The Beast - February 2025

The February 2025 BEAST

Stay Safe

THIS SUMMER THIS SUMMER

Swim between the Flags

Watch our beach safety video here to learn more

$30m

$25m

Silly Season

Words James Hutton - Publisher

Welcome to the February 2025 edition of The Beast, the monthly magazine for Sydney’s incredibly popular beaches of the east. Sadly, with this immense popularity comes a few problems - insane property prices and non-existent parking, for example - and this all culminated in the crazy Christmas Day crowds at Bronte Beach.

There are many opinions on how this should be handled in future, but the reality is that it’s a bloody tricky situation to manage in practice for the people who are tasked with managing and paying for it all. I think most people would agree that the issues of safety and respect for the beach need to be at the forefront of any deliberations, with obvious consideration for the people who actually live here.

Safety could be addressed by more lifeguards and less booze, but I’m not sure if more lifeguards

would want to work on Christmas Day (or what it would cost) and policing booze consumption is always problematic, especially in a huge crowd. More bins (and much bigger ones) and banning glass would reduce the impact on the environment and the burden on locals to clean the place up, and professional cleaners could also be handy to have around.

Of course, less people would solve every problem, but how would that be achieved without fencing the joint off and running a ticketed event? The Beast has always taken the view that the beach belongs to everyone and should never be privatised in any way, but with that right comes the responsibility to respect and protect it.

Waverley Council staff made a genuine effort to avoid a repeat of Christmas 2023 and were even down there to help with the cleanup and see first-hand what took place. They want a viable solution and are interested to hear from local residents, so please send me

your ideas or contact them directly so we can help make it work.

Thanks to local artist Amanda Woodard for this month’s cover art of swimmers at Bondi Icebergs. There’s an interview with Amanda on page 18 and you can see more of her work on her Instagram at @abigcanvas.

Community organisations Save Bondi Village and The Better Cities Initiative will be holding a free public forum on balancing density and affordability against ecology, nature and liveability on Thursday, February 13, from 6-8pm in the High Tide Room, Bondi Pavilion. What’s Next for Waverley will include a lively forum and Q&A on future planning for Waverley with a panel of experts, locals and thinkers, so please take advantage of this opportunity. Bookings can be made at www.bettercities.org.au/ events/whats-next-for-waverley and you can find more information at savebondivillage.com.

Cheers, James

You helped divert more than 50,000 tonnes of organic material from landfill! If this material was spread out... it would cover the area of Coogee Beach five times over!

FOGO LIKE A PRO

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50K

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The End of Life on Earth as We Know It

Waltzing Matilda

Dear Pearl - Thank you for maintaining political apathy with the publication of Matilda from North Bondi’s compelling essay on gender fluidity, the Far Left and soy skim lattés, kindly fought for by ANZAC troops 70 years prior to such coffee orders permeating mainstream society (Editorial Feedback and The Beast’s Monthly Mailbag, The Beast, January 2025).

As a heterosexual white man, I particularly agreed with the comments around a lack of inclusiveness, something which is all too evident to me in my daily strolls through Coogee, on occasion being made to order my coffee through a separate hatch, sometimes without onstreet parking availability.

Often, these same coffee houses display no overt affection for Fascism, and while it may upset Will from Coogee to see one or two examples

of MAGA marketing outside the Coogee Bay Hotel (Deeply Disappointed, The Beast, December 2024), it is my heartfelt belief that the Eastern Suburbs won’t truly have conquered the scourge of the Far Left until each and every shop is draped in the Confederate Flag and the bouncers at the Coogee Pavilion have been granted the same social capital as the Gestapo, able to liquidate anyone who as much suggests that gender could be anything other than purely black or white, ideally purely white.

My sympathies for the forthcoming loss of your readership for parroting woke nonsense, but rest assured you will be vindicated once thousands of copies of The Beast have been burned in the streets of Clovelly, finally bringing your literature to the level of Hugo, Hemingway, Einstein and Marx.

In the meantime, enjoy the soy skim lattés and the reasonable way of life out here - you never know when something you write could spell the end of life on earth as we in the Far Left know it.

Mike Coogee

A Taste of Reality

Dear Mike - Thank you for your letter’s compelling satire. It is reassuring to know that there are people, such as yourself, who could slip into Pearl’s red slippers when she hangs up her mantle as the mouthpiece of the Eastern Suburbs’ Far Left. However, I’m not sure how I feel about a heterosexual white male taking my place - way too edgy.

Pearl has been spreading her words of wisdom for nearly 19 years now. I pride myself on attempting to re-educate people on life’s social niceties, which have unfortunately become lost in translation due to affluence and gentrification. We all need a Pearl-like figure to remind us not to double park, ‘drive and dial’ or block driveways, and to leash our dogs and pick up their excreta.

I don’t view my column as propaganda. Instead, it is an essential service and a lesson in tough love, a taste of reality for the self-obsessed and entitled who ironically lack the resilience and mindfulness touted in yoga classes. I’ve ridiculed silly trends and rampant consumerism, I’ve outed the hypocrisy of the elite and bagged politicians on both sides of politics. If my column is (according to Matilda of North Bondi) Far Left woke behaviour and an attack on national sovereignty, then, Mike, you are right - it’s the end of life on earth as we know it and I’m looking forward to being reduced to the level of Mr Hemingway.

Pearlie Clovelly

Words Pearl Bullivant Photo Mary Welsh

Ernest Hemingway writing in Kenya back in 1953.

The Beast's Monthly Mailbag

Words The Beautiful People of the Eastern Beaches

Damned if We Do, Damned if We Don’t

Hi James - What a difficult position we are now in with Christmas Day at Bronte Beach, on the one hand wanting to keep our public spaces open for our community to enjoy, while on the other hand clearly needing to restrict the drunk and disorderly behaviour of revellers.

It is easy to blame and criticise others (as no doubt your letters inbox will attest), however I am yet to hear a balanced and viable solution to this problem. Perhaps the erudite readers of The Beast can suggest some?! Patrick Buck Bronte

What About Brook Street?

In response to the article penned by Anthony Maguire in your last edition (Urgent Action Needed to Avoid Fatalities at Coogee Roundabout, The Beast, January 2025), I will fully support Dr O’Neill’s efforts to address safety, particularly speeding issues concerning the roundabout mentioned in this article, but let’s not leave it at that.

There are numerous small roundabouts in and around Coogee that are to be considered dangerous due to speeding. 4WDs and utes in

particular do not slow when passing through these and are observed travelling over rather than around the centre. I have raised the issue many times with Randwick Council without any response other than to state that the speed limit in Coogee is 50km/h.

Consider Brook Street for a moment. If you enter from the south at Oberon Street or from the north at Clovelly Road there are no speed limit signs. Passing traffic is now using Brook Street as a by-pass to Arden Street since that street is signposted 40km/h and is usually heavy with traffic. The problem is that Brook Street, a residential and community street, is very narrow at the northern end whereby cars need to pass slowly and very carefully moving down to Coogee Oval and the senior citizens centre, while at the southern end, where there are three places of worship and four preschools, there are many pedestrians needing to avoid the speeding traffic.

In fact, the hill on Brook Street heading south from Dudley Street to Rainbow Street has become a speedway, with cars roaring up the hill much faster than the 50km/h limit. On most afternoons one can witness high powered performance cars - Porsches, Lamborghinis,

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Ferraris and V8s - terrorising the southern hill of Brook Street and other surrounding streets. The mobile police cameras would be very busy parked at the top of Brook Street just before Oberon Street.

So, please Dr O’Neill, do your best to reduce the limit in all of Coogee to 40km/h and have it signposted.

Nos Maroubra

Poisoned Ficus Microcarpa var villi (Fig Trees) on Centennial Avenue, Randwick

Hi The Beast - This is addressed to the soulless thug who has twice poisoned four beautiful 80-year-old fig trees in Centennial Avenue, Randwick. It is a dog act that will only further blacken your heart. You must really want that driveway!

I hope Randwick Council has success in tracking you down. Have a nice day!

Tim

Randwick

Burnie Street Pocket Park

Dear James - In Anthony Maguire’s article on the proposed Burnie Street pocket park (Randwick Council Listens to Local Stakeholders, The Beast, December 2024), the article references one local shop owner, while the many locals who

volunteered and actively took part in Council’s inclusive and careful consultation and design process are totally ignored.

It is public land, so just who are the stakeholders? It would be most odd for Council to abandon the pocket park after several years of careful engagement and consideration by locals, skilled professional advisors and its own talented staff.

Further up Clovelly Road at the previously unremarkable Carrington Road intersection, a similar consultation process was undertaken. The now transformed road and pocket park that Council created provides a flourishing haven, a very welcome breathing space and a buffer from the flow of constant traffic. As this park’s planting grows, its positive aesthetic impact also increases, spreading benefit to passers-by, local residences and shops alike.

I hope Council will push ahead with its plans for the Burnie Street pocket park, effectively rationalising the current dangerous traffic conditions, reducing the midday summer heat load and providing a landscaped sanctuary for the local pedestrian traffic. The proposal is well-considered and the unique opportunity for its creation should not be lost due to the harassing self-interest of a few individuals.

Ross Feller

Clovelly

The Phantom

It’s happening again. The Phantom Shirt Thief is creating mischief once more this summer. Countless people have fallen foul of this shirt snitcher, with the general targets being younger men.

I see these poor shirtless victims standing bewildered on the promenade looking out with that middle-distance stare, hoping that maybe their shirt will come in with the rising

tide. I see them milling around the outdoor gym, pulling themselves up the horizontal bars multiple times for a better vantage point to maybe find their shirt (but even visually challenged Freddy can see that there’s no shirt for them there). I see them running wildly along the coastal path trying to chase down The Phantom Thief, knocking everyone out of their way in a vain attempt to recover their lost shirt.

Let’s hope that this shirt-stealing menance is caught. In the meantime the rest of us will need to be careful not to lose the shirt off our backs this summer.

