The $400,000 footbridge you can’t run or cycle on

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Harriet, Darci and Will with mums Nikki and Laura on the Newcastle Footbridge.

Council will discuss funding options  to fix the town’s ageing Newcastle Footbridge, which will now only be allowed to be used for walking.

Council voted to reopen the bridge to pedestrians, with no e-bikes, scooters, cycling or any other means of transport allowed.

The April report to council said there needed to be a long-term financial commitment from council to keep the bridge open and extend its life by 20 plus years through maintenance.

Council doesn’t support a 2% rate hike for a special bridge fund

The report proposed setting up a special reserve fund to repair and maintain the bridge from an extra two percent rate increase.

“It is recommended the shire begins reserving two percent of rates annually into a ring-fenced reserve account.”

But The Herald queried the lack of other funding options presented to councillors – as the report focused solely on an additional two per cent rate increase as a solution.

   The Herald asked why the report did not include other options such as seeking grants or external funding, establishing a reserve without increasing rates, or reprioritising existing spending within the current budget.

The funding proposal comes as council moves to reopen the footbridge to pedestrians only, subject to insurance requirements and the installation of signage warning of trip hazards.

The move to open the bridge welcomed but more information requested

The move to open the Newcastle foot bridge was welcomed by Newcastle Park parkrun member who made a statement at the council meeting.

“We are excited and supportive of the officer’s recommendation for option one, reopening the footbridge with appropriate signage and progressing decking replacement through the 2026-2027 budget.”

But local mum Laura told The Herald the community wanted more information about the cost of the bridge and why it was closed.

“We were not told how much the bridge was costing to keep open and it just shut one day,” she said.

“If they’re saying it cost ‘X amount’ to fix the bridge then give us a break down of the cost and justify the spending.”

Council votes to spend the money and consider the impact at budget time

While the two per cent increase, to be put into a reserve fund, was recommended by officers, council did not adopt this proposal.

Instead, council voted to proceed with a full bridge decking replacement, estimated at $270,000, to be funded through the annual budget.

Council also supported a staged approach to the repairs needed.

This included structural works – estimated at $120,000 to $150,000 – within five years.

Rather than introducing a rate rise, council unanimously agreed to consider the funding implications as part of the 2026–27 annual budget process.

It remains unclear whether a special reserve fund will be established as part of those discussions.

By Rashelle Predovnik

Audit committee steps up scrutiny

THE Audit and Risk Committee (ARIC) has stepped up its scrutiny of the Shire of Toodyay’s governance and finances calling for more meetings and more oversight – in a move that prompted pushback from the chief executive officer.

Under the Local Government Act, ARIC is responsible for the oversight of risk management, internal controls, financial management and compliance.

The committee’s decision to step up its oversight follows the 2024–25 audit’s financial management report, which identified major issues that have persisted across four audits.

Auditors found $242,521 had been mistakenly been paid twice, no monthly bank reconciliations were done for almost an entire financial year and the risk of fraud had increased.

Endorsing an annual work plan and new reporting process

ARIC held a special meeting on March 17 at the shire’s council chambers on Fiennes St to endorse an annual work plan and a new reporting process.

ARIC’s report outlined a plan that included monthly meetings instead of quarterly, and it substantially increased the reporting requirements for finance, governance, risk and operations.

The committee said regular monthly meetings would better help them to detect issues early, monitor trends or intervene before risks escalated.

ARIC also asked for an operational overview summary to inform the committee about key activities and significant incidents that resulted in compliance breaches, reputational harm or the need for corrective action.

A reconciliation status report was also requested, including bank accounts, GST and asset registers to help the committee look at the integrity of the financial records.

ARIC also asked the shire’s CEO Aaron Bowman to provide a formal written statement of assurance each quarter on the effectiveness of the organisations processes and to identify any issues that warranted ARIC’s attention.

Shire CEO flags concerns

In response, Mr Bowman described the discussions ARIC had as ‘secret, behind closed doors meetings’ and discussions that did not promote transparency as he was not told before the special audit meeting that ARIC wanted a more detailed work plan.

Mr Bowman also raised governance concerns, saying the committee’s role was to review reports from the CEO and make recommendations to council.

