Sadly, this is what we do if our neighbours are in trouble

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Once upon a time there was a normal family. They were called the Jobs family. There was a mum, a dad, a little boy, and a little girl. 

They lived in a beautiful street with many different homes. Some were large, some were small. Some were elegant and some were simple. 

The Jobs family lived in a simple home. It had stood for many years, and was a great asset to the street. 

One night, the Jobs family home burnt down. It was no fault of the Jobs family. There was some shoddy wiring which started an electrical fire. The family all survived the fire, but all their possessions were destroyed. They had no beds, no clothes, just a few coins in their pockets and the pyjamas they were wearing. 

With nowhere to go, they headed to their neighbour's home to ask for help. Perhaps their kind neighbours would put them up for a few nights and help them a little. 

They headed to one of the largest homes in the street. This large house was home to the Abbott family. They were a very fat family, because they had way more food than they could ever eat. The house was so large that it was often difficult to find someone in it. And importantly, the family was a Christian family. They claimed they loved people just like Jesus, and thus they had a rule that if anyone ever came inside their home and asked for help, they would do everything they could to help them. 

Their reputation for kindness was well known. So the Jobs family went and knocked on their door. 

But things had changed recently at the Abbott family residence. The Jobs family didn't know this, but the head of the household had convinced many people in the family that anyone who comes to the door asking for help is dangerous, or wants to take all their food. Despite all being morbidly obese, some of the Abbott household members started fearing the imaginary scenarios that Mr Abbott had told them about. So they put together an armed force to stand outside the home to arrest anyone who approached the door. 

Inside the home, there was still a plaque on the wall that said "We will help anyone who comes inside and asks for help." This made all the residence of the home feel nice. They were able to tell themselves they were lovely and kind. Sometimes they would open a window and throw a few dollars out of it. That really made them feel special. 

The Jobs family were arrested before they even got to the front door. The children and the parents were all taken away to a factory warehouse on the other side of town, where residents of the Abbott home could not see them. One of the young children who lived in the Abbott residence asked why the poor family with no home couldn't come inside.

Mr Abbott started to make fun of the little boy who asked the honest question. He reminded everyone in the home that he was a Christian, and wanted to protect the family. But some people within the family started to question the need to be so harsh on the Jobs family. Everyone in the Abbott residence knew of the tragic fire. It had been all over the news. But the people who were worried about the Jobs family were told to keep the noise down because the footy was on.  

Meanwhile, the Jobs family were taken to one of the most horrible places they had ever imagined. During their stay, one of their children was sexually abused. They were imprisoned and treated like criminals, and they had no idea if they were ever going to be able to leave. They cried every day. Some of the people that ran the warehouse were horrified at the conditions. They went and told Mr Abbott how bad it was. But instead of fixing the problems, Mr Abbott decided to make a new house rule. If anyone spoke about anything that happened at the warehouse, even of sexual abuse, they would be locked under the stairs for two years. 

The Abbott family continued getting fatter and fatter, and celebrating what wonderful Christians they all were.

And no one really knows what happened to the Jobs family.

SKA influence spreads further than the skies

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This week I visited the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in regional Western Australia, the future Australian home of the world’s largest telescope, the Square Kilometre Array or SKA.

As a mechanical engineer – I was truly in awe of the scale and vision of the project.

It’s a great example of ‘moon shot thinking’.

President JFK said he was going to put a man on the moon but he had no idea how to do it.

With the SKA we’re building the world’s largest telescope with no real idea of what we’ll find.

The SKA will comprisethousands of antennasthat capture radio waves emitted from stars, galaxies, supernovae and black holes.

Some of the radio waves will come from objects that are so far away, they have since disintegrated. It will effectively provide us with a 3D Google map of the universe.

The SKA is expected to produce five times the global internet traffic in 2015, requiring processing power beyond the capability of the fastest super-computers on Earth today.

Australian science institutions and businesses will be at the fore-front in developing the technology for the SKA to process this vast amount of data.

One such scientist isradio astronomer, electrical engineerand inventor of Wi-Fi, John O’Sullivan, who is now a key figure at CSIRO in the development of the SKA.

Given Wi-Fi was invented by a radio astronomer researching the theory of black holes,it’s clearly evident that work in this field, especially on this scale, holds enormous potential for applications across countlessindustries.

The recent discovery of gas from a galaxy five billion light years away by one of the two precursor telescopes, the Australian SKA Pathfinder, proves that the work being conducted is already world leading.

The world’s most innovative companies are also excitedby the challenges and opportunities associated with the SKA.

Break throughs in managing big data are one of those opportunities.

This year Cisco announced its $15 million Australian Internet of Everything Innovation Centrewhich will promote collaboration with companies and scientists – including those involved in the SKA - who are producing big data sets and struggling with similar problems.

These sorts of strong links between research, science and industry are vital for Australia’s ongoing economic prosperity.

Investing in mega-science projects like the SKA,helps Australia remain at the forefront of technology development making our businesses stronger and giving birth to new industries and employment opportunities.

However projects like this also inspire the next generation of radio astronomers and science, technology, engineering and maths or STEM graduates.

Research indicates that 75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations require STEM skills and knowledge; however student participation in ‘science’ subjects has fallen to the lowest level in 20 years.

Projects like the SKA further highlight the need to encourage the next generation to be the radio astronomers or the electrical engineers of the future.

The Australian Government has introduced a range of initiatives to boost participation in STEM but more work is needed.

As a nation, Australians are competitive.

The Australian Government’s investment in projects like the SKA, providescurrent and future Australian scientists as well as industry the edge they need to compete globally, but also affords access to a wealth of economic and technological benefits beyond the scientific discoveries they are designed for – it’s an exciting time and I’m looking forward to the next discovery. 

Wajarri Dictionary app available for iPhone and Android

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A new app has been developed by the Geraldton based Bundiyarra Corp. called the Wajarri Dictionary, and it's now available to download for iOS and Android. 

I had a play with the app, and it's simple to use and easy to navigate. It works on both iPad and iPhone, and worked fine on the Android phones we tested it on. 

You can search English words and see what they translate into, or if you've heard the Wajarri word and want to know what it means in English, you can do that too. 

It's not a comprehensive "learn how to speak Wajarri" resource. Instead, it serves more as an archive of individual words and phrases. In the form of a smartphone app, it is easily accessible to many people whose only computer is their phone. 

It's a free download, and definitely worth checking out. A big thanks to everyone who put so much effort into the project. Protecting this part of our culture and heritage is invaluable. 

From the iTunes App Description

The Wajarri Dictionary app has been developed by the Bundiyarra – Irra Wangga Language Centre (part of the Bundiyarra Aboriginal Community Aboriginal Corporation) which is based in Geraldton, Western Australia. The Wajarri language featured in this app was traditionally spoken in the Murchison region of the state, and is now spoken throughout the wider Midwest and with Wajarri people all over the country and planet.

The app features almost 2,000 Wajarri words, taken from the printed Wajarri Dictionary, launched in 2012. Each word has an English translation, as well a detailed description, including cultural and natural information (where available). Audio recordings with syllable breakdown to assist with pronunciation accompany all entries.

Users can add entries to ‘Favourites’ to assist with language learning and to enable easy access to commonly used words.

The information section of the app features information on Wajarri language, a usage guide, pictures of beautiful Wajarri country and a dedication to the many speakers who gave their language and made projects like this possible.

 

Why living in Geraldton is amazing

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I had a friend from Perth with me for a couple of days in Geraldton this week. 