Mark Coogee

Short-Termism

Dear James - At its November 2024 meeting, Waverley’s new Liberal-dominated Council voted to remove ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance transparency) requirements from its investment policy. This could open up investment in fossil fuel corporations, unwinding decades of successful divestment. It also threatens the superior returns from ESG investments.

By contradicting the values and expectations of our community, Council could now prioritise short-term gains in tobacco, gambling and fossil fuels over long-term sustainability.

Is this what Waverley’s environmentally conscious residents expected when they cast their votes in September?

Yours faithfully,

Mora Main Waverley

The Customer Is Always Right

The old adage, ‘The customer is always right’, seems to have disappeared from modern ‘hospo’ behaviour. On a beautiful summer’s day I went to the Pool Café in Maroubra for lunch

with a friend and realised that there must have been a change of management when the menu looked quite different. No matter, we ordered our meal - a salad and pasta dish. Half an hour later we politely enquired when our meal would be arriving. “It’s being plated now,” was the reply.

As various dishes were coming out a waitress was photographing them, no doubt for their social media marketing. This included the warm dishes, which were obviously getting colder with the time spent photographing them. Then my friend’s pasta dish came out to be photographed and finally arrived at our table cold.

My friend asked if it was cold would they take it back? With that the owner came out and rather aggressively said that they were just doing it for their social media, and we had a small argument. He said that the customer is not always right and we are free to leave if we want. The waitress was trying to be polite and took the pasta back and the owner eventually brought it out and threw it on the table.

This extremely arrogant behaviour has meant we will never go back. It intrigues me why a service business would alienate valuable customers, especially in these times when going out to a restaurant is definitely an extra.

Deborah Corbett Coogee

Australians and Roundabouts

Hi - further to the sad news, yet another accident has happened at the roundabout on Coogee Bay Road and Mount Street. I read that everyone is having a kneejerk reaction to adjusting speed limits and cameras, etc. But why doesnt anyone look at the bigger picture? Driver training?

I am an immigrant to Australia - I came here in 1991. I ride motorcycles and have had

more than a few heart-stopping moments at junctions with car drivers in the Eastern Suburbs.

I have lived in a few countries over the years and ridden bikes from London to Cairo, Hamburg to Iceland, Chicago to New Orleans and many other trips. Outside of the Middle East, I think there are some of the most woeful driving standards in the world here in Australia, although no one wants to hear it, because eveyone assumes they are the best in the world. But roundabouts and Australians do not mix. The rule ‘give way to the first vehicle on the roundabout’ is correct, but a lot of drivers do not look to their right, as in give way to traffic from the right!

Stop P platers and learners from having dad teach them, as who knows how many bad habits dad has?! No one seems to be able to use the left lane, look right or think about how they are parked - in the middle of two places or giving 200mm room when parking someone in, for example.

Let’s look at the basics; driver training needs to up its game. Proactive learning, not reactive teaching (fines, etc.).

Regards, S G Short-McHugh Coogee

World Class Walkway to Come

Vale Ellen Waugh of 49 Cusco Street, South Coogee, who sadly died aged 99 as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald last month (The 99-year-old artist and the $4.9 million roadblock: Breakthrough for Sydney coastal walk).

Ellen’s property has been acquired by Randwick City Council to allow the creation of a walkway to fill the ‘missing link’ in the coastal walkway from Bondi to Malabar and beyond, ultimately perhaps linking Sydney to Wollongong. In the future, millions of walkers will be thankful to the council

for spending $4.9 million to acquire the property. One hopes that it will not ‘overengineer’ the construction of the link and will open it quickly.

It was during the 2012 review of its Local Environment Plan that I submitted that the council should acquire access through the property to link Cuzco Street with Seaside Parade. It was included as a reservation for future acquisition. It has taken another 12 years to achieve and I hope that, at 76 years of age, I will live to use the walkway.

Simon Bartlett Coogee

Cleaning Bondi Beach

James - Yesterday (December 16), with my green plastic bag in hand, collecting plastic on the beach from South Bondi to North Bondi, I found a bag in the water, so I looked inside a there was a mobile phone.

I took a screenshot of the name of a person with whom the phone’s owner had participated in a charity run. I then walked home, half-way up the hill, and a man accused me of stealing his phone! “Why didn’t you hand it in to the lifeguards?!” he yelled.

I explained to the person that I was on my way to Telstra. He did not believe me and almost grabbed my bag. I gave him his phone and the ear pods. I could not believe what had happened to me. I had even contacted the person with whom he had done the charity run but they had not returned my call. Shock and horror!

Siiri Bondi

Astonished Alan

I was very surprised you printed the letter from Matilda from North Bondi last month (Editorial Feedback and The Beast’s Monthly Mailbag, The Beast, January 2025). But I wasn’t surprised that you then

said underneath that you didn’t want crazy letters like hers.

Like Matilda, and I would think a large number of readers, we are sick and tired of The Beast being filled with woke left wing propaganda. It would be fair to say the publishers and most contributors are far left leaning.

How about you publish more content from the middle and right. A question to ask the publishers and contributors; how much of the content do you disagree with politically? I would say almost none and this shows how biased the content is.

Alan Ross Coogee

For the record, I sent this reply to Alan on December 20 and am still yet to hear back... “Thanks Alan. Out of interest, what is the far left content in the latest edition please? Or any edition for that matter? I’ve had a look through the mag, and other than Pearl’s article - an opinion piece, not editorial - I can’t find anything that fits this definition. Or is it just because The Beast is objective and neither right nor left that you’re not happy about it? Cheers, James”

Matilda

Dear Beast - In the January 2025 edition you state, “Please send feedback to... We try and publish as many as possible but nothing too crazy (like the one from Matilda) please.” I’d would actually love it if The Beast could point out the crazy bits in her letter.

Was it Cisgender? Well what a crazy notion that one is. J. K. Rowling also got in trouble for such heretical thinking too.

How about Nationalism? Yep, no one was excited when Australia won the 4th test in Melbourne in the last session against India. Should we mention what a strong bond

between two very different nations that sport has created too?

Perhaps Fascist? That lazy throwaway line that the Far Left attaches to anything it whimsically doesn’t like on any certain day.

The masses may be asses, but they still had the common sense to kick out woke idealism for pragmatism in the recent US elections. Look out Albo. Happy New Year and keep up the average work.

Andrew South Bondi

Matilda and the Far Leftthe 'Crazy Bits'

Dear James - I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry after reading Matilda’s simplistic rant against the ‘brainwashed’ and bigoted far left, whom she thinks is unfairly infiltrating The Beast’s letters and editorial column, seemingly turning it into a one-sided political rag.

Matilda declares that far left people continually ‘hate on’ heterosexual people, and cites in particular the issues of gender identity, or gender fluidity, and patriotism in response to a previous correspondent. All I can say in response to this is if we want to focus on hate, perhaps Matilda should cast her mind back to the series of hate crimes that have taken place in our city over the past several decades - including in Bondi. These involved the bashing and murder of gay males by heterosexual men either acting individually or in gangs - a situation compounded by a lack of action by the police, who were at best disbelieving or indifferent to the crimes, or at worst deeply prejudiced against homosexuality themselves. So let’s put homophobia and fear of sexual diversity around the top of the list of hate and divisiveness in our community historically.

Of even more concern is the historic and ongoing violence against women, with 1.5

females murdered each week in this country primarily by heterosexual males. In pondering on that maybe Matilda’s far left phobia, or transphobia or whatever she is suffering from, might be brought into better perspective.

She also states Western, liberal nations have succumbed to crazy left ‘fascist’ ideology regarding gender issues and suggests that people in China, the African and South American continents, and the Arabic speaking world suffer no such gender identity confusion. It might be worth reminding her that some of these countries have the most repressive regimes in terms of politics and sexual freedom. 64 countries today outlaw and criminalise homosexuality and half of thee are in Africa. UN members Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Yemen and Uganda all invoke the death penalty in certain situations for homosexual activity, while even in countries where same sex relationships are legal, discrimination and lack of basic rights still exist. So, if risking prison or death is the end product of admitting to ‘gender confusion’ or gender fluidity, there’s little wonder we are not hearing about it in some of these countries.

In defending ANZAC Day against the criticism that it has become a national obsession, Matilda says, “It is tragic that so many young men died in WWI so you can enjoy your soy skim lattés and wet dreams about your gender fluidity.” Ho huma rather bizarre cause and effect equation. The loss of life in the First World War was devastating (approximately 20 million dead and 21 million wounded) but this war had virtually nothing to do with keeping us safe and comfortable here in Australia. It was a trumped-up affair enacted by late-stage imperialist powers - Germany, France,

Britain and the Austro Hungarian empire, etc. - who feared the loss of their prized domains and colonial assets. Australian men enlisted to fight for the glory of King and country, only to be used as cannon fodder in the trenches and in the botched landing at Gallipoli.

Servicemen and women have every right to an important day of commemoration and reflection. But the intended message of this proud patriotic day contrasts with the dark statistics revealed in the recent report by The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicides. It notes that there are three deaths by suicide by serving or ex-serving defence members every fortnight in Australia. So there is a disjuncture between the objective ideal of the service person and the lived experience of many of these people who end up alienated, suffering from PTSD and other psychological and physical problems. These problems are the result not only of combat experience, but also from bullying and sexual abuse within the forces and a failure for this to be addressed openly. These broad issues are all compounded by a lack of counselling and welfare support over many years.

If Matilda perceives the left as ‘fascist’ then she seems to have redefined the meaning of the word. From my perspective, being of left orientation should mean that you are open to progress, equality and positive change, accepting of diversity, working against discrimination and the exploitation of othersan advocate for human rights.

Sue Robertson Randwick 

Please send your feedback to letters@thebeast.com.au and include your name and suburb. We try and publish as many of them as possible, but nothing too crazy please.