He said the CEO was responsible for administration, staffing, systems and reporting.

He added that any extra reporting requests would need to be assessed for practicality, staffing and legal requirements before going to council for approval.

Moving to monthly meetings and endorsing a complex reporting schedule would also impose significant workload increases and administrative demands, Mr Bowman said.

ARIC defends its proposed reporting framework

In a statement, ARIC chair Natalie Mills said members meeting to discuss priorities and what reporting was required for proper oversight was not ‘non-compliant’ behaviour — it was the committee simply doing their job.

She said the committee had a responsibility under the Act to decide the information, reporting and assurance it needed to fulfil its statutory functions.

“To meet this obligation, ARIC must establish a structured and predictable reporting framework that ensures it receives the information necessary to monitor financial controls, compliance, risk management and organisational performance throughout the year.”

“The proposed reporting framework sets out a suite of standing reports, delivered at defined intervals to ensure ARIC receives timely, evidence-based information that supports informed decision making and effective oversight.”

ARIC also noted that it had requested the required reports from the CEO in accordance with the committee’s charter and statutory functions.

Mrs Mills said if the reports required by the framework could not be produced, that could pose a serious risk to the shire.

“Identifying such risks is one of the reasons why this committee exists.”

Members of the audit committee unanimously voted to support the annual work plan and to hold monthly meetings at the special audit meeting held last month.

By Rashelle Predovnik

Uniform rate plan sparks backlash from rural property owners

 

Morangup residents have fired up against a council decision to create a uniform rate in the dollar, warning it will drive up costs for rural property owners and potentially deliver a bigger-than-expected financial blow when rates are finalised.

The modelling in the report to council that supported the uniform rate pushed GRV rural residential rates up by five percent and UV rural rates up 21 percent.

But critics of the move are bracing for a bigger hit when rates are finalised, as the percentages in the council report were based on last year’s lower rate setting.

This means the projected increases outlined in the report could end up even higher if this year’s rates are set above last year’s levels.

Uniform rates benefits some more than others

Council voted to change the method of rating from July 1 this year moving from differential rates to a uniform rate in the dollar for properties valued using Gross Rental Value (GRV) and Unimproved Value (UV) at its March meeting.

The uniform rate won’t significantly change the shire’s total rate revenue, which will stay about the same according to the report to council.

But it will have a big effect on many household budgets.

The report to council showed the biggest changes affected two groups: 410 properties in the UV General category saw their rates drop by 58 percent, whereas 198 UV Rural properties saw their rates jump up 21 percent.

The biggest category (1,055 ‘GRV Rural Residential’ properties) had a five percent increase.

Whereas 626 GRV Residential properties saw their rates fall by four percent.

A call for accurate data

But the figures modelled in the report to council were from last year and they will be outdated when council ratifies its new budget and sets its rates for the 2026-2027 financial year.

This means, the small decreases modelled in the March report to council could disappear and small increases could spike if council sets a rate this year higher than last year’s 2.2 percent.

The neighbouring shires of York, Chittering and Victoria Plains have a uniform rate structure.

Whereas Northam and Goomalling still use the differential rating model and so did Toodyay before the change last month.

In a statement the shire said this change will make rates fairer, clearer, and easier to understand, and it will help ensure long term compliance with rating laws.

“This isn’t about raising more money — it’s about simplifying the system and improving transparency,” the shire said in a statement.

“Slight reductions or modest increases may appear on individual rates notices, depending on your property type and valuation.”

But the actual percentage increases and decreases for this year are yet to be released.

The Toodyay Herald asked the shire to confirm that the figures to be advertised for public comment in May will be based on the final 2026–27 budget and updated modelling, rather than last year’s figures presented in the March report to council.

So the community could make informed submissions.

The Herald did not receive a response to its questions before we went to press.

The opportunity to have a say

A statement on a Morangup community website slammed the decision to hit Morangup residents with a rate hike — while Toodyay town residents rates went down — as divisive.

Although the shire said the change was not about raising more money, Morangup residents are being warned to brace for the first of many rate rises if council proceeds with its plans to flatten the system.

