It faces a $30,000 debt for unpaid wages after discovering – along with other similar not-for-profit organisations elsewhere– that staff had been underpaid under the wrong industrial award for at least four years.

Permanent closure would cost the jobs of three current resource centre employees.
Manager Nicole Coleman said six staff had been underpaid, with a potential $64,000 fine for each award breach.

As The Herald went to press, Toodyay shire councillors were meeting to consider an urgent report from Shire CEO Suzie Haslehurst on how to save the centre.

It is understood that one option may be for the centre to move from privately-owned rental space in Stirling Terrace to shire-owned premises elsewhere.

Toodyay Shire President Rosemary Madacsi said the council would consider all options to keep the centre open for continued use by the community.

The club pays a “peppercorn” rent to the Shire of Toodyay which owns the land occupied by the club building, bitumen car parks and two bowling greens, one of which is not used or maintained.

The club’s history dates back 117 years to when it started as a ‘gentleman’s club’ in Stirling House, now occupied by the Toodyay Spice and Grill restaurant.

THE TOODYAY CLUB also holds a liquor licence to sell beer, wine and spirits.
Bowlers have a separate 10-year agreement with the Toodyay Club to use the popular green for a $175 monthly fee.

It is understood the in-house agreement is due for renewal next year.
The Toodyay Club was originally established as a ‘Gentlemen’s Club’ in Stirling House – premises now occupied by Toodyay Spice and Grill restaurant in Stirling Terrace – and dates back 117 years.

A dining room at the rear of Stirling House contains eight marble floor inserts to support a full-sized billiard table, which is now located in the Toodyay Club’s games area in Oddfellow Street.

The historic table is thought to be one of only a few left in the Wheatbelt for a sport once popular among local ‘gentlemen’.

The Toodyay Club also has two pool tables, darts, a commercial kitchen and function area with tables and chairs which have been used for fund-raising events such as live music, birthday parties, Friday night dinners, wakes and other social gatherings.

It is understood the club found it had no option but to shut last month because the not-for-profit organisation was no longer able to pay bar staff and continuing debt, including power bills.

Most management committee members quit their elected roles last January, and the club president has also since resigned.

Several are understood to have urged the club to shut earlier this year because debts could not be paid, and “walked away” when others decided to keep it open.

“None of us wanted to see this happen but there was no other choice,” one prominent former committee member said.

“We need to find new ways to reopen the doors and keep going.”

“We also need to ensure our town continues to have a suitable venue for local bowlers and visiting bowling club members who spend their money in our town when they come here for tournaments.”

Saturday’s meeting is open to all Toodyay Club members and supporters.

It will include a call for those present to offer suggestions from the floor about how the club can pay off debt and resume trading.

The council was already operating with only eight members for much of last year because former Cr Bell was absent from most monthly council meetings, all committee meetings and most shire agenda briefings.

The shire received WA Government permission in March to leave his vacant seat empty until the next state-wide local government elections, due in October 2023.

The State Government announced last month that proposed new local government laws would cut shires the size of Toodyay to five, six or seven elected members.

The shire opposed an earlier State plan to reduce shires with less than 5000 electors – Toodyay had 3256 at last year’s elections – to five councillors.

It said five local councillors were too few to ensure adequate representation and efficient council operation.

Cutting the number of councillors from nine to seven would reduce the cost of shire elections and save ratepayers a total of $32,000 a year in sitting fees and allowances.

A shire discussion paper said there was a statewide trend towards smaller councils, particularly in smaller shires “with many finding that fewer elected members has improved their decision-making process”.

Disadvantages might include “a potential for dominance in the council by a particular group or a limited diversity of interests around the council table”.

It might also increase councillor workloads and reduce their effectiveness and efficiency.

The shire has advertised the proposal on Page 15, with public submissions closing on Friday September 30.

The agency says the efficiency of Wheatbelt supply chains are “determined by the performance of the weakest link”.

“Failure to maintain and improve productivity of the secondary freight network will reduce the international competitiveness of the Wheatbelt agricultural sector, which underpins employment and economic activity in the region,” it said.

“Transport links need to be improved if the productivity of this sector is to be supported.”

The shire says it will continue to press the issue with State ministers.

Another person aged in their 70s was living alone in what Roz called an “abject hovel” in the Toodyay townsite.

She said about 25 homeless people – including 17 children – recently moved to Perth where more support services were available.

There were more homeless women – some fleeing domestic violence – in Toodyay than there were men.

Roz said her Toodyay Locals Care group had given more than 25 free blankets and doonas to homeless local people last month.

The group also provided half a dozen two-person dome tents and seven single sleeping bags donated by local church members.

“I also gave away three solar mobile phone chargers that were donated,” Roz said.

Roz said that every morning she collected a supermarket trolley full of food that had reached its use-by date that day, donated by Toodyay’s IGA store.

The donations included milk and fruit juice.

“I collected 30 litres of juice from there today” Roz said.

Store owner Dean Carter said this had been happening for three or four years.

“Better that than throw it away,” Mr Carter said.

Roz said IGA donations were used to cook 100 hot meals a week for homeless people.

“They get paid fortnightly by Social Security and come to us when they run out of money the following week,” Roz said.

“Most people who come in the night are people in their 30s.

“Some come looking for food at two in the morning.

“We provide frozen cooked dinners in plastic containers which homeless people can cook in a microwave oven on our front veranda (in Fiennes Street opposite the Toodyay Freemason’s Hall) or take to where they are sleeping that night.”

Roz said most homeless women were “couch surfers” who stayed a few days or weeks at the homes of friends or relatives before moving elsewhere, sometimes after arguments with their hosts.

