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Litter Fighting Fund Launched By Keep Australia Beautiful

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Litter Fighting Fund Launched By Keep Australia Beautiful

Despite more than 45 years of campaigning, shocking statistics have revealed that too many people are still littering, with Australians dumping almost 48 million litres of litter each year.

In response Keep Australia Beautiful today will launch a Litter Fighting Fund where all Queenslanders can donate to directly fund litter reduction programs. National Association Chief Executive Officer Peter McLean said the organisation has never called on the community like this before, but drastic action needed to be taken.

“Litter is one of the most serious environmental issues we face and we need a stronger army to battle it,” Mr McLean said. “It’s been a long time, but the message hasn’t changed †don’t litter, put your rubbish in the bin, do the right thing. We’re calling on everyone from corporate sponsors to community members, to help keep our country clean and start taking more pride in the environment.”

Derryn HinchPatriotic journalist Derryn Hinch is lending his support to help launch the Litter Fighting Fund and has urged Australians to generously support the cause. “We are lucky to live in such a beautiful country but we need to treat it with respect,” Mr Hinch said. “I‘ve just completed a 180 kilometre Jail 2 Justice walk through regional Victoria and the rubbish I saw along the roads was an absolute disgrace. There are pigs living among us who think that it’s okay to throw rubbish out of the car, or dump trailer loads of household waste in the bush.”

Mr McLean said the Litter Fighting Fund was an account which would help to keep anti-litter programs alive across Queensland. “Every dollar donated will be used to support our initiatives including community grants, litter campaigns, litter research and environmental education such as Eco-Schools,” he said. “We are a not-for-profit organisation and our funding is very limited but we have a tremendous opportunity here. Anyone can donate, mums and dads, corporates, small businesses, those that want to see a direct reduction in litter.

“The Litter Fighting Fund gives everyone the opportunity to contribute to litter prevention right across Australia. Instead of volunteering they might want to put a few dollars into a fund that will activate holistic campaigns right across the country.”

“I love Australia now as much as I ever did, and I still don’t understand why some Australians still think littering is acceptable,” Mr Hinch said. “Come on Australia, pick up your act, pick up your litter and show your support for Keep Australia Beautiful by donating to the Litter Fighting Fund now.”

To donate visit: www.litterfightingfund.org.au.

KAB logo.ashxAbout Keep Australia Beautiful: Keep Australia Beautiful is the national peak body on litter prevention. With more than four decades of experience in engaging Australians to care for their local environments, (not to be confused with the organisation Clean Up Australia Day) KAB Programs include Sustainable Cities, Tidy Towns, Clean Beaches, National Litter Index, Eco-Schools, The LITTLE Committee, Australia’s Litter Action Plan and Keep Australia Beautiful Week in August.

All information on the organisation can be accessed at kab.org.au including the National Litter Index, which is Australia’s only independent nation-wide litter research.

Submitted by:
Chris Reid
Senior Consultant
Sequel Communications

 

 

Child Restraint Installers Course Bound For Toowoomba

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Child Restraint Installers Course Bound For Toowoomba

Kidsafe’s Type 1 Car Seat Installers Course is coming to Toowoomba!  This is a 2 day, Nationally Recognised Training Course that will provide participants with the knowledge & skills required to install all types of car restraints, give advice on the correct selection & use of restraints, as well as the laws and Australian Standards surrounding children travelling in vehicles.

At Kidsafe Qld we find up to 90% of child car seats are either installed incorrectly, or are not the right restraint for the child. Children are 5 times more likely to be seriously injured in a car crash if they are not fitted properly in the correct restraint, which is installed correctly. For these reasons we want to ensure as many people as possible have the correct information and skills to do it right! Especially those who perform these duties as part of their job.

Kidsafe has  received funding which allows the opportunity to offer scholarships to front line workers around Queensland. This includes people such as police officers, child service workers, midwives, OT’s (public), multicultural organisations, foster care organisations etc.

There are up to 12 places available for the upcoming course in Toowoomba †either paid or scholarship.

Day 1 †Type 1 Fitters Course -  Monday 30th June  9.30am †5.00pm at Chamber of Commerce
Day 2 †Type 1 Fitters Course †Tuesday 1st July  9.30am †5.00pm at Wippells Car Yard
Day 3 †Wednesday 2nd July  -  Child Injury Prevention Talk    10.00am †11.00am
-  Free Child Car Seat Checking Session    11.30am †2.30pm – Venues to be advised.

