Toodyay Herald

Mr Love won a primary vote majority of nearly 35 per cent in the 2017 State Election, with Labor’s Barni Norton on 21 per cent and Liberal candidate Darren Slyns 19 per cent.

All three are again contesting this month’s State Election and Labor hopes its cash splash in Moore will at least force Mr Love to rely on preference votes to retain his seat.

In January, Labor pledged $100,000 for Toodyay RSL’s new headquarters.

Local medical staff were gearing up to vaccinate up to 50 people a day in addition to normal flu shots and other regular local vaccinations for measles, mumps, rubella and other diseases.

Toodyay residents will receive the Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine which gained Australian Government approval on February 16 after completing successful clinical trials in record time last November at Britain’s Oxford University.

Dr Randhawa said Toodyay residents younger than 70 would gain access to the new vaccine when more supplies became available from the Eastern States.

Not pregnant women or kids

However, pregnant women and children under 16 remain ineligible for the vaccine because it has not been tested in those groups.

“We will have to wait until further trials show that the vaccine is safe for them,” Dr Randhawa said.

Studies have found that children appear to be less affected by the Covid-19 virus than adults and, if infected, generally suffer only mild symptoms.

However, children can still infect adults.

Dr Randhawa said he hoped all Toodyay residents could be vaccinated by August.

Two local nurses (pictured right) have been trained and officially certified to deliver the AstraZenica vaccine in Toodyay.

“We expect to be able to vaccinate 20 to 50 people a day at the Alma Beard Medical Centre, depending on supplies and demand,” Dr Randhawa said.

“This is in addition to normal demand for annual flu shots, which will commence locally as winter approaches.

“We expect in coming months to go through double the number of syringes we normally use.

“To be effective, every AstraZenica vaccination needs to be followed up by a second shot 12 weeks later.

“This is similar to measles, mumps and rubella, which require three shots, each two months apart.

Flu shots need to be separate

“However, flu shots can’t be given at the same time as AstraZenica – they need to be spaced at least two weeks apart.

“We will open the Toodyay medical centre on weekends if we receive sufficient supplies to meet demand.”

Dr Randhawa said the AstraZenica vaccine could be kept safely between 2C and 8C in normal refrigerators at the Toodyay clinic, which is equipped to store up to 500 doses.

This made it more practical for local use than the Australian-approved Pfizer vaccine which needed to be transported and stored at -70C.

In addition, the AstraZenica vaccine was supplied in single-dose vials.

This would prevent last month’s Queensland situation when untrained doctors gave two elderly patients four times the recommended dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which comes in six-dose vials.

“Toodyay people don’t need to file a special application to get their free AstraZenica vaccination,” Dr Randhawa said.

“All they need to do is call the Wheatbelt Health Network on 9574 2300 to book their shot at the Alma Beard Medical Centre.

“Toodyay people can also book to be vaccinated in Northam.

Vulnerable people first

“Priority will be given to people classed by the Australian Government as vulnerable to Covid-19 infection and serious illness.

“These include people aged 70 or older, and those with chronic diseases such as heart-lung disease, diabetes and other pre-existing medical conditions, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“Priority will also go to quarantine and border workers, frontline healthcare staff, emergency services and people supplying and distributing essential goods and services.

“People who are infected but don’t get ill are still classed as carriers and will need to be vaccinated too.”

Dr Randhawa said every AstraZenica shot would contain “an inactive part of the Covid-19 virus”.

It would be injected into the muscle, similar to a tetanus shot.

Sore arms

“There will be a little bit of a sting and a sore arm for up to 48 hours,” Dr Randhawa said.

“People can ask to get it in their non-favoured arm.

“You might get a very mild fever and symptoms of a flu-like illness similar to ordinary flu.

“Any fever, muscle aches and pains, and lethargy should wear off in 48 hours.

“These symptoms can be treated with paracetamol (such as Panadol) or ibuprofen (eg: Nurofen) just as you might for ordinary flu.”

Dr Randhawa said everyone vaccinated against Covid-19 would have their details recorded in the Federal Government’s Australian Immunisation Register.

This would enable health authorities to ensure enough supplies of the second dose.

Shire CEO Suzie Hazlehurst said the shire had written to landfill site operator Opal Vale expressing concern that the site lacked adequate personnel and equipment to control the second fire.

In particular, Opal Vale was not equipped to deal with an after-hours fire.

The letter followed initial shire contact with the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) to report shortcomings in the company’s fire-fighting capabilities.

It is understood DWER inspectors visited the landfill site several times to monitor the initial undergound fire.

The second fire occurred on the surface at night.

It was attended by two units from Toodyay Central Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade and one from the Toodyay Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service.

