Virtual office now open

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.

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 catwho 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?