Other big news for Kidsafe  is the expanding Capsule Hire Scheme!  Qld Ambulance are getting out the of the business of baby capsule hire and installations etc and Kidsafe Qld is working closely with them, and has reached an agreement for the capsule hire service. So we are setting up remote locations all over Brisbane and Qld to be up and running with 4,000 baby capsules by July 1.

Submitted by
Bek Tidyman
Child Safety Advocate
Playground Inspector, Certified Car Seat Installer & Trainer
Kidsafe Qld
Ph 0403 433 404

 

Careers Day For Years 8 and 9 Students At USQ

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Careers Day For Years 8 and 9 Students At USQ

About 230 students from high schools around the Darling Downs will find out more about life after school at the University of Southern Queensland. Toowoomba’s Year 8-9 Careers Day is to be held on Thursday, June 12.

Students will get to try out interactive sessions from various potential career paths and study areas as well as talk to current USQ students about university life and what they can expect after graduation.

The Defence Force will also be on site to discuss potential careers.

Schools attending include:
Crow’s Nest State School
Dalby State High School
Inglewood State School
Kingaroy State High School
Oakey State High School
Pittsworth State High School
Roma State College
St George State High School
St Mary’s College
Wandoan State School
Warwick State High School

The event will be running from 9am to 2pm at USQ Toowoomba, for more information visit www.usq.edu.au/careers-day.

Submitted by:
Callum JohnsonUSQ, Toowoomba

 

Ergon’s Darling Downs Crews Tops For Safety

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Darling Downs crews were dominant at Ergon Energy’s annual Field Safety Days competition in Townsville this week, taking the honours in both streams and top two positions overall.

General Manager Service Delivery Southern Paul Jordon said the results were a credit not only to the team members who attended the competition, but also their fellow crew members at their local depots who helped them qualify for the competition.

Mr Jordon said the crews competing in Townsville were the “best of the best” †chosen from the top of the rankings in Ergon Energy’s Comprehensive Safety Indicator (CSI) results.

Toowoomba team field safety day june 2014-cThe Toowoomba Communications team comprising Andrew Brown, Kyle Schmidt, Richard Kruger and Paul Harvey claimed first place in the transmission stream and overall.

The CSI results take into account safety outcomes such as injuries sustained, as well as pro-active safety measures such as on-time reporting and completion of safety visits, to measure the organisation’s safest and most professional crews.

“The Field Safety Day competition is an opportunity to reinforce our crews’ commitment to safety, while also recognising and rewarding them for their unwavering dedication to serving their local communities,” Mr Jordon said. “Regardless of the results, the greatest reward for the competing teams was that they could learn from their peers and strengthen their commitment to safety.”

ergon warwick team field safety 2014The Warwick Regional Service Delivery team of Morgan Taylor, Matt Dwan, Matt Roche and Luke Brosnan were the winners in their category and overall runners-up.

Lead judge Michael Heinemann said all teams deserved credit for being selected to represent their regions and for performing so well on the day. The crews competed in critical safety challenges designed to put their expertise to the test. Challenges included Pole Top Rescue, Switchboard Rescue, High Voltage Switching, Secondary System Isolation and CPR

“It was a very closely run race between all the teams, so well done to the boys from Toowoomba who impressed the judges in all categories and congratulations too to the team from Warwick.”

Submitted by:
Rod Rehbein
Corporate Communications Manager
Ergon Energy

Toowoomba Chamber Welcomes New CEO

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Toowoomba Chamber Welcomes New CEO
Helen Jentz with Andew Wielandt
Helen Jentz is welcomed by Chamber President, Andrew Wielandt

The Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce is pleased to welcome Helen Jentz who officially commenced in the position of CEO on 2 June 2014. Outgoing CEO, Greg Johnson will be spending the next four weeks introducing Helen around town and assisting her to settle in to the role.

“I am very excited to be taking up this role at a time of significant growth and opportunity for the Toowoomba region. Along with the dedicated Chamber Team, the Board and Members, I am committed to delivering services and support to Toowoomba businesses and engaging with them to ensure the Chamber is the ‘Voice’ of all businesses in the area,” Helen said.

Helen has over 15 years experience leading member-based associations and not-for-profit organisations. She is an experienced policy and advocacy specialist and has worked with the Australian Medical Students’ Association, Diabetes Australia and the Australian Industry Group.
Helen’s family has lived in Toowoomba for many years. She is familiar with the area and is looking forward to enjoying the wonderful Toowoomba lifestyle and all that the region has to offer.