“The March decision is the method change — the reshuffling of who pays more and who pays less,” it said.

“It does not necessarily include whatever broader increase the shire may later apply through the 2026/27 budget.”

Morangup residents opposing the uniform model said they were not reacting to one isolated tweak.

They were reacting to a pattern over time of rising costs, town-centric assumptions, heavy shire spending programs, weak outer-locality voice, and now a council decision that shifted more of the rating burden onto rural residential, while giving town residential a reduction.

The unform rating model will be put out for public comment next month.

The proposal will be advertised for 21 days, seeking community feedback so the community can have their say.

By Rashelle Predovnik

Costs climbing

 

 

Pictured: Toodyay Hardward and Farm Supplies store manager Jeff Hudson.

The diesel shortage is starting to bite in Toodyay, with a local hardware store warning rising fuel costs, big price hikes on products made from oil-based plastic and disrupted deliveries could soon push up prices for residents and farmers.
Toodyay Hardware and Farm Supplies owner Damien said the flow-on effects were already being felt across its supply chain, with freight costs skyrocketing in the past few weeks.
He said the current diesel shortage was driving up costs and cutting down deliveries.
“Our freight supplier charges us a fuel levy on top of the standard pallet cost and at the end of February, this was a comfortable 17 percent,” he said.
“Today, it’s sitting at 60 percent and with seeding starting, I can only expect it to climb higher.”

Trying to keep the costs down

To combat the rising costs, some suppliers have added extra delivery fees and freight companies have scaled back deliveries to manage higher costs.
Damien said to date the business has done what it can to absorb these extra costs.
“But if this drags on past April, we may have no choice but to start raising prices.”
Damien said the fuel shortage was also causing price hikes on some PVC pipes and plastic fittings.
Simply because a huge portion of the oil used to make plastic resin comes from the exact same supply chain as the oil used to produce our fuel.
“It’s all connected.”
He said several suppliers had warned of price increases between 20 percent and 50 percent on certain products.
Despite this, several major suppliers have also indicated they do not plan immediate increases.

 A hit for farmers

Shadow Minister for Agriculture Lachlan Hunter MLA said the crisis was now hitting agriculture hard, with devastating consequences for farmers heading into one of the most critical periods of the year.
“Without diesel, tractors stop, seed stays in the shed and next year’s harvest is put at risk.”
Mr Hunter said without urgent action, the fuel crisis will quickly become a full-blown food crisis.
“When diesel does not reach the people who produce and move our food, the cost does not disappear, it lands squarely on the kitchen tables of Western Australian families,” he said.
“This is how a fuel crisis becomes a food price crisis, with higher freight costs, disrupted supply and more pressure on families already struggling with the cost of living.”

Taking steps to help

In response, the State Government has activated emergency powers to take control of fuel supply data and direct deliveries to the regions most in need.
Fuel for agriculture is being prioritised, to ensure seeding can go ahead in hard-hit communities.
Road train limits have also been relaxed to move more diesel and petrol into regional areas faster.
A taskforce led by Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti is working with regional suppliers, including Great Southern Fuels, and the Federal Government to find new ways to get fuel into affected areas.
The measures come after widespread reports of fuel shortages across regional WA.
For now, Toodyay residents are being urged to brace for slower deliveries and the possibility of higher prices if the fuel squeeze continues.

By Rashelle Predovnik

High-stakes hearing

 

  

 

Photo: Tony Maddox was flanked by supporters
Central Wheatbelt MLA
Lachlan Hunter and former
Pastoralists and Graziers Association of
WA president Tony Seabrook at the
Supreme Court last month.

The strain of a court case that has rammifications for property owners across the state was visible on Tony Maddox’s face when he prepared to step into the Supreme Court last month with his supporters.
High profile barrister and former state Attorney General Christian Porter is representing the Toodyay farmer in the Supreme Court where Mr Maddox is launching an appeal after being charged for breaching a new rule in the Aboriginal Heritage Act he said no one was told about.
He is appealing against – what he says was a flawed process – that found him guilty of breaching the Act when he built a concrete crossing on his property.
He is also pinning his case on a section of the Aboriginal Heritage Act that protects people who did not know – and could not have reasonably known – about changes to the Act that makes their land a protected site.
The marathon hearing went for the whole day before the judge asked both parties to come back again with more information and a future hearing date is yet to be set.

