Author: Ashleigh Fielding

CLEAN-UP efforts are nearly complete in the Shire of Plantagenet following a purported “mini tornado” that struck Mount Barker, Kendenup and the outskirts of Cranbrook last week.

Manager of Works and Services for the shire, David Lynch said wild wind hit mid-afternoon on August 28 and travelled in an almost straight, south-easterly direction from Nunijup Road.

It tore down trees and fences along Martagallup, Boyup, Gough, Beattie, Hobbs and Jutland Roads, creating a trail of destruction Mr Lynch approximated at being 40km long.

He said it would have been “an absolute disaster” if any houses had been in the path.

“In some areas, the trail is about 200m to 500m wide,” Mr Lynch told The Weekender on Tuesday.

“Martagallup was in such a mess, there were six farmers already helping to clean up by the time we got there.

“Beattie Road was completely covered in trees so we had to use a bulldozer to clear the road.

“I’ve had about 10 to 14 guys out there working for the past seven days and I reckon we’re about 90 per cent finished cleaning up now, but over the next two weeks we will probably still be picking up stuff off the roads.”

Plantagenet Shire CEO Robert Stewart was in disbelief about how much demolition the wind had caused.

“It really did a lot of a damage,” he said.

“It chopped some trees in half, it’s quite amazing.”

Manager of Works for Cranbrook Shire Jeff Alderton said the town was very fortunate to have missed the brunt of the weather event, receiving only a couple of reports of fallen trees during the course of that afternoon.

“We had a couple of call-outs to north of Tenterden up to Tunney with people using the Snap Send Solve app, which was fantastic, because a big tree to one person is a small tree to someone else, and that helped us with organising the clean up,” he said.

A spokesperson from the Bureau of Meteorology told The Weekender that their observations showed a maximum wind speed of 35kph in Mt Barker on that day, which was “by no means excessive”.

The spokesperson also said that despite public perception, there is “no such thing” as a mini tornado.

“It’s not an area where the Bureau of Meteorology has extensive weather recording equipment – most of the observations in that area come from DPIRD,” the spokesperson said, regarding the Shire of Plantagenet.

“There were no wind warnings issued for the region on the day in question, despite a low-pressure system moving through.

“Having said that, small extreme wind events can occur undetected in areas without weather monitoring equipment.”

THE Shire of Kojonup will weigh up its options for pest control over the coming weeks following an increase in rabbit numbers in the township.

In a recent report made to the Shire, Landcare officer Jane Kowald said the rabbit population had been steadily increasing over the past few months.

“A number of complaints have been made about their numbers,” she stated.

Ms Kowald’s recommendation to control the rabbit situation was to release a vial of the Schedule 4 restricted chemical RHDV1 K5, a variant of the calicivirus.

According to the Australian government Pest Smart website, RHDV1 is “one of the more humane methods of controlling wild rabbits”.

Shire CEO Rick Mitchell-Collins said it was all well and good to get rid of the problems caused by high populations of the rascally rabbits, but the far-reaching consequences of releasing the virus would need to be considered.

“There is a fl ow-on effect if we get rid of the rabbits,” he said.

“Without the availability of rabbits as a food source, predators such as foxes, feral cats and feral dogs are known to go after lambs during lambing season.

“Such is the dilemma of dealing with one nuisance but transferring the problem elsewhere.”

Mr Mitchell-Collins said consideration would need to be made for domesticated pets due to the highly contagious and effective characteristics of the virus.

“Before we need to make a decision on whether or not we release the virus we need to look at all of the effects it could have,” he said.

“We need to know how many pet rabbits are in the township and find a way to make sure those pets are inoculated.

“We can’t look at the issue in isolation. We don’t know the extent of the issue or the extent of the implications yet.”

Mr Mitchell-Collins said the Shire would seek community feedback on the nature, type and number of rabbit related problems in the town site.

“We’ll speak with farmers to hear what they think about the numbers of rabbits and number of lamb deaths caused by foxes,” he said.

“We don’t want to be in the same situation as Queensland with the cane toads and we don’t want to see pet rabbits dying due to the virus.

“It will take around six weeks to do all of the research and we’ll probably bring it back up for discussion in October.”

THREE of five politicians on a new parliamentary committee charged with reporting on so-called ‘nanny state’ laws have seats that together span the entire Great Southern region.

On the Select Committee on Personal Choice and Community Safety are Labor MLC Sally Talbot and Liberal MLC Steve Thomas whose South West electoral region takes in the Great
Southern municipalities of Albany, Denmark, Plantagenet and Jerramungup.

The Agricultural Region represented by Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MLC Rick Mazza, a third member of the committee, covers the Great Southern shires of Katanning, Kojonup,
Cranbrook, Gnowangerup, Woodanilling, Broomehill-Tambellup and Kent.

None of the three parliamentarians is yet permitted to speak publicly about the inquiry that was only convened last week, but committee chair Aaron Stonehouse, the MLC for South Metropolitan, is.

“Speaking as a member of parliament and not as the chair of the committee, I’m a member of the Liberal Democrats, which is a party of small government, low tax and personal choice,” said Rockingham-based Mr Stonehouse, who lobbied hard for the inquiry to be initiated.

“Fighting against the nanny state and against paternalistic regulation is a big part of what the Liberal Democrats stand for, not because any individual regulation or law is a nuisance but because, taken collectively, it is a question about who is in charge of our lives.

“It’s my view and the Liberal Democrat philosophy that individuals should be making their own choices and free to live their lives, perhaps do silly things like ride their bike without a helmet, so long as they’re not hurting anybody else.”

