Wednesday 3 September 2008

Man might not walk again after police chase

as posted on TheWest

A 32-year-old Bunbury man may never walk again, after he allegedly stole a car and fell to the ground while running from police in the southern suburb of Maddington last night.

Sergeant Greg Lambert said police were on patrol about midnight when they saw a stolen Mazda sedan near a service station on Kelvin Road. Police allege the car was displaying number plates that had been altered with a pen.

Sgt Lambert said the car drove away from police and stopped in the driveway of a house in a nearby street.

“The driver ran away from the car and as he jumped over a fence, he fell and landed on his head,” he said.

“He immediately complained of breaking his neck and was unable to move his legs.”

The man was taken by ambulance to Royal Perth Hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken C5 vertebra.

Doctors told police the man may never walk again.

Police said inquiries were continuing into stolen property allegedly found in the car.

Police will wait until the man is treated for his injuries before he is interviewed.

PERTH
ALEISHA PREEDY

as posted on TheWest

Sunday 31 August 2008

Checkered Flag Slot Cars

as posted on Little Explorers

Monday 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Tuesday 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Wednesday 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Thursday 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Friday 4:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am - 10:00 pm
Sunday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Shop 5, 1909 Albany Hwy MADDINGTON, WA, 6109
Pricing – Dependant on number of laps and races booked.
Checkered Flag Slotcar Raceway in Maddington offers Perth’s premier slotcar raceway on a 8 lane 42 metre road course, also a 6 lane 20 metre road course, with a scale 1/8th mile dragstrip and a 4 lane AFX track!!
Organised racing 5 nights a week.
Specializing in:-
* Birthday Parties
* Group Bookings
* Social Clubs
* Mobile Track Hire Service

Contact:Phone 9452 0933 Fax 9452 0934 Mobile 0427 731 853

as posted on Little Explorers

Two injured in separate falls

as posted on ABCSouthWestWA

A 20-year-old man remains in a critical condition after falling off a skateboard that was being towed behind a car in the south-west.

The man received serious head injuries in the accident and was taken to Bunbury Regional Hospital yesterday afternoon before being flown to Royal Perth Hospital.

And a teenager who fell from a scoreboard at a football ground in Perth is also in a critical condition in Royal Perth Hospital.

Ambulance officers were called to the Gosnells Football Club on Stalker Road about 11.30 last night.

Police say the 16-year-old fell two to three metres to the ground, landing on his shoulder and head.

as posted on ABCSouthWestWA

and ...

as posted WAToday

Teen rushed to hospital after three metre fall

A 16-year-old Huntingdale boy was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after falling three metres from a scoreboard at a football oval in Gosnells last night.

At about 11pm, police allege that the boy had climbed up onto the scoreboard at the oval on Stalker Street, and fell at least 3 metres landing on his shoulder and then his head on hard gravel.

Police spokesman, Ian Haselby said that police on the scene were able to administer first aid until an Ambulance arrived.

The boy was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital for emergency surgery, and is currently in a critical but stable condition.

Police believe the incident is not suspicious.

as posted WAToday


and ...


as posted on TheWest


Boy in serious condition after fall

A 16-year-old Huntingdale boy is in a critical but stable condition in Royal Perth Hospital this morning after falling from a scoreboard in Gosnells overnight.

Police said the boy had climbed onto the scoreboard at the Gosnells Football Oval on Stalker Road about 11pm and then fell, hitting his head and shoulder on the gravel below.

Police called to the scene provided first aid before the boy was taken to Royal Perth Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.

STUART MCKINNON

as posted on TheWest

Friday 29 August 2008

Coote FY earnings soar 191%

as posted on WABusinessNews

29-August-08 by Rebecca Lawson

Earnings in Maddington-based engineering company Coote Industrial Ltd has skyrocketed 191 per cent to $23.8million on the back of stronger revenues for the 2008 financial year.

The result is an increase from the previous year's net profit of $8.1 million.

Revenue for the year jumped from the previous year's $69.4 million to $347.9 million while earnings per share was up 20 per cent to 21 cents per share.

The boost was driven by four acquisitions over the year of Gemco Rail, FCD Logistics, Industrial Powertrain and Drivetrain.

"We are pleased with the final result, especially given the significant growth achieved in the short period of time," managing director Mike Coote said.

"The business is starting to integrate well with further organic growth expected from projects and expanded operational footprints."

