Category: General News

A YOUNG woman who blew more than five times the legal alcohol limit when she was stopped in Mount Barker earlier this year has been reprimanded in Albany Magistrates Court.

Kelly Marie Anderson returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.261gms per 100ml of blood when police pulled her over in her Hyundai Tucson on Osborne Road on October 3.

Appearing before Magistrate Raelene Johnston shortly before 10am last Thursday, Ms Anderson said she “just didn’t think” and admitted drink driving was “a stupid thing to do”.

“That’s a ridiculously high reading,” Magistrate Johnston said.

“The chances of you causing an accident or causing a death are enhanced when you’re driving in that state.”

Ms Anderson was fined $1525.90, including court costs, and had her licence disqualified for 10 months.

Albany Magistrates Court has dealt with numerous substantial drink-driving offences in the past few months.

In late October, 35-year-old Rick Gregory Millan was fined more than $4000 and lost his licence for at least three years after he crashed his car into a Kalgan paddock while intoxicated.

Mr Millan had had his licence disqualified for drink driving mere hours before the accident.

The month prior, Jeremy Moncrieff and Kelsie Armstrong also received significant fines and disqualifications for recording blood alcohol readings of 0.198 and 0.132 respectively.

In Australia, it is an offence to drive with a reading of 0.05 or higher.

AN ALBANY-based fresh produce business has taken a new step towards reducing food waste by introducing freeze-dried products.

Handasyde Strawberries purchased a machine capable of such technique in September and began selling freeze-dried products last week.

Similar to Woolworths’ The Odd Bunch, the procedure aims to prevent perfectly edible food that may simply not look as nice as the regular produce for sale from being thrown away for being “ugly”.

So far, Handasyde Strawberries has successfully put strawberries, lemons, limes, gelato, mushrooms, asparagus and raspberries through the machine.

“We don’t throw anything away,” owner Lyn Handasyde said of her strawberries.

“Anything we don’t use for jam or gelato, we freeze-dry.”

The freeze-dried strawberries have been available for sale for no more than two weeks and people are already queuing up to get their hands on more.

“We had one lady order eight bags and we’ve had people call up and say, ‘are they ready yet?’,” Ms Handasyde laughed.

“There’s certainly growing demand for it.”

The freeze-dried method works by placing the prepared produce into the machine and freezing it, before it is placed into a vacuum chamber which sucks all of the water out of the produce – the water sublimates, converting from ice to vapor.

The end result is a lighter version of the original product with a crunchy, meringue-like texture.

The process extends produce shelf life to up to two years.

Neil and Ms Handasyde revealed that local chefs and restaurants had already shown their interest in showcasing the freeze-dried products on their menus.

The pair are also looking at freeze-drying truffles.

“It’s just amazing what foodies have done with it,” Ms Handasyde said of the freeze-dried strawberries.

“We have our local honey guy who has used the powder form of the strawberries and mixed it in with his creamed honey – it makes pink honey.”

Strawberry wine is also now on the cards.

The freeze-drying machine cost the Handasydes approximately $188,000 but they were given a helping hand from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development in the form of a $75,000 grant.

STUDENTS across the Great Southern had their first taste of a phone free education recently when trials of a state-mandated mobile ban kicked off at a number of public schools.

Albany Senior High School (ASHS) enacted a phone ban trial day on December 3, while students at Denmark Senior High School (DSHS) participated in their first “Phone Free Tuesday” this week.

The State Government announced in late October that from the start of next year, students throughout Western Australia would not be allowed to use their phones during school hours.

ASHS Principal Jenny Firth said she received “lots of positive feedback” from staff, students and parents following the trial.

“As a school we were very impressed by the responsible way the students managed themselves on the trial day,” she said.

“We are still collecting feedback about operations to ensure clarity of procedures for next year. This includes ensuring students don’t miss buses due to a need to collect a phone, as well as safe collection and storage of confiscated phones.”

Under the school’s draft policy, outlined in a letter sent to parents on November 27, ASHS students could ultimately be suspended if they repeatedly refuse to hand over their phones.

The letter encouraged students to leave their phones at home or ensure they were “turned off and away”, unless otherwise directed by teachers in class.

The policy will be finalised and endorsed by the School Board next week.

Mount Barker Community College Principal Andrew Fraser and North Albany Senior High School Principal Sharon Doohan said students were informed of what will be required of them in 2020 via assemblies, newsletters and social media.

“The mobile phone policy is completed and we will be advising our school community about the policy this week,” Ms Doohan said.

“We have been talking with our students about not being able to use phones at school unless under teacher direction and for educational purposes for a number of weeks.

