Category: General News

A PIZZA delivery driver has been convicted of breaching a violence restraining order by briefly gesturing to his ex-girlfriend as he drove past her after delivering a pizza at Yakamia.

On March 15, Bayley Alexander Haines, 18, pleaded guilty in Albany Magistrates Court to one count of breaching a family violence restraining order.

Police prosecutor Cameron Clifford said Haines had communicated and come within 50m of his ex-girlfriend, contrary to conditions of the order.

Sergeant Clifford said that in December, after Haines had delivered a pizza to a house in Yakamia, he “waved” as he drove past the woman who was walking beside the street.

Haines’ defence lawyer said he admitted those facts, but he had both hands on the steering wheel at the time and the “wave” referred to was the casual raising of a single finger.

“There doesn’t seem to be any indication of intimidation of the protected person,” Haines’ lawyer said.

Magistrate Raelene Johnston heard Haines was in a brief relationship with the protected woman.

Some time after Haines and the woman broke up, a dispute arose over money he had lent to her.

When the woman took out the order, Haines did not object.

Magistrate Johnston said breaking a family violence restraining order was a “serious charge”, but “it was circumstance” that led to the breach.

“Although it is a breach, it is at the lower end of the scale,” she told Haines.

Magistrate Johnston ordered Haines not to reoffend in the next 12 months, lest he be fined $500.

TAMBELLUP’S police station and council chambers will soon get Aboriginal flags thanks to the initiative of the cop shop’s new officer-in-charge, who is a Noongar man.

On Tuesday, Sergeant Allan Mallard celebrated six months as OIC of Tambellup Police Station.

He recently received an Aboriginal flag from State Treasurer Ben Wyatt, also an Aboriginal man.

“I bought two flag poles, one for the shire and one for the police station,” Sgt Mallard told The Weekender.

“They’re getting installed in the next week or so.”

Sgt Mallard’s mother, Margaret, is a Noongar woman with family in the Tambellup area.

“She’s over the moon,” Sgt Mallard said of her response to the flags.

Broomehill-Tambellup Shire President Scott Thompson said raising the Aboriginal flag outside the council chambers had been raised some years ago at the shire, but defeated.

However, on March 15 the shire voted six councillors to one to proudly fly the flag.

“We’ve got a strong Indigenous community in Tambellup,” Cr Thompson said.

A TRIAL of after-hours health care will commence at Albany Health Campus next month to alleviate increasing pressure on the hospital’s emergency department.

From April, an after-hours GP and nurse practitioner service will be offered to patients in aged and palliative care facilities, as well as those receiving care at home, to divert them from the emergency department.

The service was officially launched on Monday by Minister for Health Roger Cook, Member for O’Connor Rick Wilson, Member for Albany Peter Watson, WA Primary Health Alliance officials and the group of Albany general practitioners behind the after-hours service idea.

The program will be trialled for 12 months and be both mobile and in a permanent setup, in a clinic adjacent to the current emergency department.

The general public will be able to access the after-hours health care clinic from June, and it will operate during evenings, weekends and public holidays.

The service will offer treatment to patients who require urgent care, but whose conditions could be treated by a GP during normal hours.

Health minister Roger Cook said the release of the Sustainable Health Review Interim Report highlighted a need for the service.

“There is a need to improve care in our communities, to reduce costs and wastes and to reduce the pressure on our emergency departments,” he said.

“This new service is about better access to GP and nurse practitioner services for patients and carers, which means better quality of care for non-emergency patients and not having to wait in busy emergency departments.”

WA Primary Health Alliance CEO Learne Durrington said the new service would be a great “all-round outcome”, as it avoids distressing scenarios for sick patients and allows emergency department staff to focus on serious cases.

“The on-call service will ensure people who are frail and unwell can be treated in the comfort of their own home, care home or hospice and avoid unnecessary and costly trips by ambulance to hospital,” she said.

“Importantly, the patient’s usual doctor will be fully informed about the treatments that occurred.”

