Postage Paid MOUNT MAGNET

WA AUST 6638

90 Hepburn Street (PO Box 62) Phone: (08) 9963 3000 Fax: (08) 9963 4133

Business Hours:

9.00AM to 4.00PM Monday to Friday

Email: shire@mtmagnet.wa.gov.au Website: www.mtmagnet.wa.gov.au

Councillors

Jorgen Jensen: 0427634223 Jason Homewood: 0427351952 Eliz Morris: 0429634250 Mary Ford: 0409231148 Karen Williams: 0400711615 Carole Minney: 0447074220 Joe O’Brien: 0429906899

■ Message from the new CEO

Mr Adam Majid

■ Clean Up Australia Day 2017

and Kerbside Pick-ups

■ Western Australia Natural

Disaster Relief and Recovery

Arrangements (WANDRRA)

■ St John Ambulance Upcoming

First Aid Courses

■ Skippers Aviation Timetable

■ Significant Progress Made By

Local Group To Kill Cactus

■ & More!

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MESSAGE FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Hello residents and readers alike. My name is Adam Majid and I have been fortunate enough to be able to join the Shire as the Chief Executive Officer. Since 2011 until now, I have been work-ing in local government in the Pilbara region and prior to that in the Wheatbelt. My passion has been, and continues to be, rural and remote Western Australia as it offers a fantastic lifestyle while at the same time being able to roll up the sleeves and work hand in hand with the local community. Having only just completed one week of work at the time of writing this, I have already met a number of the fabulous Magnet locals and look forward to con-tinuing to meet more and more people as time goes by. Having spoken to Council to understand their ideas for Magnet, I am keen to meet with service providers to understand the various programs and services being offered throughout town and to work with those providers to not rein-vent the wheel, but to better coordinate and publicise the already good work provided by our community based providers. That being said, it is also imperative that we continue to think about new ways and programs to ensure our community is engaged in activities that are useful and relevant. Accordingly, I am and will remain open to ideas and I encourage community members with such thoughts, to send them in. There is a lot of work ahead as both Council and community, but I look forward to working with the elected members and all community members for the bet-terment of Mount Magnet. Adam Majid Chief Executive Officer

WESTERN AUSTRALIA NATURAL DISASTER RELIEF AND RECOVERY ARRANGEMENTS (WANDRRA) FLOODING IN WA (JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017)

WANDRRA Information update The WANDRRA scheme offers a range of assistance measures. Each category has specific criteria and eligibility requirements. Understanding if you qualify for assistance can be hard as each individual situation is different. Support is avail-able to help flood affected communities. The WANDRRA team are available on (08) 6552 6250 or 6552 5088, or by email WANDRRA@oem.wa.gov.au to help you decide if qualify for any assistance. Please visit https://www.oem.wa.gov.au/funding/wandrra for full details.

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SKIPPERS NEW PERTH - MOUNT MAGNET TIMETABLE

(P) 1300 729 924 (W) http://www.skippers.com.au

SUNDAY - No Flights Scheduled

MONDAY

Flight no. Depart Time Arrive Time

JW3033 Mt Magnet 8:20am Perth 9:20am JW3034 Perth 3:00pm Mt Magnet 4:10pm

TUESDAY - No Flights Scheduled

WEDNESDAY

Flight no. Depart Time Arrive Time

JW1935

Perth 7:35am Mt Magnet 8:55am

Mt Magnet 9:25am Meekatharra 10:00am Meekatharra 10:30am Wiluna 11:00am

Wiluna 11:30am Perth 13:15pm

THURSDAY - No Flights Scheduled

FRIDAY

Flight no. Depart Time Arrive Time

JW3033 Mt Magnet 8.40am Perth 9.50am JW3034 Perth 3.00pm Mt Magnet 4.10pm

SATURDAY - No Flights Scheduled

All dogs and all cats residing in the Shire of Mount Magnet must be registered. All dogs and cats over 3 months old need to be registered. Shire of Mount Magnet Schedule of Fees & Charges are as follows:

Unsterilised Fee/Charge GST 16-17 RATE

-1 year 50.00 - 50.00

-3 years 120.00 - 120.00

-Lifetime 250.00 - 250.00

Sterilised Fee/Charge GST 16-17 RATE

-1 year 20.00 - 20.00

-3 years 42.50 - 42.50

-Lifetime 100.00 - 100.00

Concessions Pensioner - 50% of above fees. Working dog - 25% of above fees. Registration after May 31 in every year - 50% of registration year.

