Hayley Edwards

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Back in the IPL studio, you're listening to the Jessa dress, and I'm feeling very privileged because I have two powerhouse ladies with me. Donna, we couldn't let you leave because now we have Hayley Edwards in with us. Hayley, I've been watching your social media, and I, like, I felt pride to see that you recently have a massive achievement. I'll let you share that. [00:00:20] Speaker B: Awesome. First, thank you very much for having me. [00:00:23] Speaker C: Thanks for coming. [00:00:24] Speaker B: I am so glad Donna's stayed. [00:00:25] Speaker C: So this is going to be lots of fun. I'm so glad you don't mind me staying. It's great. [00:00:30] Speaker B: Now, this is going to be so much fun. So thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Yeah. So recently, well, basically my husband and I joined Marine Rescue almost two years ago now. We wanted to find an organization where we could both volunteer together and contribute back to the community. And I'm not a boatie by any means, so I'm brand new to this whole, you know, experience. [00:00:53] Speaker A: We are surrounded by water here, so it makes sense. [00:00:56] Speaker B: Yeah, it makes sense. Absolutely makes sense. But Michael grew up on a boat and things like that, so it's his. It's second nature to him. So we started Marine Rescue nearly two years ago, and basically, to get qualified, you have to go through a series of training, obviously safety, towing and rafting, have all your first aid certificates, radio operations, navigations. [00:01:17] Speaker A: Yep. [00:01:17] Speaker B: And all that kind of stuff. So, yeah. And we recently both became qualified together, which was great achievement. And now we're qualified crew members and we'll probably stay on this path for a little while, and then you can obviously do other courses for to advance yourself up to become an advanced crew and then skipper and things like that. [00:01:34] Speaker A: So two years is two years, basically how long it takes you to get to boat crew, or that's how long it took you to get there. [00:01:41] Speaker B: That's how long it pretty much took me to get there. I had a bit of a knee injury in between that, which extended the period of time a little bit longer. Some people have come from the Navy that join Navy that joined Marine Rescue, and they already have all of that knowledge and they just have to go through the DFEST program to become qualified. So they could probably do it a lot quicker. But someone like me who has no experience in that space, that that's how long it took me. So. But it just goes to show that anyone can do it. [00:02:05] Speaker A: It's incredibly inspiring story because you've challenged yourself. You said I had no experience on the water, but my Husband had an interest in it, so I wanted to follow him in that interest in that path. And it took you two years to get there. Obviously there was challenges along the way. [00:02:22] Speaker B: Absolutely. More. The more challenges I faced was the language. So, you know, when you have port, starboard, I'm like, left, right, back, front. Donna, you're. You know what I'm talking about. So that. That sort of all the language was challenging. [00:02:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:40] Speaker B: Something new. So I had to, like, go back to basics and sort of learn all. [00:02:43] Speaker A: Do you direct your kids that way now? [00:02:45] Speaker B: No, my kids know, but I learned a trick. So how when you're on the vessel and they say port, a way to remember what side is port. Is no port left. So port is left. [00:02:57] Speaker A: Okay. [00:02:58] Speaker B: And then starboard's right. And then. Yeah, that's sort of how I remember. [00:03:01] Speaker A: And port is a. Also a color. Hey, Red. [00:03:04] Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes. So there you go. [00:03:06] Speaker C: And it's also four letters. That's how I remembered it. L, C. Yep. Port, P, R, T. Yeah. [00:03:13] Speaker A: So that's why you actually get a red. And is the other color green on the other side of a boat is to remind you which one's port and which one's starboard. [00:03:22] Speaker B: Correct. [00:03:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:24] Speaker A: Look at me go. [00:03:24] Speaker B: I know. You should join. They're recruiting, like they're looking for recruits. And a girlfriend in mine in Mandurah has actually inquired about joining Marine Rescue Rockingham after seeing me and my husband do it. So I think it's really good for people to get involved. [00:03:39] Speaker A: Is it a male dominated industry? Because this is something that inspired me is that I've seen a few photos and there does seem like there's a lot of men there. So it would have been challenging for you to stand up because you have to be a leader and you have to be confident in that role. Role. And I know that you're a confident person anyway, but to be learning new things and to stand up with, you know, potentially guys who know their stuff and have a history on the water would have been so challenging. [00:04:06] Speaker B: Yeah, initially I was a little bit nervous, but I felt so welcomed. I felt very, very supported. All of the executive at Marine Rescue Rockingham are super, super supportive. We have two females on the executive as well at Marine Rescue Rockingham. So they're understanding that, you know, wanting to get more people involved and, you know, people that are husband and wife's team other than me, there's husband and wife teams on other crews as well. So it's really good family, sort of. [00:04:33] Speaker A: And when you've got an industry or you know, an organization that want to see women succeed and be a part of the organization. That's exactly what you