These images were sent in a couple of days ago.
This is what we were told is the story behind the images:
"One of the boats at the boat pen sunk, something to do with the pontoon it was on. So the pontoon and vessel are being lifted out by crane."
9 May, 2016
If you love the Beresford Foreshore and are between the ages of 15 and 45 it’s not too late to have your say on the facilities or amenities that would improve this popular stretch of Geraldton coastline.
City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn said registrations for the Beresford Foreshore Community Workshop have been steady over the past three weeks with only a few spots remaining to be filled.
“The response from the community to take part in this workshop has been really great with more than 30 residents aged between 10-85 years already registered to attend,” he said.
“However, we still have a few spots open for teenagers of all ages and members of the community under the age of 45.
“The workshop is an important opportunity for people of all ages to share their thoughts and ideas on the Beresford Foreshore and I would encourage residents to register before it’s too late.”
If you would like to attend the workshop call 9956 6945 or email janellk@cgg.wa.gov.au. Registrations close Thursday 12 May at 5pm.
The Volunteering EXPO is back! Centacare Volunteer Service held its last Volunteering EXPO in 2013 to celebrate National Volunteer Week. The EXPO was a resounding success with 20+ exhibitors on show, lots of networking happening and some new potential volunteers engaged.
The 2016 National Volunteer Week EXPO is being held on Thursday 12 May at the Queen Elizabeth Centre Upper Hall from 2:00pm – 6:00pm. This is a fantastic opportunity for volunteer involving organisations to showcase their volunteering programs to the public. The EXPO provides a recruitment opportunity and also allows volunteer managers and other staff to network with their colleagues in fellow organisations.
Of course it is absolutely about new potential volunteers engaging with the various groups exhibiting too. So if you are thinking about commencing a new or looking for a different volunteer opportunity, then this is the place for you.
The volunteer organisations that will be attending the expo are –
To stay updated with the latest information about the expo have a look at the event page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/events/259723537697155/
This event is in partnership with and supported by the City of Greater Geraldton
A school sent this letter to homes recently prior to the NAPLAN tests happening.
The response on social media has been incredible, with a lot of people impressed with the approach the school has taken.
Here are some of the comments from Everything Geraldton's Facebook page:
Hello, firstly we would like to introduce ourselves. We are Brent and Michelle REID.
We are fundraising on behalf of our 6 year old son, Jamie.
Jamie was born with a rare brain condition called Bilateral Frontal Polymicrogyria. The result of this is uncontrollable epilepsy (150-350 seizures a week), Autism, Global Development Delays and Intellectual Disabilities.
Jamie has been selected as a suitable candidate for an Autism/Seizure assistance dog. The dog will assist Jamie and the family by alerting us to seizures prior to them occurring. The dog will also assist Jamie personally with his Autism. The assistance dog is trained to disrupt autistic melt downs and ensure Jamies safety when out in public. The assistance dog is trained to be tethered to Jamie allowing him freedom to walk freely without the need to be placed in a trolley/stroller or strong hand grip. Jamie has a penchant to want to get out and run and without the knowledge of his own safety. The assistance dog will be with him at all times and when required will stop Jamie to ensure his safety. This is extremely important in situations where there is water, as Jamie has a fixation with playing with water.
The dog is also trained to be able to track Jamie and locate his should he get out and wander off.
The assistance dog will deliver peace of mind, comfort and safety for Jamie. The opportunity it will give Jamie will be outstanding as it will offer him a greater level of independence that a normal 6 year would enjoy. The assistance dog will open his world and like most special needs kids allow him to feel normal and like he fits.
As part of the process of placing the dog with Jamie, we have agreed to fundraise towards the dogs training. The training of each Smart Pup costs $25,000.00 and as a not for profit organisation they rely on fundraising to be able to provide an assistance dog to the candidate family.
This is where we are asking if you would be able to assist in any way possible to help us achieve this opportunity for Jamie.
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All donations made are charitable donations to Smart Pups. To let them know that your donation is in support of a particular Smart Pups family you can use ONE of the donation codes provided below when completing a direct Bank Deposit or PayPal transaction. Donations without a donation code will be allocated to the general Training Program to help Smart Pups cover the balance of the training costs for our families.
DONATION CODE OPTIONS:
a) FULL NAME CODE: Jamie Reid or
b) ALFA CODE: jmrd or c) NUMERIC CODE: 55209
To donate via direct deposit - Smart Pups Westpac | BSB: 034198 | ACC: 415185 To donate via PayPal - Click on the BIG RED Smart Pups Donate Button on the website at www.smartpups.org.au.