The trial after-hours health care service will complement existing Albany GP services and use experienced nurse practitioners and GPs.

A BID to overturn a ban on residential apartments at a 9599sqm block owned by businessman Paul Lionetti across Toll Place from his Due South Tavern has been lodged with the City of Albany.

Foreshore Investments Albany Pty Ltd has applied for permission to erect up to 6800sqm of apartments on Mr Lionetti’s block, at Lot 3 of the Albany Waterfront project.

The company’s application to amend the Albany Waterfront Structure Plan says Due South has “proven a popular attraction to the waterfront area and wider Albany region”.

The application, prepared by Harley Dykstra town planners, argues that “a lack of private investment in the waterfront area can be partially attributed to overly restrictive planning regulations, resulting in development of the area being unviable”.

“The landowners are committed to completing a high standard of hotel and apartment development on the site,” Harley Dykstra continues.

“Importantly, it should be noted that the holiday accommodation and a hotel will remain the primary land uses on the site, and multiple dwellings will be a secondary use.

“Additional control measures can be incorporated through subsequent planning stages (i.e. – development application) to manage the number and location of any multiple dwellings proposed.”

Harley Dykstra imagines the control measures “should” ensure that the number of bedrooms associated with the holiday accommodation and hotel components will “always, and at all times, exceed those associated with any multiple dwelling component”.

But Albany Ratepayers and Residents Association President Elizabeth Barton said the whole rationale for the waterfront project was to promote tourism, not medium density residential living.

“What will happen is they’ll build the residential, but the tourism will never get built,” Ms Barton, who in 10 days in the late 1990s collected 2500-plus signatures against the waterfront project, said.

“It will become a residential area.

“It was always agreed there would never be residential down there, because it’s a tourist node and residential development is in conflict with the operations of the port.”

Harley Dykstra argues that the modified plan for the vacant block responds to “an increasing trend towards a flexible approach to tourism planning and to support the viable operation of these buildings, which have historically prevented the development of a hotel and short stay accommodation on Lot 3”.

“To facilitate investment in new hotels and holiday accommodation, there has been an increasing trend towards including an element of permanent residential accommodation within tourist developments,” Harley Dykstra stresses.

“Examples of this include the Middleton Beach Hotel site, Elizabeth Quay, Port Coogee Marina and Bunbury Ocean View Hotel.”

State Planning Minister Rita Saffioti recently told The Weekender that residential apartments would likely be needed to make a 12-floor hotel viable at Middleton Beach (‘Residential mix for hotel’, February 8).

Harley Dykstra submitted that owners of apartments on Mr Lionetti’s block would be encouraged to let their dwellings for short stay accommodation.

The City of Albany and State Department of Planning received a copy of the plans for preliminary comment in October.

The final decision on whether apartments are allowed rests with the Western Australian Planning Commission.

When contacted by The Weekender, Mr Lionetti declined to comment.

The Albany community can comment to the City until April 12.

POLICE have assured the people of Albany that large gatherings are adequately covered, despite a senior City official telling a Parliamentary inquiry that more than one event at a time would stretch the ability of law enforcers to combat an act of terrorism.

In his written submission to State Parliament’s Inquiry into the Protection of Crowded Places from Terrorist Acts, City of Albany governance and risk manager Stuart Jamieson said it was “unknown” whether the powers and resources of WA Police would be adequate to deal with terrorism.

“… however, for the City of Albany, being a regional centre, more than one large event occurring at any one time would stretch local resources,” Mr Jamieson advised the inquiry on February 21.

“For example, for RaceWars 2018, WAPOL Albany have dedicated two uniform officer[s] for the whole event.”

When told of Mr Jamieson’s submission, officer-in-charge of Albany Police Grant Pollard said he could not comment on how many police were deployed at the Racewars meet held at Albany Airport earlier this month, because the amount of police presence was an “operational matter”.

Senior Sergeant Pollard did however stress that policing resources in Albany were adequate to cover major events.

