Funding for sick kids

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.

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.

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.

Clive Lancaster

55 Rose Road, Collie

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.

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.