NB: The three donation code options are provided in an attempt to meet the different code restrictions set by each Banks IT system. A direct Bank Deposit does not attract any fees. If making a donation via PayPal you must manually type the child’s name in the ‘NOTES TO SELLER’ field at the time you make the transaction. Please be aware that, as there is no fee waiver in place for charitable donations, PayPal will charge Smart Pups an administration fee on each donation.
With the opening of a new $6.53 million fire station in Geraldton on Friday 22 April firefighters in the Midwest Gascoyne are better resourced than ever to support the growing regional community.
Emergency Services Minister Joe Francis said the new station, on North West Coastal Highway, delivers first class facilities for emergency services personnel who provide a lifesaving service to the community.
"They work to protect the community every day - responding to fires, road crashes, chemical spills and other serious incidents,” Mr Francis said.
"This new facility will provide extra capacity to allow firefighters to train, store equipment and recuperate between incidents."
Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Wayne Gregson said that as communities like Geraldton continue to expand, DFES must be forward thinking and ensure it can meet the growing demand for emergency services.
“The state-of-the-art design of this fire station encapsulates DFES’ vision of catering for future expansion, and our commitment to adapting to the changing needs of the community,” Commissioner Gregson said.
“As more and more incidents occur in this State requiring crews from near and far, this additional capacity may be critical to emergency response in this region in the future.”
The purpose built station includes three large appliance bays and an increased accommodation capacity, with the ability to meet extra demand for staff and equipment in the future.
The facility features an outdoor training area, including a confined space rescue tower to enhance firefighters' skills, and a hygiene facility to ensure personnel are free from contaminants when returning from incidents.
Midwest Gascoyne Superintendent Kim Lambkin said the firefighters from the station face a diverse range of hazards and challenges.
“These include major industrial incidents, emergencies on heavy haulage road and rail networks, heavy export port facilities and its busy airport,” Superintendent Lambkin said.
“This means that the men and women who serve here must receive varied and intense training. These training needs are catered for by this building.”
Last year, firefighters from Geraldton Fire Station attended more than 450 incidents. Demand for emergency services is expected to increase, with the population in the region predicted to grow to more than 80,000 by 2026.
The new fire station replaces the existing station which was built on Durlacher Street in 1969.
The City of Greater Geraldton wishes to advise that it will be undertaking road maintenance works in the locality of West Casuarinas from Monday 16 May till Friday 3 June 2016.
Shoulder maintenance to repair the edges of the road and reduce deterioration of the road seal will occur on the Walkaway / Nangetty Road between Kiely Road and Casuarinas Road.
Traffic management will be in place during this time. Motorists and pedestrians are advised to exercise caution and obey all warning signs and direction from authorised City personnel and contractors.
The City regrets any inconvenience and will endeavour to keep disruptions to a minimum.
For more information on the road maintenance please contact the City’s Acting Coordinator Roads, Dave Bairstow, on 9956 6600.
Ultra Tune Geraldton are still experiencing a disruption to their phone lines and customers cannot get through to us to book their vehicles in for servicing or repairs.
Customers are urged to use the mobile number 0452065482 until further notice.
We apologise to anyone who may have been inconvenienced due to this problem and thank you all for your understanding.
The City of Greater Geraldton wishes to advise that it will be renewing the footpath on Chapman Road between Cathedral Avenue and Post Office Lane with works scheduled to commence on Monday 9 May 2016 for a period of approximately seven days.
The anticipated hours of work will be between from 6am to 6pm and include removing the slab path and replacing it with a user friendly concrete path.
The works will require some sections of the footpath and some driveways to be partially or fully closed at times to pedestrian and vehicle traffic. As access to driveways will be limited during this time, the City encourages people to park their vehicles outside of the work area.
These works are part of $1,175,739 allocated in the 2015/16 Budget for the renewal of footpaths which will see approximately 3kms of the footpath network replaced.
The City requests motorists and pedestrians to exercise caution and obey all warning signs and direction from authorised City personnel and contractors.
The City regrets any inconvenience and will endeavour to keep disruptions to a minimum.
Please direct all enquiries to Moneer Fates, Project Manager on (08) 9956 6600 or email council@cgg.wa.gov.au.
"I knew I had aneurysms because I always had headaches. This particular day I had pain shooting up my neck and I couldn’t even tie up my shoelaces. I was told no physical activity for the next two weeks. My netball grand final was that night, so me being me, off I went down there. I lasted three minutes and down I went. They knew something was very wrong and when they did a scan they told me I had a brain haemorrhage. I asked if I was gonna die, and they said they didn’t know. That was December, 2012. I have bits and pieces of memory, but nothing solid until February, 2013. I had to learn how to walk, talk, write and feed myself again. I didn’t recognise my husband, my children or my family. Everyone has a story, I have a few. Life goes on. I’m back playing netball, but nowhere near as good as I used to be. I want to run and I want to jump, and I want to use my outside arm, but I just can’t. The more I do it, the more I get used to it. I want people to know my story, because I think I can help them. Never give in, never give up, that’s my life motto."
