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10 MAY 2025 | VOL .52 NO.19
Big brother to make roads safer By JACK MADDERN Drivers’ risky habits can now be monitored from afar to help local councils make roads safer. Local councils are considering collecting internal data from cars that is automatically uploaded to a cloud data storage where it can be used to analyse road behaviour. Sensors are used to observe a vehicle’s ID, location, speed, braking, accelerating, swerving and travel time. Local councils could access
this information to identify and address dangerous roads under a RoadWise council initiative. Local councils are considering the idea. Compass IoT founding director Emily Bobis said the data was anonymous but an ideal tool for governments to make roads safer. “It’s all aggregated and anonymous and kept in line with governance framework,” she said. “You legally can’t link it to an individual, and you especially
can’t use it for compliance.” Compass collects data from 64 manufacturers including Toyota, Audi, BMW and Volkswagon. Car owners can opt out of the data collection and the technology can’t track motorbikes. Ms Bobis said the main benefit was that it could identify emerging road safety risks before a crash or a serious injury occurred. Claremont resident Ricki Gardiner has been concerned about speeding ever since a car came hurtling through her front yard in 2023.
She said this week she thought the initiative sounded “absolutely amazing”, and the Town of Claremont should definitely register. The Compass scheme has yet to be used in WA. A WA Local Government Association spokesperson said councils were responsible for almost 86% of WA public roads, and the new initiative could help them to meet state road safety targets. “Any local government in WA • Please turn to page 81
White v Chaney: Inside their fight for your votes
Barking up the right tree Floyd the wonder dog ran a close second as guest of honour at Kate Chaney’s election night party last Saturday. He became a legend among the 1000-strong army of volunteers when he and owner Carl Brauhart door-knocked 1700 houses in the western suburbs. He barked loudly at exactly the right moments during speeches at the UWA tavern on Saturday, cheered to the rafters by his army of admirers. Ms Chaney and her volunteers door-knocked 35,000 homes in the electorate before and during the long election campaign. She then held the federal seat of Curtin with an increased margin. Volunteers were out again this week, collecting 4000 corflutes, storing many for next election and recycling the rest. Kate Chaney presents an award to Carl Brauhart and Floyd on election night. Photo: Bret Christian
Many vehicles’ data is automatically uploaded to Compass.
■ Reports by Bret Christian and Ben Dickinson
New Teal opposition Kate Chaney says independents have gained a permanent foothold in Australian politics after she doubled her margin in the western suburb seat of Curtin and more than a million people around the country gave “Teals” their primary votes. “I don’t think the independent movement is going away,” she said after her victory. “I think people are seeing what it’s like to be represented by someone who answers to them, not to a party, and they like it.” Ms Chaney defeated Liberal challenger Tom White by a comparatively comfortable 2.8% margin, enough for ABC election guru Antony Green to call the seat on election night. The first-term MP breathed
easier than she did three years ago, when she waited five agonising days of counting before declaring victory over thenLiberal MP Celia Hammond with a 1.3% margin. Ms Chaney was 5336 votes ahead of Mr White with 95,588 votes counted by the middle of this week. “This time around we had had three years of doing politics differently, and that involved a lot of community engagement, deeply understanding our community, and I think that really made a difference,” she said. Mr White polled well ahead of Ms Chaney on primary votes – 41.1% to 33% – but strong preference flows from Labor, the Greens and Legalise Cannabis • Please turn to page 6
Lead in White’s saddlebags “Who is advising Tom White?” a member of the Cottesloe branch of the Liberal Party demanded of the POST. “Peta Credlin, of all people. What makes him think she will help him get votes?” It was February, and the member had just learned that the right-wing Sky News commentator would be headlining a Tom White rally at Cottesloe Civic Centre. Mr White needed a pathway to the hearts and minds of Chaney voters, the frustrated Liberal member said. These included large numbers of socially moderate western suburb residents who had never before voted anything but Liberal, but who had abandoned the party after concluding it no longer represented them – especially on social and environmental issues. To them, Ms Credlin was a turn-off, especially her calls to
Peter Dutton, right, launched Tom White’s Curtin campaign. Photo: Ben Dickinson Liberals for more culture wars. Peter Dutton catastrophically concurred, using precious campaign airtime to complain about Welcomes to Country and “woke indoctrination” in schools. Voters in the sensible centre had no truck with it. Mr White offered little to appease them.
He disparaged voters’ concerns about climate change at a public forum in Nedlands last week, telling a crowd that climate voters had a “religious zeal”, and downplaying Australia’s contribution to the problem. He repeatedly refused to say whether his campaign was being funded by Dalkeith mining magnate and climate change sceptic Gina Rinehart, while simultaneously attacking Ms Chaney for accepting donations from eastcoast environmentalists. Much of the Liberal Party’s campaign messaging in Curtin would have pleased Mrs Rinehart, a fervent supporter of Donald Trump who hosted Mr Dutton at her 70th birthday party in Dalkeith in March. Mrs Rinehart blamed the Liberal Party’s rout on “the left media”, and said it needed to embrace “Trump-style ‘make • Please turn to page 7
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