The town’s security cameras were upgraded under the direction of former shire CEO Stan Scott in 2019 after years of delays.

The new cameras – some with advanced vehicle number plate recognition technology – were understood to be incorrectly earthed.

“There was no written agreement and to the best of our knowledge, the cameras were installed by the shire without Western Power approval,” a power utility spokesperson said.

“Western Power inspectors were alerted to the cameras and upon inspection deemed them unsafe and disconnected the power.”

Toodyay police say there are 14 shire-owned video security cameras in the central business district, including two at Duidgee Park.

Video camera display screens inside Toodyay Police Station have been blank for months and the viewing software is frozen.

Police have been unable to trace the occupants of wanted or suspicious vehicles by using number plate recognition to check if potential offenders have been in Toodyay.

Some shire cameras are installed on Western Power light poles and the rest are mounted on other supports.

The shire installed six security cameras in Stirling Terrace in 2019, including five on light poles.

Acting Shire CEO Tabitha Bateman said a search of shire records had failed to find any evidence of a written agreement with Western Power in 2019 to mount cameras on light poles owned by the State power utility.

She said the problem was raised with Western Power last year but the shire had yet to hear back after being promised a response by February.

It is understood Western Power discovered that its light poles were being used without permission when a work crew was called out last year to check a report of water spouting from one of its Stirling Terrace light poles.

It resulted in all shire cameras on Western Power light poles being disconnected because they were ruled to be unsafe.

The power utility said its engineers had since designed and developed new equipment to make the fittings safe.

“This connection type has been specifically designed for this type of application so that local governments and other customers will be able to use this design to mount a range of products, including safety cameras, weather stations and other sensors,” the spokesperson said.

“Testing has now been completed with the first set of permanent installations expected to be completed by July.

“The original prototype testing was scheduled earlier but was delayed for six months due to global supply chain issues.

“Western Power will complete the work, including the mounting of the equipment.

“Maintenance and operation of the cameras will be done by the shire.

“Costs for this project are yet to be finalised.”

Western Power said one other WA local government authority had a similar problem.

The dogs were unregistered and the ranger reported that the animals were being kept in poor conditions.

Puppy farming is tightly controlled in WA after new State laws were adopted last year.

It followed complaints of unhygienic conditions and animal cruelty.

Breeders must be approved and comply with strict local government local laws and State legislation to protect puppies’ health and buyers’ rights.

Shire of Toodyay local laws allow no more than two dogs to be kept on a property unless councillors vote to approve additional animals up to a maxmimum of six.

No application was made to keep more than two dogs at the Julimar property.

The shire ranger reported the discovery of guns and crossbows to Toodyay police while the shire started searching for suitable alternative accommodation for the 35 dogs.

There was no room in the shire dog pound at the West Toodyay recycling depot for so many animals.

The matter was reported to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in Perth in a bid to to help find alternative accommodation.

The shire ranger returned to the property with Toodyay police a few days later to find that all the animals and been removed and the adults gone, leaving the house empty.

The ranger attached a $250 shire infringement notice for an alleged breach of local health laws to the front door.

Investigations are continuing into other potential breaches of local and State laws.

It is thought that the puppy farm owners may have abandoned a similar operation in Joondalup before moving to Toodyay.

Shire authorities fear the puppies may have been shifted to another secret location – possibly also in the shire.

Northam Hospital declined to provide case numbers but it is understood some Toodyay residents may have sought treatment there.

School students who tested positive or those with close classroom contacts were required to isolate at home with their families for seven days, causing local businesses that employ parents to shut or reduce hours due to staff shortages.

Toodyay police warned that at least three fake exemption certificates had been used by people trying to gain illegal entry to local business premises, an offence that carries an on-the-spot fine of $1000 (see Police Beat column).

The town’s two hotels remained open but sales were affected and staff hours cut.

The Toodyay Community Resource Centre closed for two days after a case was reported at the “View from the Magpie’s Nest outdoor music and art event (pictured right) that it co-presented in Stirling Terrace last month.

No resource centre staff tested positive for the virus but Toodyay Shire President Rosemary Madacsi said she felt unwell after attending the event and later tested positive, causing her to miss last month’s council meeting while isolating at home for seven days.

President Madacsi said she felt ill and tired “in waves’ after testing positive at home on her second attempt following an initial negative Rapid Antigen Test result.

Severity of symptoms has varied, with normally healthy people reporting a more severe illness than they expected while isolating at home.

One Shire of Toodyay employee tested positive last month and returned to work after recovering.

Two more returned to work after isolating for seven days following close contact with others who tested positive.

Ten shire staff were working from home on rotational shifts to limit disruption in case others in the office tested positive, which would require all close contacts in the workplace to isolate at home for seven days.

Several local businesses joined the shire in splitting their workforces into home-based rosters to avoid closures.

