Category: General News

A WASTE collection service originally scheduled to launch in Albany in January will not get underway until mid-2020 after councillors voted to defer it at last week’s council meeting.

The Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection service will require residents to separate their food and garden waste into green bins when it launches in around six months.

It will be implemented alongside the Better Bins initiative, which will see urban households in Albany designated bin lids consistent with Australian standard colours.

This includes red for general waste and yellow for recycling.

City Executive Director of Development, Infrastructure and Environment Paul Camins said the postponement of the FOGO service was the best outcome for the community.

“By implementing FOGO in mid-2020, the City of Albany can ensure that the transition is as smooth as possible for residents, with clear communication for all,” he said.

“The FOGO service will keep food waste from landfill and recycle nutrients into quality compost while helping Albany residents be more aware of how much waste their households make.

“Making sure all households have the same coloured bin lids will make it easier for us to communicate what goes in each bin and reduce confusion and contamination across the board.”

A report tabled at a Development and Infrastructure Services Committee meeting on November 13 stated the City had “no facility capable of accepting FOGO waste” (‘FOGO may be deferred’, 21 November).

It noted its Greenwaste Processing Contractor was implementing modifications to “accept, transport and process food waste” but that these were unlikely to be in place by January.

THE Shire of Jerramungup will no longer be part of the seat of Albany for the 2021 state election after changes to State electoral boundaries were formalised last week.

The reshuffle, conducted by the Western Australian Electoral Distribution Commission, will see Jerramungup cede from the District of Albany currently held by Labor MP Peter Watson.

It will be absorbed by the agriculture District of Roe, held by Nationals WA’s Peter Rundle, which will in turn lose the shires of Kulin, Wickepin and Cuballing to balance elector numbers in the Central Wheatbelt.

The changes come three months after Jerramungup councillors unanimously voted to lodge an objection to the Commission about the move (‘Boundaries crossed’, 29 August).

In his report to council at the time, Shire CEO Martin Cuthbert claimed the decision would have “detrimental effects” on the work the Shire had put into building a relationship with the City of Albany.

“The Shire of Jerramungup believes it does not share a community interest with the majority of the Roe District,” he wrote.

Jerramungup originally joined the Albany electorate in 2015 and has since coordinated a number of economic, tourism and advocacy efforts with the City and the shires of Denmark and Plantagenet.

“The Commissioners have decided to affirm their decision,” the report read.

“Alteration of state electoral boundaries should not prevent continued each Parliament.

Retired judge Eric Heenan, government statistician Tom Joseph, Electoral Commissioner David Kerslake and Acting Electoral Commissioner Chris Avent led the review.

Shire of Jerramungup CEO Martin Cuthbert was contacted for comment.

THE closure of the Albany Primary School (APS) canteen for 2020 has been shrouded in secrecy as outraged parents have their questions as to why it was closed left unanswered.

The APS P&C formally announced the decision last Thursday on their Facebook page and followed it up in the school newsletter the following day.

The decision was made at the final P&C meeting for 2019 on the previous Monday.

The P&C Executive Committee released a brief statement saying the canteen was no longer financially viable and would not re-open in 2020.

“We understand that shutting down the canteen will have an impact on APS families and during term one 2020, the P&C will start to investigate alternative lunch service options to mitigate the impact,” it said.

P&C President Carly Talbot declined to elaborate any further or discuss if any other options were considered.

APS Principal Cathy Willis passed the Weekender’s queries to the Department of Education’s Media Team who said, “as the canteen is run by the P&C, we will leave it to them to talk about it”.

On the day before the social media post announcing the canteen closure due to financial constraints was made, the P&C thanked visiting artists for the P&C funded Toilet Artwork Project that ‘has lifted our toilet blocks to new and inspirational heights.”

“Three toilet blocks have been completed and they truly are beautiful, fun spaces for our students,” the post read.

On social media, parents expressed their anger.

Questions such as exploring the option of opening two or three days a week or outsourcing the service went unanswered.

Outraged parent Courtney Hathaway is so upset with the decision and lack of transparency, she is looking at moving her son to another school.

“How can you even run a school with no canteen? Are you serious?” she told the Weekender.

“As a parent of a child that goes to the school, I’m very disappointed that the canteen is closing. I don’t understand how you can efficiently run a school without a canteen.

“If they can afford artwork in the toilets then why can’t they afford something that’s actually needed like the canteen? I don’t know about you but I don’t sit on the toilet looking at the artwork on the walls.”

