Category: General News

INFLUENZA season is rapidly approaching and the single best way to protect yourself from the illness is to get vaccinated each year, according to WA Country Health Service (WACHS).

Population Health Director for WACHS Great Southern Sandra Crowe said flu vaccine protection is most effective during the three to four-month period after the vaccination.

She said because flu activity in WA most commonly peaks between August and September, now is the best time to get the jab.

“To get maximum benefits, the best time to get the flu vaccine is during May or early June,” she said.

“Each year, a new vaccine containing the most common strains of circulating influenza is produced, so getting vaccinated every year is important because the most common strains of the influenza virus change every year.”

Ms Crowe urged people to remember the seriousness of the highly contagious disease, which she says presents itself in the form of fever, aches, pains, cough and sore throat.

“Importantly, the vaccine is not made from a live virus, so you can’t get the flu from the flu vaccine,” she said.

The Weekender’s own Kristen Gardiner (pictured) said she will be taking up the company’s offer to provide employees with the flu vaccine, despite her slight fear of needles.

The flu vaccination is available at pharmacies and doctor surgeries across the Great Southern, including Albany’s Southern Regional Medical Group.

At SRMG, the jab will be free for people over the age of 65, pregnant women, people with a chronic health condition and for children under five.

For all other patients, the out-of-pocket expense will be just $13.50.

Participating pharmacies include Amcal, Terry White Chemmart, Priceline Pharmacy and Friendlies Pharmacy, but you can also call your GP to see whether they administer the vaccination.

PREMIER Mark McGowan will not compel the City of Albany to extend trading hours for Coles and Woolworths, while Opposition Leader Mike Nahan and the Economic Regulation Authority say Albany’s shopping hours must be liberalised.

Mr McGowan told The Weekender he did not intend to change the long-term arrangement where local councils decide when Coles, Woolworths and ALDI can open.

“The council makes the decision,” he said.

“I’m happy for that to continue.”

But Dr Nahan, who has a PhD in Economics, said trading hours needed to be consistent across regional Western Australia.

“Albany is an important tourist region and it would be bewildering for visitors to the city to not be able to shop on a Sunday at retailers when they can do so in other regional centres, or in their home towns,” he said.

“Not only should we have shops being able to open on weekends to provide choice for consumers and employment opportunities for locals, it is important to provide certainty and consistency for tourists.”

Albany is the only place in the south-western corner of Australia with a Coles, Woolworths or ALDI where these larger supermarkets are not permitted to trade on Sundays and most weeknights.

IGAs can trade seven days a week, and every weeknight.

Dr Nahan said customers should not be denied choice, nor young people jobs.

“It is inconceivable that on a Sunday someone in Albany can purchase groceries online, but they can’t go to a bricks-and-mortar shop, which is paying rent while it is closed, which is not employing anyone while it is closed, because of the antiquated trading hours,” he argued.

“I note that Albany has lower median incomes, so introducing competition can drive down prices, which is in the interests of consumers, particularly those on fixed and low incomes.

“It’s time to fix this.”

Asked if employment gains at larger supermarkets could come at the expense of jobs at his North Road IGA, proprietor Bob Cybula referred The Weekender to a spokesman who suggested that it speak to WA Branch Secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association Peter O’Keeffe.

Mr O’Keeffe said emphatic anecdotal evidence from members of his union, was that big supermarkets did not employ extra staff when trading hours were extended.

“What you’ll find is they’ll stretch the existing staff,” he said.

“They’ll get salaried staff to work additional hours.

“Typically, [the large retailers] don’t get huge boosts in their wages budgets just because there’s been an extension of trading hours.”

Mr O’Keeffe said that in a deregulated environment, people who shop at night or on Sundays at an IGA tend to shift to the bigger supermarkets.

“The small stores will come under pretty savage pressure in terms of sales and they may well start laying staff off,” he added.

He said the union objected to extended trading because members would be compelled to work beyond hours to which they had become accustomed and planned their lives around.