Others lived in vehicles under car ports or parked out in the open.

One family living in a car included a mother with young children who went to hospital at the end of last month to give birth to another child.

Others lived out in the open in tents at secret locations to avoid discovery for fear of being told to move on by Shire of Toodyay rangers or police.

“Mostly you never see them because they stay under the radar and out of sight,” Roz said.
About a third of Toodyay’s homeless population were Aboriginal people.

Census data collected last August showed median rents of $285 a week in Toodyay, well short of this year’s $350 a week average, according to local real estate agent Tony Maddox.

He said the age of new people buying homes in Toodyay – especially in the past six months – was lower than five years ago, with many now aged in their 30s and 40s.

SOCIAL media posts indicate that low-income tenants displaced by the sales boom are struggling to find alternative accommodation because rents are now too high, causing some families to leave town.

About 43 per cent of Toodyay residents were reported to own their homes outright, compared with 29 per cent in the city.

A further 40 per cent had mortgages, and 11.5 per cent were renters.

About a quarter of all Toodyay households reported weekly incomes of less than $650 last August.

Median mortgage repayments were $1564 a month in Toodyay, compared with $1907 in Perth.

Big rises in home loan costs – starting as early as this month – are predicted this year as Australia’s Reserve Bank lifts official interest rates to fight rising inflation, now running at 5.1 per cent nationally.

Australia’s official cash rate rose to 0.85 per cent last month and is predicted to hit 2.5 by the end of the year, adding hundreds of dollars to monthly loan repayments.

The overall picture painted by the 2021 census is that most Toodyay residents are still much older than their city cousins.

Last year’s Toodyay median age was 54 compared with 37 in Perth, and higher than Toodyay’s median age of 51 in 2016.

The census reported that about a third of all Toodyay residents were born overseas, with English-born residents the biggest component at just over 10 per cent, compared with Perth (8) and nationally (3.6).

A total of 136 shire residents (three per cent) identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, along with 42,023 in Perth (two per cent) and 813,000 nationally (3.2 per cent).

About 20 per cent of all Toodyay residents (823 people) did voluntary work through an organisation or group in the 12 months to August last year, compared with 15 per cent in Perth and 14 per cent nationally.

In health, the Census reported that 4.1 per cent of Toodyay residents (190 people) have cancer or are in remission, compared with 2.7 in Perth and 2.9 nationally.

However, only 0.3 per cent (16 people) have dementia – including Alzheimer’s Disease – compared with 0.7 per cent in Perth and the same figure nationally.

A total of 264 Toodyay residents (5.7 per cent) reported heart disease – including heart attack or angina – compared with 3.5 per cent in Perth and nationally.

Toodyay resident also fared worse in lung disease – including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema – with 126 cases (2.7 per cent) compared with 1.5 per cent in Perth and across Australia.

Mental health – including depression and anxiety – accounted for 438 cases (9.5 per cent) in Toodyay last August compared with 8.4 in Perth and 8.8 nationally.

About 470 Toodyay dwellings (26.7 per cent) were occupied by only one person, roughly matching Perth and nationally.

In religion, 2152 Toodyay residents (46.8 per cent) reported no religious affiliation – a big increase compared with 2016 when the non-religious total was 1536 (34.6 per cent).

Both major religions lost followers in Toodyay, with Anglicans dropping to 14.5 per cent (21 per cent in 2016), and Catholics 12 per cent (previously 16), reflecting similar trends in Perth and nationally.

Australia’s total population last August was 25.4 million people, of which 2.1 million lived in Perth and 4601 in Toodyay.

Dollar amounts will be much higher for broadacre farmers and livestock producers on 208 properties bigger than 100ha who pay tens of thousands of dollars in shire rates every year.

Pensioners can claim rebates of up to half of the cost of their rates bills, capped at $750 last financial year.

Holders of WA Senior’s cards can claim rebates up to 25 per cent, capped last year at $100.

The proposed rate increases are calculated to raise $7.2 million this financial year – $335,000 more than last year.

There was no rate rise in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

State reviews of land valuations may alter the value of individual properties on which shire rate increases are applied each year.

A special Toodyay Shire Council meeting on June 8 voted 7-0 (Cr Mick McKeown absent) to advertise the proposed new rates for 21 days for public comment.

Shire CEO Suzie Haslehurst said this was done on Facebook, online and on the shire website, and submissions had now closed.

The council decision came too late to advertise in last month’s Toodyay Herald, Ms Haslehurst said.

This year’s proposed rates include a new mining category which aims to raise an extra $200,000 from 35 Toodyay properties.

Rates on rural land used for mining and exploration are proposed to increase from about 0.014c to nearly one cent in the dollar – by far the highest for any local land use.

The shire said previously that it needed to charge higher rates for mining to repair and upgrade local roads damaged by frequent heavy industry vehicle use, such as at Chalice Mining’s Julimar worksite.

It is understood that at least one mining company operating in Toodyay was reportedly “not happy” with the proposed increase.

The shire said WA local government law required ministerial approval for the size of the proposed new mining rate, which will be sought prior to the council finalising its 2022-23 budget in coming weeks.

The proposed overall increase in rates revenue – taking into account unchanged minimum rates – is 2.5 per cent.

This matches the council’s 10-year Long Term Financial Plan adopted in June 2020 which requires annual increases of 2.5 per cent for the next eight years.

Shire Projects Officer Maurice Werder told last month’s special council meeting that leaving Toodyay’s minimum rate unchanged at $1351 left it still higher than the amount charged in most other shires.