Others, such as Toodyay Fairytale Farm, were forced to shut because of COVID-19 among family members but said on Facebook that they hoped to re-open for Easter holidays.

Toodyay Tyres was also forced to close for a few days at the end of last month and has since re-opened.

Supplies of food and other household items were generally returning to normal at Toodyay’s IGA store after shortages caused by widespread flooding in January halted eastern states’ rail deliveries.

IGA store owner Dean Carter said there were still shortages of some items such as canned pet food at the start of this month because of a shortage of ingredients imported from China.

“We have plenty of fresh food but a lot depends on whether suppliers have to shut down for seven days if their workers test positive,” Mr Carter said.

Lots of local businesses were “feeling the pinch” and trade was down at the Victoria Hotel.
“Business at the restaurant and bar has been pretty diabolical and we have had to reduce staff hours,” Mr Carter said.

“However, we are seeing a lot of tourists and things are starting to pick up.

“We’re all in the same boat and by Easter it should be full-on.

“Pubs everywhere have taken a bit of a hit and are a lot worse off in Perth, so we’re not complaining.”

Freemasons Hotel owner John Pearce said his pub was similarly affected by “Covid hesitancy”.

“There’s a new word for it – ‘HOGO’, the Hassle Of Going Out,” he said.

“Covid is here to stay, and our town’s business survival depends on getting through this week rather than worrying about what might happen next week or next month.”

The State Government is expected to ease isolation and close contact rules as the virus becomes more common in the community, though the emergence of new variants may cause restrictions to return.

Local traders in Toodyay’s main café strip are concerned that big trucks rolling past shops, hotels and cafes pose a danger to customers, including children and elderly people crossing the road from between parked cars.

Toodyay Bakery co-owner Cassie Marion said she also had a concern about heavy trucks carrying livestock passing so close to customers seated at outdoor tables.

Former WA Premier Richard Court’s government announced a $9 million plan for a Toodyay bypass in January 2001 which included a new bridge over the Avon River near the Northam-Toodyay Road.

His government was defeated by former State Labor leader Geoff Gallop a month later and the plan was abandoned after objections from local landowners, who are understood to have since left the shire.

The 2001 proposed route passes near homes in Toodyay’s new River Hills Estate.

The town’s temporary bypass made Herald Page 1 news in August 2016 when it was revealed that former Toodyay shire councillors voted 8-1 (former Cr Sally Craddock against) to cut down two tall trees on the corner of Anzac Memorial Park to make it safer for trucks to pass.

The plan was axed after a public outcry and a confrontation between police and protesters.

Toodyay Shire CEO Suzie Haslehurst said land was previously acquired for a bypass behind Toodyay District High School for a route between the Toodyay-Goomalling Road and Telegraph Road.

Revisiting the need for a new bypass had been raised in recent informal discussions.
“We are a heritage town and concerns have been raised about increased mining and agricultural traffic,” she said.

The need for a new bypass had been raised in ‘Let’s Talk’ community sessions hosted by shire councillors and staff at recent public meetings in Bejoording and Morangup.

Ms Haslehurst said councillors would be asked if they wanted the shire to conduct a public survey to gauge community support to lobby the State Government for a new bypass.

Chalice has told investors that the conservation park has the potential to become a “globally significant mine”.

Drilling on nearby private land that Chalice now owns has already produced results worth between $14 billion and $35 billion on today’s market for ‘green’ metals.

Chalice says it has drilled only six holes on existing forest tracks (pictured above) using ‘low-impact’ techniques and told the Australian Stock Exchange last year that there would be “no mechanised clearing”.

The forest is home to threatened species such as the Black Cockatoo and Chuditch.

The Cuballing Shire Council voted 6-0 in January that Mr Scott was “suitably qualified” for their shire’s highest-paid job.

Shire President Eliza Dowling said her council knew about the adverse finding but Mr Scott was “the stand-out candidate” from a list provided by local government recruitment agency Lo-Go Appointments.

“It is difficult to get job applicants for small country shires like ours,” she said.

“We did thorough background checks.”

President Dowling declined to reveal how much Mr Scott was being paid but said it was within in a State-approved salary range of $128,000-$200,000 for shire CEOs.

She said Mr Scott’s previous 18 years in local government – including seven at Toodyay – had counted in his favour, as well as the two Toodyay referee reports.

Cuballing councillors had signed “confidentiality agreements” which prevented her from naming the referees.

A shire newsletter announcement of Mr Scott’s appointment said he had “recently taken a break from Local Government receiving some well-deserved leave”.

Mr Scott quit as Toodyay shire CEO in the middle of a year-long State-ordered inquiry after taking three month’s sick leave at short notice on the morning of a council meeting.

He was no longer employed by the shire when 15 adverse findings against him were tabled in State Parliament in October 2020.