While he was in town he made some comments about Geraldton that stood out to me; things that one might take for granted after living in Geraldton for a long time. 

“Everyone’s so friendly”

As we walked along the streets in town, perfect strangers smiled and nodded. My Perth friend was amazed. 

Of course they do, I thought to myself. But watching his constant amazement made me realise this isn't normal. It isn't like this everywhere else. 

“The drivers are courteous”

We had a large vehicle, and more than once friendly drivers let us into traffic. I accepted this as normal, everyday friendliness. But my friend explained to me that would rarely happen in Perth. I suggested to him that everywhere was only 7 minutes away, so drivers generally aren't in a rush. He told me it made him feel guilty and want to be a more courteous driver too.  

“Everyone knows everyone”

At one point my friend spotted a person on the street and began to critique their choice of clothing. I then piped up; "Hey, I know her. That's so and so." I gave a wave and smile. 

After a couple of days of constantly saying hi to people who I knew by name in the street, my friend began to realise that's just what happens in Geraldton. 

Oh, I forgot to mention the glorious winter weather, brilliant coffee, and fast NBN. 

The sense of community is strong, although it's hard measure the way one can measure the crime rate.

Once every city in the world was just a large village, where people knew each other and spoke with each other as they made their way around. 

But in the age of motor cars, freeways, computers and suburbs, one can live in a city of 2 million people and feel completely alone. 

Counter-intuitively, it's easier to have a large number of friends you see regularly in a smaller city like Geraldton, than it is in a large place like Perth or Melbourne. 

As the Geraldton community currently grapples with its share of issues, like increased burglary rates, unemployment, and the cost of living, it's worth keeping in mind the things we posses that can't be measured on a graph. 

Geraldton is special. It's worth protecting. 

Kids standing around in a circle causes outrage

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GWN7 has given Geraldton some more free prime time publicity around the state following a video being posted on Facebook of a group of children standing in a circle at night time. 

Other than standing on the road, the footage shows no illegal activity. 

GWN7 goes on to tie the footage to methamphetamines and Melissa Price's upcoming forum on "Ice". 

While Geraldton Police have noted in the past that there is a problem with crime in Geraldton, no evidence has been put forward to date of meth being a common drug of choice for children and young teenagers. 

It is believed the teenagers gathered in the street after attending what is a regular youth program near the basketball court along the foreshore. 

GWN7 said the video has "so many people angry' and has prompted a "huge response", although they didn't give the number of people who responded negatively. Everything Geraldton counted 22 people with negative comments to the original video. 

Others have criticised the story saying that while crime is certainly a problem, the children in the video are not actually doing anything wrong and don't deserve to bear the brunt of a wider community outrage regarding the massive spike in home burglaries.

While crime is certainly a serious issue, it's unclear if sensationalising non-events actually helps the problem. 

Click here to view news story or watch below. 

Are "youth" a problem?

It's nice to simplify problems in life, but the reality is often quite complicated. Certainly more complicated than a 90 second TV news bite can explore.

If any other group of people were labelled as a collective problem the way "youth" are, there would be public outrage.

It's well known most crimes are committed by men. If we were to say there's a "men" problem in Geraldton every bloke who wasn't a criminal would be outraged at such a ridiculous generalisation. If a "male curfew" was demanded by randoms on social media, they would be shot down quickly. Demanding all young people be forbidden from being outside at night time because of a small minority of troubled youth is just as ridiculous. 

But young people can't vote, and they don't have the same public relations skills as older people. So they continue to be bundled together and issues get labelled a "youth" problem. 

I recall reading a letter published in the Geraldton Guardian by a School Teacher from Strathalbyn Christian College who was kept anonymous by the paper, saying this about Geraldton's youth:

"... large proportion of Geraldton's youth decide that it is ok to light stolen cars and entire fields on fire, vandalise everything in their paths, break in to houses as well as train younger relatives to do the same, and throw rocks at people."

The school teacher had recently moved to Geraldton, and had an incident occur in her street that involved a young person and an older person. From that incident and other events she had seen in the news, she extrapolated that Geraldton is dealing with a "large proportion" of youth who behave in this manner. 

In fact, the people with whom this school teacher had a run in were not even from Geraldton, one of the people was a fully grown adult, and both had left town shortly afterwards. The school teacher was well aware of these facts. 

She decided to leave Geraldton, but made sure her anti-Geraldton rhetoric was shared on social media even as she arrived in Queensland. 

But the truth is there's nothing remotely like a "large proportion" of youth who behave like this. It's a tiny minority. Anyone who has worked in youth services would be able to tell you that. 

Most teenagers in Geraldton are struggling with the same things you and I struggled with at that age:
Does that person like me?
I don't fit in
I'm bored
I want to be accepted
I'm tired all the time
I hate school
Theres' so much pressure to succeed
My parents have broken up
What am I going to do when I leave school?
Am I loveable?
I want a good role model

There are plenty of unsung heroes in Geraldton who are willing to role up their sleeves and try and help these young people in any way they can. One group of volunteers attends the foreshore usually on a Thursday night to interact and hang out with some of Geraldton's youth. 

They don't always run their program how I would run it, but I'm sure as heck not going to throw stones at them for at least trying to help. 

Sitting at home on Facebook ranting in the comments about "youth" is one strategy for helping... but perhaps getting out there and letting some of these kids know they're loved and valued might go a little further towards helping them navigate the difficult time that is adolescence. 

 

Please don't abandon arts and culture

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I was surprised to see the backlash towards the City of Greater Geraldton over the recent loss of jobs within the city staff. For the last two years incessant cries of "reduce the rates" have in no way been countered by anyone asking for the City to continue to spend money as it's needed.

Yet when the reality of reducing expenses actually occurs, no-one wants to see job losses, or wants their precious kerb side collection to disappear. 

Perhaps this is to be expected. Only those who are negatively affected by something bother to sign petitions, create community groups, or attend council meetings. So those who are happy with moderate rate increases for the foreseeable future made no noise at all, and those who are secretly happy to see staff reductions at the city also made no noise when that happened. 

I'd like to make some noise in favour of something that I don't think is under threat yet, but I'd like it to stay that way; namely the level of funding provided towards the arts and culture in Geraldton. 

"Arts and culture" is a broad term. In many people's mind it basically means painting, or maybe it means "waste of money".

Arts and culture, to me, encompasses everything from performances and entertainment, to sculptures, literature and paintings. Sport also plays a massive role in the culture of the Geraldtonian, and needs to continue to be fostered. 

Over the last 8 years, I watched my step daughter succeed year after year in the Randolph Stow awards. For those who don't know, Randolph Stow was a successful author who hailed from Geraldton. The awards are run by the City of Greater Geraldton through the Library, and the opportunity for young people to participate is city wide. 

She is now at UWA studying to become an English Teacher. It would be inaccurate to say the only reason she chose that is because of the awards. But remembering her pleasure in receiving the awards each year makes me appreciate the contribution they played in fostering a love in her for the craft of writing. 

As the accountants and number crunchers look at what the council is spending money on and what it needs to cut back on, items like these are going to be hard to justify. But I would argue that they are somewhat priceless. 

As much as I love business and free enterprise, things like this are unlikely to ever be funded by the private sector, as a direct return on investment is essentially impossible. 

But without a thriving culture, what makes Geraldton a great place to live?

The sports, music and arts scenes in Geraldton have all birthed wonderful stories. The Mid West punches well above its weight when it comes to the number of sports starts we've exported, considering our population.