Supporters back a fight they say needs to be won to protect landowners

To date, Mr Maddox’s legal costs amount to more than $140,000 and the public have been generous with their donations to his fighting fund.
If Mr Maddox’s appeal is unsuccessful he will consider taking his fight to the High Court.
Supporters who fronted up to court last month included Toodyay residents who have been supporting him every step of the way.
He was also flanked by Central Wheatbelt MLA Lachlan Hunter and former Pastoralists and Graziers Association (PGA) president Tony Seabrook who are standing alongside him in a fight they say needs to be won.
Mr Hunter said he was standing with Mr Maddox to support fair, common sense protections for WA landowners.
He said the fight was one that should concern every single landowner and every single primary producer in the state.
The amendment to the Aboriginal Heritage Act that captured Mr Maddox was added in November 2023.
Mr Hunter said if Mr Maddox could be convicted under these laws, without even knowing those laws applied to his land, then everyone should be concerned.
“It’s a basic principle,” he said.
“If it’s your land, you should have the right
to manage it with clarity and confidence.”
Mr Hunter said the state’s cultural heritage laws were causing confusion and uncertainty
across regional communities.
Mr Seabrook said Mr Maddox was a brave man.
“Tony said, if he pleads guilty – he pleads guilty for every single landholder in Western Australia who has a gully on their farm and might have built a crossing,” Mr Seabrook said.
“So you can have a piece of freehold land, with a title that says its freehold land, they
[the Department of Planning Lands and Heritage (DPLH) have drawn a line on it and they haven’t even told you about it.”

The Maddox case sparks calls for state laws to change

Western Australia’s peak agricultural bodies are now demanding the State Government makes immediate changes to the law to ensure existing and new Aboriginal heritage sites are shown on the Certificate of Title for all properties.
The call has come in response to the Mr Maddox’s appeal in the Supreme Court.
WA Farmers President Steve McGuire said the DPLH register of Aboriginal Heritage had  more than 15,000 entries, many of which were on private property.
“The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Committee (ACHC) meets every two weeks and regularly adds new sites to the register without notifying property owners that they have a new encumbrance on their land,” Mr McGuire said.
“What we learned from the Tony Maddox case is that the DPLH doesn’t always write
to property owners when their land is being considered for a new site, doesn’t publish the
agenda or minutes of the ACHC and doesn’t notify anyone when a new site is declared.
“The fact is, there are many property owners who simply don’t know it is illegal to do
a number of things on their land because they’ve never been told it is a declared site.”
Mr Seabrook said the laws needed to change.
“Right now it is an offence if your dog or livestock enters the boundary of a registered
site – even if it’s on your property,” he said.
“Other regulations say you need ministerial approval to disturb the surface of the ground,
dig a hole, cut your grass or remove any part of a tree that you own, even if it’s dead.
Mr Seabrook said the Tony Maddox case proved having a registered site on your land
was a liability.
“It is astonishing that someone can buy land in WA and not be forewarned that the property comes with the encumbrance of containing a registered Aboriginal heritage
site,” he said.
“The government must ensure registered sites appear on the Certificate of Title so
buyers can understand the risks of the property they are considering.”

By Rashelle Predovnik

Recording a fail: what the Shire of Toodyay’s electors meeting really revealed

OPINION

Transparency in local government shouldn’t be controversial and in 2026 it shouldn’t even be a question.
Yet at the annual meeting of electors, residents had front row seats to an argument between the chair and a resident about what was or wasn’t said at last year’s meeting.
The reason?
There was no recording.