REPAIRS & RE-ROOFING

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LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

Saturday 1 Feb 5 – 10pm Meeks Street Plaza Kingsford

Family activities, DJ, wishing tree, live performances, lion dance (6:30pm) & more!

Local

Artist... Amanda Woodard from Bellevue Hill

Local artist Amanda Woodard is the talent behind this month’s cool cover painting of swimmers at Bondi Icebergs. Amanda shares her local favourites with The Beast...

How long have you lived here? I’ve lived here for 13 years now. I can walk to five different beaches, and the area’s best kept secret, Cooper Park, is on my doorstep.

What's your favourite beach? They’re all so different, I love them all.

What's your favourite eatery? Greek Feast on Old South Head Road. It’s totally authentic, with the best lamb and crispy chickpeas, a favourite.

Where do you like to have a drink? I like Coogee Pavilion rooftop bar for the sensational view.

Best thing about the Eastern Suburbs? It attracts an international crowd with people all over the world drawn to Bondi and neighbouring beaches.

Worst thing about the Eastern Suburbs? The overdevelopment - often ugly new apartmentsand the loss of green spaces is destroying what makes the area attractive.

How would you describe your art? I’m inspired by nature and the ocean in particular, and I enjoy capturing the changing light and colours. Swimming has been a constant in my life, and since I trained as a swimming teacher a few years ago I’ve become very interested in observing how the body moves in water and how water distorts and abstracts the human form.

Where can people see your work? You can check out my Instagram account, @abigcanvas.

Who are your artistic inspirations? I have passions ranging from Greek and Roman sculpture to Pop art, but Kandinsky and the German expressionists have inspired my art the most.

What are you working on at the moment? A large acrylic of

Bronte Beach and a small pastel of North Bondi.

When did you discover you had a gift for your craft? Back when I was still at school.

Did you study art? I am an art historian by training with degrees from Manchester and Barcelona universities, and I have written on art for Australian Art Collector and The Guardian newspaper.

Any words of wisdom for young aspiring artists? Pursue what you love, experiment and plough your own furrow.

Do you have a favourite sporting team? I’m an Arsenal FC tragic - we lived close to Highbury in London before moving to Sydney. If I couldn’t watch the Premiership, I don’t know how I’d survive. It’s the most entertainment you can have with your clothes on!

Who is your favourite person? My son, my daughter, my husband - in varying order.

What music are you into at the moment? The Wicked soundtrack.

What do you get up to on the weekends? I spend time with my family. My husband plays sax in a band, so I often go to see him play, or we love to dance, so we seek out funky DJs and go clubbing.

What's your favourite thing about work? In my swim teaching, I get a lot of satisfaction seeing a child grow confident in the water and knowing that the skills could save a life.

Do you have a favourite quote? “Make love, not war.”

Any other words of wisdom for readers of The Beast? My husband taught me that the more you smile, the more the world smiles back at you.

Interview James Hutton Photo Ava Woodard

Pursuing what she loves.

Great whites like this juvenile are a rare find in the nets.

Shark Nets on Borrowed Time

Words Anthony Maguire Photo Valerie Taylor, AM

Waverley councillors have unanimously recommended the permanent removal of the notorious shark nets that take such a heavy toll on marine species.

They approved a motion by Mayor Will Nemesh supporting “the removal of shark nets from Waverley’s beaches,” conditional on the significant increased use of drones and SMART (Shark Management Alert in Real Time) drumlines by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

The DPI runs the shark netting program off NSW beaches but has come under increasing pressure from coastal councils to scrap it because of the high death toll of marine animals such as dolphins, turtles and rays, not to mention non-target shark species like hammerheads and Port Jackson sharks.

Randwick City Council voted to scrap the nets in 2022. Waverley Council has been under some pressure from environmental groups to follow suit, but it should be noted that the nets went up after a series of horrific shark attacks at Bondi, Bronte and other Eastern Suburbs beaches in the 1920s. In 1924, a 30-year-old saleswoman had her lower legs chomped off at Bronte. As recounted in an

earlier article in this publication (Bronte’s Last Shark AttackRemembering Nita Derritt, The Beast, February 2013), Nita Derrett returned to the ocean after her ordeal, regularly making her way down to the beach wearing wooden prosthetics.

Bondi teenager Colin Stewart wasn’t so lucky. At 6.30pm on January 13, 1929, the 14-yearold was set upon in the surf at Bondi. According to a contemporary newspaper account, he was “horribly mutilated” before being rescued and rushed to St Vincent’s Hospital. He died at 7.30am the next morning.

Suffice to say, swimmers were facing a real-life Jaws scenario. The state government acted swiftly. In the 1930s, the shark nets were strung up across major beaches. The nets don’t cover the entire width of each beach, and they’re only up eight months a year - from September 1 to April 30 - but throughout their history, right up until recent times, they’ve been regarded as a crucial deterrent.

Today there is still quite a strong body of opinion within the surf lifesaving movement that the nets should stay. But those voices are now in the minority and most clubs, along

with other key stakeholders such as boardriders and ocean swimmers, now see SMART drumlines and other technology as the answer to protecting against the feared predators.

“The Department of Primary Industries has advised Council that SMART drumlines are the most effective tool for catching target sharks, while minimising the catch of non-target animals, and maximising the survival of all animals,” Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh told The Beast. The drumlines send out a signal when they catch a shark or other sea creature. A contractor then heads out in a boat and releases the animal. If it is a target species - great white, tiger or bull shark - it will be tagged.

In addition to the expansion of the drumline program, Waverley Council wants “significant increased use of drones” and is putting the bite on the DPI for increased drone surveillance by its lifeguard services under a net-free regime.

“Waverley Council’s lifeguards have expert knowledge of the coastal waters around Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama and are best placed to effectively use drone technology as part of shark mitigation measures,” said Mayor Nemesh. “The funding to implement the drone technology should come from the DPI and not be cost-shifted to Waverley Council and our ratepayers.”

In any case, it seems a no-brainer that the nets should now be retired as increased drone surveillance and drumline protection are phased in.

Legendary shark expert Valerie Taylor used to regularly monitor the nets off NSW beaches with her late husband Ron (the cameraman who filmed the sequences featuring real sharks in Jaws).

“In 50 years we only ever found one great white in the nets,” Ms Taylor told The Beast. “It was a juvenile, and we cut it free.”

Housing Density Proposal

‘Not

Good Planning Policy’

Words Anthony Maguire Photo Matt Lauder

Waverley councillors were evenly divided over a housing density proposal tabled at their December meeting.

Six Liberals were pitted against six other councillorsthree of them Labor, two Green and an independent in the form of former ALP councillor Steven Lewis.

The Liberal contingent wanted to scrap a planning reform package put forward following the last term of Council by Council officers. The package would have seen the Waverley Local Environmental Plan amended to “limit the loss of residential density in R3 Medium Density Residential and R4 High Density Residential zones”

(council-speak for medium and high density residential zones).

In their report tabled at the meeting, the two officials reasoned that this would arrest a trend in the Bondi area where perfectly good but old apartment buildings and shoptop housing “are being demolished or heavily altered, and replaced with dwelling houses, dual occupancies ... with significantly fewer units than the existing structures, resulting in a net loss of dwellings…”

The non-Liberal councillors thought it was a great idea, and so did Save Bondi Village committee member Adrianne Kern, who read out a statement at the meeting supporting “this pro-

posal’s objective to safeguard affordable housing and prevent its replacement with fewer, more expensive residences.”

But the prevailing view among the Liberal councillors was that the proposal - initiated in the last term of the previous council - sounded good in theory, but would have negative consequences in practicewhich was why new Mayor Will Nemesh used his casting vote as chair to reject the planning changes.

“The proposal does not constitute good planning policy,” Mayor Nemesh said later in a statement to The Beast. “Good planning policy should be about designing and implementing a strategic framework to provide greater local community amenity. In fact, if adopted, this policy would likely have had the opposite effect of what it sought to achieve. A likely consequence of the proposal as it stood would be the incentivisation of spot rezoning and greater densification in areas where it would have been otherwise inappropriate to enable any further density.”

In addition, the proposal infringed on the rights of property owners who want to merge units within strata schemes.

“This is sometimes done to increase the size of apartments to enable growing families to remain in the building where they live,” Mayor Nemesh explained.

The Mayor also argued that the proposal needed to be considered against the broader backdrop of NSW Government policies such as the proposed low and mid-rise housing reforms.

He said the impact of the proposal on dwelling numbers was “insignificant” compared with the potential future dwelling growth in Waverley under new State Government policies.

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Dedicated to the transformative power of concrete for modern, stylish, and sustainable living. It’s free to join and open to anyone who loves concrete and its endless possibilities. As a member, you’ll be inspired with videos, new products, and stunning designs and applications. Share, connect or simply enjoy the visual feast.

Beautiful Homes. Beautiful Concrete.

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Phone 02 9318 1722 or visit metromix.com.au/able-concrete/

Architect: MCK Architects.

Photography: Rethmeier Still Images.

Builder: Toki Construction

Council Will Consult Stakeholders Over Bronte Beach Christmas Party

Words Anthony Maguire Photos Deb Bauchery

A swarming mass of beachgoers covered the Bronte sands. Up on the grass and in the gully there was an even thicker congregation of people - 15,000 had gathered here for the annual Christmas Day backpackers party. Most were swigging away at alcohol.

It was a daytime event, so as the sun went down, most people had left and Waverley Council staff were moving in to start collecting the many tonnes of waste considerately left by the revellers. Among the clean-up team was Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh. He helped council workers clean up from 7pm to 12.30am, by which time 20 tonnes of waste had been hauled away in garbage trucks.

The intrepid young mayor was also at ground zero at 7.30am the next morning to further assist in the clean-up of bottles, plastic containers, cans and other debris. As well as council staff, there were dozens of volunteers, many of them Bronte locals including off-duty lifeguards.

