8 COLLIE RIVER VALLEY BULLETIN, FEBRUARY 9, 2023
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with Alison Kidman
Spring clean in… summer?
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JODIE HANNS, Member for Collie-Preston, reports...
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Don't vilify our history Virtual office
WANT to make a greenie's head explode? Tell them this: “Coal burning power stations were, in their day (and still are in many ways), green technology!” They probably won’t be able to speak for a minute or two while their brains try to reset, and their eyeballs stop looking in opposite directions, but while they’re trying to regain their delusions, take the opportunity to get in a couple more ‘factjabs’. Explain to them that before people were able to connect to cleaner, cheaper, more efficient electricity they had to cut down trees to burn wood and other combustibles in their homes to cook, wash themselves and their clothes, and to keep their home theatre rooms warm in winter. Today, Collie is still a living example of the ying-yang of yesteryear. This is seen in the wood-burning home fires and modern coal-powered electricity factories that have been living side by side since the 1940s. If your city-dwelling, uni mates with their hipster “greens” virtues don’t believe you, why not invite them to ride their bicycles to join you for a Collie winter? On any morning between April and October in Collie, they can experience the particulate-matter that spews not from coal-fuelled electricity factories, but from the many home chimneys in and around Collie that were built in the “BCE” (before cheap electricity) era. Wood burning in home fires is still very common, not only in Collie but in and around lots of other Australian country towns thanks to the relatively easy access to firewood. Home fires are still very common even in the cities as a way of not only saving money for heating, but also to look trendy.
Lots of new, expensive houses are being built with wood fireplaces and other contraptions. With the advent of cheap, efficient electricity from Collie’s coal-fuelled electricity factories, industry and technologies developed and produced more and more things. This meant more and more jobs, and then more and more people being able to buy more and more things. This meant even more jobs and even more prosperity for not only us living in first world, rich economies, but just as importantly for those living in second and third world economies. The invention of the steam engine, which helped produce the industrial revolution, led us to be part of the most amazing transformation of human society, economy, culture and technology. It deserves respect for its place in the history of humanity. What advancements come next as we transition, we can only imagine, but only if the neo-Luddites, despot opportunists, and other sociopaths don’t have their hate-fuelled, anti-humanity, hypocritical, hypothetical, ignorant, zombie-like, ideological, and sinister way. The future is coming, but we all must be part of its careful, wise and reasoned evolution. The vilification of our history is not the way. For our future's sake we, the majority, must reject the lies, the hate and the fear being spread by the same minorities that gave the world Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and more. We love humanity when it's good, and we love the electricity that has been made from Collie coal.
Don Scott Mumballup
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THANK you to attorney general John Quigley for virtually opening the Legal Aid WA virtual office last Thursday. Legal Aid WA’s Julie Jackson and Kirstine Conchie explained the facility, and Ronald Donoghue from the Collie Family Centre hosted the launch. I am proud to help bring this much-needed facility to Collie, which will reduce barriers to legal assistance and advice. I am committed to ensuring the Collie community receives the same face-to-face assistance that those in the city experience. Congratulations to the Collie Basketball Association teams that competed in the Country Champs in Perth at the weekend. Both the girls and boys 12s teams won the grand final, and the boys 13s team were runners-up. Good luck to the teams competing this week. Leveraging off the world class trails we have in Collie, minister David Templeman has announced applications are open for the trail planning grant program. Grants between $5000 and $25,000 are available to community organisations, local governments, and local active recreation clubs and associations to apply for trail development projects. The government announced recipients of the outdoor recreation participation program grants this week. I am pleased the Shire of Collie’s “Wheels of Wellbeing” received a grant for its skill development and accredited coaching training for mountain biking in the Wambenger Trail network. Parliament sitting days resume next week, so while I am in Perth for two weeks, my fantastic staff will be available to assist you. Thank you for being so patient during our relocation to the temporary office. We are very cosy, but making it work.
I DECIDED to do a massive declutter at home. I’ve decided that before of course, and taken action with varying degrees of success, but this time I meant business. The turning point was travelling for six weeks with only the clothes that would fit in my backpack. And I managed just fine, so why the heck was I bothering having wardrobes and drawers stuffed full of clothes? Just in case? Just in case what - I go to another 20s-themed party? No, that fake feather boa can go. That blouse that I really like, but never actually wear? Out! I used to think there was no such thing as too much storage space, but now I’ve changed my mind. Storage space just encourages you to store stuff, rather than finding better homes for it. Feeling rather virtuous after clear-felling my wardrobe, I tackled the laundry cupboard. This is a space I’ve been promising myself I’d tidy for a very long time. The big problem was that it had been used as a receptacle for various “hidying” attacks during the years. For those not familiar with “hidying”, it’s that state of panic you get yourself into when guests are due. You desperately want your house to look like a House and Garden spread, but you’ve left it too late. So you scoop up armfuls of every day detritus and cram it into the nearest cupboard, hoping against hope that the hinges hold out - at least until the visitors leave. So, time to face that particular music. I didn’t need Marie Kondo to tell me that none of the contents sparked any joy. There were vacuum cleaner bits belonging to a vacuum cleaner that was at least two vacuum cleaners ago. A training kit that teaches a cat how to use your toilet so that you don’t have to bother with a litter tray. I’m not making this up. The MOTH’s (male of the household) scoffing aside, I’m convinced it would have worked, if we weren’t a family of five at the time - six counting the cat who all needed to use the same facility. Anyway, it’s up for grabs if anyone is interested. Right, onto entertainment units. Yes, I still have a DVD player “just in case”, but when did I last actually watch a DVD? It turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks because I’ve discovered the wonders of streaming services, thus the DVD collection was just gathering dust. Now I love a good jigsaw, but I astonished even myself by unearthing about 30 of them, including the one I got for my 15th birthday. Let’s be honest, I’m unlikely to do any of them again and, anyway, I’ve got a stack of five waiting to be done. The pantry is beckoning next. Tenyear-old star anise anyone?
