Latest news with #MarkMcGowan
West Australian
4 days ago
- Politics
- West Australian
Shelley Payne ends term as WA Labor MLC
My time as a member of the Legislative Council came to an end on May 21. It's been an honour to serve you as a member for the Agricultural Region during the last four years. It's been a busy job, but one I've thoroughly enjoyed. It was with great pride that I was able to establish the first WA Labor electorate office in Esperance in more than 30 years when former Premier Mark McGowan officially opened my office in 2021. I'm grateful to have met so many wonderful and hardworking people across our electorate during this time, listening to your concerns, and advocating for the needs of the many communities across the region. I am thankful to the many volunteers I've met that keep our communities safe and keep all our community groups running. Without you all, our communities wouldn't be what they are. As one of the few women to have had the pleasure of representing this region, it has been an absolute privilege to advocate for women, seniors, our First Nations people and those doing it tough. Our grant funding has supported many local sports clubs including new night lights at Esperance and Ports football clubs, Beach Volleyball Club and Esperance Kart Club. I'm excited to see there is new funding on the way for artificial turf at the hockey club. Our State-run Lotterywest has been a great help with funding for infrastructure upgrades at Esperance Goldfields Surf Lifesaving Club, funding to help Esperance Civic Centre bring more shows to town, and funding to help Esperance Care Services, Esperance Crisis Accommodation, Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, Esperance Mechanical Restoration Group and many more. We've seen some wonderful new bike paths constructed across town, in partnership with the Shire of Esperance, thanks to the WA Bicycle Network Grants Program. Other local infrastructure projects that I was happy to see completed were the new Tafe building and the new jetty at Bandy Creek. I'm looking forward to the completion of the new Taylor Street jetty. It's been great to see the benefits of our Regional Economic Development grants awarded to local businesses to help with our booming tourism industry, such as Lucky Bay Brewery, Esperance Distillery and Bread Local. We've also helped local businesses such as Esperance Smash Repairs, Bedford Harbour Engineering, and Drake-Brockman Building and Construction. Our animal welfare grants have helped Lori-Ann and Colin to set up the new Esperance Wildlife Hospital, and Lynn at Roo Haven. It has been fantastic to see the implementation our nation-leading Plan for Plastics aimed at removing single-use plastics. We've also seen the implementation of our Containers for Change program which has saved more than three billion containers from landfill, with more than $12 million donated to schools, charities and community groups. I've done lots of driving across Esperance, the Great Southern and the Wheatbelt during the past four years, and had many trips to Perth for parliamentary sittings. Being on the road a lot, I am so thankful we've been able to invest more than $1 billion into regional road safety upgrades, with more than 10,000km completed already. This investment has been crucial to making our regional roads safer. We've seen the installation of four new electric vehicle chargers in town thanks to our State Government-run entity Horizon Power, and the completion of our EV Network, Australia's longest EV network. I've been delighted to see local residents experience the benefits of the introduction of the Regional Airfares Cap helping to connect those in the regions to Perth. We've also delivered a new Esperance bus service and reduced the prices of TransWA bus fares. Please use the local bus service so we can keep it operating. It is free for seniors with a seniors card. Attending medical appointments in the city is costly and it has been so good to see more Patient Assisted Travel Scheme funding, with increases to the overnight accommodation rate and per kilometre travel rebate. We've helped out seniors with the $400 Seniors' Safety and Security Rebate and we've announced our second increase to the Regional Pensioner Travel card — to $775 on July 1. I was pleased to be able to distribute an Esperance Seniors Directory to every senior in Esperance. We've delivered $2100 in electricity rebates to every household. I know this has made a big difference to help with the cost of living. We all know how expensive it is to keep up with school expenses, so I'm happy to see that we are delivering the second round of the Student Assistance Payment, giving another $150 to every kindy or pre-primary school student and $250 to primary and secondary school students. Along with the Country Week Assistance payment of $500 for Esperance students, this extra funding should really help. I look forward to the work that will soon get under way for planning of the new Esperance Senior High School. Further supporting those in need, we've delivered the rent relief program, slashed stamp duty for first-homebuyers, and expanded the school breakfast program to five days a week, in partnership with Foodbank. We've also invested significantly in support for mental health and domestic violence prevention. Our Government has achieved a lot this past term, making the biggest investment into regional WA than any other government in history. We've achieved a lot in Parliament, too, passing more than 140 pieces of legislation during the term, including making important legislative changes to modernise our abortion laws. With WA Labor elected for a third term, we are able to continue some of our great work supporting communities across WA. Particularly, I am pleased we can continue our investment into regional road safety upgrades, and continue the regional airfares cap, helping to connect regional people to the city. I wish everyone and their families all the best and look forward to seeing you around town.