If it matters record it and make that information easy to find:

From January 2025, shires have been required to record their council meetings, and this helps to create an accurate public record, including a record of what the shire does well.
At this elector’s meeting, the manager of finance delivered an interesting presentation that outlined issues the shire had identified and fixed.
He talked about the money saved, in what was a positive story about the responsible management of public funds.
Yet there is no record of that presentation on the shire’s website.
When The Herald asked for those details so our readers could be informed about those savings, the shire president told us to find it ourselves.
He said, “the executive manager provided examples in his presentation at the annual electors meeting, all of which are documented in previous minutes of ordinary council meetings.”
That response may have technically answered the question – but does directing our readers to trawl through a year’s worth of old minutes really serve the public interest?
The information we asked for was already available in a document that could have easily been emailed.
Instead, we were told to comb through the archives of past council minutes without dates, page numbers or agenda references – to reconstruct what the shire had already presented on PowerPoint slides.
Transparency should not require detective work.

Hit record for the record:

In this case, recording matters because public meetings are not private conversations – they are part of the official democratic record.
The shire’s website notes there is no legal requirement to record the annual meeting of electors and although that is technically true – it misses the point.
Good governance is about doing more than the bare legal minimum.
Recording this annual elector meeting didn’t require a new policy, new equipment or extra funding.
It just required the shire to wheel out the same recording equipment it uses for council meetings or even a mobile phone at a push.
Instead, the room was left listening to two conflicting versions of the same event with no ability to review a recording.
And this incident summed up a broader problem on display that night.

An open forum with the floor closed:

The annual meeting of electors is a forum for residents to ask questions, raise motions, and discuss general business.
Apart from this editor, only ten ratepayers attended and only two questions were submitted to the shire in advance.
No motions were raised or voted on, and no questions were asked about the annual report.
So, there was time and there was space.
Yet when a ratepayer tried to ask questions from the floor, she was told she couldn’t, because her questions needed to be sent in before the meeting.
Instead of allowing her questions to be heard – and answered or taken on notice – time was spent reading out legislative provisions explaining why they could not be asked from the floor.
Ironically, it would have taken less time to hear her questions.
When the shire president formally closed the meeting after 20 minutes, he then chose to speak to those remaining in the room.
Unsurprisingly, the ratepayer who was not allowed to ask questions chose not to stay and listen.
If you deny someone the right to be heard, they will naturally disengage.
Democracy can be messy: questions can be repetitive, they can be uncomfortable and they can test patience.
But respectful leadership requires a tolerance for scrutiny – especially at a meeting designed to give ratepayers a voice.
Toodyay residents are capable of forming their own views, but what they saw at this meeting appeared to focus more on procedure than participation.
Ratepayers deserve genuine engagement and they deserve respect.
At the very least, they deserve a meeting where someone presses ‘record’.

By Rashelle Predovnik

Community out of pocket after $195,000 lost in unclaimed GST

 

An internal investigation is now
underway after council rejected a request by
the Toodyay Shire administration to write off
$195,000 in unclaimed GST owed to the shire
by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Council instead voted to support a
recommendation by the Audit and Risk
Committee to do more investigation and get
external advice.
The request to write off the funds as a loss
was made because a four-year window open to claim the money has now closed.

Community cost

In response to questions asked at the December council meeting, the shire confirmed the loss would decrease the available funds which it would otherwise use to deliver services to the community.

          “The community will have to bear the brunt of this in the 2025/26 year

    by reducing the amount of funds available for much needed community projects.”

A report to the Audit and Risk Committee said, as part of council’s standard end of year procedure, a reconciliation should have been done to ensure that all monies owed to the shire by the ATO in the form of GST credits had been claimed.
“And if not, lodge revised Business Activity Statements (BAS) to ensure those monies are claimed and received by theshire,” the report said.
But an investigation found that no reconciliation of GST had occurred.
Records also showed a large amount of money held by the Australian Tax Office that was owed to the shire in the form of GST credits for purchases made by the shire.
“The reconciliation showed that $633,000 was owed to the shire by the ATO dating back to 2020.”
The report said under the ATO rules, the shire was only able to amend BAS returns dating back four years.
Funds owed from before December 2021 cannot be claimed by the shire and this equates to $195,000.
The report also noted that this credit should have been picked up by management when preparing the annual financial statements each year, but there was no evidence that
this had happened.