We've also produced a premier, the first female parliamentarian, and multiple award winning authors, and I'm sure there's much more to come. 

Geraldton has been fortunate to become host to a wonderful new organisation called the "Comedy Emporium" in recent years. We have the well known Sunshine Festival each year which gives many people a sense of Geraldton's identity, we have a popular local basketball team, football league and lots of people who are into their fishing and hunting. 

I understand organisations like the Chamber of Commerce demanding rate reductions. If businesses can't afford to do business, Geraldton becomes a less practical place to live. But without the rich tapestry of arts and culture, Geraldton would become a place little to offer, giving people even less reason to stay, and thus do business. 

Geraldton really is an wonderful place to live. If you scratch the surface of our friendly and laid back lifestyle, you'll see an enormous spectrum of culture and art that adds a unique flavour to life in our region. 

Let's not allow that to fall into disarray like a poorly maintained road, for the sake of a few dollars a week. 

Racism and The Boy who Cried Wolf

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I trust you're familiar with the tale of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".

Boy looks after sheep. Gets bored. Yells "Wolf!". Townsfolk come. No wolf. Boy repeats. Townsfolk annoyed. Actual wolf comes. Nobody listens. Sheep and boy eaten by wolf.

It amazes me how self destructive those on the progressive side of social issues can be.

They attack people who are on the same side as themselves, but who vary slightly in their opinion on how to improve the world. 

I have read several things in recent months that implied racism or racial discrimination in Geraldton where there honestly was none, and I wondered about the dangers of diluting the issue of racism and alienating the very people who are trying to fight against it.

I don't want to go in to the specifics as I know the authors of the remarks are wonderful proponents for equality in our region, and should be encouraged. 

But it's worth considering the implications of pulling the "racist" card inappropriately and the harm it can do to the very cause you're trying to progress. 

Recently the debate regarding the closure of Aboriginal communities has lead to some ridiculous name calling and accusations of racism, where clearly some folk are simply wanting the welfare of children to be considered. 

On Everything Geraldton's Facebook page I saw both Aboriginal and white folk say they believed many of the remote communities are unsafe for young people, or shouldn't be publicly funded, only to be met with cries of "racist". And the people hurling those accusations of racism weren't interested in discussing child abuse data, the number of children with sexually transmitted infections, or the ineffectiveness in the communities at "closing the gap". Instead, anyone with an opinion on how to help Aboriginal people that differed to their own was met with cries of "racist". 

To be very clear, I'm not personally advocating closing remote communities. I have spent a small amount of time on a remote community in the Kimberly and the sense of reverence I felt towards the elders and occupants of the land was overwhelming. I personally want nothing more than the preservation of this priceless cultural heritage we have in the form of our First Australians and their connection to the land. 

However, how on earth can any productive discourse occur when anyone who has an opinion that differs to the person with the loudest voice is labelled racist?

It's hurting the cause.

You might think you're helping your team by screaming "racist" at anyone who disagrees with you. But you're doing more harm than good. 

There are thousands of people in Geraldton who want nothing more than the future of minority groups in Australia to be prosperous.

But if the people who hold slightly different views to yourself, or don't dot the i's and cross the t's to your satisfaction, are publicly branded a "racist", they won't be on your team for very long. 

They will stay silent. They will do nothing. They won't get involved and they won't listen when help is asked for. 

I experience it first hand. 

My staff work hard to ban anyone from our different platforms who is actually racist. We have had to ban dozens of idiots over the years, sad to say. We've improved our comment detection practices, and many key words that are used in racist comments are now automatically flagged and hidden. 

On our app and website, users have the ability to report anything inappropriate, and Facebook also offers good moderation tools. 

But none of the tools at our disposal are perfect, and sometimes an inappropriate comment doesn't get removed immediately. God help us when that happens. I get informed I'm clearly racist for allowing that comment to have existed. 

Honestly, it hurts a LOT when people say that. It is quite painful when the very people you agree with so much turn on you and call you all the things you've been fighting to stop.

There IS actual racism out there, and we need to keep fighting it.

In 2007 when I rented out a home I owned through a local real estate agent, I was asked if I was willing to rent to Aboriginals.

I was dumbstruck.

I said "Isn't that illegal to even ask?", to which I was told "lots of people won't do it so we just ask up front."

Racism and racial discrimination are things we need to keep fighting. 

But we're not going to be effective if we keep turning on each other simply because we disagree on how to tackle race related issues, or if we turn completely unrelated matters into accusations of racism.

If there's a wolf, cry wolf, and do it loudly. If there's no wolf, hold your tongue. 

An interesting perspective on bypass roads

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Your thoughts? We hadn't heard this perspective before...

"An open letter, beginning, to all shire councils, town councils, Chambers of commerce, everywhere in Rural Australia. I drive all over Australia, I'm not a truckie, I have a map and I am colouring in each road as pass over it. I see a trend in small rural towns Certain towns are dying, ceasing to exist Those towns with no stores, restaurants, hotels, motels remaining on the streets have something in common They have all built bypass ring roads, to divert heavy vehicles out of town I work at a roadhouse, I know truckies, Truck drivers aren't stupid, If you tell em you don't want them in your town, they won't go But the 100 trucks each day in each direction that no longer pass through, no longer buy 1000 litres of fuel in your roadhouse, no longer buy meals in your restaurants, no longer stop to just get human conversation in your pubs, no longer spend a night in your hotels or motels to get out of the cab occasionally, no longer shop in your supermarkets to restock the cab fridge. Winton in Queensland HAD a vibrant main street 2 years ago, now only the BP roadhouse, at the corner where trucks are diverted around town is alive, the town is closed down at 5pm, half the stores on the main street are empty the trucks turned away are a much bigger resource than the few caravans pandered to, who roll up once. Trucking is everyday, both ways Small town, or roadhouse with a ghost town attached, the choice is yours. 

Rob Dockrey"

We're over it

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I hung my head as I read earlier in the week of a few youths who participated in a crime spree being given the heavy sentence of nothing, but strongly advised they should apologise to their victims. 

What's it going to take for the magistrates to realise what these kids are lacking is discipline? By being so soft on them you're withholding exactly what they're crying out for in their lives; someone who loves them enough to discipline them. 

Instead, day after day, we have to read about, hear, or experience for ourselves the nonsense these young out of control criminals are doing in our community. 

Just tonight a young man was chased by a gang of thirteen youths and only narrowly avoided getting bashed. 

The Police have launched a Facebook page, and have a division called the Local Policing Team or LPT. And I'm glad they send out emails. And I'm glad they make tracking the massive spike in burglaries easy to measure with online tools. And I'm glad we have more CCTV. 

But it all feels like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. As long as magistrate Donna Webb and team think committing six aggravated burglary offences doesn't warrant any punishment, almost everything the Police do is a complete waste of time. If I was the copper who spent time, energy, paperwork, received abuse, all while I could have been making more money elsewhere, only to see the courts let the crims back onto the street with nothing more than a stern talking to, I would wonder why I bothered!

And the young person that had a massive criminal record already? He must have gone to jail, surely? Did he get a year at least? No. He got an "intensive youth supervision order", which is involves having to participate in a program, and between 10 and 100 hours of community service. 

Look, no-one delights in seeing people go to jail. But if a decent consequence occurred earlier on in life, perhaps some of these kids would stop sooner. We don't want to remove the rehabilitation programs, but it doesn't take a genius to realise that what we've been trying for the last 30 years has failed miserably. 

