actually involves.

People and profiles

• NAIDOC award highlights contribution to community16 July 2026 — Midland’s John Mogridge on being named WA community person of the year, and two decades of community development work behind it.
• Romancing the Stone creator award nominationJuly 2026 — Maida Vale’s Tom Hogg, 86, and the garden he spent 25 years turning from a neglected block into a community landmark.
• Ballajura outreach project youth awards nomination20 August 2026 — How a youth outreach partnership between the City of Swan and Kids First Australia became a state awards finalist.
• Future leaders stepping up for youth parliament21 May 2026 — Five young people from Perth’s eastern suburbs selected for the Y WA youth parliament program, in their own words.

Business, environment, arts and sport

• EVs come into their own in fuel crisis2 April 2026 — A Bassendean advocate on running costs, home charging and a three-week EV drive to Canberra, as petrol prices climb.
• Hour of Power highlights importance of teamwork16 April 2026 — Swan Chamber of Commerce event coverage, featuring the head of Midland women’s centre ERICA and a long-standing local business figure.
• New Mundaring anthology is full of creative storiesThe Mundaring creative writing group’s sixth volume, and the members behind the poetry, memoir and fiction in it.
• Family success at combined horse driving championships28 May 2026 — A mother and daughter from Paulls Valley take national awards at the Australian Combined Driving Championships in Dwellingup.