"The rail growth has been particularly encouraging; building on the well recognised wagon capability with Gemco Rail to include an equally strong locomotive capability, combined with rail maintenance services is already starting to deliver considerable reward."

The company has forecast net profit after tax of $25 million and revenue of $358 million for the 2009 financial year.

The company currently has existing orders of over $200 million.

The directors have declared a final fully franked dividend of five cents, taking the total for the year to 8.5c.

as posted on WABusinessNews

State Election Looming ... is it?



personal comments by Peter Evans

... personally I am not a big fan of local state politics, let's take the issue of daylight saving, yes your curtains will fade quicker, and the cows won't get milked on time, don't get me wrong but I love daylight saving, I voted for it previously and will probably vote for it again, but hey wait, it has been defeated in two previous referendums, yet the pollies managed to overturn our vote, we are currently in a trial period, and have been for the last two summers, so what is the point, and here we are facing a new election, you would think to save money they would chuck in the referendum that is due for daylight saving, sometime in the future (next year) we will again put it to a vote, at an extra cost to the public and if we again vote no by majority, will they allow that vote to rule ...

let's leave the issue of daylight saving, you know the public voted against it but we still have it ... no let's leave that alone ... the pollies know best ...

here in Australia we have three levels of Government, Federal, State and Local Council, over governed to be sure, when it comes to State and Federal issues it can get a bit confusing as to who to approach with an issue, you go to a State member and they will say "Oh that is a Federal matter" and you approach a Federal member and they will say "Oh that is a State issue" ... personally I am probably for WA secession, but that IS another issue all together ... and as far as local government, you can only vote for a candidate in your own ward, which brings up a whole lot of issues (that is the people that represent you on your council - you don't get the chance to vote for or against most of them, only the ones in your ward) ...

anyway back to the upcoming State Election (6th September), I reside in Thornlie, and have lived in the Gosnells area most of my life, and guess what the boundaries have changed again, but don't tell anyone, it really is one of the best kept secrets, but like most forms of Government, you have been told, you just did not bother to read the information, recently we received a letter in the post, like less than two weeks before the election, that we are now in a new seat of Gosnells, yes the old seat of Gosnells has been revived, new seat or old seat I'm a bit confused, Kenwick has gone, but that was a new seat at the last election, I'm scratching my head, see over here the pollies have the opportunity to redistribute the boundaries to suit their election chances, "you can't say that", I just did, anyway it has been a bit of shift around here in Gosnells, boundaries have moved in most of the recent elections, we were in Southern River, now we are back in Gosnells, Kenwick has gone, so has the sitting member for Kenwick, the member for Southern River, who's offices have stayed in central Gosnells, yes his offices are not even inside his own electorate, so at the moment my electorate is Southern River, and my sitting member has his office in Gosnells, near the train station, which is currently Kenwick, well I'm confused, and if you check out the Labor web site to find info on the current member for Southern River, there is none, he has been the sitting member for Southern River since 2001, and hey the Labor party has absolutely nothing to say about him, I suppose they consider it to be a safe seat, but any way ... after the election I will be in Gosnells ... again ... so let's discuss the main candidates for Gosnells

in Australia we are basically a two party system, Labor and Liberal, not much of a choice, but it is all we have, (lucky we have a choice I guess) you can pretty much eliminate the rest of the candidates, sorry to offend them, but hey that's the way it is, the public here mostly vote for the leaders of the parties and tick the box that correspond to their local candidate (I guess one day the voting slips will be color coded to make it easier), personally I prefer to vote for the candidate no matter which party they stand for, so we have two choices in Gosnells one is a current Local Government Councillor (if who elected, will mean that we the ratepayers of Gosnells will have to pay to reelect a new Councillor!!!) and the other an environmentalist (helped stop the French testing in the Pacific, and fights against the cane toad, which is good, well not for the cane toad anyway, and if the French don't test in the Pacific, hey don't they own an island off the WA coast, eek let's not go there - literally) ... yes I am rambling on but it is early in the morning ...
so anyway we have an election coming up, personally I don't watch local tv (not exposed to local ads) and I can't afford the local rag (the West is all you need, and all you have), and by the way it is compulsory to vote here in Australia at State and Federal election, but not for local council, figure that out and you win a prize ... so who will I vote for, I have no idea, probably the donkey again or some other ass (don't mean to offend, but hey what choice do I have) ...

personal comments by Peter Evans

Thursday 28 August 2008

ALP’s new talent nowhere to go

as posted on TheWest

Despite the presidential-style election campaign focusing almost entirely on Alan Carpenter and Colin Barnett, both leaders have been keen to remind voters that behind them are teams perfectly capable of forming competent governments.