“At this stage we are not planning a trial. We are confident our students understand the reasoning behind the changed rules regarding mobile phones in 2020.”

A DENMARK activist who helped sick asylum seekers fill out the forms required for their medical evacuation to Australia has warned the recent repeal of the Medevac law could cause further deaths offshore.

Refugee advocate Dawn Barrington said the Federal Government’s decision to scrap the legislation, which facilitated inter-country transfers on the recommendation of Australian doctors, would severely impact those still requiring treatment.

“There’s a chance there’s going to be death,” she told the Weekender.

“Most of the guys that need medical attention, it’s because of their mental health. They’ve lost all hope, they’ve lost their will to live and this will be another blow.

“There might be someone who tries to kill himself because he’s had enough. There were a lot of suicide attempts in that period of time [following the Government’s re-election].”

Ms Barrington has been in regular contact with asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) since the Medevac Bill was first passed in February.

Since then, she has worked with the Medical Evacuation Response Group (MERG), a partnership of specialist refugee support organisations from across the country, to assist asylum seekers through the Medevac application process.

Their efforts have seen more than 150 asylum seekers temporarily transferred to Australia from PNG and Nauru since March.

“MERG created a webpage where all asylum seekers that were sick could register themselves to be assessed under Medevac,” Ms Barrington explained.

“We helped them fill out their forms and updates would be sent to specialists who phoned them and did video calls like they would in a regional area.

“Once two or more doctors had done their report, it would go to [Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton] for approval.

“It’s horrible because … there are still guys left over there waiting and some of them even got their Medevac approved and are still stuck there.

“They’ve messaged me and said ‘what’s going to happen now? What’s going to happen to us? We don’t know’.”

Asylum Seekers Action Group Albany’s Irene Montefiore, who has been coordinating Saturday demonstrations outside Albany Town Hall for more than two years, shared Ms Barrington’s concerns.

She said while asylum seekers would still be able to apply for medical transfers via Australia’s court system, the process would be harder and take longer.

According to the Asylum Seeker Research Centre, the average wait time for transfers prior to Medevac was two years.

“We’ll keep doing what we’re doing,” Ms Montefiore said.

“I get a definite sense of people thinking this Government has gone too far, this cannot be allowed to continue.”

Medevac was officially repealed on December 4 when independent Senator Jacqui Lambie cast the deciding vote in favour of the change.

In a press conference following the vote, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said medical evacuations were “never under threat”.

“What the Labor Party sought to do a year ago was to provide a weakening of our border regime for people to get around the rules and find their way to Australia,” he said.
“We’ve always understood that that type of loophole doesn’t strengthen our borders.

“We stood firm and went to an election and said support the Coalition and we will repeal those laws … today, we fulfilled that promise to the Australian people.”

Federal Member for O’Connor Rick Wilson was contacted for this story but did not respond before deadline.

He has previously said he stands by the Government’s “strong border protection policies”.

THE long road to legalising voluntary euthanasia in Western Australia culminated in a crescendo of applause on Tuesday night after State Parliament made history to pass the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill (VAD), the second of its kind in the country.

Legislation that gives people the right to choose the end of their life in special circumstances has been a controversial topic across the globe.

There are currently six countries, six states in America and now two states in Australia where people at the end of their life can access voluntary euthanasia.

Premier Mark McGowan said in passing the Bill the WA Government had given many members of the community hope.

“This is a remarkable moment for Western Australia and will go down in history as one of the biggest, most important and significant pieces of reform delivered,” he said.

During the final reading of the Bill, the Lower House was required to read and pass 55 amendments the Upper House had added to the Bill after 105 hours of debate.

Health Minister Roger Cook said the amendments largely codified what was already good medical practice or made areas of the legislation explicit what was already implicit.

“The VAD Bill will complement the provision of the high quality care we expect for our elderly patients and those in palliative care,” he said.

“WA and Victoria will be leading the nation on a major social reform, providing compassion and choice for people at end of life.”

The approved laws will take effect following an 18-month implementation phase and formation of an implementation panel to oversee the development of clinical guidance, medication protocols and training for participating health practitioners.

Albany Community Hospice (ACH) is one facility in the region people requiring palliative care can access, with the organisation accepting more than 200 admissions per year. Approximately 60 per cent of patients die at the Hospice.

Hospice Chair Jane Mouritz said on behalf of the ACH that they placed a large importance on patients feeling safe and to neither hasten nor prolong death.

“In light of the legislative changes regarding VAD, Albany Community Hospice will be undertaking extensive consultation and review of our position on this matter,” she said.