This video below of street fighting in Bogle Way in Spalding appeared on the internet this evening with the caption of "The results of drinking all night in Geraldton." I would add: "And the knowledge that there are no consequences for your actions." 
I'm pretty sure the Geraldton magistrates don't live in Bogle Way.

We're over it

We're over itI hung my head as I read earlier in the week of a few youths who participated in a crime spree being given the heavy sentence of nothing, but strongly advised they should apologise to their victims. What's it going to take for the magistrates to realise what these kids are lacking is discipline? By being so soft on them you're withholding exactly what they're crying out for in their lives; someone who loves them enough to discipline them. Instead, day after day, we have to read about, hear, or experience for ourselves the nonsense these young out of control criminals are doing in our community. Just tonight a young man was chased by a gang of thirteen youths and only narrowly avoided getting bashed. The Police have launched a Facebook page, and have a division called the Local Policing Team or LPT. And I'm glad they send out emails. And I'm glad they make tracking the massive spike in burglaries easy to measure with online tools. And I'm glad we have more CCTV. But it all feels like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. As long as magistrate Donna Webb and team think committing six aggravated burglary offences doesn't warrant any punishment, almost everything the Police do is a complete waste of time. If I was the copper who spent time, energy, paperwork, received abuse, all while I could have been making more money elsewhere, only to see the courts let the crims back onto the street with nothing more than a stern talking to, I would wonder why I bothered!And the young person that had a massive criminal record already? He must have gone to jail, surely? Did he get a year at least? No. He got an "intensive youth supervision order", which is involves having to participate in a program, and between 10 and 100 hours of community service. Look, no-one delights in seeing people go to jail. But if a decent consequence occurred earlier on in life, perhaps some of these kids would stop sooner. We don't want to remove the rehabilitation programs, but it doesn't take a genius to realise that what we've been trying for the last 30 years has failed miserably. This video below of street fighting in Bogle Way in Spalding appeared on the internet this evening with the caption of "The results of drinking all night in Geraldton." I would add: "And the knowledge that there are no consequences for your actions." I'm pretty sure the Geraldton magistrates don't live in Bogle Way.

Posted by Everything Geraldton on Thursday, April 30, 2015


3 things Geraldton needs to change with its parking

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First, I'll start by saying there's no parking crisis in Geraldton. It's seriously not hard to find a parking bay in town, the rates are relatively reasonable where there is paid parking, and there's also a good amount of free parking a majority of the time. The car park next to Maccas is usually nearly empty, and even when I ran a lawn mowing business and had a trailer attached to my ute I was usually able to park within walking distance of Woolworths, the Post Office or the banks. 

If you want a bay right out the front of every shop you're ever going to visit, your demands are unreasonable and you should stop reading this right now. 

But there are a few things Geraldton could do differently or better to help make visiting the CBD a little more enjoyable and a little less stressful.  

1. Two Hours of parking is not enough.  

This picture was taken in Mandurah. Because of the extra time we had (in the angled bay) we spent more time browsing and shopping. 

Most of the free bays in Geraldton's CBD have a limit of 2 hours. Consider this scenario:  

You're heading to meet Jenny for coffee. You decided to meet at the Jaffle Shack at 10am and you get there 15 minutes early at 9:45. She gets there 15 minutes late though, so by the time you've both ordered and sipping on your coffee it's 10:25. You chat for 45 minutes and both head off. It's now 11:10. You walk down to the Post Office to send that letter to Grandma who still doesn't have email or Facebook. You have to queue to buy stamps, so by the time that errand is over it's 11:30. You walk around to Woolies to grab some supplies you needed for the weekend gathering you have planned. You're starting to feel a little more than peckish, so you think to yourself where you might stop for lunch, maybe GoHealth, maybe a Kebab. You glance at your phone to check the time. It's 11:55. CRAP. You've been parked too long. Any decision you make now increases your chance of getting a $75 parking fine. You remember the last parking fine you got a few months ago. "STUFF THAT" you think to yourself. You head home and make a sandwich. 

Every day businesses in Geraldton miss out on lots of trade because people rush to get out of their bays before the two hours is up. You can't grab lunch and a movie in two hours. You can't browse for new clothes, window shop the jewellers, get your hair done, and enjoy a dine in lunch in two hours. You can't take the kids to the foreshore playground, then take them out for lunch in two hours. 

If you want to attract people in to the city, encourage them to stay there and spend money, then don't put a ridiculous two hour limit on the parking. Mandurah has four hours along their shop riddled foreshore and board walk. I think we should take a leaf out of the book from one of the more successful tourist destinations in WA and increase the time limit in the free bays. It may seem like a good idea making people rush back to their cars allowing others to park. But those "others" would have just parked a little further away, and also could have enjoyed a less rushed shopping experience.  

2. Angled parking everywhere

This picture was taken recently in Geraldton. It's not staged. And it's not a joke. Someone actually parked like this. And worse, it's not a rare sight.  

There's two kinds of parking bays; angled bays and stupid bays.  

I mean seriously, how much nicer is it to park in front of the post office in those angled bays than the perpendicular ones that were there before? (Shoutout to Brian Taylor)

It's safer, it's quicker, it's easier. There's virtually no downside to angled parking.

Perhaps in some circumstances it may mean a couple of less bays. But have you looked around in Geraldton at the non angled bays? A lot of the time someone has parked in two bays anyway because they lack the ability to parallel park or aim their car. So angled parking would make it easier for the incompetent drivers (of which we have so many) and we would all win because they wouldn't be taking up one and a half bays all the time. 

Oh, and don't get me started on people trying to parallel park in Geraldton. I'm pretty sure 90% of you don't even know you're meant to drive in front of the bay and then reverse in. Every day I see people take the parralel parking bay head first, having to drive up on to the footpath, and then back in to the bay. It's a joke to watch. I really don't know how we all passed our driving tests.  

And whevenever someone DOES try to parallel park correctly, the person behind them has no idea what they're doing and drives right up their butt, leaving them no room to back into the bay. It would be funny to watch if it wasn't so sad, and didn't happen so often.  

Also, the town planners didn't take into account the high percentage of us that own 4x4s. Parralel parking might be a nice idea in Paris where everyone drives Vespas and Fiats the size of toasters. But in the home of the Landcruiser, parking needs to be rethought. Heck, even parents who do school runs drive 200 series landies. And even the most competent drivers of these cars usually takes one look at the parallel parking bays in town and just keeps driving.  

If the mall was angled parking, I can tell you most people would be less stressed parking there. 

The only people that would be negatively affected by switching to angled parking everywhere would be panel beaters.  

3. First hour free in all the paid spots (at least)

I was a participant in the recent community summit, and like 90 odd percent of the people there I voted to keep paid parking because of the income it brings in, helping other useful services that lose money to exist... like libraries and CCTV. 

But my vote to keep paid parking wasn't an implicit acceptance that paying for parking is always a good idea. 

The world isn't as black and white as many accountants would like us to think. On paper it looks like paid parking generates revenue for the city. But the hidden cost is ... hidden. It's hard to quantify the cost of people who simply won't pay for parking, thus won't stay in town longer than two hours, thus won't spend much money at retailers in town. It's hard to say if that cost to the Geraldton economy is greater than the net gain from the scrap of money the parking generates. I'm not saying it is or isn't greater either way (I haven't done any studies), just that it's hard to quantify.  