All wore gloves, which came in handy as they picked up shards of broken glass.

There were some strange morning-after finds - one volunteer said he’d collected 20 pairs of shoes and sandals. One of the council clean-up guys pointed out a white cylindrical ‘nang bottle’ which he said a reveller would have used for a nitrous oxide hit. At this point, a young British girl arrived at the edge of the gully announcing she’d lost her phone last night. There was a kind of post-apocalyptic atmosphere in this usually bright and cheery place.

“We’re going to make sure this never happens again,” said Mayor Nemesh. “There needs to be a different approach to how we manage these events in public spaces.”

He said banning glassware at the next backpacker party would be under consideration as discussions about the event’s future are held with residents, clubs, businesses and other key stakeholders.

Sydney to Hobart Winning Crew Member Navigates Different Path

Words Anthony Maguire

Photo Ben Lexcen

Clovelly resident William Haynes recently experienced the euphoria of winning the Rolex Sydney to Hobart on board his Dad’s yacht.

Mr Haynes, 26, was a crew member on Celestial V70 and has been sailing since he was at primary school. The salt in his veins comes from his veterinary surgeon father Dr Sam Haynes, a leading light in offshore racing.

William Haynes has taken a different scientific path to his father. He has been working as a research assistant at the Schizophrenia Research Lab at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) in Randwick. He is about to embark on a PhD in neuroscience there and says his research will try to throw new light on schizophrenia.

“Schizophrenia is a very mysterious illness to most people in society because it can be difficult to understand how someone loses their mind. I feel passionate about improving the lives of people with schizophrenia,” William told The Beast.

William Haynes holding the Sydney to Hobart Trophy.

Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh pitches in to help with the clean-up.

The Battle for Burrows Concludes

Local sporting clubs and community stakeholders have welcomed the latest Randwick Council plans for a makeover of Burrows Park at Clovelly. This follows three years of sometimes-bitter division, with the community group Friends of Burrows Park running a campaign to fight the proposed upgrade by Randwick City Council. There were fears the works would spoil the muchloved green space for park users who don’t play sport there.

Initially there was even conflict between the two main sporting clubs that use the park. The Clovelly Crocodiles Rugby League Football Club wanted a knockdown and rebuild of the old amenities block at the eastern edge of the sports field, while the Clovelly Eagles Junior Rugby Football Club didn’t think it was necessary.

But last year the Eagles dropped its opposition to replacement of the 62-year-old amenities block and the Crocs made some compromises about the playing field expansion. Meanwhile, Randwick City Council carried out community consultation online and at a series of stakeholder meetings. Council then came up with three Masterplan options which were tabled at its November meeting.

Option A located the new amenities building along Ocean Street, with the sports field moved east. But that would involve substantial earthworks and the eastward expansion could have threatened remnant bushland on the fringes of the field.

Option B proposed that the amenities building be located along the northern length of the field. However, a report to council said this option “is the least suitable for the sporting groups, being located on the short edge of the field and the furthest from the midline.” In addition, the report noted, Option B involved the sports field shifting a significant distance southwards. “This will result in extensive retaining walls to its southern edge, a loss of important habitat, and reduced amenity to the dog park area,” the report said.

And then there was Option C, the council’s preferred choice. Under this proposal, the new amenities block will stand on the same ground as the old one and there will be a modest expansion in the size of the playing fieldfrom 93 metres to 100 metres in length and from 61 to 68 metres in width. “This achieves the least impact on existing conditions and minimises the required cut and fill,” stated the council report.

Councillors unanimously voted for Option C and a fresh round of online consultation is taking place throughout February. If feedback is favourable, the $7.6 million upgrade will commence with the new amenities block.

Good public feedback seems a foregone conclusion now that Friends of Burrows Park has given the nod to Option C.

“We’re happy that development of the playing field and amenities building will take place within the existing footprint,” said Friends of Burrows Park spokesperson Tim Fleming.

Leanne Warner, another spokesperson for the group, praised Randwick Council for accurately taking the pulse of the community.

“They’re listening to people who are recreational users of the park as well as the footy clubs,” she said.

Bob Tate, Chairman of Roosters Junior Rugby League (representing the Crocs), was equally effusive in his praise of the council, saying General Manager Ray Brownlee and his team “got everyone together and on the same page.”

Jack Singleton, committee member with the Eagles, is also all smiles about the Option C Masterplan. He said the oceanside location of the park on the hill overlooking Clovelly Bay made it “one of the most beautiful rugby grounds in the world.”

“It’s a priceless public resource,” he said. “We’re never going to have synthetic turf, we’re never going to have anything that blocks views, we’re never going to have fences or close it to the public.”

Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker told The Beast the Option C Masterplan proposal represented “a win for community sport plus local residents and other park users. We’re confident of achieving a great outcome for the community,” he said.

To have your say in the latest round of online community consultation, visit Council’s website at www.randwick.nsw.gov.au.

Words and Photo Anthony Maguire

Tim Fleming and Leanne Warner from Friends of Burrows Park with Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker and Jack Singleton from the Eagles.

The latest from Randwick City Council about living in this great city

Randwick News

Hot off the heels of Christmas, Chanukah and New Year’s Eve, this month we continue to celebrate the wonderful diversity of the Randwick City community.

At Lunar New Year we welcome the Year of the Snake. Join us at Meeks Street Plaza in Kingsford on Saturday 1 February for a day of family activities, live performances, lion dancing and more. Be sure to visit one of the great restaurants in Kingsford and enjoy a special holiday dish.

Then it’s time for Randwick Pride! Come down to the iconic rainbow walkway at Coogee Beach on 15 February to enjoy a fun and fabulous celebration of inclusion, equality and the many LGBTQIA+ people who call Randwick City home.

Our free live music program, Summer Sounds, continues to bring Randwick City high streets to life, with pop-up performances at nine locations every Saturday until 15 February. Visit our website to find out who’s playing near you!

This is an incredibly busy time of year on Randwick City beaches and water ways, and it’s up to all of us to protect our marine environment. Beach pollution starts at our drains, when plastics, cigarette butts and microparticles get washed through the stormwater system and into the ocean.

Council operates 35 pollutant traps that filter stormwater preventing 300 tonnes of waste from ending up on our beaches every year. But we can’t do it alone. It’s all our responsibility to keep our beaches clean and to ensure our drains are just for rain. Visit our website to find out what you can do to help, and let’s end beach pollution, together.

I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful and safe summer.

What’s On

LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

SATURDAY 1 FEB

5 – 10pm Meeks Street Plaza, Kingsford

RANDWICK PRIDE SATURDAY 15 FEB

2 – 6pm Coogee Beach Rainbow Walkway

SUMMER SOUNDS EVERY SATURDAY THROUGH TO 15 FEB 2025

Town centres across Randwick City

Councillor Dylan Parker Mayor of Randwick

Randwick Mayor

Dylan Parker

The Forever Johnno Story Lives On

Words Anthony Maguire Photo James Hutton

When newborn John Ward came home from hospital in 1999, he was not a picture of health.

“He was jaundiced and his skin was an orange-yellow colour,” recounted his father Mal Ward. “But lots of kids are jaundiced when they’re born.”

However, the condition persisted, and after a battery of tests over the next 12 months, doctors diagnosed Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic disorder that can cause severe liver and lung damage - and death. Survival often hinges on a liver transplant.

At the age of just one year and eight months, John went into the Clancy Ward at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead for a liver transplant. It was successful and soon he was back at home.

For the next six years, all was well. John became a good swimmer and loved going to Coogee with Dad. He also inherited Mal’s almost tribal devotion to The Roosters. But then the sceptre of John’s condition reared its head again.

At the age of eight, his health took a steep dive, to the stage

where at one point he was hooked up to a heart-lung machine. His body had rejected the transplanted liver.

With good care, he was brought back from the brink and put on the list for another liver transplant. And it wasn’t too long before John and his parents received the good news - a new liver was available.

John was nine when he underwent the second transplant. But it didn’t go well this time round. Just days after the surgery, his body started rejecting the new liver and jaundice took hold again.

At the age of nine and a half, John lost his battle with liver disease. On August 29, 2008, he passed away at the Children’s Hospital. At that point Mal Ward, one pillar of his existence having already crumbled with his marriage breaking up in the lead-up to John’s death, found himself looking into a gloomy, Johnno-less void.

“He meant everything to me,” Mal told The Beast

Within months, Mal hit upon a way of keeping John’s memory alive. He would start a Christmas present drive for kids

in hospital. Welcome to Forever Johnno! The charity would complement the mid-year fundraiser he’d started back in 2000 to help young patients in the Children’s Hospital at Westmead’s Clancy Ward, the specialist transplant unit.

The December ‘wrapathon’ has been an annual event since 2008. The latest took place at the Clovelly Hotel on Sunday December 15, 2024. Volunteers wrapped a record 2,252 presents (last year it was a ‘mere’ 1,875).

And on Christmas morning, patients in all of Sydney’s children’s hospitals were opening presents from anonymous good Samaritans.

Sponsors for the latest present drive were Laugh and Learn Randwick, Sydney Zoo, Merlin Events, Santa by the Surf, Leeton Community Christmas Lunch and Chambers Russell Lawyers, who donated hundreds of presents to the cause.

Running the Johnno events has put Mr Ward in touch with the new light of his life. In 2018, he became ‘friendly’ with Annette, one of the nurses from the Clancy Ward, where John had spent his final days.

Annette hadn’t been with the ward at the time of John’s death, joining the staff there in more recent years. But she’d become an active participant in Forever Johnno events.

Romance bloomed and in 2022, Mal and Annette got married. Meanwhile, John’s memory continues to burn bright and today Annette plays a key role in Forever Johnno activities. She has been pivotal in expanding the distribution of gifts beyond the Children’s Hospitals, with presents now also distributed to needy families through a number of community support organisations.

Forever Johnno - the gift that keeps on giving!