The Chamber Board, Staff and Members acknowledge Greg’s dedicated efforts in guiding and positioning the Chamber during his two and a half year tenure and sincerely thank him for his vision and commitment. Please join us in welcoming Helen.

Mobile Service Centre Visit To Assist Drought-Hit Farmers

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Mobile Service Centre Visit To Assist Drought-Hit Farmers

Minister for Human Services, Senator the Hon Marise Payne said a Mobile Service Centre will be travelling to Allora, Inglewood and Millmerran next week, and Chinchilla, Wandoan, Condamine, Tara and Moonie the following week to offer farmers assistance with Interim Farm Household Allowance claims.

“My department’s two Mobile Service Centres ‘Kangaroo Paw’ and ‘Desert Pea’ have been travelling through drought affected areas in Northern NSW and Queensland since March,” Minister Payne said. “So far the Centres have visited over 100 drought affected communities and helped more than 2000 people.

“I encourage farmers in the Darling Downs who have been experiencing financial hardship to visit the Mobile Service Centre when in their vicinity and apply for the Interim Farm Household Allowance, which has a higher farm assets test threshold, so households with net farm assets of up to $2.55 million can apply for financial support.”

“It will be paid at a rate equivalent to Newstart Allowance – or Youth Allowance for those under 22 years old – and farmers will have access to other assistance such as a Health Care Card.”

farmers1 Minister Payne said staff on board the Mobile Service Centre have extensive experience in rural servicing and understand the needs of people living in rural and regional communities. “The original Mobile Service Centres were known as the “drought buses” and came into service in 2006 as a drought response measure,” Minister Payne said.

“The feedback we’ve received from drought affected communities has been very positive †people have even encouraged neighbours, friends and family to visit the Mobile Service Centre while we’re in their town.”

Staff can help farmers to complete and lodge their claim form on board, access Social Work services and refer people to other community support organisations for further assistance. “In some locations the centre will be joined by Rural Financial Counsellors, who can speak to farmers about other government drought assistance measures available.”

For more information on the Interim Farm Household Allowance, visit humanservices.gov.au/rural or call the Farmer Assistance Hotline on 132 316.  To see which drought-affected communities the Mobile Service Centre will be servicing next, visit humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/mobile-service-centres

 

Rise In Property Offences Occurring In Toowoomba area

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Rise In Property Offences Occurring In Toowoomba area
roger-doing-letterbox-drop-200x300
Volunteer in Policing, Roger Brown on a letter box drop

Police are wishing to alert Toowoomba residents that we are currently experiencing break and enter offences into homes and vehicles.  Most recently there has been activity in the Newtown, Harlaxton, and Kearney Spring areas.

Police are actively patrolling these hotspots and other areas of Toowoomba investigating potential suspects, and Volunteers in Policing have been hitting the streets, letterbox dropping information on property security and prevention strategies.

For information about local crime prevention initiatives please contact your local police station and ask for the Officer in Charge or the District Crime Prevention Coordinator.
Anyone with information which could assist with this matter should contact Crime Stoppers anonymously via 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au 24hrs a day.

Crime Stoppers is a registered charity and community volunteer organisation working in partnership with the Queensland Police Service.

For all non-urgent police reporting or general police inquiries contact Policelink on 131  444 or Policelink.qld.gov.au 24hrs a day.

A Major Donation For Lifeline Can Appeal

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On school parade on Tuesday the 3rd of June, Centenary Heights State High School has donated 4,000 items of non-perishable food to Lifeline Darling Downs and South West Queensland. The food will be given to local families accessing Lifeline’s  Emergency Relief assistance this winter.

The food collected was unveiled at parade and afterwards the students assisted in loading the food on to a Lifeline truck.

Centenary State High School representatives with Suzie Washington and Lifeline CEO, Derek Tuffield
Centenary State High School representatives with Suzie Washington and Lifeline CEO, Derek Tuffield (Kevin Howarth Photo)

‘The Lifeline Can Appeal’ has been in operation for 11 years organised by the Interact Club, which is under the guidance of the Rotary Club of Toowoomba South. The whole school got behind the appeal with students, teachers, administration and ancillary staff all contributing with the motto ‘If everyone gives a little it will add up to a lot’ and ‘Success comes in CANS not cannots’.

Submitted by:
Suzie Washington
Manager Marketing and Fundraising
Lifeline Darling Downs & South West Queensland Ltd
192a Stephen Street,
Toowoomba Qld 4350

 

 

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