Author: David Kavanagh

THE WA Liberal Party’s sole nominee for pre-selection for the Seat of Albany has said it would be a “challenge” to unseat Labor, but is more than ready to give it a go.

Albany City Motors financial director and prominent sport volunteer Scott Leary was the only candidate to submit his nomination to the party before deadline last Friday.

If endorsed, the 53-year-old could see himself square off against Labor Party heavyweight Peter Watson, who has held the seat for nearly two decades but is yet to decide whether he will re-contest at the 2021 state election.

“It won’t be an easy path at all given that Labor has been an incumbent for so long,” Mr Leary said.

“Peter Watson is a great representative and has done an okay job for here but I think I can bring a bit more emphasis, a bit more direction to Albany.

“I’ve been civic-minded probably all of my working life so I think it’s now time to put something back into the community.”

Mr Leary moved to Albany in 1992 and has worked at the dealership for more than 20 years.

He said his experience in financial management, dealing with people and familiarity with long working weeks made him a worthwhile political candidate.

“The numbers are not scary to me … and I’ve got a great sense for budgeting and what needs to be happening,” he said.

“There are some great projects that the City of Albany has got and to be able to get funding to those and see those through to finishing is great.”

Mr Leary highlighted education and health as areas of interest but noted it was too early to announce policy or plans.

On Monday, he said he was yet to have official discussions with the WA Liberal Party or constituents.

The party’s State Council is expected to review his nomination in the coming weeks.

ALBANY has a wheelchair-accessible taxi service again after driver Stuart Hickson rescinded his decision last month to close and will continue operating, saying his rapport with his clients made that move untenable despite the financial pressures.

Mr Hickson closed for the past week and the only other wheelchair taxi in Albany stopped operating on Christmas Day.

He said he felt guilty that his long-term loyal clients he had built up friendships with over his 14 years of driving would lose their independence.

“I felt terrible so I made the decision to keep providing a service. I’m not sure I can even make it financially viable but I will battle on despite the Government,” Mr Hickson said.

“It’s harder to make money. Drivers get a lifting fee of $10 for every job, it’s $15 in the metropolitan region, so why is it not a level playing field?

“Also, we then have to fill in spreadsheets to record every lifting job at the end of each day to recoup money. It’s a time-consuming process.”

Despite the obstacles, paperwork and lack of Government assistance, Mr Hickson recently purchased another vehicle to broaden the service to cope with demand.

“There’s too much work for one vehicle so having two cars brings the service back to how it was,” he said.

“But potential drivers are put off by the amount of red tape involved with wheelchair taxis.”

Spencer Park resident Amanda Booth frequently utilises the wheelchair-friendly taxi service.

The 26-year-old has spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal cord fails to develop properly, leaving her wheelchair-bound.

Ms Booth cannot drive and requires assistance to get to work, meet her friends and go to appointments.

Jo Booth said her daughter used the service at least two or three times per week.

“We were very scared at the thought of Amanda not being able to get around to live her life,” she said.

“We had thoughts on other transport options at Christmas time when we learned it may be stopping, but the options to Amanda weren’t good – the buses weren’t any good due to limited service and there are no stops near her house or where she needs to go.”

She was thrilled to learn Mr Hickson was continuing his taxi service.

Relief Manager of Yakamia’s Ingenia Gardens Heather Edmondson said residents in the village depended on the specialised taxi service.

“It’s absolutely fantastic news,” she said about Mr Hickson’s decision.

“It gives our residents who need a bit of help and support the freedom to get out and about, and not be stuck at home.”

THE CBH Group has released their full 2019 Annual Report following the release of our Financial Report in mid-December and finish to the harvest season.

This season the Albany Zone reported 2,629,000 tonnes of grain harvested from across the region.

Last season the Albany Zone reported a smaller harvest with 2,614,000 tonnes of grain harvested due to mixed weather conditions.

Some of the key highlights in the report showed a strong operational performance in a number of areas, including record-breaking rail movements and strong growth in fertiliser sales.

Driven by a near record harvest of 16.4 million tonnes, the CBH rail infrastructure moved the largest amount on record with 8.9 million tonnes of grain sent by rail to port terminals during the 12 months to the end of September 2019.

This included six million tonnes moved within the Kwinana Zone to the Kwinana Grain Terminal for bulk export.

A total of 13.8 million tonnes were shipped from four grain terminals, with the Kwinana Grain Terminal shipping 6.2 million tonnes of grain.

This was only 30,000 tonnes shy of the shipping record set in 2016-17.

CBH Fertiliser achieved its biggest year so far as sales continued to grow in 2018-19, with 103,000 tonnes sold, up from 90,000 in 2017-18. The business remains profitable and has retained surplus capital to expand the business further across the network.

During the reporting period, the co-operative invested more than $1.6 million into regional grain growing communities in Western Australia through the Community Investment Fund.

This included the Grass Roots Leadership Short Course, which was introduced for the first time in 2019 with a total of 76 participants, and more than $300,000 was provided to community groups as part of the Grass Roots grants program.

A NATIONWIDE search for the Shire of Denmark’s new Chief Executive Officer will begin soon, several months after former CEO Bill Parker resigned from the top job.

Shire President Ceinwen Gearon told the Weekender Council would begin looking for a CEO “shortly” and expected to have the role filled prior to June 30.

Currently acting CEO David Schober is administering the duties of CEO.

“Under the Local Government Act, a Council may appoint an acting CEO for up to 12 months,” Cr Gearon said.

“Council will be looking to commence a national search for a CEO shortly and can offer up to a five year contract to the successful candidate.

“The process will involve advertising nation- ally and appointing a sub-delegation of councillors to conduct the recruitment process.”

Mr Schober took on the job on September 30 after Mr Parker left to take on a leadership position as General Manager of the Corporate Services Alliance at the City of Perth.

Previously he has worked as the Shire’s Manager of Community Services and has held executive positions at the City of Albany and St John Ambulance.

He said he would consider whether to apply for the substantive position once it was officially advertised.

“I have found the job to be incredibly rewarding and have thoroughly enjoyed working with Shire staff and Council,” Mr Schober added.

“I am enjoying the opportunity to develop new opportunities for Denmark whilst building on a solid foundation left by the previous Shire CEO Bill Parker.

“The projects identified in the Long Term Financial Plan will, over the next few years, add enormous value to Denmark as a place to both live and visit.”

In August, Cr Gearon said the decision to appoint an interim acting CEO was influenced by a number of factors, including the 2019 Local Government Election held on October 19.

“Council felt that it would be unfair for an outgoing Council to appoint a permanent CEO,” she said at the time.

“For the position to be successful, the group felt the new Council should have ownership over the CEO recruitment and appointment process.”