John Ward, pictured with his father Mal, has left an important legacy.

Come along to your local Resident Precinct Meeting

Precincts are meetings of residents who get together regularly to discuss local matters or issues of concern in their neighbourhood. Waverley is split into 13 Precincts and meetings are open to any person living within the Precinct boundaries.

This February, the following meetings are on:

Bondi Beach – Monday 3 February, 7 – 8.30pm

Charing Cross – Wednesday 5 February, 7 - 9pm

Bondi Heights – Thursday 6 February, 7 - 9pm

Bronte – Monday 10 February, 7 - 9pm

Bondi – Wednesday 12 February, 7 - 9pm

Dover Heights – Monday 17 February, 7 - 9pm

Bronte Beach – Wednesday 19 February, 7.30 - 9.30pm

Rose Bay – Monday 24 February, 7 - 9pm

Queens Park – Wednesday 26 February, 7 - 9pm

North Bondi – Wednesday 26 February, 7 - 9pm

Visit waverley.nsw.gov.au/precinct to find out location of the above meetings closer to the date.

Not sure which Precinct you belong to? Visit waverley.nsw.gov.au/findyourprecinct

Waverley Council proudly supports resident run Precinct meetings.

LIVE MUSIC SERIES

Council Channels Funds to Stop Flooding

Waverley Council has come to the rescue of North Bondi residents whose back yards have been turned into sandpits by flooding from the neighbouring Bondi Golf Course.

The golf course is owned by the council and the flooding has been a serious issue for occupants of three residential buildings in Hastings Parade. One owner has even built a retaining wall at their own expense.

At their December meeting, Waverley councillors agreed to a motion moved by Mayor Will Nemesh that a drainage channel be built on the tee 3 fairway at Bondi Golf Course. The channel will “direct the majority of overland flow at this location towards the cliff edge,” said Mayor Nemesh and the seconder of the motion, fellow Liberal Michelle Stephenson.

Design and construction of the channel will be funded by $80,000 from Council’s Stormwater Reserve. Works are sched-

uled to be completed in early 2025, with temporary closure of tee 3 during construction.

“In the meantime, Council is urgently exploring interim measures to mitigate impacts including providing sandbags to residents,” a council spokesperson told The Beast

“This has been a long, ongoing issue for our residents of Hastings Parade, Bondi, but within two months of my mayoralty we are already taking action to resolve the issue,” Mayor Nemesh told The Beast

Local retiree Jeanette, who lives in one of the affected properties and whose plight was highlighted with a story in the September edition of The Beast, said she welcomed the council taking action to prevent future flooding.

“I hope the work they’re going to do will include a clean-up of the sand in my back yard and the building of a retaining wall,” she said.

The Clock is Ticking on CPR, Says Bobby 'Yak’ Yaldwyn

Words Anthony Maguire

Photo Manny Quinn

Former paramedic and Bondi Rescue star Bobby ‘Yak’ Yaldwyn has brought more than 200 people back from the brink of death through emergency resuscitations.

He says early action is all-important. But in a domestic situation, crucial time is usually lost.

“Most cardiac arrests happen at home, but family members aren’t proficient with CPR. With good CPR you can increase the chances of survival.”

Now Mr Yaldwyn is drawing on his 16 years with the NSW Ambulance Service and 18 seasons as a Bondi lifeguard with his business venture, Emergency First Aid Training.

The business provides training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid, plus additional modules focusing on lifeguard training, advanced resuscitation and asthma and anaphylaxis management.

The courses are open to all, but Mr Yaldwyn says that because of his background, a lot of business is coming from the surfing community. He has also been working closely with schools and the corporate sector.

To find out more, please visit emergencyfirstaidtraining.com.au.

Bobby ‘Yak’ Yaldwyn says every household should be CPR-ready.

Words and Photo Anthony Maguire

Jeanette’s lawn has become a bunker and she keeps her doors barricaded for when the next flood tees off.

Crime News

Former Opposition Leader’s Son Was ‘AusCokeKing’

The drug-dealing son of former state opposition leader Kerry Chikarovski walked free after being sentenced to a 35-month intensive corrections order.

Downing Centre Local Court was told Mark Chikarovski, 38, sold drugs on the dark web under the name ‘AusCokeKing.’

Cocaine, MDMA and ketamine were the main drugs he sent out from various Eastern Suburbs post offices. He also supplied meth and dexamphetamine, with clients paying in cryptocurrency.

But his lavish lifestyle put him on the radar of NSW Police and he was busted after a covert police operative made several purchases.

In May 2023, cops raided the Bondi Junction flat where he and his family were living while renovations were being carried out on the $11.5 million Vaucluse house he’d purchased three months earlier. He was packing up a batch of drugs as officers burst into the apartment.

After taking the erstwhile AusCokeKing away in handcuffs, Police seized a substantial stash of illegal narcotics plus two Porsche SUVs, more than $269,000 in cryptocurrency, $30,000 cash, electronic devices and other property. Chikarovski ended up having to surrender $1.4 million to the Crime Commission.

Standing in the dock at the Downing Centre, Chikarovski

pleaded guilty to a string of charges including commercial drug supply and dealing in the proceeds of crime.

The court heard that he had turned to drugs following a dysfunctional childhood, then he’d started dealing to cover his drug debts.

His mother, who was NSW Liberal leader between 1999 and 2002, was in court for the sentencing hearing. She wept as the judge sentenced her errant son to the corrections order after taking into account nine months spent in jail in the lead-up to the court case.

Top Designer Allegedly Assaulted Wife

High-profile fashion designer Wayne Cooper has been charged with assaulting his wife, Elizabeth Adams, in Bondi.

Police also served 61-year-old Cooper with an Apprehended Violence Order following the alleged December incident in a Campbell Parade apartment.

Cooper and Ms Adams married last December after the designer proposed to the 47-year-old during a romantic dinner at Bondi Icebergs. He hid the engagement ring in a bowl of caviar. But the marriage does not appear to have been made in heaven, because the Campbell Parade incident has not been the only dust-up involving police and an AVO.

Last September, Ms Adams was served with an AVO on behalf of Cooper. She was ordered not to assault or threaten Cooper or damage his property. But the designer later said the AVO was a “storm in a tea cup” and that they’d reconciled. The couple normally live in the Byron Hinterland, but perhaps staying in Bondi was an attempt to rekindle the flames.

London-born Cooper gained prominence in the 1990s with his fashion label BRAVE, later rebranded as WAYNE. He went on to become a regular guest on the TV show Australia’s Next Top Model.

Low-Life

Grub Said to Have Demanded Money From Teen

Friday 13th may be a date that will forever stir traumatic memories for a 13-year-old girl.

The teenager was standing at a bus stop on Anzac Parade, Maroubra at 7.40am on Friday, December 13 when a man approached her and demanded money.

“The victim ran to a nearby member of the public for assistance,” Eastern Beaches Local Area Police Command posted on its Facebook page.

The man then fled. But officers from Maroubra Police Station were quickly on the case. “Following investigations, the male was arrested later that day at a residence in Maroubra.”

Police put the 31-year-old in the back of a paddy wagon and took him to Maroubra Police Station. There he was charged with demanding money with menace. He was granted conditional bail and will face justice when his case comes before Waverley Court.

Stop, Thief!

Does anyone know who the bloke pictured below is? He was captured on CCTV ripping open a parcel in the foyer of a Bondi Junction apartment block, then making his exit with the contents. What did his loot consist of? It was “womens clothes, so no great use to him,” said the victim of the theft, Emily Tootle, in a Facebook posting. She said she’d reported the incident to police.

Please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Words Jimmy Felon

Photo Chika Roll

Chikarovski flanked by lawyer Bryan Wrench and a TV reporter.

No pressure, son!

Facing Your Fears

Words Jeremy Ireland Photo Cymo Phobia

There’s plenty to see on the beach during the summer break. What caught my eye this year was the christening of ‘beachware’ presents Santa had left under the tree - the first match with a new cricket set, an excited toddler building a sand castle with their new bucket and spade, kids having a crack on boogie boards and the latest swimwear being paraded... all newly gifted stuff being put to the test.

One morning I noticed a young boy paddling a brand new surfboard from his Dad. Sadly, I suspect the old man was way more into surfing than his son was - so much so that it was becoming clear this poor kid was not keen to catch a wave at all. Dad was getting frustrated, and the more he tried to get his son on the board, the more reluctant the kid became, until eventually both gave up. It seemed the poor kid had a fear of waves and getting dumped.

Fear can be quite a debilitating feeling. When people are fearful of something, they tend to avoid the feared objects, activities or situations. Although this avoidance might help to reduce feelings of fear in the short-term, over the long-term it can make the fear become even worse and potentially develop into a phobia. At the pointy end

of fear, problems like agoraphobia, panic disorder and social or generalised anxiety may develop, and at the extreme end, disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder can emerge.

Phobias are more common than you may think. A simple search on the internet revealed 124 different types of phobias, ranging from the more wellknown ones like agoraphobia (a fear of going outside, leaving the house, crowds or anywhere where escape seems difficult) to less well-known phobias like anthrophobia (a fear of flowers), bibliophobia (a fear of books) and zuigerphobia (a fear of vacuum cleaners). The list seemed quite long, and I’m sure there are way more than 124, as really any object or situation can become a source of fear.

At the heart of a phobia lies anxiety. Symptoms of phobias might include tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing, nausea, racing heartbeat, trembling and sweating, just to name a few. At the extreme, one might also experience a sense of dread, impending doom or even feeling that death is imminent. It can be quite debilitating, hence the urge to avoid such situations where the source of fear might potentially be encountered.

The exact cause of why one might develop a phobia is not known, but we do know it’s likely to be a combination of genetics and a traumatic experience‘once bitten twice shy’. For example, being bitten by a dog as a child could trigger a fear of dogs in adulthood, which may then be inadvertently passed down the line to your own child. It is complicated, especially if a phobia is impacting your well-being or preventing you from living your life to the fullest.