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Firebreaks within the Shire of Mount Magnet must be maintained for the period 1 October 2016 to 30 April 2017: Restrictive Burning Period 1 Oct 2016 to 14 Dec 2016 (Permit required).

Prohibited Burning Period 15 Dec 2016 to 31 Mar 2017 (No open fires).

Restrictive Burning Period 1 Apr 2017 to 30 Apr 2017 (Permit required).

Unrestricted Period 01 May 2017 to 30 Sep 2017 (No permit Required).

“Featuring an exten-sive range of photo-graphs, the stories examine the heritage of local Indigenous, pastoral and pros-pecting communities which developed the township of Mount Magnet.” Available at the Shire Office or at the Visitor Centre.

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MOUNT MAGNET

POLICE BEAT MtMagnetPolStnSMAIL@police.wa.gov.au

Dear Residents I have recently arrived, 14 March 2017 and wish to introduce myself to the Mount Magnet Community as the new Officer in Charge. I have arrived here excited and motivated with many new challenges ahead af-ter coming from a suburban police station working as a Local Policing Team (LPT) Supervisor. I am a police officer with over 26 years uniform experience, having worked at numerous country and city locations including Kambalda, Busselton, Broome, Armadale, Midland and Forrestfield. This background and experience has given me a good understanding of what local issues police face here, every location is different and I am under no illu-sions about the challenges that I face working in Mount Magnet. I am here for two years and will endeavour to do the best that I can to meet the challenges ahead. I have been pleasantly surprised by the modern expansive police station which currently caters for 5 police officers and a public servant. The staff are an ex-perienced enthusiastic, motivated, group of officers, a multicultural group with a variety of policing backgrounds, being Dutch, Scottish, English etc. I believe we are fortunate that we have this experience to meet the policing needs of the Mt Magnet community. After 5 working days I have many ideas about what we can achieve during my time here, I am still busy meeting new towns people and learning this new environment before I will to commit publicly to what is achievable and possible posi-tive outcomes for our community. My first impressions confirm and also indicate there exist many obvious and also stereotypical complex problems within Mt Magnet. I consider policing issues involving, youth boredom, domes-tic violence, alcohol abuse and off road motor-bikes as obvious priorities. I look forward to working with you, the Mt Mag-net community for the next two years, regards Mike DEARNLEY. Sergeant - Officer in Charge. Mount Magnet Police Station.

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SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS MADE BY LOCAL GROUP TO KILL CACTUS

A grower group based within the Cue and Mount Magnet shires, the Range-lands Fibre and Produce Association (RF&P), has been working to control a severe infestation of cactus at Wydgee Station. The State National Resource Manage-ment Program (SNRM) has provided funding totalling $100,000 under the Community Action Grants Scheme to the group over the last three years. This is an initiative that supports community-based groups to work to protect and restore the local environ-ment. The cactus, Opuntia elatior escaped from the homestead garden many years ago and had spread an esti-mated five kilometres along a creek which crosses the Great Northern Highway. This is a high priority weed capable of not just spreading further over time but obstructing water flow and injur-ing humans, stock and native animals. Some of the plants were massive, up to four metres tall with a radius of over seven metres. Treatment in the first year aimed to control the spread by targeting the periphery of the infestation, then later on, the branches of the larger plants to enable safer access to the core. A series of photo-monitoring sites and visual inspection now shows very posi-tive results,

with all large and visible plants treated and these are now dead and decaying. It is estimated that 99.9% of the original bio-mass has been destroyed. Further treatment is aimed at the small survivors in order to totally eradicate the weed from the creek sys-tem. For further information regarding this project, contact Eric Moses (Wydgee 99 635819) and for other RF&P initia-tives, Debbie Dowden (Secretary RF&P 99 635361). RF&P wish to acknowledge the State NRM Office staff for their financial and administrative support. Rangelands NRM and DAFWA have provided useful information on other control work and Andrew Reeves (DAFWA) has given many in-kind hours of technical expertise and site monitoring. RF&P have learned that it takes pa-tience, persistence and a long time, to successfully control and eradicate cac-tus. It does not fit in to the landscape, so all travellers - prospectors, truck driv-ers, geologists, tourists and landhold-ers in the WA rangelands are encour-aged to keep a lookout for this plant. The Meekatharra Regional Biosecu-rity Association (MRBA) is keen to hear of any infestations. Please con-tact Geoff Brooks, Executive Officer. (Mob 0499 343828)

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