In the footsteps of the wonderful "Humans of New York" Everything Geraldton will be publishing stories from people in our region.
Water Corporation is replacing a number of valves in Geraldton to increase the network’s reliability and flow of water.
The program will target valves needing repair in Spalding, Bluff Point, Sunset Beach and Geraldton. Water supply will be temporarily interrupted to enable this essential work to occur.
There may be some temporary disruptions to local road users as teams work within the road verge. Traffic management will be in place in affected areas. Residents may experience some additional noise and dust however crews will endeavour to keep this to a minimum throughout the duration of the works.
Customers with special water requirements should contact Water Corporation in advance of the interruption on 13 13 75.
When Andrew Forrest first put forward his idea to politicians for a cashless income management system to tackle some of the alcohol and drug abuse that was occurring in our communities, I was fond of the idea.
Having worked first hand with youth in Geraldton I have seen the effects of alcohol abuse on young kids in our communities.
I supported Geraldton being given a chance to trial the card. As Mr Forrest put it, what we're doing now isn't working; we need to try something. And I agreed.
But as time has gone on, and I've spent time trying to research the implementation of the card, I have changed my mind.
There are two reasons.
First, no metric has been decided upon to measure whether or not the card is achieving its stated goal. If crime increases after the implementation of the card, will the government guarantee removing the card and admitting they wasted our money? Would crime rates have gone up anyway and will the card be unfairly blamed? If crime decreases after the card is introduced, how will we even know if it's because of the card, or will the proponents of the card try and take credit? If the people known to abuse alcohol regularly simply move to another town (like what happened in the Pilbara), will the government get rid of the card? We have no idea.
The "trial" seems extraordinarily vague and unscientific.
Secondly, and this is the main reason for my change of heart, is the stigma that will be attached to the very distinct card.
Like it or not, being unemployed and on the dole has a large social stigma attached to it. Heck, most of our surnames are our ancestors' occupations. What we do for a living is a massive part of our self identity in our culture, for better or worse. Think back to any 'small talk' chat you've had with a new acquaintance since you left school. "What do you do?" was most likely one of the 'get to know you' questions. And if you were on the dole, you didn't say "I'm on the dole." You said "I'm looking for work, but I'm a painter." Or "I used to be a teacher but I'm not working currently, I'm a full time carer for my sick mother."
Not all of us are keen to announce our current employment status to the world, just like some of us like to keep private our marital status, or our religious beliefs, or our sexual preference, or our membership at alcoholics anonymous.
But once this card is brought in, every time you pull it out to pay for something, you're loudly announcing to the person serving you, and the people in line behind you, that you don't have a job and rely on tax payer money to make ends meet.
Some of those people serving you will quietly put you in a box in their minds. Some of those people in line behind you will judge you while they inspect what you've chosen to buy with their hard earned tax money.
Some will not.
My credit card doesn't have my job written on it. And thank God too. I don't want to announce what I do for a living everywhere I go.
And I don't think it's right to stigmatise our fellow humans who, for one reason or another, find themselves without a job.
4000 years ago the Israelites had a system whereby farmers weren't allowed to harvest all the way to the edge of their fields. Why? So the poor could obtain food without being stigmatised and having to beg.
Are there people abusing the system, who have no intention of looking for work, and love their tax payer funded drug use?
Sure.
Are they the majority?
Of course not.
Should we stigmatise everyone who's currently unemployed because of the few bad apples?
I don't think so.
Could we consider instead a system just for people known to DCP that need income management help?
Police and Fire and Rescue services worked frantically this afternoon to free a 17 year old who had got his arm caught in rocks at Geraldton's foreshore this afternoon. Police say they received the call for assistance at about 2:45 today.
A police spokesperson said the boy had been bodyboarding there as part of a school excursion, and had got his arm caught between two rocks. He was underwater for much of the time, only able to breathe in between waves. "[He was] was washed against the rocks and his arm became jammed between two boulders where he was submerged from large swell with waves crashing over him."
Police said it was "fantastic teamwork" that saw the young man rescued. About 8 police were present, with around 6 in the water, and around another 8 fire and emergency services members. DFES members used an iron bar and wood blocks underwater to jimmy a boulder away in order to free the trapped arm.