Fire and rescue volunteers were called because landfill fires contain toxic materials and require different firefighting techniques, equipment and training than those used for bushfires.

Two bushfire brigade tankers were used to provide fire and rescue service volunteers with bulk supplies of water that had to be brought in from elsewhere.

It is understood Opal Vale’s operating licence requires it to cover surface rubbish on the same day that it is dumped.

Ms Haslehurst said the company responded promptly to the shire’s letter of concern by submitting a proposed upgraded fire management plan.

Shire officers were reviewing the response, Ms Haslehurst said.

DWER approved the Chitty Road landfill site in 2019 after several years of costly legal challenges by local residents.

Opponents said landfill fires were notoriously hard to extinguish and could burn for weeks underground if heat generated by decomposing organic waste came into contact with oxygen.

Local residents also feared that landfill fires could release toxic fumes over surrounding homes and farms and pollute local creeks that feed into the Avon River.

Opal Vale’s long-term plan was to dump three million tonnes of rotting metropolitan waste in Hoddys Well over the next 20 years.

The rubbish would be carried by an extra 60 rubbish trucks a day on Toodyay Road.
Opal Vale is not listed in the White Pages telephone directory, does not have a website and could not be contacted for comment.

The orders to apologise followed Mr Scott’s formal complaints about two 2019 Facebook posts that the WA Local Government Standards Panel found last September to be “misleading and derogatory and likely to cause detriment to Mr Scott”.

The panel upheld a third complaint that Cr Bell made several Facebook posts on 10 February 2019 that were “false or misleading and likely to cause detriment to Mr Scott and Cr Therese Chitty”, who was deputy shire president at the time.

The shire published three “Notices of Public Censure” naming Cr Bell – as required by State law – in last month’s Toodyay Community News.

Ms Haslehurst said she was required by the same law to inform the Standards Panel that Cr Bell had not apologised.

A State Government inquiry tabled in the WA Parliament last October made 14 adverse findings against Mr Scott for financial mismanagement, failures under local government law, conflict of interest and unethical conduct.

It also castigated the previous council for failing to properly manage the former CEO’s behaviour and actions over a seven-year period examined by the inquiry.

Mr Scott quit the shire last April while on three months’ sick leave.

The massive bushfire was thought to have started in a house in Worooloo amid soaring temperatures on the Monday afternoon.

Strong easterly winds caused it to race quickly out of control across hundreds of square kilometres of farms and densely vegetated bush towards other Hills communities near Perth.

“It was dark when we got to Gidgegannup and the fire had already crossed Toodyay Road,” one Toodyay volunteer firefighter said.

“The fire was travelling at great speed through big trees and the heat was intense.

“It was burning all around us as far as we could see and showering the tavern with hot embers that were blowing everywhere.

“It was very scary and very dangerous with poor visibility and lots of fallen power lines.

“We were able to supply water from our Toodyay tanker up to guys from another brigade working a hose on the roof to defend it from burning embers.

“We were also able to stop the fire in a lot of dense vegetation behind the tavern (pictured above) to prevent it reaching the building.

“By the time we’d finished, whole area looked like a moonscape”.

81 homes lost

A Morangup firefighter who was called to look for trapped residents in the nearby Tilden Park residential subdivision in east Gidgegannup said the whole area looked like it had been hit by a firestorm.

“The fire went through it like a razor blade – everything is gone,” he said.

“Lots of million-dollar houses – even those surrounded by cleared spaces – were razed to the ground.

“The fire took out everything in its path.

“There was no way anybody could have survived.

“I’ve attended lots of bushfires but have never seen anything like this before.

“We searched from house to house because we didn’t know if anybody had been left behind but didn’t find anybody.

“There wasn’t any time to try to save homes.

“We stopped to help one bloke who stayed to defend his house but had to leave as soon as the immediate danger had passed to look for others.

“The worst part for me was seeing all the dead and dying animals – including kangaroos – lying all over the roads.

“It was devastating.

“At night everything you could possibly see was burning.

“We got there at 5.30pm on the Monday and left at 5.30am next day to let others take over.”

Toodyay Chief Bush Fire Control Officer Craig Stewart said all local volunteer brigades were working shifts to provide round-the-clock support for volunteer firefighters from other brigades.

“Toodyay crews have been deployed to all parts of the fireground, including from Walyunga National Park to the other side of the Great Northern Highway.

“We’ve seen a lot of burnt-out homes.

“This fire is catastrophic.

“The wild card is possible changes in wind direction caused by a degrading North-West cyclone that’s travelling down the coast towards us.

“It may turn the Hills fire around and cause it to go into the back of Gidgie.

“Fire crews are working to create containment lines and consolidate positions but some areas of the densely vegetated terrain lack roads and is too steep for fire trucks to access.”