Many people view paying to park like paying for bottled water. "It's water. It falls from the sky! Why would I pay you $3.95 for a 600 mL bottle of the stuff?! You're crazy?!"  

Same with parking spaces. "It's a SPACE. There's nothing there! It's not a building! It's a nothing! I'm not paying for parking!"  

To them it would be like Dome charging people for sitting in their chairs. Even if they sold the coffee for $1 and the chair for $3, people would just resent the idea of paying to sit in a chair. Does the chair cost Dome money? Sure does, probably more than the coffee beans and water they heated up and sold you. But they have to build the cost of the chair into the coffee or you'd resent them.  

It's the same with parking. I know it costs money in the form of opportunity costs to keep valuable land free for parking. But if the cost of the parking was built into the price of other things, people would park in town more, stay longer and spend more money at local shops. They'd spend a lot more than the $6 you'd get if you charged for parking. 

Now the city may be wondering how on earth that would ever make THEIR books look good. Sure, it would benefit all the businesses in town. But the only way the council would see a dime of that is if they were able to charge higher rates.  

But here's the thing. If the CBD was thriving, more stores would be built, more premises would exist which would pay rates, and the value of those businesses would be higher too, also affecting the amount of rates charged. 

So while it may look good just to charge more for parking and have more money, in the long term I would argue it hurts commerce and ends up hurting rate revenue for the city too. Encouraging growth in town and getting people in there shopping should be a higher priority.

If paid parking made economic sense, then all the shopping centres would charge for parking. But they don't. Why? Because they know the $5 they got for parking would be nothing compared to the massive amount of money they'd lose from everyone who stopped shopping there. You do pay for the parking indirectly. It's factored into the rent that the tenant stores get charged, thus it's factored into anything you buy from a shopping centre. But if you had to pay that $5 parking cost directly, you wouldn't.  

I say first hour free at least because I understand if you made all parking free everywhere all the time, you'd simply get workers at all the shops taking all the good bays first thing in the morning. They're not spending money all day, and it would achieve the opposite of what you wanted.  

So I'd like to see the paid parking bays converted to at least some free time, so more people are encouraged to duck in to town and do what they need to do. And if they want to stay all day they can pay a small, reasonable fee. And the free bays should (mostly) be lengthened to four hours, long enough to encourage you to spend more time and money in town, but not so long that staff at all the stores take up those bays all day long. 

In conclusion

These opinions I have shared should not be taken without consideration of the first paragraph. I really don't think there's a parking crisis. Walking 7 minutes to get to the shop you want shouldn't be the end of the world, and I don't think a multi story car park needs to be built (though Everything Geraldton often gets calls for this). Parking in Gero is definitely a "first world problem" if it is one at all, but in this time of economic downturn where some businesses are doing it tough, it would be good to look at ways to make it easier for tourists and locals alike to be encouraged to frequent our wonderful CBD and foreshore and spend money here rather than online/overseas. 

One other argument I often here about there being no need to stimulate spending here is that "you only have $x each week, so it doesn't matter." This argument to me is ridiculous. When I have the choice to buy something locally or online, I would much rather get it locally because I want it now and don't want to wait. If it's too hard to get to the store, or the store won't open during hours that are convenient to me, or if the item doesn't exist locally, maybe then I will buy it online.  So the amount of money I have to spend locally is very much a variable thing. And the more I spend locally > the more profitable local businesses are > the more jobs are created locally > the more money other people are able to spend locally > and the cycle of growth continues.  

Planned parking changes

Making it as convenient as possible for people to keep their money spent locally through things like better parking policies should be a priority.  Any thought of adding parking meters or making parking more inhibitive in the city limits would be a bad idea at the moment. 

It appears there are changes on the horizon for parking in Geraldton, but we're unclear about what they might be. 

We've heard through the MWCCI about an upcoming forum on parking. We reached out to the City for information and they sent us the following: 

You are invited to attend a forum on City Centre Car Parking 

Date: Monday 4 May 2015

Time: 5:30pm
 
Location: City of Greater Geraldton, Cathedral Avenue – Function Room 
The items for discussion with a short brief on each as follows:

• Planned carparking provision changes relevant to CBD development as part of the new TP Scheme being drafted

• The City carparking strategy – items implemented and those planned in the medium term

• Advice on whether on-street car parking meters or charging is being contemplated by the City;

• Q & A session

RSVP to admin@mwcci.com.au

Update:  

We have been advised that the parking forum at the City of Greater Geraldton is not open to the general public, only members of the Mid West Chamber of Commerce.  

Thank you for allowing me to watch the ANZAC service

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I'd like to thank the City of Greater Geraldton and the Geraldton RSL for allowing my family and I to participate in the Geraldton ANZAC service via live stream.  

Unfortuanely we were unable to be in town on the day, but we were able to tune in live using the iPad to the live stream of the 11am service.  

Thanks also to Node 1 for making it happen at short notice, from what I understand.  

I posted the videos on Everything Geraldton so our audience was a aware of the streams as well, and had positive feedback. One person in the UK mentioned they were able to watch grandchildren March despite being so far away. 

The videos of the services are available after the fact too. I've embedded them below.  

Thank you to staff at car wash

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This was posted to the Everything Geraldton Facebook page earlier: 

I would like to thank the Car Wash people next to Panaceum today for walking me to my car after being disgustingly abused verbally and with overt sexual threats by three men living in the house next door. I was parked on Lester avenue and heading to the doctor already fragile when one male started making lewd simulating gestures to a bottle of alcohol he was drinking. When I ignored him he became agitated and shouted disgustings acts he would do to me...insert racist comments here, fat, white...quite ironic considering he was of fair skin. I was very fearful and shaken and lovely lady in surgery called the car wash and had someone walk me to car. Police were notified and this house is known to local business as an ongoing concern. The ladies in red cross shop have visits regularly and often after " a hit" as one was told. When I left the surgery an elderly lady had just been subject to same.I'm not passing judgement on this page but I appreciated the kindness of the staff at the car wash.

- Stephanie  

One year on and still no action on crime

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At the last state election the Liberal party promised they would get tough on crime, in particular with home invasions. (link)

Citizens were promised legislation that would reflect the community's actual expectations regarding consequences for those who commit burglaries. 

In March of last year Police Minister Liza Harvey issued a press release that celebrated the supposed success of the Liberal party and its new legislation. The headline was "State Govt delivers toughest home invasion laws". (Link)

But one year later the legislation is still in parliament. It's still not delivered in the sense of it being law. 

One of the changes promised was that the three strikes counting rule would be changed, so that multiple burglaries committed over one period were not counted as one strike. (Never mind that most people still think it's absurd that someone can break into two family's homes, traumatise them, and have have no jail term.) The media statement from the minister pointed out that only 49% of aggravated burglaries and home burglaries in 2012 resulted in a jail term. ONL 49%!

But at least the promise went some way toward making sure there was a consequence for some of the repeat burglars. 

In the 12 months since, burglaries have continued to skyrocket in Geraldton. Click here for data.  Nearly every Geraldton suburb has seen a significant rise in burglaries during 2014.

Each one of these burglaries is not just a number. Each one is a family that no longer feels safe in their own home, or a child that struggles to sleep alone, or a valuable asset to our city with one less reason to believe it's a great place to live. 

Whatever other tactics the courts or authorities have been trying have evidentially not been working.  

We rang Minister Harvey's office last week to try and understand why the legislation still has not been passed. They got back to us today and promised that the even though it's taken a long time and the legislation is currently in the upper house, it WOULD eventually pass. 

