WA

Serena Kirby. Sea kayaker Les Allen is one of the latest inductees into Paddle WA’s Hall of Fame. Denmark resident Les is a past president of the association and a founding member of the Sea Kayak Club of WA.

Serena Kirby. Denmark GP Alex Sleeman is learning to walk again after sustaining serious spinal injuries from a tractor accident on his property last September ... “I plan to do everything I used to do but I’ll just do it a bit differently and good luck to anyone that tells me I can’t do something.”

Conservation group Denmark Nannas for Native Forests found a bleak aftermath of a 1123ha prescribed burn in November of Sheepwash North in Mt Lindesay National Park. They were shocked to see big areas of tree canopy defoliated and most of the remaining canopy scorched.

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Western Power says power has been restored to all 150 customers affected by the bushfire in Cowalla, Wanerie and Karakin. Twenty power poles were destroyed by the bushfire, which was reported at 12.03pm on Tuesday, December 31.

This piece emerged from an extended dialogue with the WA Minister for Police regarding the new firearms regulations released just before Christmas. I revised my original opinion article to incorporate the Minister’s direct responses, as they address many of the key concerns raised during the reform process.

Henry Tan discusses with ARR.News his project to identify effective food safety and biosecurity risk controls in the production, and processing of chicken meat that will result in a reduction of consumer exposure to Campylobacter, the leading cause of foodborne illness in Australia.

Berridge Park will get a $5 million upgrade following a Lottery West grant of $2,857,500 announced last Friday at the Christmas Festival ... The concept plan features improvements to public and youth recreational infrastructure while retaining existing mature trees and quiet spaces to retain and enhance the park’s place in the landscape.

Serena Kirby. Site works will get underway in January for the construction of the $2-$3 million Golden Hill Steiner School high school facilities. The $900,000, 6ha block that adjoins the school was purchased in October by a foundation for school use. Half the block will be used for the new school buildings with the other half to be set aside for three residential lots.

Serena Kirby. A career as a commercial deep-sea diver is not for the faint hearted but it’s been Jason Thornton’s profession for nearly two decades. Jason works for companies that supply divers to the oil and gas industry for the construction and maintenance of underwater pipelines. He says the job is far from glamorous.

Out now! Available here!

The Albanese Government says it intends to establish a news bargaining incentive to ensure big digital platforms such as Facebook contribute to the sustainability of news media in Australia. As a hyperlocal public interest publisher Yanchep News Online has had some issues in the past with Facebook (owned by Meta) especially during Covid-19 when its algorithm couldn’t seem to work out that information attributed to the WA Department of Health had in fact been provided to Yanchep News Online by the department.

Qld and WA farmers reported improved optimism heading into the end of the year, while sentiment was more subdued in other states, the latest Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey has found ... on a national basis farmers were becoming increasingly cautious about the outlook for the agricultural economy, with nearly half (47 per cent) attributing their concerns to dry seasonal conditions, while rising cost pressures are also a worry.

French-born violinist Marie Limondin clearly remembers the day she bought her much-loved violin.   She was 12-years-old and it was already clear to everyone that Marie was not only a passionate player, she was also a very good one.   When the day came to upgrade her child’s violin to an adult-sized instrument Marie, along with her music teacher and parents, headed to Paris’ legendary rue de Rome ...

“The Victorian Government’s approval of two mineral sands mines yesterday through Environment Effects Statements isn’t the end of the matter,” Member for Mallee Dr Webster said on Wednesday. As farmers learned of the two Mallee mines, the Member for Mallee lamented that Victoria’s prime agricultural land and the health of farming communities are not considered as significant as environmental grounds when assessing mining projects.

Dr David Ward. The tongue of experience has the most truth. Old Arab Proverb ... a pair of interesting scientists, Valerie Densmore and Emma Clingan, both from DBCA , and both with actual practical experience in fire fighting and lighting ... have found that, at least on the Swan Coastal Plain, Carnaby's feathery friends may have more food where the bush is burnt frequently, with light and patchy fires every few years, rather than roaring wildfires after decades of fuel accumulation.

Lancelin residents will have backup power from a new high voltage injection unit in the event of long unplanned outages on the network, according to Western Power. Western Power asset management executive manager Gair Landsborough said high voltage injection unit (HVIUs) connect several emergency response generators together, that were monitored and managed remotely, to power a bigger area than would normally be possible when using a single generator.

An independent report by a leading consultant shows that the Labor’s Party’s ‘renewables only’ energy plan will cost Australians at least $642 billion, according to the federal Opposition. “This is five times more than they have told the Australian people,” Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Ted O’Brien said.

Western Australia’s Premier Roger Cook is becoming one of the more intriguing figures in Australian politics. His latest intervention—opposing the Federal Government’s "Nature Positive" environmental laws—must be leaving the Green Left spluttering into their organic green tea.

Patricia Gill. Zak Launay has won the inaugural Denmark Arts sculpture competition’s big works section with Anemophilous Recyclum, a windbox designed to harvest the energy of winds ... The windbox is made of metal, wood and glass recycled from ‘bits collected here and there’ and, according to Zak, does what a windbox is supposed to do.

Patricia Gill. Shamara de Tissera began to play the harp as a young woman when pregnant with her son and no longer able to do eurythmia ... With her move to Denmark and first performance directing the Hildegard Harp Meditation at the Brave New Works Festival in January, she brought a wave of interest in the instrument.

Gus, the emperor penguin found on Ocean Beach last month, was released into the Southern Ocean on November 20 ... The care, attention and efforts of wildlife rehabilitator Carol Biddulph and her husband Graham gave the Antarctic bird, found thousands of kilometres outside of its home range and in a different climate, a fighting chance of survival.