8 COLLIE RIVER VALLEY BULLETIN, FEBRUARY 16, 2023
TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT with Zoe Hawks
Spare despair
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LLLLLLL EEEEEE
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JODIE HANNS, Member for Collie-Preston, reports...
BEING rather fond of a good old-fashioned rant myself, I was intrigued by Don Scott’s in the Bulletin on February 9 ('Don't vilify our history'). Having failed to finish fourth year at the Collie High School in 1967, I have foolishly tended to believe the millions of people in the world with a vastly superior education than myself. People with degrees in apparently worthless things like climate science, oceanography, conservation, biology and even epidemiology. I blindly followed the utterances of the likes of David Attenborough, David Suzuki, Tim Flannery, Dr Norman Swan and many others who I realise now are just evil, lying dunderklumpens similar to those who were advising Hitler, Stalin, and others.
I even believed the dire warnings of the elders of Indigenous nations here and around the world. How gullible am I? However, I may still need some convincing that the explosion of the human population from just 1.3 billion after 1800 years, to eight billion after the last 222 years since the industrial revolution, is a wondrous thing for our precious little livable planet. But thanks for giving me another perspective on these important, vexing questions, Don. I would be fascinated to know which degrees you have attained and from which universities.
sick kids
I CAN understand why some members of the police force are resigning, and unfortunately some are even taking their own lives. I went to boarding school back in the 1960s. House rules and school rules were not to be disobeyed. If I did, and on many occasions I did, I was given the appropriate punishment - six of the best! No problem with that. My mother agreed that I should be brought up according to what was at that time acceptable and appropriate punishment. There was no “we will suspend the sentence”, “we will let him off on bail if mum pays the school an appropriate fee, so he could probably do the same thing again”, or “we will let him off on parole and only give him four of the six of the best instead of the full amount”. Back then, you got what you deserved if you broke the rules. There were no questions - do as you are told or accept the consequence.
So what has gone wrong in this modern “cotton wool” society we live in? There should be no parole, no bail, no suspended sentences. Let those in supposed incarceration realise that if they had behaved correctly in the first place, they would not be there. Politicians have the power to change the rules in relation to criminal behaviour and the subsequent punishment. It is about time they acted on our public concern and upped the ante to keep perpetrators off the streets. If this is done, police may be happy with what they have achieved in bringing criminals to justice, knowing that they will be dealt with and not let out on the streets to recommit. There would be no mass resignations, and they would be satisfied their work is acknowledged.
The vilification of academia Funding for
Rob Walton Collie
Crime, punishment and police
Clive Lancaster 55 Rose Road, Collie
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RONALD McDonald House is an incredibly important “home-away-from-home” facility for many families when their children are unwell for long periods. I was so pleased at the state government’s recent announcement to invest $9.6 million to double the free accommodation provided to sick children and their families. It is so wonderful our regional families will have more access to such a vital service at an already difficult time. We are lucky to have so many people in our community who are passionate about the Collie River, including Ed Riley, Dennis True and the Friends of the Collie River. LAST year, in response to concerns about the health of the river, I assisted the Shire of Collie to run an open town meeting with senior representatives from the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER). The shire is reviewing its Collie River Revitalisation Strategy and I look forward to viewing the results once it is completed later this year. IT WAS great to join the minister for water Simone McGurk at the start of stage one works at the popular Australind jetty. I know many Collie locals also enjoy visits to the jetty. It is a popular crabbing location for many families in our region. I am thrilled for the community, whose support and passion has helped achieve this outcome for the wider Collie-Preston electorate. The state government invested $3 million into the rebuild. Many people are surprised to realise how far the boundaries of Collie-Preston stretch. PARLIAMENT resumes this week, and I will be in Perth for much of that time. MY TEMPORARY office at the Chamber of Commerce office in Forrest Street is open to the public on Mondays and Thursdays from 9am to 4.30pm.
MOST people have heard about Prince Harry’s most recent claim to fame - his memoir titled “The Spare”. I’ve heard enough about it to know it is about being born third in line for the throne. I also know that I have no interest in reading it. However, as the youngest of three, it did make me think about all the things I’ve had to endure as “the spare”. I am convinced that no-one receives as much attention as a first-born does prior to the arrival of a sibling. As evidence, I need look no further than the dusty photo albums at home. My oldest sister has an entire baby album dedicated to her every waking moment. Her first bath, first time eating potato, first time rolling over, second time eating potato - there’s a photo of everything and anything she ever did. When I found the album with my own name on it, my excitement quickly dissipated. You could say there were just a few gaps in my album. There’s a photo of my first birthday, then my fifth birthday, my seventh birthday, and finally, another photo of my sister, because an entire album wasn’t enough. I would love some photos to jog my memory, especially since my family seemed to do so many exciting things before I was born, or when I was too young to remember. I can’t count how many times my family has reminisced about some amazing experience, only to be told in an offhand manner: “Oh, you weren’t born yet.” Once I was old enough, I was always told everything my sisters were doing was too dangerous for me. Or it was so dangerous that I would be offered up as the “guinea pig”. Go figure. For example, one sister decided to create a theme park and tested all the “rides” on me. This involved strapping me into a life jacket, attaching me to a wheeled chair and then leaving me stranded on the floor on the overturned chair when it all went horribly wrong. My sisters also seemed to test out every possible occupation on me. They were my school teachers, dance teachers and gymnastics coaches - and harsh ones at that. Whenever it came to asking for something from our parents, it was always me who was sent as the messenger. “They will say yes to you,” was the reasoning. All younger siblings know what it’s like to have a wardrobe made entirely of hand-me-downs, and I was no exception. Clothes would pass down from six older cousins and sisters before they would reach me. Even so, there are some definite benefits to being the youngest child. I escaped punishments for many fights which I probably started, and somehow conned one sister into repeatedly cleaning my room for me. And now my sisters have moved out, I have a choice of three bedrooms, which I often take advantage of for a change of scenery for a night. If I think about it really hard, I guess being the youngest isn’t all that bad.
