as posted here
Police seized more than 100 cannabis plants from a southern suburbs home yesterday morning.
East metropolitan tactical investigation group officers executed a search warrant at a Storey Road home in Thornlie where they allegedly found hydroponic cannabis set ups in two bedrooms and a backyard shed.
One bedroom allegedly contained more than 50 plants.
Police also seized hydroponic equipment worth more than $20,000.
A 26-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman have been charged with drug offences.
as posted here
Friday, 14 August 2009
New cat laws to force desexing
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WA's 184,000 cat owners will have to sterilise and microchip their pets by the time they are six months old under laws expected to be drafted by year's end.
Jandakot MLA Joe Francis, who is working on the Bill for the Government, said yesterday he hoped the move would ensure that in 10 years, every cat in WA would be on a national database and the epidemic of thousands of unwanted, healthy kittens being euthanased each year would end.
Mr Francis said he would report to Premier Colin Barnett on his consultations with vets and animal welfare groups.
"I hope it will be a fairly simple, short Bill that will basically address the issue of mandatory desexing of all kittens by a certain age and the compulsory microchipping of all cats by a certain age," he said.
Mr Francis said the most effective and safest age limit in both cases would be six months.
Animal welfare groups, which have long campaigned for tougher rules on cat ownership, welcomed the moves.
Mr Francis said his research showed 14,000 healthy cats were put down in WA last year.
No official data exists on WA cat ownership but national estimates show 23 per cent of households have a cat, making the figure about 184,000 WA homes.
The Local Government Act allows WA's 139 local councils to introduce cat control regulations, but Mr Francis said only 13 had done so.
RSPCA national president Lynne Bradshaw said State cat laws were long overdue but she also wanted a "dusk to dawn" curfew for all cats.
"We're keen for this to be taken up as quickly as possible," she said. "That leaves fewer cats to be bred and fewer cats to be euthanased for no good reason."
A parliamentary committee headed by Mr Francis has asked Joondalup City Council to scrap several key elements of its proposed local cat laws, including compulsory sterilisation.
Mr Francis said Joondalup council was not legally empowered to enforce the laws it had proposed.
"It's one of the reasons why we need a Statewide Act," he said.
Cat Haven operations manager Roz Robinson said until the State laws were drafted, the committee should back Joondalup.
She said compulsory sterilisation was essential. At peak breeding season over summer, the haven had to euthanase up to 100 kittens a day.
Joondalup mayor Troy Pickard said while the city was comfortable with most of the Government committee's suggestions, it would strive to convince MPs to allow the local laws
as posted here
WA's 184,000 cat owners will have to sterilise and microchip their pets by the time they are six months old under laws expected to be drafted by year's end.
Jandakot MLA Joe Francis, who is working on the Bill for the Government, said yesterday he hoped the move would ensure that in 10 years, every cat in WA would be on a national database and the epidemic of thousands of unwanted, healthy kittens being euthanased each year would end.
Mr Francis said he would report to Premier Colin Barnett on his consultations with vets and animal welfare groups.
"I hope it will be a fairly simple, short Bill that will basically address the issue of mandatory desexing of all kittens by a certain age and the compulsory microchipping of all cats by a certain age," he said.
Mr Francis said the most effective and safest age limit in both cases would be six months.
Animal welfare groups, which have long campaigned for tougher rules on cat ownership, welcomed the moves.
Mr Francis said his research showed 14,000 healthy cats were put down in WA last year.
No official data exists on WA cat ownership but national estimates show 23 per cent of households have a cat, making the figure about 184,000 WA homes.
The Local Government Act allows WA's 139 local councils to introduce cat control regulations, but Mr Francis said only 13 had done so.
RSPCA national president Lynne Bradshaw said State cat laws were long overdue but she also wanted a "dusk to dawn" curfew for all cats.