As distressing and disruptive as a phobia might be, treatment is available and can certainly help. The most common treatment is exposure therapy, where one is gradually and progressively exposed to what they fear. If they have a fear of using a lift, for example, treatment might start with the therapist getting you to think about using a lift, then moving on to looking at a picture or a video clip of a lift, and then perhaps going to a lift and pressing the button but not actually getting in. Over time, once the client becomes more comfortable with each situation, they can progress to the next one and in time hopefully be comfortable enough to use the lift. Exposure therapy is often linked to cognitive behavioural therapy, i.e. learning to identify the underlying negative thoughts that contribute to feelings of fear.

As for our young grom, it’s important that he wants to get out there for himself, not just because Dad wants him to. He needs to start in a way that works for him, otherwise the board may end up on the wall. It is a fine line, but feeling safe and not being pressured is the key to conquering fear. If you feel a fear or phobia is holding you back then professional help can assist.

Jeremy Ireland is a local psychotherapist. Have you got a question? You can get in touch with Jeremy by calling 0400 420 042.

A New Era for Local Education: Welcoming the Co-educational Randwick High School

Words

Over the past weeks we have enjoyed the summer holidays and made the most of our beautiful surroundings. This is a lovely time of year as most of us settle back into work yet still enjoy the warm weather, casual barbecues and meals outside, and a swim after work. For our young people, this is a particularly exciting time as schools resume and friendships are rekindled and newly made. For parents and children, there is also a degree of nervous anticipation of what the year will hold, and I wish you all a smooth transition back to school and a fabulous, happy year ahead.

For some of our local students, commencing school this year will be particularly exciting. The Eastern Suburbs is on the cusp of an historic moment in education as Randwick Boys’ and Randwick Girls’ High Schools prepare to merge into a single co-educational institution from 2025. The decision to create Randwick High School follows an extensive consultation process led by the NSW Department of Education, which engaged with Eastern Suburbs

communities to understand parent and student preferences for high school options.

The findings revealed overwhelming support for co-education, particularly from parents of primary school students. Approximately 75 per cent of these parents expressed a preference for sending their children to a co-educational high school, reinforcing the demand for inclusive and modern learning environments.

In response to this community support, the NSW Government committed $42 million to transform the current school sites into a contemporary, fit-for-purpose campus. The investment will ensure students benefit from stateof-the-art facilities designed to foster academic excellence and personal development. Importantly, we want to assure the community that all land at the existing school sites will be retained, preserving ample space for learning, recreation and extracurricular activities.

While the school will officially become co-educational in 2025, the transition will be carefully

managed. Year 12 students this year will continue with their current arrangements to ensure their HSC preparation is unaffected. All existing Stage 6 courses will be maintained, guaranteeing continuity and stability for senior students during this transformative period.

On December 17, 2024, dubbed ‘Fence Day’, we came together to witness the symbolic tearing down of the literal fence dividing the two campuses, marking the physical and cultural unification of the schools. Students, teachers and families have joined forces to bid farewell to the separation of the past and embrace the opportunities of a shared future.

With Year 7 enrolments up by nearly 40 per cent for 2025, we are excited to see a new chapter of public high school education in the Eastern Suburbs. The new school sees greater academic and co-curricular activities being offered to students. The new school uniform and emblem are the result of consultation with the school and broader community and is emblematic of a school being driven by our community.

As the community looks forward to this new chapter, Randwick High School invites everyone to its Open Night on March 5, 2025. The event will offer guided tours, information sessions and activities starting at 4.30pm, providing prospective students and parents an opportunity to explore the school’s vision for the future.

The opening of Randwick High School represents more than just a merger; it’s a bold step toward creating a more inclusive, progressive and connected educational experience for students in the Eastern Suburbs. With modern facilities, a committed staff and the support of a vibrant community, the school is poised to become a cornerstone of local education for generations to come.

Dr Marjorie O’Neill - Member for Coogee Photo Chris Minns

Dr O'Neill and Deputy Premier Prue Car with Randwick High School students on 'Fence Day'.

It's Time to Reform Our Tax System

Words Allegra SpenderMember for Wentworth

Photo Deborra Lee Fairness

Talking about tax doesn’t win you too many friends, but the truth is it’s never been more important. Tax affects where we live, when and how often we move, how much and in what we invest, and what goods and services we buy. It affects how we operate a business, how many people we employ, and whether we upgrade that tired piece of shop equipment. So, talking about major economic issues without talking about tax is ignoring one of the largest policy levers we have. And we have no shortage of issues.

We are seemingly miles away from the traditional view of Australia as the land of the ‘fair go’, where aspiration and hard work are all that’s required to build a prosperous life, put down roots and start a business or a family. The rising cost of living is tough but it is symptomatic of broader economic challenges.

For decades, Australia’s tax system has gone mostly untouched, leaving a growing

burden on working Australians. In November, the Parliamentary Budget Office pointed out that personal income tax accounts for 41.5 per cent of all government revenue. By 2030, that figure is expected to rise to 46 per cent as our population ages.

These working Australians, on whom we are increasingly reliant for tax revenue, are the same Australians increasingly locked out of the housing market and other forms of building wealth. A household headed by someone aged between 30-34 on an annual income of $100,000 is paying approximately double the amount of tax as a household next door on the same income but over the age of 65. Homeownership amongst 30-34 year olds has fallen from 70 per cent in 1981 to 50 per cent now, and nearly half of all first homebuyers can only do so with help from their parents. This is unsustainable - and unfair.

So, what I’ve been doing for the past 18 months is meeting with experts, consulting my community and compiling the evidence to produce this Green Paper outlining the urgency and options for tax reform.

When I started my Green Paper process, tax reform wasn’t even on the table. Both major parties were too scared of backlash to propose anything, choosing instead to commit to doing ‘absolutely nothing’. But economic reality is catching up with us.

The Green Paper I’ve released outlines six priorities for reform that work towards lowering income taxes on working people, restoring intergenerational equity and enabling young people to buy houses, as well as other priorities such as improving business productivity and supporting our energy transition. If we’re serious about tackling the challenges of the 21st century, tax reform must be part of the solution.

Let me be clear: my Green Paper doesn’t propose specific

tax policies. Rather, it lays out the evidence and challenges, inviting feedback from across the political spectrum and the community. The paper does this on a revenue-neutral basis - where we lower taxes we must increase taxes elsewhere - because decreasing overall tax revenue would require changes to spending which are beyond the scope of this paper. It’s about starting the conversation we desperately need, not wedging each other.

Tax reform is notoriously difficult. It’s the kind of challenge that requires bold leadership and a willingness to tackle complex issues head-on. But the stakes are too high to do nothing. Without action, we’ll see younger Australians falling further behind, businesses unable to compete in the global economy and our energy transition slowed by outdated policies.

As an Independent MP, I believe in putting the values of our community first. You’ve told me you care about this issue, and I’ve listened.

If I’m returned at the next election and we face a minority government, a commitment to real tax reform will be a key consideration in my support.

We need a tax system that works for everyone. It should reward hard work, encourage innovation and support a fairer, more sustainable future. Tax touches every part of our lives - from our pay cheques to our homes, from the economy to the environment.

This Green Paper is not the end but rather the beginning, and I hope it sparks a long-overdue national debate. Because without reform, the problems will only grow - and Australians deserve better.

The full Green Paper is now available to view on my website at www.allegraspender.com.au, and I encourage you to read it and share your feedback with me. If it matters to you, it matters to me.

Tackling the issues head-on.

Building a community, together.

Independent Wentworth.

Authorised by Allegra Spender,

Vietnamese Crispy Chicken Salad

Words Dana Sims Instagram @stone_and_twine

If you’re thinking of shying away from the long list of ingredients in this Vietnamese crispy chicken salad, I can assure you the repetitious chopping and slicing is well worth the effort. This abundant shared plate is so fragrant, fresh and bursting with the typical Vietnamese flavours we know and love, and it is perfect for this time of year.

I’ve crisped up some chicken thighs with the skin on for a golden crunch and juicy texture that makes this salad a little more special. The method remains simple, while the salty, sweet, spicy and sour dressing gives this salad its fabulous flavour and will leave your taste buds soaring.

Ingredients

This recipe serves six people. 8 boneless chicken thighs, skin on

1 cup extra virgin olive oil for frying

Vietnamese Salad

¼ red onion, finely sliced

1 large carrot, julienned

1 long red chilli, finely chopped

1 Lebanese cucumber, finely sliced lengthways

1 cup bean sprouts

1 baby cos lettuce, finely chopped

¼ Chinese wombok, finely chopped

1 bunch fresh mint, leaves picked

1 bunch fresh coriander, leaves picked

1 spring onion, white and green, finely chopped

½ cup raw cashews

1 pkt ready made (100gm) small crispy fried noodles

Salad dressing

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbs fish sauce

1½ tbs white sugar

1½ tsp sesame oil

Juice of 2 limes

1½ tbs grated fresh ginger

1 small red chilli, finely chopped, seeds in

1 tbs finely chopped lemongrass, white part only

To Serve

1 lime, cut into wedges

Extra red chilli if desired, finely chopped

Method

1. To make the salad, prepare all the ingredients and combine well in a large bowl. Set aside.

2. To make the dressing, add all ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine well. Set aside.

3. For the chicken, heat a large fry pan to medium heat and add the olive oil. When hot, gently place each piece of chicken skin side down. Fry for approximately 4 minutes until the skin is well browned and crispy, then turn and cook for a further 3 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and drain on paper towel. Repeat this process with the remaining pieces of chicken.

4. To assemble the salad, add the dressing and toss thoroughly. Place onto a large serving platter.

5. When the chicken has cooled slightly, slice each chicken thigh into 3 or 4 pieces and arrange on top of and around the salad.