One of the 55 amendments passed, clause 9A, now prohibits health care workers initiating the discussion about VAD unless they are a medical practitioner or nurse practitioner and that they do so while also discussing all treatment and palliative care options.

GREEN Skills Albany will continue its fight against invasive weeds in the Great Southern after it recently secured a state grant worth more than $380,000.

The non-profit will use funds received via the Government’s State Natural Resource Management (NRM) Program to combat the Sydney Golden Wattle, a species of weed voted Albany’s worst in 1996.

Green Skills Albany Manager Anne Sparrow said the contribution would build on previous efforts to “put a serious dent in the spread of this woody weed”.

“There are so many volunteers who are out there working hard to eradicate Sydney Golden Wattle from both private land and public reserves,” she said.

“It is fantastic to be able to offer them support over the next three years.”

The organisation’s new project will prioritise on-ground works and monitoring efforts in high value conservation reserves and adjacent areas spanning roughly 3000ha.

It will involve a variety of community engagement and education initiatives, including partnering with Southern Aboriginal Corporation to support the training of Indigenous youth in weed management.

The Sydney Golden Wattle restricts growth of other flora by blocking sunlight, allelopathy and increasing nitrogen levels in soils.

A spokesperson from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development described it as a “significant environmental and pest weed in the Great Southern”.

“It invades bushland and nature conservation corridors such as roadsides and disturbed land. There is limited agricultural impact as most cropping and grazing practices will control it,” they said.

State NRM has provided community groups across Western Australia close to $900,000 to assist with the management of invasive wattle species since it was established in 2009.

INMATES at Albany Regional Prison spend less time out of their cells than a majority of their peers around the state, according to figures tabled in Parliament last week.

Liberal MP Sean L’Estrange asked Minister for Corrective Services Francis Logan how much time on average adult prisoners at 15 Western Australian prisons spent out of their cells in the 2018-19 period.

He was told Albany Regional, one of four maximum-security prisons in the state, recorded “average out of cell hours” of 9.49 hours.

This put it second lowest on the list, preceded only by Bandyup Women’s Prison, where inmates spent an average of 9 hours out of their cells per day.

The state’s two other maximum-security prisons, Casuarina Prison and Hakea Prison, recorded 9.83 and 10.04 hours respectively, while prisoners at Pardelup Prison Farm near Mount Barker had on average 17 hours outside of their cells daily.

The state average for 2018-19 was 11.37 hours.

According to a Department of Justice spokesperson, the primary factor influencing out of cell hours was security classification.

“The minimum security prison farms have the greatest out of cell hours as prisoners are not locked down and can be out of their beds as early as 5.30am to milk cows or commence produce harvesting,” they said.

“The prison regime (structured day) is designed to manage the risk factors … and the regime at Albany is commensurate with other maximum security prisons in the state.”

While WA legislation does not list a minimum amount of time inmates may have out of their cells, a Productivity Commission Report on Government Services released in January noted “a relatively high or increasing average time out-of cells per day is desirable”.

It said this provided inmates opportunities for work, education and training, wellbeing, recreation and treatment programs, visits and interaction with others.

INMATES at Albany Regional Prison spend less time out of their cells than a majority of their peers around the state, according to figures tabled in Parliament last week.

Liberal MP Sean L’Estrange asked Minister for Corrective Services Francis Logan how much time on average adult prisoners at 15 Western Australian prisons spent out of their cells in the 2018-19 period.

He was told Albany Regional, one of four maximum-security prisons in the state, recorded “average out of cell hours” of 9.49 hours.

This put it second lowest on the list, preceded only by Bandyup Women’s Prison, where inmates spent an average of 9 hours out of their cells per day.

The state’s two other maximum-security prisons, Casuarina Prison and Hakea Prison, recorded 9.83 and 10.04 hours respectively, while prisoners at Pardelup Prison Farm near Mount Barker had on average 17 hours outside of their cells daily.

The state average for 2018-19 was 11.37 hours.

According to a Department of Justice spokesperson, the primary factor influencing out of cell hours was security classification.

“The minimum security prison farms have the greatest out of cell hours as prisoners are not locked down and can be out of their beds as early as 5.30am to milk cows or commence produce harvesting,” they said.

“The prison regime (structured day) is designed to manage the risk factors … and the regime at Albany is commensurate with other maximum security prisons in the state.”

While WA legislation does not list a minimum amount of time inmates may have out of their cells, a Productivity Commission Report on Government Services released in January noted “a relatively high or increasing average time out-of cells per day is desirable”.

It said this provided inmates opportunities for work, education and training, wellbeing, recreation and treatment programs, visits and interaction with others.