In 2014, the Economic Regulation Authority recommended that shopping hours be fully deregulated statewide except for three public holidays.

ERA Chair Nicky Cusworth said her organisation had not examined the issue since.

“The ERA stands by the recommendation made in its Inquiry into Microeconomic Reform in Western Australia that trading hours should be fully deregulated with the exception of Christmas Day, Good Friday and Anzac Day morning,” Ms Cusworth said.

In 2016, a majority of Albany councillors voted down a plan, put forward by a senior city official, that in 2019 the council consider consulting the community on extended shopping hours.

PREMIER Mark McGowan says a trial of mandatory life jackets will occur at Salmon Holes after two Afghani nationals from Mount Barker were swept from rocks at the Albany fishing hotspot on Saturday.

The 45 and 50 year old survived, but both were rushed to Albany Hospital for treatment after they were swept off rocks just after midday and made their way to a reef before onlookers helped them to the beach.

In the wake of the latest emergency incident at Salmon Holes, Mr McGowan on Monday said trialling mandatory lifejackets for rock fishers there was a priority for his government.

“Look, what we’ve seen in the course of the last 15 or 16 years is 34 people die from coming off the rocks while fishing,” he said.

“That’s more than double the number of people killed by sharks.

“So obviously we need to take further action.”

On Easter Monday, days after a coroner’s report into the deaths of Perth fishermen Chunjun Li and Jialong Zhang at Salmon Holes in Easter 2015 recommended that lifejackets be mandated for rock fishers, Bayonet Head man Samuel Roth was swept to his death off rocks near West Cape Howe.

Mr McGowan acknowledged some safety measures had already been implemented, with tie-down points and life-saving rings placed at dangerous spots.

“But we still see people injured or killed rock fishing,” he said.

“So what we’re looking at is gazetting certain areas where you must wear a life jacket if you’re rock fishing.

“Salmon Holes in Albany would be an obvious candidate for that.”

Mr McGowan said the chances of someone surviving a fall into the ocean while wearing a life jacket were “very high”.

“That’s one of the things that we’re looking at, whether existing laws allow us to gazette areas like that as requiring wearing a life jacket,” he said.

“If the existing laws don’t allow us to do that, well then we’ll have to look at what new laws need to be drafted or new regulations need to be drafted.

“It would only be in certain defined locations, not on every rock across every beach in Western Australia.”

Mr McGowan said a mandatory lifejacket law would be enforced by Parks and Wildlife, and Fisheries, officers.

“I’ve spoken to [Fisheries] Minister [Dave Kelly] about this after the fatality in Albany,” he said.

“Because, what the Coroner said, as I understand it, was that if you go rock fishing then you need to wear a life jacket.

“Now, obviously where the coastline’s 16,000km, [it’s] very difficult to police that and also, what actually is a rock versus a beach, if you know what I mean.”

For anyone who did not know what he meant, the Premier painted a picture.

“You can sometimes be standing on a beach and there’s rocks there – are you rock fishing?” he posed.

“So, what I thought was a good compromise way of dealing with that is you gazette certain areas where there have been fatalities before and you say if you’re going to rock fish there you must wear a life jacket.

“And Salmon Holes would be an ideal trial location.”

A NUMBER of gnomes have been removed from the Mount Barker roundabout due to fears they may stymie a public consultation process on the future of the circular intersection, and compromise safety on Albany Highway.

A solitary gnome appeared on the roundabout a fortnight ago, followed by half-a-dozen others that joined it in greeting southbound motorists to the Shire of Plantagenet’s largest town.

Then, one day the gnomes disappeared.

Acting Shire CEO John Fathers revealed it was he who arranged for “8 or 9 gnomes” to be removed and placed in protective custody at the shire.

“I got them taken away because I didn’t want to see a proliferation of gnomes on the roundabout given the council is going out to public consultation about what it wants to have seen on the roundabout,” he said.

“The more people put things like that into the roundabout, the more people are going to be disappointed when we have to take them away.