One mistake spans two shire administrations

The historic failure to identify the money owed by December 2024 spanned successive shire administrations, including the current one.
Toodyay Shire chief executive officer Aaron Bowman told The Herald the matter was not brought to his attention by the then executive manager of corporate and community.
Mr Bowman said the issue only came to light when the current executive manager of finance and corporate services completed the year end GST reconciliation, at which point it
was formally reported to him.
The Herald questioned why the opportunity to retrieve some of the GST up until December 2025 had not been taken.
Mr Bowman said as the matter was only raised with him towards the latter part of 2025 the opportunity to act earlier had already passed.
“Additionally, the year end reconciliation process required significant time to complete, which further restricted the window for recovering any remaining GST,” he said

Wheatbelt Corella cull ruffles feathers


FLOCKS of corellas that once blanketed Toodyay’s landscape have been decimated in a coordinated cull, despite a last-ditch attempt by the Animal Justice Party to stop the mass shootings.
The cull coordinated by the Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management (WNRM) was done in partnership with the shires of Toodyay, Northam, York, Goomalling and Victoria Plains.

Cull slammed as rushed and cruel

But the program and the short notice given to the community has come under fire from Animal Justice Party WA MP Amanda Dorn who slammed the cull as cruel, rushed and ethically indefensible.
She said two out of the three species present in the region – the Western Corella and the Little Corella – were native to Western Australia.
“Both have expanded their range largely due to agricultural clearing and altered landscapes.”
“We have taken their land for farming, removed trees, altered water sources and changed landscapes, and now we plan to kill them for trying to survive in the environment we reshaped.
“Killing birds for responding to those conditions is not responsible environmental management.”
Ms Dorn said most significantly, public notice of the cull was posted on 17 February, just days before the scheduled killing.
“That is not meaningful community consultation,” she said.
“This is a major wildlife cull involving native species, yet residents have been given only days’ notice and limited information.”

Calls for more information and more options

Ms Dorn said Corellas flocked together and lethal programs risked harming many native birds indiscriminately.
“If culling is being described as a last resort, the public deserves clear evidence that alternatives were genuinely implemented and assessed.”
Ms Dorn said she acknowledged local governments had cited hefty infrastructure damage costs.
But she said if infrastructure was vulnerable, why hadn’t investment been made into infrastructure solutions?
“Modification, adaptation and habitat management are more ethical and often more sustainable than repeated lethal programs.”
The Animal Justice Party WA has called for the full public release of impact assessments and operational details and transparent reporting of proposed kill numbers as well as independent animal welfare oversight.

Cull was a necessary says Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management

WNRM chief executive officer Renata Paliskis said wildlife management decisions were complex and she understood they could evoke strong and legitimate community perspectives.
Ms Paliskis said the Corella management project had been underway for several years in response to significant and escalating impacts associated with large Corella populations across parts of the Wheatbelt.
“These impacts include serious threats to biodiversity, displacement of other species such as the critically endangered and rapidly declining population of Carnaby’s Cockatoo chicks from nesting sites, and damage to agricultural infrastructure.”
Ms Paliskis said non-lethal methods used by local shires in the past included gas-guns, bendy men, scare tactics and drones.
But these methods didn’t work as the Corellas quickly become use to them and other humane methods were being explored.
Ms Paliskis acknowledged that community expectations regarding humane treatment of wildlife was evolving and she said ongoing scrutiny and improvement of the practice was appropriate.
Ms Paliskis also acknowledged the concern regarding the timing of the public notice.
“While communication occurred through participating local governments, we recognise that community expectations around consultation are increasing,” she said.
“This is an area where we are committed to reviewing our approach and strengthening transparency for future activities.”
Ms Paliskis said WNRM’s objective was to ensure management actions were evidence-informed, proportionate to the level of impact, undertaken responsibility and subject to ongoing review.
“WNRM is working closely with other partners on driving renewed conservation objectives in the Wheatbelt to promote the restoration of the necessary habitat for our local native species to thrive.”

By Rashelle Predovnik

Maddox’s Supreme Court showdown (Feb 2026)

 

By Rashelle Predovnik

FARMER Tony Maddox is bracing for another round in his ongoing legal fight against what he says is a dangerous new law buried in the Aboriginal Heritage Act that needs to be changed.
He’s taking his fight all the way to the Supreme Court after being found guilty last year for breaching the Act when he built a concrete creek crossing on his property.