Geraldton residents regularly contact us asking why there aren't extra Police in town or tougher laws to deter all the burglaries. 

Instead we get tax payer funded full page newspaper adverts telling us we need to take more care, and CCTV in the middle of town, nowhere near our homes. 

That's not to say people aren't grateful for those things. They're very grateful.  

But if the magistrates won't reflect the will of the community in their sentencing, it's encumbered upon the democratically chosen public servants (politicians) to pass laws that don't give the magistrates a choice; as the people were promised. And each day this legislation waits in parliament is another day the community's will is not being done. 

Regarding the confusion of businesses continuing to trade during the Yellow Alert on Friday night

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There was a little confusion on Friday night as the cyclone approached. 

Everything Geraldton published the alerts that were relevant from DFES, and announcements from local authorities, businesses, and organisations as they became available. The response from the City of Greater Geraldton team was also very thorough, providing sand bags and warnings to the community. 

Given the massive reach of the internet, many people now stay alert to unfolding things like this online and through their iPhones than through legacy methods like radio and TV. 

But there was some confusion over the YELLOW ALERT status. Since the incident there have been inaccurate media reports on what YELLOW ALERT means, and businesses who chose to follow Police instructions, and those who did not follow Police instructions have publicly responded. 

We did some digging during and after the YELLOW ALERT to make sure the information we shared was accurate, and this is what we have discovered. 

According to DFES:

  • Blue Alert means prepare for dangerous weather
  • Yellow Alert means take action and get ready to go to shelter
  • Red Alert means go to shelter immediately

DFES has a large list of things to do at each level of these alerts. For the purpose of this article we won't be covering them all.

However, we will mention that it says for Blue: "Find out when shops and businesses will close, and when to collect your children from school." And for Yellow: "Be aware that shops will now be closing." Announcements on Friday from DFES when we went Yellow said "Be aware shops MAY now be closing."

Note that this is not an explicit statement that all shops must close during a Yellow Alert. Simply that during the Yellow Alert period, shops will/may be closing. 

If it was categorically illegal to be open during the Yellow alert period, shops would need to close during the BLUE ALERT stage to make sure they didn't break the law. It IS illegal to be out and about during a RED ALERT stage though, so businesses by definition will need to close at some point during the YELLOW ALERT stage to be ready if RED ALERT happens.  

We rang DFES to clarify where they stood on the matter. They couldn't give us a clear answer straight away, but rang back shortly afterwards and stated that there IS a requirement for everyone to be closed during a RED ALERT, but not explicitly during the YELLOW alert stage. 

However, there is more information you need before you jump on the Police for telling businesses to close during the Yellow Alert. 

Is it true that you can get fined $50,000 for trading during a Yellow alert? 

Under the Emergency Management Act 2005 section 71  that covers "Powers of police to direct closure of places and concerning movement and evacuation" states:

For the purpose of emergency management during an emergency situation or state of emergency, the most senior police officer present in the emergency area may direct the owner, occupier or the person apparently in charge of any place of business, worship or entertainment in the emergency area to close that place to the public for the period specified in the direction.

And Section 86 of the same act, which covers penalties, states:

Failure to comply with direction
A person given a direction under section 47, 67, 70, 71 or 75 must comply with the direction. Penalty:
(a)  a fine of $50 000;
(b)  for each separate and further offence committed by the person under the Interpretation Act 1984 section 71, a fine of $5 000. 

A state of emergency was actually enacted by the State Emergency Coordinator at 0900 on Friday, while Geraldton was still in the Blue Alert phase. This means that you needed to follow Police instructions regardless of the colour of alert. 

So it's not the fact that your business is open during a Yellow Alert that is the problem per say. 

It is when you fail to comply with Police directions during a state of emergency that you can be fined, whether Blue, Yellow, Red or whatever alert is in place. 

Police were very clear about their directions to businesses to close. 

They posted on their own Twitter account, (which has the authorised blue tick so you know it's them), that all businesses needed to close. Their message was re-broadcast through Everything Geraldton's website, social media channels and app, and the Geraldton Guardian's Facebook page. AND the Police got on the phones and rang as many businesses as they could. 

The Everything Geraldton Facebook post ALONE reached over 38,000 people. Police couldn't have reached more people if they had gone live on every TV and radio station in the Mid West. 

Given the devastation that the cyclone had just had on Carnarvon, authorities weren't taking any chances with people's lives as the cyclone was bearing down on Geraldton.

Thankfully, Geraldton got nothing more than a strong breeze, a bit of rain and some lightning. Because we avoided destruction some folks have responded with claims that the level of preparation for the storm was over the top. 

But once a cyclone is on your doorstep it's too late to start preparing. 

Had anyone been injured or killed because they were traveling home when the cyclone hit, those same complainers would have demanded more had been done to avoid tragedy. 

The day my teacher hit me

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1988. The year of our bicentenary. The year Home and Away launched. The year the 50m penalty was introduced in the VFL.

I was seven years old and attending a small christian school in Joondalup. My family had recently moved from Victoria, and I was in the second grade in a classroom that included year ones, twos and threes. 

This particular day was like any other. I was sitting towards the rear of the class where the twos and threes sat, or perhaps I was sitting with the smart kids. 

The teacher gave an instruction for everyone to be quiet. 

Everyone was quiet. A little time passed, and I spoke to a peer sitting next to me about something I deemed important. 

The teacher heard me. She asked me to stand up and come out of the class with her. She was completely calm. No anger or frustration at all. 

She explained that I had spoken after she had given clear instructions to everyone to be quiet, and now I was going to be getting the cane. 

There was a consequence for my decision.

I was in complete shock. My mother had smacked me plenty of times. But never for the first time you disobeyed her. She only did it when she was a ball of frustrated rage at her whits end, so you could try and gauge how much you could push her. 

But this teacher was not angry at me. She instructed me to bend over and pull my pants down. I was hit once or twice with a stick of some description. Then it was over. 

I fought back the tears as I returned to the class. 

And I never got the cane again. Nor was I disrespectful towards my teachers for the rest of my school life (more or less).

Now, I'm not advocating for smacking children. I don't smack my own, and I have heard too many stories where children were beaten mercilessly by teachers who clearly needed to be locked away themselves. So I certainly don't commend hitting as an intrinsically good way of training children. 

However, what became very clear to me from this teacher's actions were two things:

1. I knew where I stood. 

2. She meant what she said. 

It was very clear what the consequences were for certain courses of action. There was no ambiguity. The punishment dished out was not dependant on the teacher's mood that day, or her blood sugar level, or whether I had had a good track record up until that point.

Action = Consequence. 

So in choosing how I was to behave in the future I had a clear understanding of what the consequences would be for any action I might take. 

I believed what she said. I listened carefully when she spoke because I knew she meant what she said. From then on, she had my respect. 

Being Consistent

Since becoming a Father, I have learned to maintain a level of predictability and consistency with my children. 

When it's time for them to hop off the computer, for example, I used to have to tell them many times. They would ignore or refuse the first request. They would argue or flat out disobey. I would repeat the instruction. Then I would repeat it again. Then I would threaten. Then I would threaten in a more stern voice. Then I would argue some more. Then I would have to physically drag them away... you get the picture. 