“And I didn’t really want to encourage people to park up on a major intersection of Albany Highway and put themselves to any danger.”

Mr Fathers said one owner had fronted up with a small amount of “bail money” to spring a gnome from the council clink, and that the cash would be donated to charity.

“We’ve had one of the owners come back and pick theirs up,” he said.

“I think she took away about three that she identified were hers.

“We’ll just hold them in the office and are quite happy to give them back to the owners if they come and collect them.”

A month-long consultation period on the roundabout’s aesthetics, foreshadowed a while back by The Weekender (‘Barker roundabout action’, February 10), will start this week.

“It’s a pretty important entry for the shire,” Mr Fathers said.

“It is amazing; everyone has an opinion on it.”

He said that whatever gets decided for the roundabout, the aim will be to have it “present a good image for Mt Barker”.

ALBANY folk give more of their income to charity than people from anywhere else in regional Western Australia, private sector research reveals.

The latest iteration of the National Australia Bank Charitable Giving Index shows that, in the year to February 2018, residents of Albany’s 6330 postcode donated 0.2 per cent of their income to charity.

That might not sound like much, but it meant Albany was the fourth most generous postcode in the state, behind the Perth locales of Beaconsfield/South Fremantle, East Fremantle and Inglewood.

The index compiles de-identified electronic spending data from NAB customers who donate to large charities including RSPCA, The Salvation Army, Oxfam and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

As such, cash donations and volunteer labour, associated with such fundraising endeavours as those of Weekender columnist Brendan Carson, are not included.

Dr Carson wrote a book, Heartline, which he is selling to fund the purchase of medical equipment at Albany Health Campus.

“Wow, how good is that?” he said of Albany’s impressive standing on the NAB generosity ladder.

“It does not surprise me.

“You go around and live in a beautiful place and it makes you feel good about everybody.”

Dr Carson said Albany people had been “stunningly supportive” of his fundraising.

“They have given their time and their enthusiasm, and we’ve had donations,” he said.

“The support has been overwhelming.

“It’s been lovely; they’re good people.”

He said sales of the book had gone very well, and raised enough to fund a mobile cardiac monitor for the hospital.

Aside from Albany, the only postcodes in regional WA to crack the Top 20 were Margaret River (6285) where residents donated 0.18 per cent of their income, and the Esperance suburb of Castletown (6450) where locals chipped in 0.17 per cent.

THE Hall and Prior group that operates Albany’s Clarence Estate aged care home will receive $702,267 to start up an around-the-clock in-home nursing service for the city’s palliative care patients.

Last year, The Weekender (‘Stay-at-home palliative care’, November 2, 2017) revealed the WA Country Health Service was seeking operators to bid for the new service that it anticipates will benefit up to 60 patients a month.

Now, The Weekender has learned that Hall and Prior was judged the best of four submissions for the project, and will start delivering the nursing service to homes around Albany for three years from May 1.

The company will take over from Silver Chain, which for the past 20 years has provided a palliative care service on behalf of WACHS.

WACHS Great Southern Regional Director David Naughton said Albany residents of all ages requiring palliative care would be able to access the service.

WACHS has informed medical practitioners, current palliative care patients, families and carers of the change in service provider.

Mr Naughton said the new service would provide patients and carers with better support, and allow patients to die in their own home where possible, if that was their desire.

The WACHS Great Southern Regional Palliative Service, based at Albany Health Campus, can be contacted on (08) 9892 2380.

ROADWORKS along Albany’s Middleton Road have come under fire after a Middleton Beach resident said his car was damaged due to the road’s poor condition and poor traffic management.

Rory Laurens said he used Middleton Road every day to get to work, and recently hit a large unmarked pothole filled with water that he said was not visible until “it was too late”.

Mr Laurens said the impact cracked one of his tyre rims, leaving him $400 out of pocket.

“I was pretty angry,” he said, reinspecting the damage during an interview with The Weekender.

“I still am. It’s frustrating and really disappointing that it’s taken them this long to do anything about this road.