6. Serve with lime wedges and extra chilli to your liking.

Dana Sims is a Sydneybased food and prop stylist who has grown up in the Eastern Suburbs and loves to create delicious food. She is inspired by the fresh produce we have access to in Sydney. For ideas, recipes and styling inspiration, check out her Instagram, @stone_and_twine.

Uncle Ho would be proud.

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The Unreliable Guide to... Quick Fixes

The Unreliable Guide is all for the quick-fix solution. If a button comes off my shirt, I’m reaching for a safety pin, not a sewing kit. I’ve been known to fix a car with gaffer tape and occy straps rather than bother taking it to a mechanic. When I’m hungry, I can’t even be bothered to wait for the Uber Eats so I just fry random items from the fridge - beetroot, couscous and sardines? Sure, why not. Basically, like the rest of the world, I’ve got a short span of attention and I’m all about the quick fix life hack. Lately, however, I’ve realised that some problems can’t be sorted out with a roll of carpet tape - they require a total life review. If that sounds like hard work, never fear, The Unreliable Guide is here with some slow solutions to this quick fix world.

The Ozempic Games

I hadn’t even heard of the drug Ozempic until a 14-year-old person told me about it last week. But as you probably already knew, semaglutide drugs

like Ozempic and Wegovy were designed to help people with life-threatening type-2 diabetes. But lately, millions of diabetics all around the world have been missing out on their essential medicine. Thanks to the drug’s ability to suppress the appetite, it’s become a hugely popular weight loss drug. While this makes it a useful, legitimate treatment for clinical obesity, for the fashionably skinny it’s the latest fad ‘diet’. Worse still, the quick fix appeal of the drug has led to some mothers giving their kids the drug to prevent obesity - bit of a shift from my mum telling me to “eat a carrot if you’re hungry”. And this stuff costs way more than a carrot. According to a recent article in the Australian Financial Review, many people right here in our Eastern Suburbs are paying between $300 and $1,000 or more per month for the weekly injections. Apparently it’s easy to get a prescription with minimum consultation from ‘friendly’ GPs working out of telehealth sites - even if you just want to ‘look good’.

And semaglutide is not without its share of side effects either. Quite apart from the fact you have to inject yourself in the guts every week, the most common side effects include persistent nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, bowel obstructions and constipation. Sexy. There are also concerns that it can cause pancreatitis and thyroid cancers. And, having put up with all that, most will regain weight when they stop using. If you’re still tempted, some dieticians fear cosmetic use of the drug could create a new wave of obesity as the long-term effects of the drug on non-obese metabolisms has yet to be ascertained... skinny today, but then fat forever.

Making a Quick Buck

Just as fast food giants make billions selling us shit processed fast foods as a quick fix for hunger, Novo Nordisk, the company behind semaglutide production, is now the most valuable corporation in the European Union, worth more than US$500 billion in 2023. It’s almost deliciously ironic that this quick fix drug is popular because it cuts down the ‘food noise’ created by our addiction to quick fix, high sugar, processed junk. Multinationals have created an obesity epidemic with their shit processed food and now they’re selling us more shit to get skinny. And if you take it too far and give yourself the dreaded, haggard ‘Ozempic face’, don’t worry! There’s a whole new industry making more billions helping us deal with the fallout from this quick fix fad.

Finally, The Unreliable Guide suggests that if we just ate good food slowly we wouldn’t need to whack syringes full of shit into our guts. Or, as funny girl Lily Tomlin once said, “For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.”

Words Nat Shepherd Photo Perbaikan Cepat

This stuff is incredible.

Fortunately most locals are in Aspen, Hokkaido or Courchevel at this time of year.

Authorities Fail to Defend Bondi

Words Kieran Blake - kieranblakewriter.org Photo Gavan Reynolds

Local authorities left innocent Bondi locals dangerously exposed to thousands of invasive species this summer and residents are furious.

Australia’s most famous beach was flooded with introduced pests arriving via the daily Western Sydney Beach Bus in January, and there was nothing we could do about it.

Westies competed with existing species for resources and space in Bondi and other beaches throughout the region, and placed even more stress on already overcrowded land, wreaking more havoc than a dog in a rock pool.

Authorities have long ignored myriad suggestions to halt the destruction of local habitat. Less than 0.2 per cent of the federal budget is spent on protecting Australia’s unique and vulnerable nature, and it appears even less is being spent on the East. Our elected leaders failed to build the Westie Wall along Anzac Parade and did not roll out the Bondi Passport. The

Turnbulls’ solution to recreate the West in the image of the East achieved nothing more than ‘Pondi’, and the end result is the Westie Bus.

Westies, like many of Australia’s introduced species, were supposed to improve our land, our economy and our lives.

Café owners were promised increased summer revenue, but decision makers ignored the fact that Westies don’t consume turmeric lattés, sourdough or quinoa, but congregate at the culinary base in search of whopping big burgers and soft serve on Sundays.

Furthermore, unlike some native birds, Eastern Suburbs entrepreneurs have not yet learned how to flip Westies and find other ways to gouge them.

Those responsible for initially bringing the Westies to our patch of paradise in small doses also did so under the premise of sport and amusement. Who doesn’t love watching teenagers in footy shorts getting pounded by wave after wave?

However, the progeny of the baby bonus will soon outnumber those who have long inhabited this shoreline due to their propensity to procreateand that will not be fun.

Bondi was not the only beach to suffer. Westies sucked vital oxygen out of the previously serene waters of Parsley Bay in Vaucluse, and the invaders spread like fire ants from the northern extremities of the region all the way to Maroubra and beyond.

Good people of the Eastern Suburbs - be careful, be vigilant, be active. Contact your local representative and remind them of the threat to our way of life, because the moment someone writes a poem about the men from Mount Druitt and makes a movie starring Sigrid Thornton, those who don’t belong will enter local folklore and it will be impossible to rid ourselves of these destructive pests.

Readers who care about protecting our special slice of paradise can learn more at www.invasives.org.au.

The Beast Magazine wants your

Subject Let There Be a Thousand Blossoms Bloom

Location Bronte Photographer Bob Katter

Subject The Morning Rush Location Bondi Photographer Brandon Bailey @blouisbailey

Subject Smoke on the Water Location Bronte Photographer Glenn Derriman

Subject Good-looking Guillaume Location Bondi Photographer Mark Hunter @bondihunter

Subject Clockwork Orange Location Bondi Photographer Robert Anderson

Subject Noisy Miner Location Centennial Park Photographer Juan A. Rojas

Subject Speed Location Tamarama Photographer James Smith @thatsnotapocketfilmtionary

Subject Crested Friend Location Heffron Park Photographer Kim Smith

Subject Bliss Location Tamarama Photographer James Smith @thatsnotapocketfilmtionary

Castaways

Right now, Charlotte and I are on a tiny island 20 kilometres off the coast of Central Queensland, and our food and water provisions are starting to run low. We had only planned to stay until yesterday, but with a violent southerly still yet to abate after three days, we have no option but to stay put.

The island we are on is part of the Keppel group, an archipelago in the southern Great Barrier Reef. It boasts live coral reefs just metres from the shore, abundant fish life, jaw-dropping scenery and even better fishing and diving - a spot that has been on my bucket list for quite some time, and the ultimate playground for a couple like us, you’d think. But throw in the fact that we can’t leave and it puts a different spin on everything.

Pondering the age-old anecdote of being stranded on a desert island is always a bit of fun, thinking about how you’d fare in such a situation, who you would want to be stuck with, what tools you’d need and what resources you would want, but after going

for a walk around the island and realising we were the only two people on this land mass we realised that this theoretical scenario might be closer to reality than we’d originally envisaged.

Three days earlier and we were just arriving at the island, marvelling at the rainbow-coloured reef below through the pristine turquoise waters. We’d found paradise. After beaching the boat and setting up camp in the shelter of an ancient beachside cave, I didn’t hesitate to don the dive gear and jump in. The water was a toasty 28 degrees and the visibility was perfect as I kicked out toward the reef. Charlotte followed me out in the tinnie to keep me company and throw any fish that I shot in the esky.

Eerily and tragically, only a week prior, a spearfisherman was mauled and killed by a shark and air-lifted off the exact same island we were camped on. Whether or not he was attacked at the same dive spot wasn’t detailed, but I thought it would be wise not to drag dead fish

around knowing all this. Once I reached the reef, thousands of different fish of all colours and sizes darted around beneath me. Many were species that I couldn’t even recognise and it felt like I was swimming in an exotic aquarium.

I spotted a pack of fish specked with blue spots in the distance, wondering what they might be for a second before realising that I was looking at some of the most prized fish in the ocean, coral trout. Known for their superb eating quality, they are highly sought after in these parts and I happened to be swimming next to five of them with a speargun in my hand. Although quite dosile, they could sense the spear and made erratic darting movements just when I thought I had the shot lined up. I quickly ran out of breath and had to return to the surface hoping that I hadn’t blown my only chance of catching one.

Having drifted right down the reef by now, Charlotte picked me up and we cruised back up-current before I jumped off again. After a few minutes of drifting I spotted another coral trout, swimming solo and much bigger. I dived down as calmly as possible so I didn’t spook the fish and followed it for a while with the tip of my spear. Finally it turned and I pulled the trigger, sending the spear straight through it.

It was a rough shot, close to the spine, and I was worried it wouldn’t hold and I’d lose the fish. With the last remaining oxygen I had in my lungs, I swam down to the reef and bear hugged the fish as it shook in my arms, before ascending to the surface to gasp for air. A spirited yell toward Charlotte and she was over in seconds, marvelling at the beautiful red and blue dotted fish and taking a few snaps.

Fast forward to our original predicament and spearing exotic fish is just a distant memory. In the meantime, I’ve got to go and catch dinner!

Words Lewis Kennedy-Hunt Photo Charlotte Leedham Lewis doesn't miss.