“We can reassure the public [that] any major events that do occur can be adequately resourced either locally by the Albany police, or [from] further resources from within the Great Southern district to ensure community safety is maintained at all times,” he told The Weekender.

“At all times, the community’s not put at any greater risk than can be avoided.

“Given the number of events and the degree of severity and the timeframe of escalation, there would always be appropriate resources available.”

Mr Jamieson submitted to the inquiry that events conducted or approved by the City must have a risk management plan.

He added that good intelligence sharing between the WA police force and event organisers was one part of achieving best practice in protecting crowded places from terrorism.

He regarded a four-pronged strategy adopted by the United Kingdom in 2010 – that incorporates the principles of pursuing terrorists, preventing people becoming or supporting terrorists, protecting against attacks and preparing to mitigate the impact of attack – as a best practice model.

The inquiry, chaired by Member for Hillarys Peter Katsambanis, is now taking evidence. It is set to report in November.

FLINDERS PARK students got a surprise visit from AFL legends on Tuesday as part of the West Coast Eagles’ school tour promoting wellbeing.

Ex-North Melbourne superstar-turned-Eagle Drew Petrie watched on from the sidelines of the school assembly area with a grin, as students bounced in their seats awaiting the presentation to start.

The students’ excited chirping continued as they joined West Coast Eagles community development officer Bradd Dalziell in chanting Rick the Rock’s name, to coax him out from the stage curtains and on to the stage.

Mr Dalziell led an engaging discussion on physical, emotional and social wellbeing, with Rick the Rock providing just the right amount of cheeky entertainment to keep the kids focused.

During Petrie’s question time, he confirmed that local Albany boy Declan Mountford had made a great start to his career with North Melbourne, having played alongside him for a year.

“He’s really hard working and he’s very professional,” he said of Mountford.

“He’s someone you can trust too, which is a great trait to have.”

The West Coast Eagles will face Sydney Swans at Optus Stadium for their first match of the season on March 25.

WHETHER a $10 million boutique retreat at Frenchman Bay with cafe, kiosk and shop gets the go-ahead will be decided by a State-convened development assessment panel and not the City of Albany.

A 510-page planning application for the Frenchman Bay Retreat, prepared by Harley Dykstra Pty Ltd on behalf of land-owner MTK Ventures Pty Ltd, confirms the resort is too economically valuable to be considered by the city alone.

Earlier this year, The Weekender (‘Developers’ picnic at Frenchies’, 11/1/2018) revealed the project was back on the table after a slightly larger development was canned in 2015.

Back then, 46 letters of support had been received by the city.

But 28 objectors resisted the size of the resort, plans to include permanent housing, or arrangements for sewage treatment.

Now, plans first advertised on Tuesday show 24 two-floor villas (five fewer than originally proposed), on-site sewage treatment, and no permanent residences.

Harley Dykstra advises the retreat – on the site of the defunct Frenchman Bay Caravan Park – would benefit residents of Goode Beach, and greater Albany.

“The proposed café, kiosk and shop will provide increased convenience to the residents of nearby Goode Beach to purchase daily staples including milk and bread,” the planning firm argues.

“Improved amenity will be provided to beach users and tourists, who will be able to purchase drinks, picnic items and sun screen.

“Guests, tourists, locals and the general public will also be able to enjoy a quality coffee and meal from this exceptional location overlooking King George Sound.”

Each two-floor, 208sqm villa would have three bedrooms, a bathroom, ensuite, laundry, TV room, dining room, two lounge rooms, 40sqm double garage, and majestic views over the bay.

The gated project will include a playground, parking spaces for boats and caravans, and circular pathway connecting to an existing stairway from the elevated site down to Whalers Beach.

When contacted by The Weekender, Vancouver Ward councillors Tracy Sleeman and John Shanhun declined to comment on the plans.

The people of Albany can comment direct to the city until April 3.

After that, the city will prepare a report for the Southern Joint Development Assessment Panel.