want. [00:04:40] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, I personally experience. I didn't feel like I had any barriers in front of me, but I don't normally do anyway. That's sort of my personality. [00:04:50] Speaker A: And that's what's so inspiring about it really is what's so inspiring about you. Two years it took you to achieve this goal. So it wasn't something where, oh, six months and I'm in. It took you two years. So, you know, you would have been dedicated to make sure that you learn. And I wanted to say, to see you and your husband, I did wonder, are you guys competitive? [00:05:11] Speaker B: We are very, very, very competitive. It's healthy competition, which. Which I love healthy competition. So we're competitive in sp, sport, in life. [00:05:20] Speaker A: I share this with you, me and my husband. Well, he's not my husband, but partner of 26 years. Hurry up, marry me. No, just joking. We are incredibly competitive as well. Anything he can do, I want to do as well. Like, if you can do it, I can do it. [00:05:35] Speaker B: Yeah, we're very much like that. But he could have really had up one up on me here. So I had a knee injury in the period before I got qualified, and I had probably nearly three or four months off, off the boat because I couldn't get a medical clearance to come back on because I wasn't fit to work. And Michael could have got qualified in that time, but he decided to wait until I was fit to come back. And then we ended up qualifying together and finishing the last courses together. So he did the righty there. So he won some Brownie points in that. [00:06:02] Speaker A: Well, that's obviously why you love him. That's obviously why you love him. [00:06:05] Speaker B: I probably wouldn't have done the same back. [00:06:09] Speaker C: Me neither. [00:06:11] Speaker A: Me neither. But good on you, Hayley. I love your honesty as well. There'll be a million women out there [00:06:20] Speaker C: going like, [00:06:26] Speaker A: I love the fact that he did that for you. He told me that they are going on a recruiting drive at the moment. Can you tell us a little bit? Because there's probably a lot of women out there that are, you know, out there fishing every weekend. We've got like a strong Mangles Bay fishing club here. [00:06:39] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:06:39] Speaker A: We see a lot of women out on the water at the moment who never thought, hey, this is actually an opportunity for me to give back to my community and be part of, you know, I believe strongly in the act, belong, commit, message. Information like this may get someone to act on that and go, I'm part of a new community and that's really important for people's mental health. [00:07:00] Speaker B: Absolutely. And when you, when you do volunteer in an organization and it is a really good organization, something like marine rescue, what you get out of it is so much more valuable than what you actually give, if that makes sense. So me, my husband get so much out of it. So every second weekend we volunteer for from midnight Friday to midnight Saturday night. So it's a 24 hour call period and we go out. If we don't get called out on the Friday night, we'll rock up to shift at 8 o' clock and we'll go and do some training and then probably go home about two or three and then we're on call to midnight that night. And people can volunteer as much or as little time as they can. So we have some crew members that volunteer once a month. We have volunteers that volunteer every week or once a week or twice a week. So I think it's really important that you need to find something that can fit in with your life and your family commitments as well. Because volunteering is about giving back and it shouldn't be stressful or cumbersome on your life and be stressful. [00:07:58] Speaker A: Definitely not. [00:07:58] Speaker B: There are moments where it is stressful, but that's why you get into an emergency services organisation because sort of a bit of a calling, I think. [00:08:05] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's that training that you provided to make sure you're not stressed in those specific situations where you are needed to act upon. And I would imagine marine rescue, there would be a lot of times where you have to kind of feed on that. I have to act now, you know, I can't feed into the fact that I'm nervous or anything like that. I have to use the skill set that they've provided and act, which can be incredibly rewarding in itself. [00:08:28] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm from an emergency services background anyway, so before I moved to wa I was a paramedic. So that's sort of in my blood anyway and I was sort of looking to something, for something to sort of challenge me in that way as well. Because I really miss that hands on sort of job. You know, my job quite now is quite administrative and I. I really miss, you know, getting stuck in and getting sort of my hands dirty and doing [00:08:54] Speaker A: something physically being put under pressure. [00:08:55] Speaker B: I love pressure. I perform best under pressure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's. [00:08:59] Speaker A: There are a lot of people that do and they don't realize it but they do yes. Perform best under pressure and sometimes those roles are best suited to them. I did a little bit of research on you before. Did you know you got a Wikipedia page? [00:09:14] Speaker B: Funnily enough, my daughter told me that I did the other night and I'm like, I don't want to see it, thank you. [00:09:19] Speaker A: Which I knew that you were a medic and that's how you got into the defence, was that correct? [00:09:25] Speaker B: Yes. So after school I joined the Air Force and I became a medic in the Air Force and then I left the Air Force and became a