"We're keen for this to be taken up as quickly as possible," she said. "That leaves fewer cats to be bred and fewer cats to be euthanased for no good reason."
A parliamentary committee headed by Mr Francis has asked Joondalup City Council to scrap several key elements of its proposed local cat laws, including compulsory sterilisation.
Mr Francis said Joondalup council was not legally empowered to enforce the laws it had proposed.
"It's one of the reasons why we need a Statewide Act," he said.
Cat Haven operations manager Roz Robinson said until the State laws were drafted, the committee should back Joondalup.
She said compulsory sterilisation was essential. At peak breeding season over summer, the haven had to euthanase up to 100 kittens a day.
Joondalup mayor Troy Pickard said while the city was comfortable with most of the Government committee's suggestions, it would strive to convince MPs to allow the local laws
as posted here
MPs recommend WA schools focus on grammar
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BIG changes to the way children are taught reading and writing in schools have been recommended by a WA parliamentary committee.
The committee’s recommendations also include making the Baby Bonus dependent on parents attending post-natal classes, making pre-primary compulsory and ensuring all child care workers have a TAFE qualification.
Committee chairwoman Alannah MacTiernan said the most important proposal was for children to be taught reading and writing the old-fashioned way – by focusing on grammar and phonetics.
The committee found literacy levels were inadequate in WA and many children were not prepared when starting primary school.
“We found many children were presenting at school with a large number of developmental vulnerabilities, and it seems that these numbers were getting worse,” Ms MacTiernan said.
She said many parents’ basic knowledge about how to help babies develop had been lost.
“We need to strengthen parents’ understanding of child development because they’re the best people to deal with it, so that means creating better programs for parents.
“Instead of just handing a book to new parents, it should be perhaps a more exciting DVD - a medium that more people will want to look at - that explains what’s really important.”
“One of the things we’ve suggested is that the Government consider using as leverage the baby bonus to get parents attending a few post natal classes so they engage with certain issues.
"People might think parents instinctively know this stuff but what we’re seeing is that parents often don’t," Mrs MacTiernan said.
Other recommendations included introducing more school-based playgroups for children from 0-3 years and boosting the number of child health nurses.
“I had my kids 25 years ago or so and I could go to the child health nurse as often as I liked, but they haven’t increased the number of child health nurses for decades so the service has become highly rationed and there’s not enough support for parents who need it,” Mrs MacTiernan said
as posted here
BIG changes to the way children are taught reading and writing in schools have been recommended by a WA parliamentary committee.
The committee’s recommendations also include making the Baby Bonus dependent on parents attending post-natal classes, making pre-primary compulsory and ensuring all child care workers have a TAFE qualification.
Committee chairwoman Alannah MacTiernan said the most important proposal was for children to be taught reading and writing the old-fashioned way – by focusing on grammar and phonetics.
The committee found literacy levels were inadequate in WA and many children were not prepared when starting primary school.
“We found many children were presenting at school with a large number of developmental vulnerabilities, and it seems that these numbers were getting worse,” Ms MacTiernan said.
She said many parents’ basic knowledge about how to help babies develop had been lost.
“We need to strengthen parents’ understanding of child development because they’re the best people to deal with it, so that means creating better programs for parents.
“Instead of just handing a book to new parents, it should be perhaps a more exciting DVD - a medium that more people will want to look at - that explains what’s really important.”
“One of the things we’ve suggested is that the Government consider using as leverage the baby bonus to get parents attending a few post natal classes so they engage with certain issues.
"People might think parents instinctively know this stuff but what we’re seeing is that parents often don’t," Mrs MacTiernan said.
Other recommendations included introducing more school-based playgroups for children from 0-3 years and boosting the number of child health nurses.
“I had my kids 25 years ago or so and I could go to the child health nurse as often as I liked, but they haven’t increased the number of child health nurses for decades so the service has become highly rationed and there’s not enough support for parents who need it,” Mrs MacTiernan said
as posted here
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