Mr Carpenter in particular has emphasised the new talent he hopes to bring into the Parliament and has even offered regeneration as one of the reasons he went to the polls six months early.

But, unfortunately for Mr Carpenter at least, some of the politicians he wants thrown out at this election will actually still occupy positions in Parliament after at least until next May when new Upper House MPs will get to take their seats.

Specifically, Shelley Archer and Anthony Fels will still be there after September 6 and in the Lower House, dumped and disgraced former Labor minister John Bowler has every chance of picking up the seat of Kalgoorlie from the Liberals while another former Labor “rising star”, John D’Orazio, has a slim hope of upsetting the ALP’s Reece Whitby in Morley.

What’s more if Labor wins, both Mr Bowler and Mr D’Orazio would support Mr Carpenter’s government and presumably he’d be happy to accept their votes, particularly if Labor’s majority is significantly reduced.

But Mr Carpenter’s emphasis on regeneration hits its biggest snag when it comes to his post-election Cabinet. While it’s true that he could have a number of newcomers at his disposal, most notably Mr Whitby in Morley, party secretary Bill Johnston in Cannington, former journalist and lobbyist Karen Brown in Mt Lawley, his ex-chief of staff Rita Saffioti in West Swan and former conservation council boss Chris Tallentire in Gosnells, only two Ministers are retiring — Agriculture Minister Kim Chance in the Upper House and Tourism Minister Sheila McHale in the Lower House.

Senior Ministers who might have looked at retirement after eight years in power — Jim McGinty, John Kobelke, Eric Ripper, Alannah MacTiernan and Michelle Roberts — all decided to go around again and are unlikely to want to spend the next four years making up the numbers on the back bench.

But it is exactly these Ministers who should move aside to make way for the incoming talent. They have had eight years to make their mark and none of them is on the way to the top job.

As well, dud Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich will become the senior Labor MP in the Upper House, making it difficult to dislodge her from a Cabinet post.

Mr McGinty commands two senior portfolios — health and attorney-general — and could expect to shed at least one of them if Labor is successful. But he would have done everyone a favour, not least Mr Carpenter, if he had bowed out at this election.

His truth-in-sentencing legislation, introduced in 2003, has become a millstone around Labor’s neck despite the Government’s efforts to backtrack on the legislation before the election was called.

He is unpopular with the public. If the mention of Ms MacTiernan’s name made the worm drop in Monday’s debate, reference to Mr McGinty would have seen it nosedive.

He is one of the reasons why the arrogant tag has stuck to this Labor Government and he paid no price at all for the Neale Fong fiasco.

Mr McGinty is also strongly identified with the old factional battle groups which Mr Carpenter wants to break down.

Mr Carpenter said yesterday he would have a major say in the make-up of his Cabinet — in the past the Labor caucus has voted on Cabinet appointments and premiers have had more of a veto role.

But factional deals will play a part. The old Right cut a deal with Mr Carpenter and the Left before the election and will want representation in Cabinet probably through Mr Johnston or his wife Kate Doust or both.

The weakened new right faction with three Ministers — Mr Kobelke, Ms Roberts and Margaret Quirk — is expected to pay the price of falling membership after the demise of Mr D’Orazio, with only Mr Kobelke likely to retain his position, although Ms Quirk is already believed to be lobbying her caucus colleagues.

Ms Roberts, a rival of Mr Carpenter in the leadership battle to replace Geoff Gallop and a strong supporter of Mr D’Orazio, appears destined for the back bench.

If Mr Carpenter baulks at dumping some or all of the older Ministers, lesser lights like the hapless Energy Minister Fran Logan, ineffectual Environment Minister David Templeman and Ms Quirk might struggle to hold their spots.

But after only one term in the Cabinet they would not be happy to lose their spots and there are several one or two-term backbenchers who would also expect Cabinet posts ahead of the newcomers.

Ben Wyatt in Victoria Park is one, John Hyde in Perth another.

Mr Wyatt has been nominated by former ALP State secretary John Halden as a future premier and would expect to be first cab off the rank in a new Carpenter Cabinet.

ROBERT TAYLOR
INSIDE STATE

as posted on TheWest

Day one ..

the following reply was given ...

Thankyou for your enquiry. Council meetings are conducted under the provisions of the City of Gosnells Standing Orders Local Law 2003, a co...