“I have to replace bushings and tyres on my car because of how much wear and tear the potholes on this road have caused.”

He said he doubted the $2 million resealing project would improve the state of Middleton Road.

He pointed out a series of exposed inspection lids along the road that do not sit flush.

The worst one, he said, is located on the corner of Middleton Road and Suffolk Street – the main exit from Albany Primary School.

The inspection lid is unavoidable when turning left off Suffolk Street, as it is located close to the centre of the lane.

Mr Laurens said drivers would be forced into the oncoming lane to avoid the unmarked hazard.

“It’s so dangerous, it’s definitely a safety hazard,” he said.

“Can you imagine if a moped hit that?

“You could fall off or crash.”

The roadworks project began in January and the City had expected it to be finished by the end of this month.

Now, Executive Director for Infrastructure and Environment Matthew Thomson says works will not be complete until mid to late May.

“Unforeseeable conditions with respect to the drainage infrastructure have resulted in a delay,” he said.

“The improved road will include a new asphalt surface, with 1.5 to 2m wide cycle lanes [that] will be red to provide improved delineation for cyclists.

“The existing surface had reached the end of its life and the new surface will extend the expected the life of the road by 30 to 40 years.”

Mr Thomson said a 40kph speed limit and roadworks signs were in place in the area.

He said the exposed inspection lids would be made flush with the road once roadworks were complete.

COLES says it would employ more people at its two Albany stores if the city council allowed it to trade longer.

A spokesperson for the Wesfarmers-owned retailer said extending Albany’s shopping hours would give customers greater convenience.

“We believe deregulated shopping hours in Albany would benefit Coles customers and result in additional local employment opportunities across our two stores,” the spokesperson said.

“Coles welcomed the extended shop trading hours previously granted across various public holidays and the 2017/18 Christmas period.

“These extended hours were well received by our customers, providing them with greater convenience, choice and flexibility.”

Coles, along with Woolworths and potentially ALDI, are locked out of Sunday and late-night trading except for Thursday nights, while Albany’s three supermarkets in the national IGA network are permitted to trade on Sundays and every night of the week.

In response to questions from The Weekender, a spokesperson for Australian-owned Woolworths said the company “welcomes the general liberalisation of trading hours, as we believe it would provide our customers with greater choice and convenience”.

A spokesperson for German-owned ALDI – conspicuous by its absence from Albany given it has supermarkets in the regional centres of Australind, Bunbury, Busselton, Mandurah and Northam – said the company was “eager to bring our unique shopping experience to more Western Australians”.

“We are continually reviewing and updating our network plans and Albany has been recognised as a potential long-term future opportunity,” the spokesperson said.

“When deciding on locations for ALDI stores, trading hours are an important factor we take into consideration.

“It is our preference to be able to offer customers convenient shopping hours.”

Albany Chamber of Commerce & Industry President Caroline Hayes said her association had always supported every business’s right to trade whenever they like.

“We [cover] everything from your small, your micro businesses through to relatively large businesses,” she said of the Chamber’s membership base.

In July 2016, six city councillors – including current ones Paul Terry, Ray Hammond, Bill Hollingworth and Alison Goode – narrowly voted down a plan by city tourism development manager Matt Bird that in 2019 the council consider consulting the community on extended shopping hours.

The plan was rejected just six councillors to five, with recently defeated councillors Janelle Price and Nicolette Mulcahy the other two who opposed it.

Yesterday, Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington refused to comment on whether extended trading could help or hinder employment in his city, as he was the proprietor of a shop.

Subsequent efforts close to deadline to contact the only other person authorised to speak on behalf of the city, CEO Andrew Sharpe, were unsuccessful.

Owner of the York Street and Spencer Park IGAs Paul Lionetti declined to comment on potential employment impacts of liberalised trading hours.

North Road IGA proprietor Bob Cybula referred The Weekender to a spokesman who did not return calls.

Albany is the only place in the south-western corner of the continent where Coles and Woolworths are prohibited from trading on Sundays and most weeknights.