Perth Now
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Star photographer to join judges in Subi Photographic Award
A renowned Australian photographer who has captured portraits of Mark McGowan and Julie Bishop is one of the judges for this year's City of Subiaco's Photographic Award. Stef King is a multi-award winning portrait and advertising photographer who has made a name for herself with evocative portraits of Australian politicians, celebrities and athletes. She's rapt to be involved for the first time especially given the addition of two new categories — people and portraits, and nature. Your local paper, whenever you want it. 'Taking portraits for me is like having a conversation with people, and since moving into Subi I've been privileged to meet and photograph many people — and create some wonderful images along the way,' Ms King said. Despite her credentials — having also worked on campaigns for Disney and Nikon — Ms King's advice to entrants was to keep their submission highly personal. 'Enter work that you love, not what you think other people will love. Go with your gut and enter work that is interesting to your own unique point of view — it's those unique ideas or angles that will catch a judge's attention,' Ms King added. More than $5000 is available for the winners of the nine categories, which include a youth award and one for children, as well as a category encouraging AI. There is also a category specifically for residents of the City of Subiaco. Subiaco mayor David McMullen said entries would remain open until June 8 and votes for the people's choice award can be made when all finalists' works are displayed at the Subiaco Library from August 4. 'The two new categories in the award this year offer even more opportunities for local creatives to get involved, so I'd highly encourage everyone to give it a go and send in your photographs,' he said. For more information, visit the City of Subiaco's website here.
West Australian
03-05-2025
- Politics
- West Australian
Federal election 2025: Ex-WA Labor premier Mark McGowan spotted handing out flyers as a volunteer
Former premier Mark McGowan has put back on his politics hat to lend a hand on the Federal election campaign trail, handing out flyers as a volunteer. The Labor Party said Mr McGowan was unavailable for press today but with The West Australian travelling around Brand — which takes in his former seat of Rockingham — the ex-State boss was spotted. He revealed that he had been to a few polling places, handing out flyers for Labor as a volunteer. The former premier's extreme popularity can only do good for the cause. Elsewhere, Charthouse Primary School in Waikiki are well-stocked with election-day goods. Bacon and egg rolls, sausage sizzles, cupcakes and more are available for voters to tuck into after marking their ballots. And it is all for a good cause, with the school's P&C fundraising for a new playground to replace an ageing swing set. The group also had a stall at the State election and do regular Bunnings sausage sizzles, Mother's Day stalls and bake sales of all varieties, making them certified pros. Meanwhile in Swan candidates braved the drizzle for a final push. Labor's Swan MP Zaneta Mascarenhas spoke at Manning Primary School and said that while she had not been able to secure a democracy sausage, she had been getting positive feedback. 'What I felt is lots of community support, people saying thank you so much for your work, random people wanting to do selfies which is very weird,' she said. 'It's felt really, really positive, which I feel really humbled.' Liberal challenger Mic Fels, who confirmed that he had gotten his hands on a snag, said he was keeping his nerves at bay, even with polls predicting a tough evening for his party. 'Coming from the industry that I come from, agriculture and manufacturing, I'm used to the pressure of a high intensity operation,' he said. 'For me, I don't really suffer nerves at a time like this. I'm just focusing on the work, tomorrow might be a different story, but today it's just all about the work.'