Onlookers held grave concerns for the boy who was being rescued, and were very relieved when he was rescued unharmed.
Police and DFES officers managed to grab him and carried him from the water to an awaiting St John Ambulance where he was conveyed to hospital for assessment. The young man was in the water stranded for about half an hour.
Celebrate Reconciliation Week with the City of Greater Geraldton’s #ONEgero photo comp! Get creative and snap a photo showing us what reconciliation means to you and our City, and you could win a $250 Mitchell and Brown Voucher.
All you have to do is use the hashtag #ONEgero on Instagram or Facebook, or e-mail your images to evey@cgg.wa.gov.au
Entries close at 5pm on May 20. For terms and conditions and more info visit www.cgg.wa.gov.au
Everything Geraldton has just been informed of an incident at the foreshore.
There is a large police presence, and numbers of people in the water.
Fire services and ambulance are also present.
Police have said they are not willing to comment on what has occurred at this time.
GWN7 have reported a bodyboarder is stuck between rocks.
Onlookers were very concerned: "... must be twenty police with a rope been working hard for ten minutes to get them out ... pretty scary with big waves coming in every three minutes."
Update, person has been recovered and is ok. Click here to read update and rescue story.
Police, paramedics and fires currently rescuing a young bodyboarder stuck between rocks in Geraldton's Champion Bay pic.twitter.com/tLyWUWOaNv
— Tasha Tania (@TashTania) May 4, 2016
He was at an excursion with his high school when his leg got caught in rocks while bodyboarding. He's now well and recovering #Geraldton
— Tasha Tania (@TashTania) May 4, 2016
Well known local builder 'Shane Crothers Homes' has entered into voluntary administration.
Company Director Shane Crothers confirmed today the sad news with Everything Geraldton.
But he had a word of thanks for the Geraldton community who supported SCH for the last two decades.
"I like to thank everyone that has supported us over 19 years. Clients, contractors, suppliers, staff. We're truly thankful. A lot of them have been fantastic with messages of support this week. We've been proud to be a small, locally owned family builder, and we thank all of our customers who have supported us over the last 19 years."
Mr Crothers mentioned the tough environment for business around town at the moment, saying it's a sad day when a local businesses that's been operating for 19 years closes.
Shane Crothers Homes have been operating in the Mid West since 1997.
Update: Tradies and businesses unhappy about not getting paid.
Geraldton Police are looking for the owner of this item. Please share with your friends and family.
Geraldton Police can be reached on 9923 4555.
Time and time again we are faced with the same scenario, liberal or labor introduce some punitive measure designed to change behaviors the major parties team up while the greens are on the sidelines making statements against the measures. Select information is given to media but what about the facts they all ignore, who mentions those facts and how often is our media on the end of really informing the general public?
The welfare card trials have been debated on the assistance it is supposed to provide addicts or those caught in bad behavior situations, the greens come out with income management failure stories and the information is limited to these areas. Those who have witnessed first hand what effects drunks or other addictions cause take the simplistic approach that if there was no cash then that would not happen. Others take a more in depth look and suggest the heart of the addiction needs to be addressed first.
Both are in a sense true. Maybe it wouldn't happen for short periods but there is always crafty people who will find ways around it and that information spreads so it will always be short lived. Some people need to reached out to and feel supported to break into new lifestyles others will never change and no amount of restrictions support or help will change that for very long.
What is not being said is how they will manage to achieve these results. How can a banking product be introduced that can pick and choose consumers? How is that in line with consumer laws and protections in place? Will it be a way forward that businesses will pick consumers based on if they are 'working class' only. It could be done by simply stocking an item that is restricted such as prepaid cards. Will discrimination become more widespread and allowed?
Is that mainly due to the fact it is a prepaid card itself but they are masking this fact? Is Australia happy to change our entire social security system to one that mirrors the USA concept of providing social assistance via prepaid cards that can restrict brands or products in large chain supermarket stores. Will every person look towards someone they know with a challenging disability and ask if they deserve to be limited in life due to that disability?
This is not income management in the sense the greens may point out, it is much more than that, income management is the mechanisms of centrelink holding money. The security of conduct being accountable all the way up the chain and onto the floor of Senate or the house. Every aspect or situation is covered in some form of legislation and when push comes to shove, those on income management could have payments made directly into the bank account of any businesses they wished to deal with. Given it would of been a major hassle but the right to do it was there.
I say was because this card will remove that area entirely. A visit to centrelink to reveal your housing costs and other bills cost will set an amount to be directed to these areas. If not via the centrepay system where government charges the biller for the service then it will need to be made via the welfare card.