After a while I realised that by not being clear with the consequences the first time I said something I was actually TRAINING my kids to not believe me, and to just do what they felt like. So one day I said (something along the lines of), "Turn the Macs off or you won't be allowed on them for the entire weekend." They didn't respond, so the punishment was inflicted. I didn't raise my voice, despite their protesting. And I didn't argue. I just pointed out that they had been told what the consequence would be, and they were old enough to understand (4 and 6). It was unpleasant for them. They informed my that they hated me and I was the worst Dad in the world. And I took no pleasure in punishing them. But we all made it through alive. 

The next time I said turn off the Macs, they paused for a moment, remembered that I meant what I said, and turned them off. Now, (most of the time) I just have to give an instruction once and they comply. 

I don't have to get angry, they aren't confused as to whether I mean what I say or not. Everyone is happier.

They're not mindless drones, by any measure. They negotiate, ask for more time, and try and explain why Minecraft is good for them. But they listen to my instructions. 

They believe I mean what I say, and I have their respect. 

So what's this got to do with anything?

As I sat in court a few weeks ago listening to a bunch of different cases come before the magistrate, I was blown away with how much like a frustrated parent he was. People who had been breaking VROs, people who had been stealing, people who had been drink driving and wanted their E plates...

He would constantly berate each person who came before him, before giving them absolutely no consequence for their crime other than a threat that if they did it again they could maybe expect something more serious. 

I was flabergasted.

So they basically did the wrong thing. They KNEW they did the wrong thing. This WASN'T THE FIRST TIME they had done the wrong thing. Yet STILL they were granted their E plates, spared a prison sentence, or just generally let off virtually scott free. 

I despaired for our community at large. 

I felt sorry for the Police that had worked so damn hard to catch these people committing crimes in the first place. 

I reflected on my own parenting, and how by being inconsistent and having no clear consequence for behaviour, it was MY fault my kids continued disobeying. 

In the latest "E Watch" newsletter sent out by Geraldton Police, Senior Sergeant Martin Haime reflected on the increase in burglaries around Geraldton, and said regarding the culprits: "many of our charged offenders are repeat customers who seem to have little respect for the police, the community and the justice system."

He did not blame the justice system, but in my opinion it's quite clear why these folk don't respect the justice system... The justice system is like a parent who makes idle threats and raises their voice.

Those parents never get any respect. 

Trying to save someone's life is a massive hassle

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I don't understand why our government makes trying to help people harder than being selfish. 

From time to time the thought about what happens to my organs if I am killed passes through my mind. For the last 33 years I haven't done anything with those thoughts other than decide in my brain that of course I don't need my heart or anything else if I'm dead, anyone else is welcome to have them. 

I then proceed with whatever task I am doing until the next time three years later when the thought passes through my mind or I watch a sad Will Smith movie where he suicides and donates his body. 

But recently I decided to do something. I figured it can't be that hard. My licence was being renewed so I guess all I needed to do was tick the box that said donate and that would be it. 

But I couldn't find anywhere to tick. "That's weird," I thought. I was sure you got a "donor" stamp on your licence or something. 

A bit of googling revealed to me that I had to register with some mob called the Australian Organ Donor Register. No ticking drivers licence boxes since 2004. "Alright, I guess I'll navigate through this government website then."

I discovered that I had to choose whether I wanted to donate specific parts of my body or all of it. I stared at the screen wondering what scenario existed where someone was willing to donate their heart valves but not their heart. What bureaucrat or religion caused this menu to need to exist?

I filled in my details, ticked all the boxes, and clicked "Register". The online form was complete. If I died this week I wouldn't be stressed about my organs going to waste. That was a relief. 

I let my wife know I had nobly registered my intent. She was trying to cook dinner, bathe the younger children, get the grocery shopping done and discuss homework with the older kid... it didn't seem appropriate requesting she go and do the same thing right this moment. 

I went along my merry way for the following couple of weeks safe in the knowledge that I was a slightly better person than I had been the month before. Until I got a letter in the mail asking me to confirm my online request and sign a form and mail it back to them. 

Seriously?! My bank has less security measures than this. Here I am trying to HELP people and they want me to jump through more hoops. I filled in the form again, signed it, enveloped it, and went for a walk to the servo where I posted the letter. 

"Good God," I thought. "Are there hackers logging in to government websites after stealing people's medicare numbers falsely registering people to donate their organs? Are these people then murdering those donators so they can have the organs for themselves?" If there are people up to such nefarious schemes, a letter in the post with a signature is a sure fire way of thwarting their dastardly plans... not. 

With the letter posted, I started to question how many people would really go to this much hassle to register.

I'm not saying the hassle is not worth it. Let's be clear. I'd do a lot more than fill in a letter if it meant extending someone's life. 

I just know how hard it is to get people to vote, click on a link, or respond to a text message. I simply doubt many people would actually do this. 

I blame the daily bombardment of advertising for the collective disengagement our brains have all undergone. It's not that we don't care, we just HAVE to disengage to survive the onslaught of signage and media demanding our attention and action. 

But at least one person, myself, had filled in the letter and mailed it back. I thought that maybe if I am murdered this week my family will be comforted by the fact that my heart could extend the life of a child, or my eyeballs could go to someone who wants to be able to watch House of Cards (what a great show). 

And then a few more weeks went by and I received ANOTHER letter with a printed signature I could not read and no name typed to tell me what the illegible signature said from the Australian Government / Department of Human Services / Medicare / Preventative Health Programs / Australian Organ Donor Register (I think they have a branding problem as well).

In the letter I was given specific instructions to discuss my decision with my family. And there was a card the size of a credit card with my name and some weird number on it. 

I stared at the card... 

Was I supposed to carry this card with me at all times?

If they drag my body from a car wreck, will they be searching my wallet for my donor card? 

I hate carrying a wallet. I usually leave it at home. I have too many cards already that I don't carry around with me. 

And why are they telling me I have to tell my family? 

The letter contained the following sentence:

In Australia, family consent is always sought before a donation can proceed even if you are registered on the Donor Register. 

I stared at the sentence in disbelief. (Lots of staring has happened in this journey.)

Why on earth did I bother to fill in all these forms? 

What if my family change their minds?

What if they're so overcome with grief because they love me so much that they can't bear the thought of parting with any piece of my body and my wish to have my skin tissue given away is denied?

What if my family all die at the same time as me?

Do I need to contact my cousins and let them know my wishes?  

I'm sure I could spend more time on the internet and find the answers to these questions. Or I could ring the toll free number on this plastic card and someone who's tax payer funded job it is to manage this complicated list will let me know how it all works. 

But I've wasted enough time endorsing this ridiculous system by using it. 

The system needs to change 

There should be no "opt in" system in Australia. I personally have never spoken someone who has told me they would not want their organs to go to someone else if they died. 

If there are people out there who for whatever reason need to be buried with their kidneys while some child in Perth stays on dialysis, then let THEM go to the hassle of filling out the forms to opt out. 

Here's a something to consider:

Spain has an "opt out" system rather than an opt in system like Australia.
In Spain there are 35.1 million donations per million people each year. 
In Australia there are 13.8 donations for every million people, an absolutely woeful statistic, especially considering there are over 1600 people awaiting donations at this moment. 

And here's some interesting research published at Medical News Today:

Researchers from the University of Nottingham, University of Stirling and Northumbria University in the UK analyzed the organ donation systems of 48 countries for a period of 13 years - 23 using an opt-in system and 25 using an opt-out system.
The study authors measured overall donor numbers, numbers of transplant per organ and the total number of kidneys and livers transplanted from both deceased and living donors.
They found that countries using opt-out systems of organ donation had higher total numbers of kidneys donated - the organ that the majority of people on organ transplant lists are waiting for. Opt-out systems also had the greater overall number of organ transplants.