paramedic with Ambulance Victoria before moving here. [00:09:34] Speaker A: So, yeah, I found out that all information, but you also have a strong link to mental health, which I didn't know. So there was an organization that started. Started here not that long ago. Can you tell me a little bit about that? [00:09:45] Speaker B: Yeah. So I suppose growing up in a small sort of country town that isn't so country town anymore. I grew up in a place called Sunbury Victoria. We experienced a lot of youth suicide in our town. When I joined the military, I had one of my best friends take her own life. I lived with her on base at Rathbase Williams and she took her own life. [00:10:07] Speaker A: So. [00:10:07] Speaker B: So from sort of a very young age, I was quite young then. It really sort of hit home how important talking about mental health is. Mental health is, and I've always been involved in sort of mental health organisation. [00:10:21] Speaker A: Being a medic, you'd be very aware of that as well. [00:10:24] Speaker B: Yeah, well, a lot of our call outs when I was operational were to mental health crisis. So it's prevalent in our society. I mean, look at the tragic things that have unfolded in Sydney recently and I just can't fathom or understand the. [00:10:42] Speaker A: How this has even occurred, the gravity. [00:10:44] Speaker B: I don't even have any words. It's just so tragic and devastating and inhumane to even think about what has happened. But all of these things, I suppose, that are, you know, if they are from a mental health, you know, perspective, there are so many people out there struggling and that necessarily isn't the facilities or the services to support people. So, you know, an active, healthy community brings our most vulnerable people up and I think that's really important and trying to share that message, especially in a. I suppose in a role where, when I was in local government, talking about those sort of things, people don't expect people in a position like me to talk about mental health or mental health struggles, but everyone does struggle in some [00:11:31] Speaker A: way, shape or I think when it's causing a lot of Stress on our healthcare industry and things like that. You're probably getting fired. A lot more questions in regards to that. So you did bring up the fact that you recently, I think it was 2:23, which was only like a couple of years ago, stood for the state by election and being an independent would have been incredibly challenging. But as you said, you're up for a challenge. You were in like the support you received was phenomenal. Like 16 of the vote. Am I wrong? Yeah, 16 of the rate as an independent is such like so good. So you must have taken away. Although you didn't win the seat, you must have taken that away. A drive to maybe appear again next election. [00:12:18] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I'm from, from the by election. I learned so much about the community, I learnt so much about sort of the psyche of the community and what our families in Rockingham are facing and the challenges that they are facing. So I learnt so much and gathered so much information. There is an election in March 2025, which I'm strongly considering contesting because I think Rockingham really, really needs some leadership. [00:12:47] Speaker A: So we are a safe seat here. We have been a safe seat for so long and that means that there's not a lot of change that ever happens in Rockingham being a safe seat. They don't see that they have to funnel money into Rockingham because they believe that we will remain labor forever. Do you feel that? [00:13:04] Speaker C: Obviously not. [00:13:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Look, I don't, I don't. I don't agree with that sentiment, obviously, but I think complacency is very. I think it can be quite. I don't want to use the word [00:13:17] Speaker A: dangerous because it's quite detrimental. [00:13:18] Speaker B: Detrimental is a perfect word. Complacency in the way you vote. I think regardless of what colour you are and your political beliefs, any community that becomes a marginal seat or a swinging seat ends up benefiting the entire community because you get funding from the major parties because they want to win that seat back. So it's more a strategic vote that I think Rockingham really needs to think about trying to make basically Rockingham future ready because the way we're heading, we have the most increased levels of homelessness we have ever experienced. Our by names list has increased by 100 in one year and there are only people that are on the radar. So there's a lot of people, a lot of families at the moment sleeping in their cars that don't want to be officially listed, if that makes sense. Because them being involved in that, that can trigger other things like DCP and That being involved because, you know, they're worried about the kids sleeping in their cars. So there is a new class of like working poor people that can't afford rent. There are no. There is no housing. And we do have families sleeping in our car. And none of that is okay. Every Australian deserves. [00:14:27] Speaker A: Not by choice. [00:14:28] Speaker B: Yeah, they all deserve to live in dignity, with dignity. And there are a lot of people in Rockingham that are not. [00:14:34] Speaker A: So we've been talking a lot about leadership, Donna, and I know that you can add to this is about holding leaders accountable for their actions. Now, at the last election, a lot of promises were made. I actually read the article that you shared or spoke, spoke about in terms of the Mike Barnett Center. There has been some changes, but not nearly to the promises that they made in regards to that. Now, if you hadn't have made that, you know, obvious to me, I wouldn't have remembered. I would not