Norseman man, 41, avoids jail after threatening to ‘split the head' of his five-year-old daughter open
Norseman man, 41, avoids jail after threatening to 'split the head' of his five-year-old daughter open
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ABC News
22-05-2025
- ABC News
Retiring Labor MP Kyle McGinn accuses Shire of Dundas CEO of aggressive behaviour
A retiring MP has raised concerns about "aggression" and "standover tactics" he says are being employed by some West Australian local government chief executives. In his valedictory speech on Wednesday night, outgoing Labor MLC Kyle McGinn used parliamentary privilege to level the allegations against Shire of Dundas chief executive Peter Fitchat. The shire is based in the small gold mining town of Norseman and covers a huge area in the remote south-east. Mr McGinn described Mr Fitchat, who has held his position since 2018, as "another person in a position of power who likes to be aggressive". "He literally squared up with me in the council chambers one day, swearing and going red in the face," Mr McGinn said. Mr McGinn's remarks come three years after he used parliamentary privilege to raise allegations against former Kalgoorlie-Boulder chief executive John Walker, who left the role in 2021. "My first encounter with John was him steaming towards me, yelling and screaming and swearing," Mr McGinn said in his valedictory speech. Mr Walker told the ABC he did not wish to comment. In a written response, Mr Fitchat told the ABC that he was surprised that Mr McGinn viewed their interactions "in such a colourful light". "I had understood them to be nothing more than robust and frank discussions [of] the kind often necessary when addressing serious issues raised by council resolutions and the challenges faced by remote local governments," he said. "I can assure the public that passion for regional advocacy is not aggression — it's simply a reflection of the urgency and commitment required when advocating for often overlooked communities." Mr Fitchat said he "had a good laugh" at Mr McGinn's "Temu" comparison. "I always knew I was a unique model, just perhaps with a lot more accessories and no free shipping," he said. Mr McGinn, a former union worker and MP since 2017, said in his speech that a number of regional local governments were dysfunctional. "Local government CEOs like Peter and John ought to be reminded they are not elected officials," he said. "They are there at the behest of elected council. "The way local governments should function is not how they actually function, particularly in regional WA. "In some cases unelected CEOs and directors will use standover tactics to force elected members to comply with their own personal agendas." Mr Fitchat said he was "well aware" that chief executives served "at the direction of elected members". "Our council model in Dundas has been one of unity, innovation, and transparency," he said. Mr Fitchat wished Mr McGinn well for "his next chapter".
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Tales of Viking Pregnancy Reveal The Fierce Side of Norse Mothers
Being pregnant in the Viking Age was surely no picnic, but this experience has been largely ignored, in part because there are very few records to go by. A new analysis of Viking art and literature, led by archaeologist Marianne Hem Eriksen from the University of Leicester, lays out the patchy but fascinating history of pregnancy in the Viking Age. While archaeologists have uncovered thousands of Viking burials, there are very few mother-infant, and especially few infant, burials from this period, though birth- and pregnancy-related deaths would have been high. This suggests infants and mothers were not buried together, or that perhaps infants were not given the same rites. In literature and art, the authors note, pregnant women were often left out of the story, but there are two very famous depictions in the sagas, and neither of them are particularly passive portraits. In Eirik the Red's Saga, Eirik's daughter, Freydís Eiríksdóttir, finds herself at the center of a battle with the indigenous peoples of Greenland and Canada while heavily pregnant. These warriors were equipped to defend themselves with weapons never seen by Norsemen, described in the saga as war-slings or catapults. While the Norsemen retreated, Freydís cried out "Let me but have a weapon, I think I could fight better than any of you," which nobody really paid attention to. The men continued to flee, and the heavily pregnant Freydís struggled to keep up. Surely vexed, she picked up the sword of a dead Norseman, turned on the attackers, "let down her sark [dress] and struck her breast with the naked sword." Apparently, this terrified the attackers into a swift retreat. Afterwards, the Norsemen seemed to give little fanfare to Freydís's raw courage. "While we are careful not to present simplified narratives about pregnant warrior women, we must acknowledge that at least in art and stories, ideas were circulating about pregnant women with martial equipment," Eriksen says. "Freydís's behaviour is surprising, but may find a parallel in the study's examined silver figurine, where a pregnant woman, arms embracing her protruding belly, is wearing what appears to be a helmet with a noseguard." Another story, from The Saga of the People of Laxardal, tells how the pregnant Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir is provoked by her husband's killer, Helgi Harðbeinsson. Wiping his bloodied spear on the shawl covering Guðrún's pregnant belly, Helgi says, "I think that under the corner of that shawl dwells my own death," a prophecy that is realized later in the story, when Guðrún's son avenges his father's death. "The fetus is already inscribed not only into the kinship system of the elite early Icelanders, but into complex relationships of feuds, alliances, and revenge," the authors note. These stories, of course, reflect the experiences of and attitudes towards pregnancy of women with high-ranking social status. The authors suspect attitudes would be very different depending on the pregnant person's position in a society that was extremely hierarchical and included slaves. "Together with legal legislation such as pregnancy being seen as a 'defect' in an enslaved woman to be bought, or children born to subordinate peoples being the property of their owners, it is a stark reminder that pregnancy can also leave bodies open for volatility, risk, and exploitation," says Eriksen. Politics, the authors write, do not only happen on battlefields or through state formation. They argue that exploring the often-overlooked experiences of pregnant women will help archaeologists better understand past civilizations. This research was published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal. Song And Dance May Not Be Universal Human Behaviors, Study Shows TikTok Trend Has Men Shaving Their Eyelashes – Here's Why You Shouldn't Unprecedented Survey of Aztec Obsidian Reveals Coast-to-Coast Trade Network
West Australian
09-05-2025
- West Australian
Norseman man, 41, avoids jail after threatening to ‘split the head' of his five-year-old daughter open
Norseman man, 41, avoids jail after threatening to 'split the head' of his five-year-old daughter open