The Weekender understands that one of the paid employees, who had worked there for 19-and-a-half years, was only told of the decision two days before it was announced on Facebook.

The Weekender also understands that the canteen bank balance was deemed healthy, there was not a lack of volunteers and paid employees managed to run the canteen efficiently whether there were any volunteers or not.

The decision has blindsided employees with two people losing their jobs. Parents are demanding answers and even some teachers were unaware of the impending closure days after it had been announced.

YOUNG drivers who refrain from drinking before hitting the roads in Denmark this summer could be rewarded as part of a unique anti-drink driving campaign launched last Friday.

The Sober Super Heroes program will see some lucky drivers that blow 0.00 in random breath tests, as well as passengers who choose to travel with sober drivers, rewarded with vouchers from local businesses until January 31.

They will also get the opportunity to answer a couple of questions and go in the draw to win a $400 voucher to be awarded in February.

Denmark Police Sergeant Matt Hartfield said the initiative, now in its third year, was originally drawn up by the Shire of Denmark’s Roadwise Committee.

“People were getting infringements and negative stuff but it wasn’t really changing any factors around serious or fatal crashes,” he said.

“We took it upon ourselves to try something a bit different and I guess the community has embraced it.

“In the last few years there have been no serious or fatal crashes involving young drivers in Denmark, so we’ve either been super lucky or people are starting to think about it.”

Sgt Hartfield said the campaign focused primarily on young people of graduate age and upward.

“There was a bit of a gap where it seemed a lot of fatalities involved younger drivers and that stood out to us,” he explained.

“With social media, this kind of initiative gets out very quickly, especially for that demographic.

“If someone wins a voucher, they post it to their friends and then its shared and people talk about it. They can say the police stopped me and I got a prize … as opposed to the police stopped me and I got a ticket.”

According to the Road Safety Commission, 14.4 per cent of crash crashes that resulted in death or serious injury in the Great Southern between 2013 and 2017 occurred when a driver had a blood alcohol content exceeding 0.05g.

Forty-four people died on the region’s roads during this period.

TWELVE Albany tertiary students were nationally recognised for their computer skills last week at an award ceremony in Canberra.

The annual GovHack competition encourages anyone interested in data to get together and work out innovative ways to share and analyse data for the benefit of the greater community.

Albany TAFE students Ronice Preston, Rajiv Kurryah, Michael Dolphin, Alexis Tresmaria, Jazmin Maher, Emilian Roman, Jayden Scahill, Jack Nostrini, Lance Basa, Tamara Cook, Sarah Madden and Jason Parre received honourable mentions at the state and national levels of GovHack for their efforts in the competition.

Mr Scahill also picked up the Spirit of GovHack Albany award in recognition of his enthusiasm and excellence.

South Regional TAFE IT Lecturer Ramin Majidi said the students performed well.

“We were again very pleased to have such strong student participation from our current IT students and some former graduates too,” he said.

“This was the third time this event was held in Albany, and for the third year in succession, one of our students was awarded the Spirit of GovHack Albany award.”

STUDENTS at Albany Secondary Education Support Centre showed their appreciation for emergency volunteers last Thursday when they donated a year’s worth of raised funds to Albany State Emergency Service.

The cohort raised the money over the course of the last year by selling coffee and homemade shortbread biscuits to their teachers and other staff at the Centre.

ASESC student and chief coordinator of the initiative Braedon Steyl said SES volunteers played an important part in the community.

The 17-year-old has been volunteering at SES units in Denmark and Albany for the last three years and has helped out during vertical rescues.

“The stuff they do is remarkable. They go off Bluff Knoll, the Gap, you don’t see how much they do but the headlines are crazy,” he said.

“It was actually me that decided we donate to SES because I know how much they do and I know how much they need the money.”

The students’ contribution comes several weeks after Albany South Coast Lions Club donated six alpine kits worth thousands of dollars to the group to assist in cold climate operations.

SES volunteer Denise Johnson, who met with the students during a luncheon at Emu Point, told them every little bit helped.

“Knowing you guys have gone to so much effort, that’s actually a really big thing for us,” she said.

“When anybody chooses to donate, it just makes us feel like we’re a valued part of the community.”

ASESC runs enterprise programs like the coffee stall as part of its Certificate I in Business each year.

According to the Centre’s Robyn Sellenger, these help students learn important life skills, prepare them for a real workplace and give them a chance to give back to the community.