As The Herald went to press on Thursday February 4, the WA Department of Fire and Emergency services reported that at least 81 homes had been destroyed and more than 700 residents moved to emergency evacuation centres.

Shire President Rosemary Madacsi said the final cost of building the new sport and recreation centre was being assessed by a quantity surveyor and would be provided to the council at a later date.

Cr McKeown said his reading of the shire’s November accounts was that “we’ve actually spent $600,000 more than we budgeted for”.

Construction of the new sports and recreation centre was funded by a short-term interest-only loan which is due to expire on March 23 when repayment of the full $4.5 million debt falls due.

Cr McKeown opposed replacing it with a new 20-year loan to pay off the whole amount over the next 20 years.

Shire Deputy President Beth Ruthven said the new loan was planned with a tentative interest rate of four per cent, which Ms Haslehurst said had yet to be negotiated with the State Treasury.

Cr McKeown said that even with a zero per cent interest, the new loan would cost the shire at least $54,000 over the next three months instead of $8750 in interest-only repayments under the current loan.

“There is no long-term loan mentioned in the shire’s long-term financial plan, and it’s not in the budget for this financial year,” Cr McKeown said.

“We’ve just seen the figures for November and we don’t know the final situation following rec centre capital allocations.

“I don’t know yet what we have to do to get these books balanced because we haven’t yet done a mid-year budget review.

“By converting to a long-term loan now – when we have to put bread and butter on the table – we will actually be monetarily worse off.

“It will reduce the cash flow to the shire over the next three months.

“We’re not going to pay off this loan for 20 years so if it lasts an extra three months in 2041 I’m prepared to wear that to get this year’s books balanced.

“Maybe we do have to extend the short-term loan until June but let’s make an informed decision after the budget review instead of an ad-hoc decision that doesn’t conform to the current budget.

“In two meetings from now we can make a soundly based assessment of what we should do,” Cr McKeown said.

Councillors voted 2-4 to reject the proposed new $4.5 million long-term loan and agreed 6-0 instead to defer a decision until after next month’s mid-year budget review.

The council also agreed to seek State Treasury approval to extend the current interest-free loan until June 30.

Ms Haslehurst said later that the actual cost of building the new sports and recreation centre was still being assessed, and that first-year operating costs were also still being assessed.

An $8000 weekly water bill to establish the new grassed playing field and gardens had been lowered by reducing watering to twice a week.

Toodyay Road was rated by the WA RAC in 2017 as the state’s fourth most dangerous regional road for fatal and serious traffic accidents in 2017.

It blamed tight curves, blind crests, the lack of safe places to overtake and narrow road lanes and bridges.

In one recent serious accident (see Police Beat, Page 6), a Toyota Hilux ute was wrecked when it rolled and slammed sideways into a tree near Jingaling Brook Road, about 100m west of where the new roadworks begin.

The work pictured above includes widening a large stretch of Toodyay Road and installing a new centre line with a one-metre gap to separate vehicles travelling in opposite directions.

Main Roads WA says this, combined with new audible line markers, will reduce the risk of head-on crashes and give motorists time to recover if they stray into the opposite lane.

Bends will also be wider and straighter.

The work is similar to a two-kilometre stretch of Toodyay Road that was widened last year between Clackline Road and the Northam Toodyay Road.

The current roadworks are scheduled to be completed in May.

Work has also begun on acquiring private land and clearing roadside vegetation to build new Toodyay Road turn-off lanes at Sandplain Road and Racecourse Road.

Temporary traffic lights had been installed to manage traffic.

However, Main Roads WA said funds had yet to be allocated to complete this part of the project, which would be included in future upgrades.

The latest roadworks are part of a plan to upgrade Toodyay Road between Dryandra Road and the Goomalling Road turn-off.

New passing and heavy vehicle climbing lanes would also be built near the intersections of Sandplain Road and Salt Valley Road, and a passing lane and intersection improvements built at Fernie Road, which is used frequently by heavy trucks.

Main Roads WA says Toodyay Road is a strategic transport corrider.

The upgrade is part of a ‘Perth and Peel@3.5 million’ long-term growth strategy contained in the State Government’s Metropolitan Region Scheme.

Residents in Perth, Peel and South-West were ordered to stay home or wear face masks if they had go out in public for essential reasons such as to shop for food.

A smaLL number of people in Toodyay also began wearing Covid-19 face masks in public as a health precaution.

Stirling Terrace was noticeably quieter with fewer cars in the street and local cafes were largely empty except for a small number of regular local customers.

No new Covid-19 infections were recorded in Perth after three days of lockdown and at the time of going to press WA Premier Mark McGowan, said the week-long restrictions would most likely end on Friday February 5.