On an issue of key concern to Dr Talbot and Mr Thomas’ South Coast constituents, and to Mr Mazza’s fishing backers – that of Premier Mark McGowan’s recently mooted mandating of
life jackets for rock fishers at dangerous spots, Mr Stonehouse said the government should tread cautiously.

“In some cases you should be wearing a life jacket, but again the idea of a blanket approach here, I’m quite cautious of, because not everyone fishing from rocks is necessarily in a situation where they may be washed out to sea,” he said.

“I’m not [necessarily] against the idea that there would be specific areas [such as Albany’s treacherous Salmon Holes fishing spot] that could be targeted.

“I would rather people have their choice, but if we are going to have some kind of mandate, having it at least targeted is my preferred option.”

Mr Stonehouse’s committee will look specifically into laws that regulate the use of things including e-cigarettes, bicycle helmets and life jackets for kayakers.

Broadening the scope of the inquiry potentially to any number of laws is a term of reference that states “any other measures introduced to restrict personal choice for individuals as a means of preventing harm to themselves”.

The public can have its say on the inquiry until Friday, October 5, and Mr Stonehouse said he hoped submissions would flood in.

“My electorate office has been inundated with complaints about nanny state laws and regulations since I announced that we would be establishing this committee,” he said.

The committee is yet to decide if hearings will be held in regional Western Australia.

The Liberal Democratic Party was founded in Canberra in 2001. Mr Stonehouse is the party’s only representative in the WA Parliament.

HAVING the freedom and independence to stroll to the shops isn’t as simple as it seems for vision-impaired people.

While it may seem like an everyday chore for most, for the vision-impaired stepping out their front door raises serious safety concerns.

For Albany local Glenn Wilson, the reality of slowly losing his sight due to a form of macular dystrophy was made apparent in his 30s, but wasn’t diagnosed by an optometrist until his 40s.

“My eyesight has deteriorated to be able to count fingers in my left eye and having big holes in my vision in my right eye,” he said.

“I have problems with my distances and can’t see details very well.”

With his eyesight deteriorating, Mr Wilson decided to start the process of applying for assistance in the form of a guide dog.

“It took me around three and a half years to get Obie,” he said.

“The dog is matched to the person so if there isn’t a dog out there that suits you, you don’t get one.”

After the many weeks spent training Obie through a guide dog trainer and further training with Mr Wilson, the Labrador was finally put in her harness and put to work.

“It changed things that’s for sure,” he said.

“I’m used to having dogs as pets, but there definitely was an adjustment to having Obie with me at all times and everywhere I go.”

Mr Wilson said getting around town had become safer since having Obie by his side.

“You can’t rely on her 100 per cent of the time because she is a dog and can get distracted,” he said.

“What we do though is encourage intelligent disobedience which is where she knows to stop when a car is coming.

“It doesn’t always work when drivers try to let me cross. But I wave them on so Obie isn’t confused.”

Mr Wilson said that he hadn’t been confronted negatively by any shop owners or establishments since having Obie but had instances where people have tried to pet her.

“You absolutely can’t assume that you can pet a working dog while she’s in her harness,” he said.

“It distracts her from looking out for me and gets her in to the habit of seeking attention when she should be concentrating on me.

“It’s okay to come up and ask me to pet her, I’ll still say no but I’ll also explain why.”

Obie and Mr Wilson will head to Perth in a couple of weeks to attend the Guide Dogs WA graduation ceremony.

Guide Dogs WA Deputy Chief Executive Officer Debra Barnes said the graduation of a guide dog was a special occasion.

“It’s a landmark event to celebrate the loyal and devoted friendship between the dog and their owner,” she said.

YOUTH seeking advice on their sexual health can simply ‘ask for Allison’ when calling up Headspace Albany from tomorrow as part of a new initiative aimed at increasing young people’s
awareness about sexually transmitted infections.

Headspace Albany manager Andrew Wenzel said ‘Sexy Fridays’ with Nurse Allison will take place every second Friday from 2.30pm to 4.30pm and will “fill a need for easy and confidential prevention, testing and treating” in young people.

He said it will also help reduce the stigma around getting tested for STIs.

“Young people often worry about getting a blood test or having someone poke and prod them, but, it’s really easy; you just wee in a jar,” Mr Wenzel said.

He said there had been more than 70,000 new cases of chlamydia diagnosed in 2016 nationwide and three quarters of these were in young people aged 15 to 29.

Mr Wenzel also said the rates of gonorrhoea infection in young people from rural and remote areas, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, were higher than youth from the city.

“While we know that mental health issues are the most common health problem experienced by young people, the increasing rates of STIs such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea are growing
at an alarming rate, for conditions that are easily and completely preventable,” he said.

“Although lots of young people are aware of the importance of contraception, there seems to be a bit of disconnect when it comes to STIs and how to prevent them.”

Nurse Allison Key said a generation ago, people could have unprotected sex with four or five different partners before being at risk of contracting an STI.

Now, she says, people are at risk after having unprotected sex just once.

“We recommend people get screened yearly, and when they have a change of sexual partner,” Ms Key said.

“Around 80 per cent of people with chlamydia don’t know they have it, as there are no symptoms, and if it’s left untreated, it can cause infertility in both men and women.”

The ‘Sexy Fridays’ service will be via appointment or walk-in and will be free or billed through Medicare – this means no out-of-pocket expenses.

All youth aged 12 to 25 are welcome to utilise the service and can talk about respectful relationships, sex education and contraception as well as STI screenings with Nurse Allison.

To book a session, call Headspace Albany on 9842 9871 and ask to see Allison.