WA

Sitting councillor Frank Peczka of Lancelin has won 21.13 per cent of the vote to keep his seat on the Shire of Gingin council for the next four years. This afternoon Mr Peczka said he was proud but humbled by the community support, which was reflected in his high first preference vote of 482.

Yanchep Community Men’s Shed is appealing to the City of Wanneroo to help find them a new home before their lease in Bracknell St runs out in February. Yanchep News Online understands Yanchep Community Men’s Shed (YCMS) also wants to contact Yanchep Beach Joint Venture (YBJV) chief executive officer Gin Wah Ang in their efforts to find some land for which they can pay a peppercorn rent or the use of an existing building for low rent.

The State Government has released key policy positions that will form the basis for the Fitzroy water allocation plan, as part of its ongoing commitment to protecting the Fitzroy River while supporting economic development. The  Water allocation planning in the Fitzroy – Policy position paper  reaffirms the State's commitment not to dam the Fitzroy River and its tributaries.

The Perth Royal Show saw a return to a full program this year after COVID caused a massive reduction in classes offered in 2022. Entries across the hack section were of excellent quality, reflecting a return to business as usual after the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Reducing planning red tape was on the agenda at the Denmark October Ordinary Council Meeting, with two planning policies proposed to make life easier for building and business in Denmark. The review of the policies was brought forward in response to the community asking for less ‘red tape’ through Denmark’s Strategic Community Plan Our Future 2033, with both newly reviewed policies approved by Council.

Meet Lionel Marr, a proud Bunuba man, who always felt a calling to return from the city back to his childhood home of Fitzroy Crossing. He wanted to know more about his country, his people and his culture and became a trainee ranger with the Parks and Wildlife Service, earning a coxswain skippers ticket. Lionel’s efforts during the Kimberley floods of January 2023, despite losing his family home, and his commitment to his job, earned him special recognition.

With the 2023 harvest now underway truck drivers are being urged to slow down to 70km/h to help preserve the condition of unsealed rural roads in the Midwest. Corrugations, or washboard effect, caused by acceleration and deceleration pose the greatest risk to drivers and their vehicles.

Peer-reviewed research published in the Australian Forestry journal has confirmed something that forest firefighters have long known: if forests are left unburned for many years, they still carry heavy bushfire fuels, making firefighting difficult and dangerous. The new research demolishes the theory that if forests are left unburnt, they become non-flammable ... the scientists measured and analysed fuels in karri forests that ranged from 1 to 92 years since last being burned.

A new bike library will link Orelia Primary School students with unclaimed bikes from WA Police to encourage physical activity. An exciting new bike library concept aims to leave a positive legacy in Kwinana by linking unclaimed or donated bikes with students at Orelia Primary School.

The Voice to Parliament referendum has failed with voters in Pearce and Durack following the state and national trend of voting No ... Senator Cash did not say if the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) established by the Morrison government in 2019 should be part of that accountability.

Mandurah, Western Australia’s largest regional city, has been named a finalist in the 9th annual international City Nation Place Awards alongside Fiji, Cape Town, Iceland, London, Switzerland, and others. The only Australian city named in the category for Best Communication Strategy – Tourism, Mandurah is one of eleven finalists in recognition for its outstanding 'BIG reasons to visit Mandurah this summer' campaign in 2022/23.

The Cook Labor Government has introduced the  Reserves Bill 2023  to the WA Parliament to enable 145,000 hectares of land to be added to the Helena and Aurora Ranges National Park. The protection of the Helena and Aurora Ranges is a strategic priority under the Cook Government's Plan for Our Parks initiative which aims to add five million hectares to the State's conservation estate.

Patricia Gill. Public servant of 30-plus years, Albany Noongar man Ken Kelly, says a Voice to Parliament will improve social outcomes and reduce future costs. Speaking at the Yes Campaign Walk on September 30, Mr Kelly sees a Voice as a way of keeping the Government of the day on track.

Denmark's first whisky and rum distillery will open early next year at Raintree Farm’s The Dam restaurant. The announcement comes as the first-release single-malt whisky reaches its final months of a two-year ageing process.

Patricia Gill. Walkers are asked to curb their dogs around incubating hooded plover chicks after a fence and signs warning of nesting parent birds were stolen at Lights Beach. BirdLife Australia beach-nesting birds project officer Lisa Nicholson assured dog-walkers that the rope fence and signs were only temporary and the eastern side of Lights Beach would not be closed to dogs.

Out now!

Nazis in the Wheatbelt, hidden nests of white supremacists, who would have known that our sleepy regional country towns are nests of Neo-Nazi racism? ,,, our WA farmer Labor member for the Agricultural Region, Darren West MLC claimed opponents of the Voice were "voting with" Nazis and white supremacists, both during debate on the proposed Indigenous advisory body in Parliament and in an online Facebook post.

A volunteer firefighter, who attended both the 2019 Yanchep and 2021 Red Gully bushfires, has returned from fighting wildfires in Canada. Gingin Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service captain Nikki Woods said fighting wildfires in Alberta, Canada was completely different to fighting bushfires back home.

Gidgegannup Agricultural Society Inc....

Imagine building half of Perth in three years because that's what's needed to accommodate the nearly one million people that are expected to arrive between 2022 and 2025 ... No doubt, some will trek inland to the smaller country towns but don't expect them to stay long as the Federal government has recently moved to introduce new visa rights making it easier for migrants who have taken one of the regional work visas to bail from the bush and retreat to the big cities, leaving the businesses that sponsored them in the lurch.

Mark McHenry is a physicist, an innovator and an explorer of clean energy solutions. He’s worked on research projects in America, the Philippines and Mozambique and is an Associate Professor at Murdoch Uni’s Harry Butler Institute ... Mark is currently putting his physics knowledge into numerous food and energy projects and one of his studies involves truffles.