A new CEO and councillors were required to take action to remedy the deficiencies.

President Dowling said she was not aware that Mr Scott had done any “training or counselling” after the inquiry and had found no reference to him being required to do so.

A WA Government spokesperson said the Minister had no role in council appointments but was planning new measures to “strengthen the oversight and recruitment of CEOs”.

Mr Scott declined to comment.

Two “low impact” diamond drill rigs that did not require vegetation to be cleared have drilled four holes on existing forest tracks.

A further 78 holes had been drilled on private farmland north of the forest.

ASX told appeals ‘unlikely’ to affect drilling

The miner said it was awaiting the outcome of two public appeals against a State Government decision to allow off-track drilling in the forest.

The appeals were “unlikely” to affect the company’s planned drilling program, it told the stock exchange.

“No mechanised clearing is required for off-track activity and trees and significant flora/fauna will be avoided,” Chalice said.

The mineral deposit is wholly within the Shire of Toodyay about 28km west of the townsite and crosses Julimar Road into the conservation park near Keating Road.

The shire said current drilling on existing fire access and recreation tracks was governed by a conservation management plan that prevented vegetation being cleared.

Major access roads remained open, with warning signs for minor track interruptions.

The 280sq/km Julimar Conservation Park was listed by the WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions in 2017 as home to one of the state’s “healthiest known populations of western quoll (chuditch)”.

‘Threatened fauna rare or likely to become extinct’

The native mammal is the state’s largest carnivorous marsupial and protected by WA wildlife conservation law as “threatened fauna that is rare or likely to become extinct”.

The shy, solitary, cat-like creatures are largely nocturnal and use highly sensitive vision, hearing and smell to capture prey in a home range that extends up to 15sq/km for males and 3-4sq/km for females.

They live in hollow logs, tree limbs, rocky outcrops and burrows, and eat mostly crickets, scorpions and spiders as well as other small mammals, birds, lizards, frogs and bird and lizard eggs, and sometimes Zamia seed pulp, small fruits and flowers.

Much of the the Shire of Toodyay, including the townsite, was blanket pegged for similar minerals two years ago.

Drilling is currently underway along a 10km strip of a 26km-long deposit (pictured right) covered by an 8000sq/km exploration licence which lies mostly within the Julimar Conservation Park.

The lower part of the map shows ‘Hartog’ where forest drilling began in mid-January.

The company was also granted a State permit to drill beyond existing forest access tracks and told the Australian Stock Exchange that “while a delay is envisaged, the company believes the appeals are unlikely to impact the planned exploration drilling program”.

More drilling in the conservation park is planned further north in the ‘Baudin’ and ‘Jansz’ areas later this year.

Chalice has already drilled hundreds of holes south of Julimar Road on private farmland designated ‘Gonneville’ (shown bottom of map) that it bought two years ago.

The company told a Perth mining conference last month that its Julimar find was “world class” – one of the “largest greenfield discoveries in recent history”.

It was “positioned to become a globally significant and strategic source of battery and hydrogen green metals”.

The deposit contained “world class” amounts of platinum, palladium, nickel, cobalt and copper “needed to decarbonise the global economy and address climate change”.

Ukraine invasion puts Julimar ‘in spotlight’

Chalice said palladium was in short supply in a market dominated by Russia.

The miner tweeted after last month’s Ukraine invasion that Russia supplied 40 per cent of global demand for the rare metal, with prices at near-record levels of $3303 an ounce “on the back of Russian supply concerns”.

“Julimar project is in the spotlight as it hosts one of few major undeveloped projects,” Chalice tweeted.

Platinum was dominated by South Africa “with significant political and operational challenges”.

Nickel and cobalt were “key battery cathode materials in electric vehicles (EV)” with demand forecast to increase 19 times by 2040 and a “significant forecast supply shortage” due to a lack of new discoveries.

Copper was “used extensively in the green energy industry, including in renewables, energy storage and EVs in a market forecast to remain in deficit until 2026” due to a lack of new large-scale discoveries worldwide.

Chalice described itself as a “well-funded, high-performance team with an excellent track record” with “proven ability to discover and define mines and a track record of returning capital to shareholders”.

The company said it had raised $74 million in cash and investments and had delivered a 5000 per cent return to shareholders since the success of its first Julimar hole in March 2020.

Chalice bought Avalon Homestead in Julimar Road last year to establish a local base with overnight accommodation and has provided donations, sponsorships and in-kind support to several Toodyay community organisations.

They include the Toodyay Bowling Club whose members now wear Chalice-branded competition shirts, the Toodyay Agricultural Society’s annual Show, $20,000 to revamp a Toodyay District High School playground and $13,000 to buy an inflatable water slide at Toodyay’s new swimming pool.

Toodyay Shire President Rosemary Madacsi said the shire was holding regular monthly meetings with Chalice to discuss progress updates.