The Beast Supercross

ACROSS

1. Former peanut farmer and United States President (5,6)

7. A stew or braised meat (5)

8. Abbreviation of street (2)

9. To feel or express sorrow (6)

10. A sour substance (4)

11. A shooter from a concealed place (6)

13. A plant and the protein-rich food made from its beans (3)

18. Indian cricket captain (5,6)

21. Third largest island in the world (6)

22. A very large person, animal or thing (5)

23. Male friend (abbrev) (3)

DOWN

1. Male star of The Holiday (4,3)

2. A member of

Trivial Trivia

1. What is Australia’s oldest chocolate bar?

2. Are sugar gliders possums or birds?

3. Where is Muriel’s hometown in Muriel’s Wedding?

4. Vexillology is the study of what?

5. Ghana once had the same name as which Aussie city?

6. Is a Hagstrom Adina a river in Scandinavia, a guitar or a soft blanket?

7. The gift of pearl is associated with which wedding anniversary?

the Royal Canadian Police (7)

3. Produce or provide (5)

4. Court ordered financial support for a spouse (7)

5. Vegetable with white flesh (6)

6. Fixed luminous point in the sky (4)

11. Therefore (2)

12. Salted green soybeans (7)

14. Vehicle that includes living quarters (abbrev) (1,1)

15. Neurotoxic protein used cosmetically to remove wrinkles (5)

16. Was married to Charles (5)

17. Instrument with drum-like body and strings (5)

19. A broken branch or stump (4)

20. Throw or hit a ball in a high arc (3)

Launching into the Bondi to Bronte swim.

8. What is the name of both a popular musical and the capital of Bermuda?

9. Which European River passes through ten countries?

10. Which acid is produced in the muscles during strenuous activity?

Words Lisa Anderson Photo Mark Hunter @bondihunter

Emilia Pérez

Genre Drama, Musical, Thriller Reviewer Linda Heller-Salvador

Imagine a cinematic journey that weaves together the complexities of transgender identity, the dark underbelly of a drug cartel and the exuberance of lavish musical performances, all set against the vibrant backdrop of Mexico. This unique blend creates the intriguing world of Emilia Pérez.

Director Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone) described the project as an Operatic. It initially began as an idea for a staged opera (opera libretto) before evolving into an audaciously eccentric and controversial narrative that defies conventions.

Karla Sofía Gascón (Rebelde) delivers a career-defining performance by portraying two vastly different characters. First is Juan ‘Manitas’ Del Monte, a brutal drug cartel boss who has a secret desire to become a woman. The second character is the vibrant Emilia, who is Juan after undergoing gender-affirming surgery.

After consulting local lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña), Juan persuades her to help him, fake his death, undergo surgery to become Emilia and safeguard his wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and their children from the violence of his past life. What follows is a moody, intense and feverish quest for redemption that challenges perceptions and culminates in an unexpected conclusion.

Snoop Dogg

Missionary

Label Death Row, Aftermath

Reviewer @aldothewriter

Rating

Guess who’s back, back again? Snoop Dogg’s back, tell your friends. Yes, I know that was an Eminem song, but Dre is also back producing for the D-O-Double G and all the cracking songs of that era have come flooding back from the auditory cortex. Missionary is 88mph in a DeLorean straight back to the heyday of gangster rap. What is truly astounding is that it is also a bloody good album. It is full of energy, witty one-liners and, yes of course, outrageous braggadocio delivered through a smokey haze. Not bad for a couple of blokes well into their fifties.

White Denim 12

Label Bella Union

Reviewer @aldothewriter

Rating

It feels quite strange listening to a band for the first time when they’re on to their twelfth album. It’s hard to know if they have always sounded like this or if they’re in an experimental stage, but one thing I do know about white denim is that the people who wear it don’t usually have an experimental stage; they just confidentally exist in a sexy little package and don’t really veer too far from that. It’s quite admirable really. As for the band, they are also quite admirable, and I’ve got to say 12 is an eclectic indie gem. One day, I might even go all the way back to 1.

The National Rome

Label 4AD

Reviewer @aldothewriter

Rating

Live albums are usually best avoided, as they’re just bands trying to get out of a record deal, but The National have kind of nailed it with Rome. Perhaps it’s because their sound is so relentlessly monotonous that the soundies don’t have much mixing to do. Fun fact; I once almost got decapitated by the lead singer’s microphone chord on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. The mad bastard went sauntering into the crowd and I was focused on the guitarist and didn’t realise what was going on. Might be safer to stay home and listen to this until he goes cordless.

Star Signs

Visions Beardy from Hell

Aries Mar 21-Apr 20

You were way more fun to be around before your prefrontal cortex could discern between actions and their consequences.

Taurus Apr 21-May 21

If your current hobby isn’t chewing up at least 50 per cent of your income, then you’re not taking it seriously enough.

Gemini May 22-Jun 21

Beauty is only said to be in the eyes of the beholder when the subject isn’t objectively

Cancer Jun 22-Jul 22

Forking out $5,000-plus to go away on holidays and stare at your phone for a week is still money well spent.

Leo Jul 23-Aug 22

You can’t seriously claim to be ‘stupidly busy’ when the bulk of your to-do list doesn’t really need to be done.

Virgo Aug 23-Sep 23

Lower the standards you set for yourself and learn to deal with criticism - it’s much easier than trying to be perfect all the time.

Libra Sep 24-Oct 23

You need to be more vigilant with the security of your laundry basket or someone will stumble upon your dirty little secrets.

Scorpio Oct 24-Nov 22

The influencers you so despise only exist because people like you and your flock are so easily influenced.

Sagittarius Nov 23-Dec 21

Beware the envious colleague who deliberately miscontrues your amiable nature to portray you as a servile bootlicker.

Capricorn Dec 22-Jan 20

It’s worth devoting time to learning a few new simple yet effective tricks that will make you much more competent in the sack.

Sizzle Into Summer with Harris Farm Markets: Summer Grilling Made Easy

Summer has arrived, and it’s time to bring the grill back to life! This season, Harris Farm is brimming with a wide range of protein essentials that will make hosting a backyard bash or enjoying a quiet family dinner as effortless as it is delicious.

We believe that great BBQs start with the freshest, most flavourful ingredients. Whether you’re hosting a lively backyard bash or enjoying a laid-back family dinner, we’ve got everything you need to make your grilling experience unforgettable.

From juicy steaks to tender chicken, perfectly marinated options and even organic selections, our range of quality cuts ensures there’s something for every BBQ lover. So, grab your tongs, fire up the grill and let’s make this summer one to savour!

BBQ Shopping:

From Routine to Revelry

For years, firing up the grill was a casual affair - until Harris Farm redefined what it means to BBQ. The moment I started sourcing my summer staples here, grilling transformed from a chore into a celebration. From the finest beef cuts to organic chicken and sustainably sourced seafood, our selection elevates every meal.

Take their Cape Grim eye fillet, guaranteed to be the best meat you will taste, grass-fed, tender

by Smokey Joe

and bursting with natural flavour. Or the butterflied lamb leg, a showstopping centrepiece perfect for summer gatherings. Our range also includes customer favourites like Hazeldenes free range chicken fillet and wagyu sirloin steak MB 5, each one hand-selected to meet the highest standards.

Unique Proteins to Elevate Your BBQ Game

At Harris Farm, we take pride in offering unique and exciting proteins that add variety and quality to your meals.

∙ Southern Grain 150-Day Grain-Fed Beef: Unlike standard supermarket beef, which is typically grain-fed for only 70 days, Southern Grain beef is fed for up to 150 days. This extended feeding process enhances marbling, flavour, and tenderness, ensuring a juicy and mouthwatering experience every time.

∙ Bavette Steak: A distinctive cut known for its fantastic eating quality. Perfect for BBQs and stirfries, it’s a versatile choice that’s sure to delight. Try it on a hibachi grill for an added smoky touch.

∙ Boneless Butterflied Chicken: Marinated to perfection with honey and rosemary, this free range value-added option is ready to cook straight from the pack. Grill, roast or pan-sear to your liking for an easy yet delicious centrepiece.

∙ Ocean King Smoked Salmon (100g): Priced at just $5.99 each, this premium smoked salmon is an unbeatable deal. Thanks to our Protein Buyers, you can enjoy smoked salmon every day without overspending.

Everyday Market Value: Quality Cuts Without the Price Tag

At Harris Farm, we believe everyone deserves access to premium meats at prices that won’t break the bank. That’s why we’ve introduced our Everyday Market Value range, offering unbeatable value from sustainable suppliers every single day. Whether you’re preparing a quick midweek meal or planning a weekend BBQ, these cuts deliver exceptional flavour and affordability.

∙ Economy Beef Eye Fillet: A tender and versatile cut that’s perfect for any occasion. Ideal for feeding the whole family without compromising on quality, taste or price. You won’t find a better deal anywhere else in Australia.

∙ Lamb Shanks: A melt-inyour-mouth favourite, perfect for slow cooking to create hearty and comforting meals that feel like a warm hug.

∙ Lamb Backstrap: Our heroes’ cut that’s lean, tender and packed with flavour. Perfect for grilling or pan-searing, it’s a fine way to enjoy lamb any day of the week.

∙ Black Forest Smoked Bacon: Crafted with the same care as our award-winning double-smoked Christmas ham, this bacon is rich, flavourful and simply the best in the business.

A Commitment to Quality and Supporting Australian Farmers

Harris Farm’s values go beyond the grill. Similar to our Imperfect Picks program, which reduces food waste by celebrating the beauty in less-than-perfect produce. The protein team is dedicated to proudly sourcing beef, lamb, chicken, pork and more exclusively from Australian suppliers, ensuring the highest standards of compliance and quality are consistently met. By choosing Harris Farm, you’re not just serving exceptional meals to your familyyou’re also supporting Australian farmers and contributing to the strength of our local agricultural communities.

incredible showroom, made-to-order headboards & beds