West Australian
27-04-2025
- Health
- West Australian
Andrew Miller: Why health is a direct indicator of whether a government has its act together
Few Rolex-wearing analysts predicted the chaos emanating from US markets in the first half of 2025. Why is that? Seeing as economic pundits seem flat-footed, I offer the Miller barometer — which asks, is a nation's healthcare improving, or in decline? This is a direct indicator of whether a government has its act together, and priorities right. Australia? Currently struggling to provide timely access; excessively managerial. The crucial balance between private and public is under threat from excessive insurer profit-taking. Aussies like governments who prioritise their health, as Premier Mark McGowan objectively demonstrated with his 91 per cent approval rating. Outside of pandemic management, paying at least lip service to universal healthcare is a necessary prerequisite for getting elected. Labor's $8.5 billion boost to bulk-billing was immediately adopted as bipartisan policy, despite — or because of — some tricky fine print that will see chunks of that remain unspent. China? Patchy services, especially in the poorer regions, but rapidly improving universality. Lack of transparency in data, but every country massages the numbers. USA? Shifting from terrifying to horrifying. Serious issues around insurance claim denials even for those covered; now in a death spiral as unqualified anti-science dolts have usurped the health administration. The lipstick that Robert F Kennedy Jr put on his conspiracy theories during confirmation is gone and the gates of infectious-disease hell are creaking open. Powerful Trump patsies are degrading everything from Ebola prevention to the independence of critical medical journals and research. The UK? Mired in befuddled post-Brexit grime, the Brits are struggling to patch their listing, leaking National Health Service. Australian hospital doctors know that every thought bubble of NHS management is soon thereafter presented Down Under as 'the next big idea.' What's coming? Currently they are dealing with an unholy mess surrounding 'physician associates' — a new breed of briefly trained, poorly regulated non-doctors who can 'diagnose and prescribe' for you — proving that there is no fateful cost-saving measure their Vogonesque bureaucrats will not trial. Why not just train more actual doctors to meet your workforce needs, rather than indulge in false economy until the inevitable inquiry into tragic outcomes? Spoiler — the Leng Review is already commissioned. For sad example, 30-year-old Emily Chesterton died from a misdiagnosed treatable condition. She reportedly never knew she saw a physician associate, rather than an actual GP, during two critical consultations. Experienced doctors are not always right, but they are right more often than anyone else in diagnostics, and artificial intelligence will not change that soon. Will international vibes sway our election this week? Well, could-a-been Prime Minister Peter Dutton's voice sounds like it is an octave higher than one might expect from a six-foot, well-heeled former copper because, like many allies, he has been given a nasty wedgie by President Donald Trump He should not feel alone in that though. He probably won't see inside the Lodge any time soon, but all of us who believe in western democratic ideals are getting a frighteningly solid wedgie right now. Incumbent PM Anthony Albanese is more Clydesdale than racehorse, but he benefits from being one step more removed than the Coalition is from Trump, the weird Palmer Trumpet, and fangirl Trumpettes. Dutton also served up a few policies that have the strong whiff of Mar-a-Lago prawns past their use-by date. Abolishing work from home, pruning the public service, deporting citizens, and installing nuclear power plants on our predictably sunny, windy and wavy continent all probably sounded good at the Coalition strategy day. Their wooden delivery though reminds me of that Simpsons infomercial for Homer's workplace — Springfield's iconic power plant. It introduces nuclear energy as 'our misunderstood friend,' while atomic cartoon character Smilin' Joe Fission frantically sweeps radioactive waste under a carpet. Homer later rallies the populace in rebellion, chanting his frightening slogan — 'Our lives are in the hands of men no smarter than you or I.' Indeed. Enjoy your sausage, and celebrate the relative health of our democracy.
The Age
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Running Mates: Unsolicited texts, and will you use AI to choose who to vote for?
Have you received an unsolicited text from a party; is AI shaping Australia's future; and if former premier Mark McGowan is so popular, why aren't we seeing him in the flesh? Running Mates is your weekly guide to the Federal election on May 3. Understand the policies and promises before you vote, and hear informed opinions from journalists on the campaign trail. Nine News, WAtoday, the Australian Financial Review and 6PR combine to bring you digestible weekly analysis.