Any direct payments are taken to of been made from a card and will attract fees that the biller can then charge onto the consumer. Direct debits the most commonly used payment type will be prohibited. The form of payment costing nothing is taken away from those that can least afford the few dollars it costs.
Rent at a cost of $250 per week paid via the card attracting a charge of 2% will increase yearly rent cost by $260. Money that could be used for healthy food.
The rest of the 80% is put onto the card and indue a private organization can then place its own restrictions on where the card can be used. Centrelink effectively wipes its hands of if you can access that money to pay for your living costs and needs. There will be limited information of the sort Indue can pick and choose, with less scrutiny to ensure objectives are achieved.
Will family tax benefits for all soon shift to this sort of card, after all it is also welfare. So to are the allowances, childcare benefits and pensions thousands rely on. Will all money be forced into payment systems that skim a few dollars here and there and consumers allocated rather than have any choices to keep prices low and markets competitive.
Not to mention a prepaid account funds are owned by the issuer until the holder calls on the funds. Social Security has been an inalienable payment to protect people for a long time, this will ignore that fact and issue income support, allowances and the family tax benefits of some to an issuer of a card. If it was placed in to a bank account like the legislation actually does state, it would be owned by the account holder.
I doubt it will be rolled out to major cities as some might gleefully suggest, as the merchant code process and control over store owners is simply not sound enough nor policed in any sense. Getting around the card will be easier if implemented in major city areas. The control will not be there only the fact it is a prepaid card and the pretend benefits of reducing alcohol or the like will not really be possible, will anyone wake up to the whole thing then I wonder?
The bigger implications are being ignored and hard questions thrown off the table, will you start to question the motives and future for our country today or will you too just ignore it until it's too late?
Targeted processes are already in place to deal with individuals situations so why the huge costs of a trial if there is not much more to it?
When it comes to all politicians these days there is ALWAYS more to it.
How many know that in May 2015 basics cards were replaced with stored value cards but funds could be recalled to the income management account. It was the real first step in the welfare card trial and has obviously already been in trial under a varied form. Stored value cards are prepaid cards. Link to instrument : https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2015L00781
Ultimate goal appears to be to send income support to private organizations who are paid more to restrict the payments of those on income support than the people who actually need the assistance due to ill health or the jobs pool getting lower and lower every year.
How's that for class war!
sandra legro
Spencer street sebastopol VIC
With the disappearance of Whitehill Road from Drummonds, a number of people online have stated why hasn’t Council done anything about this? There are also people who state that the problems are caused by the construction of rock walls, such as the port, the marina and various groynes and simply chucking more rocks in to save one road will only cause problems elsewhere.
The problem of coastal erosion is created largely in part to a lack of sand moving north as well as sea level rise and constructing infrastructure in questionable areas of the coast.Council needs to fully understand our Coastal processes, as simply throwing rocks into one area to save a road, will most likely cause a road somewhere else to be undermined and the problem simply gets moved up and down the coast. To that end the City commissioned a study late last year to understand our coastline in full, so that bad decisions about building on our coastline are no longer made. It is only when armed with the science can we make these decisions properly.
Then the matter of cost needs to be discussed. It is clear that we need to protect the northern beaches starting from the Marina and traveling up to Drummonds. The cost of saving just the Beresford foreshore is approximately $21,000,000. (Geraldton total rate collection is $42,000,000). From there we need to look at St George’s beach which is also under threat and of then up to Drummonds. The costs of simply chuckingin some rocks and sand at Whitehill road would be around $1,500,000 a year to build and maintain.
So where does the funding come from if the City has no way of paying for these works itself? The State Government. Application for funding for Beresford was finalised in February 2016 and we are eagerly awaiting the outcome of this application so that we can commence works to save our northern beaches. This process is probably not as fast as everyone would like but it is a process that needs to be followed. When it comes to responsibility for funding costal protection works, the State Government is responsible as they constructed the Port and the Marina and are of the owners of foreshore reserves. We as A City have a role in advocating for the funding and in consulting for the design.
As a City we are working as fast as we can to get real science behind our coast line so that we can make smart, effective and sustainable decisions as to how we invest Government funds to protect our coast line. Without the science the State will not fund coastal works. Randomly chucking in rocks here and there and constructing groynes without due regard for the remaining cost line has failed us in the past, creating the problems today and we do not want to continue see new problems such as Whitehill road created in the future as a result of actions wetake today.
Failure to provide a detailed scientific solution to coastal protection could result in a total loss of beaches to the north, replaced by a long line of limestone groynes and concrete seawalls. Surely this is not what the people of Geraldton want for their coastline?
Shane Van Styn
Mayor City of Greater Geraldton
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