Click here to read more. 

 

 

If you're an Australian who has a genuine reason for not wanting your organs to go to someone else upon your death, then I feel you should have the freedom to choose that. There are questions over the differences between "death", "brain death" and "cardiac death" and myths surrounding how you'll be treated once you are dead sadly still exist. 

But rather than allow people to continue to die who would have otherwise lived had they received an organ in time, perhaps we could shift the burden of action to those who want to opt out, rather than those who want to opt in. 

My son was on the play equipment that was hit by a car

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I know parents who have lost children in tragic circumstances. The grief I saw them go through was so hard to relate to all I could do was offer words of condolence that held perhaps just a glimmer of understanding. 

It wasn't until my wife and I experienced two miscarriages last year that I knew what it felt like to some extent.

I was at home with my four year old son last week when I learned of the incident at the foreshore. My youngest child had fallen asleep and not joined his brother, mother and friends for a trip to the playground. 

My wife rang. She was crying, and trying not to lose it. 

"A car has crashed into the playground at the foreshore."

Immediately all the possible worse case scenarios ran through my mind. I don't need to tell you what they were. 

She managed to get out that our son was ok, that no one was hurt... miraculously. 

A little girl celebrating her first birthday had been playing right where the car had hit just moments earlier. 

My sons usually play under the equipment right where the car hit. 

My seven year old was on top of the playground equipment with a friend of his when the incident happened. He was shaken up. Literally and emotionally.

His other friend was between the road and the play equipment moments before the car had hit, but had just run around the other side. 

They came home. I picked up my son. He needed a hug from Dad. 

He buried his head in my chest and cried ever so gently. I held him tighter than usual. 

Once you become a parent there's very little in the world you hold dear. Having nice clothes or a new car or big TV are great, but you realise how worthless these things are compared to the precious gift that is a child. 

My wife was a little fragile and so was I truth be told. She struggled to sleep that night, and the next, and the next. 

Looking at the bent equipment I saw how close my child had come to tragedy.

I did not gain a new appreciation of how precious his life was. I've always loved him with all my heart and always will. 

What I did gain is a greater understanding of how fragile all of our lives are.

Perhaps bollards may prevent this particular incident from happening again. But what if the next time it happens near the water park? Or on our front lawn?

There's no way to keep your child or loved one 100% safe 100% of the time. Accidents happen. They always have, they always will. That's not to say we shouldn't take reasonable precautions to prevent things. Learning from past accidents have made the roads safer than ever, and I don't want to live in a world where people live by the YOLO mantra all day long. 

I can't stop things like this from happening. What I can do is ensure I make the most of every day I have with my loved ones, and carry no regrets when the day comes that we do part company. 

I thank God everyone was safe that day. 

Regarding the Corella saga (Warning: images may offend some readers)

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It must be tough for the city staff to know what to do with those destructive Corellas. It's actually not even their job they say. The city staff have said that this is a State Government responsibility, but the State Government is unwilling to deal with it. 

But I suppose no-one knows that phone number for Ian Blayney is 9964 1640 and his email is ian.blayney@mp.wa.gov.au , so it's probably easier just to complain to the CGG. 

As I sit here eating my chicken treat and pondering how horrible it is to kill birds, I can't help but get a sense that the staff at the city are caught between a rock and a hard place. 

As the city started its trial of using firecrackers to relocate the birds off (click here to read more), Everything Geraldton started receiving complaints from residents. But the complaints were all quite varied. 

I scratched my head as I read angry emails about how the CGG needed to simply "relocate" the birds to bird heaven, and other equally angry emails about how those poor Corellas shouldn't be scared and relocated because they're not criminals and haven't done anything wrong. 

It dawned on me that on this particular issue it doesn't matter what the city does. It will be the wrong decision. And the people who don't get their way will be the most vocal, giving the impression that the community wants the opposite of whatever was done.

I hope the relocation efforts achieve the outcome the city wants, but if they don't there will be a lot of residents who will want a cull done as in years past.  

The image below was sent in by a concerned resident who believes this bird was shot by a fellow citizen. 

One of the trees stripped by the birds. 

Regarding crime in Geraldton

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Everything Geraldton has grown quite large. Just on Facebook we have over 25,000 followers, 12,000 folks have the app, 40,000 or more unique visitors hit the website multiple times each month, and a few thousand mostly younger folks follow us on Instagram. 

So it’s a large audience, and with a large audience comes a large number of complaints… it’s impossible to please everyone. 

When we publish a story on crime, we get complaints about reporting too much crime. When we publish a story on real estate, we get complaints that we aren’t reporting on the crime. After a couple of years of this, we’ve gotten used to just getting up each day and reporting on or sharing what we think is the most relevant or interesting thing we can, and not being swayed too much by those keen to use Everything Geraldton for their own agenda, or just addicted to complaining. 

But I always get saddened when we do report on important matters like crime or break-ins, and those who want to vomit hate and vitriol at “those people” show up in the comments, using such an article as proof of their world view. 

I shudder to think of the things myself and many of my peers got up to in our ignorant youth. 

Me personally, through the kindness of fellow humans, I ended up on a better path and now I try to contribute to a better society the best way I see how. 

But I would be supremely arrogant to think I could have found that path alone. 

The idea of sharing suspicious activity or crime stories isn't to incite vitriolic hatred towards the disaffected people who have ended up in a life of crime, or are socially difficult to live alongside. 

It's simply there to help people stay informed, alert and safe, given the world we live in. 

Surely we can be mature enough to know that the broader societal issues we face won't be solved with vigilantism, hateful comments, or disdain for our fellow humans. 

Truthfully, I personally have never felt safer in Geraldton. While crime generally has NOT increased year on year (although it often spikes this time of year), I can now alert my fellow citizen to things happening instantaneously, and the police can ask for assistance from the public much quicker than in the past. 

I have lived in Rangeway, I have been robbed more than once, I have had drunks sleeping on my driveway, I have had to jump the back fence to break up violent domestics, I have been called a c... walking down the street more than once, I have had to replace a front door that was kicked in, I have had my life threatened more than once, I have had to call the Police 3 times in the last month... 

But I have also worked as a youth worker in Geraldton and seen first hand the start in life that many of these young kids must navigate. And despite all the things that have happened to me during my time in Geraldton, my heart is not bitter towards them, and I only have compassion and a desire to see these folks make a change in their lives for the better. 

If you think you're better than them because you also had a hard life too but you chose not to be a criminal, good for you. You're clearly better than the rest of us. 

Most of us are immensely shaped by the people we are around all day long, and find it extremely difficult to walk this life completely unaffected by peer pressure. But if you managed to do it all by yourself, email me your address and I'll post you a gold star. 

But I can't take credit for where I am. I had a loving mother who taught me not to steal. I had a father with a little bit of money to bank roll my crazy business ideas. My parents didn’t drink, and prioritised giving their children 3 meals a day over anything else. Although I have Aboriginal heritage, I was born white as snow and have never had people look at me suspiciously because of my appearance. 

And you can comment something really original like "where are the parents?" as if the parents aren't going through the exact same struggle and dealing with things like addiction, depression, jail time, fetal alcohol syndrome and a life of hurt.

If your idea of justice is giving these kids the same start in life as your privileged offspring, then by all means contribute your time, energy, money and ideas to making that a reality. If your idea of justice is just revenge, maybe get to know some of these kids personally first.