 

A long legal battle

The work was deemed to have altered a registered Aboriginal site without approval,
breaching a recently added amendment to Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972.
That amendment was added in November 2023 and Mr Maddox said it was a change no one could reasonably know about – because the department didn’t tell anyone about it.
Mr Maddox sought refuge under Section 62 of the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage’s own legislation that protects people if they can clearly prove they had no knowledge of the amendment to the Act.
Yet despite this being a defence, it was not applied to Mr Maddox’s case and he is now appealing the magistrates ruling in the Supreme Court.

An appeal to the supreme court

The appeal is an expensive road to take after being granted a spent conviction and fined $2,000, plus $5,000 in costs, back in February 2025.
But Mr Maddox said it was a matter of principle.
He said the department won the case in the Magistrates Court but if he rolled over and let them have that win it would allow a precedent to be set.
“It means, they can walk onto anyone’s farm and now say ‘you’re guilty too,” he said.
The Supreme Court case will be heard later this month, on February 20, and Mr Maddox’s hopes are heavily pinned onto the expertise of his newly appointed King’s Counsel Mark Trowell.
But Mr Maddox told The Herald it was hard to predict what the verdict will be.
“If I lose this case, my faith in the West Australian justice system is gone – there is no justice,” he said.
“You can’t be found guilty of something you have no knowledge of – that’s just crazy
stuff.”

Support to keep fighting

If Mr Maddox wins his appeal he will turn his attention to fighting to have the law changed and he has his supporters.
The WA Farmers Federation and Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA are vocal supporters of his appeal, saying his case sets a dangerous legal precedent for every land owner in WA.
Farmers and other supporters have stumped up over $50,000 to help with his legal fees.
Tony said he appreciated the number of Toodyay locals following his case, with some even attending court to show their support.
“They’ve been terrific – they really have.”
Supporters can also donate to Mr Maddox’s ‘fight for common sense’ online at: https://
tonymaddox.info

Shire audit exposes $242K double payment blunder and other failures (Feb 2026)

 

 

By Rashelle Predovnik

A DAMNING shire audit has uncovered a $242,521 duplicate payment, missing financial records, weak cyber security, years of unresolved control failures and serious fraud risks at the Shire of Toodyay, the current administration says it is taking steps to fix.

The 2024-25 audit’s financial management report was formally sent to Local Government Minister Hannah Beasley and it identified some significant governance failures, that auditors say have been recurring since 2021.


Significant findings:

One serious finding revealed the shire paid the same suppliers twice in July 2025.
The second payment was not even recorded in its accounting system and not yet fully recovered at the time of the auditor’s report.
The report said the combination of a high-value duplicate payment, the absence of system records for the second payment, and lack of detection or reporting represented a serious deficiency in the shire’s internal controls over expenditure, financial reporting, and fraud prevention.

Historical errors continued:

Another finding that concerned auditors was the fact the shire still could not verify its opening balances or historical financial figures – a problem their report said had persisted across four audits.
Auditors also found no monthly bank reconciliations were performed for almost the entire financial year (for July 2024 to May 2025) with errors discovered.
Including the shire’s bank reconciliation as at 30 June 2025 included an unreconciled balance of $22,991.
The Shire’s asset register system was also outdated and the lack of a formal grants register was also flagged by the auditor.
The report warned the failures significantly increased the risk of fraud, financial misstatement, cyber breaches and governance breakdowns, undermining public confidence in the shire’s operations.

The shire’s response to the audit’s findings:

Shire chief executive officer Aaron Bowman told The Herald the overpayment comprised of multiple payments which had been outlined to council in a report this month.
He confirmed 95 percent of the funds had been repaid and the remaining five per cent wasn’t refunded in cash but was credited to accounts and taken off future payments.
The shire’s response to a number of issues raised in the audit was also outlined in a letter to the Local Government Minister.
“The shire is working towards addressing all the issues by either completing the actions required, preparing the necessary registers and by council adopting the appropriate policies.”
“These will be completed by the timeframes specified in the completion dates detailed against each action in the management report.”

 

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