have remembered that they made those promises. I would have only seen what changes were occurring and why they were occurring. [00:15:09] Speaker C: And see, this is why it's so important to speak out. And voices like Hayley's, I mean, Hayley's background as well. If you want to talk about your background in terms of governance and being, you know, ex deputy mayor and that kind of thing, and what drives you, because why the article is so important and why it's important to have voices in the media which differ outside and tell those stories is the accountability. So it's showing us in the general populace where things haven't actually met the criteria to what we signed off at an election. So if we signed off something in an election said, oh, we're going to vote for this person because they're going to do X, Y and Z. And then during that time it morphs and shifts into something else. And then they go, look, we achieved our goal, and you go, yay, congratulations. But it. Exactly. But it hasn't actually done what they said they were going to do. It's a secondary measure that achieves their initial purpose. And I think that was something your article was brilliant at being able to say, specifically show examples of where that had actually happened for this particular community and where Rockingham, as you say, you know, there's been promises, but they haven't been lived up to in its entirety. [00:16:23] Speaker A: So, yeah, it was an article you shared, but you actually were specific about in terms of Rockingham, where this has actually occurred, because the article was just basically it. It was by Libby. Yeah. So she was just outlining about holding leaders accountable and you were like, hey, this is actually happening in our right now. And these are the reasons why I'm sharing this article. [00:16:47] Speaker B: Yeah, and it is all about integrity and leadership. And I think that's really, with all respect, lacking in our political world at the moment and making promises that can't be fulfilled and doing that deliberately to almost like trick people into voting for something that they think is good for the community. So I think that integrity piece in politics really needs to be an important talking aspect because our community and Western Australia deserves better than that, than these flashy promises that have no intention of being fulfilled. [00:17:21] Speaker A: I totally agree. And as I said, if I hadn't have seen what you had written, I wouldn't have remembered that those promises were made to Rockingham. There may be people that do remember and they are fighting. How do those people get their voices heard? Because as you said, it's very hard to penetrate mainstream media. And like, we all have social media and things like that. But how do you get your wider message heard? You're lucky that in terms of you, you've got your articles published in the West Australian. But how does someone. Well, I'm lucky I've got the radio here where I can get my voice heard. And everybody is welcome to have a chair here and talk about their issues that they think is important. But how do you think the common person that wants to get their message across, what do they do? [00:18:08] Speaker C: What's voting? It's showing up at the poll. So if you have a candidate that you can really get behind and like, Hayley had a massive swing behind her because people said she's going to do what she said she's going to do, like having a key value, being integrity and accountability and being an exceptional leader, I think that's one of the key things people will go, I can trust what she says. I need to get behind a leader that can take us to where we need to be. And I think that's the main thing, what people can do and share that message. So if you get behind a leader who's integris, who stands for what they believe in and actually walks the talk, they don't just tell you put out some great ads and then move on to the next thing, but really do roll their sleeves up and get involved in the community and actually make that change, you know how we talked about be the change that you want to see in your community. And when you see leaders like people like Hayley that really get behind what they believe in and say, you know what, I'm gonna stand in the you may not want to be in Parliament, but I do. This is what I want to do that then get behind those people, support those people if they need assistance, get behind and share that message. Because you know that you can trust that message. You know, that's the important part is if you find a candidate, someone like Hayley that you can really get behind, then just stand behind them and support. That's the most important part in politics, [00:19:32] Speaker A: how hard it is to, to actually create change. Because I would imagine people do throw out promises, but how do you back those promises up in terms of how do you then go to your party and things like that and say, this is what I've promised, deliver that change? Because it's not necessarily just up to that person. [00:19:50] Speaker B: No. Well, I suppose there's a bit before that you actually make a promise. So all of those checks and balances and, you know, assessing what projects you are going to fund should be done prior to making that promise. So the party would and should already be on board with that. So the candidate or the person itself isn't making an individual promise on behalf of themselves. It is already a party commitment, if that makes sense. [00:20:15] Speaker A: Yes. [00:20:16] Speaker B: So all of those checks and balances should be done before that promise is even made. [00:20:19] Speaker A: Do you think there's like a disconnect in that process or is it about the person actually standing up and saying to the party, hey, you said you'd deliver this and you haven't, come on, give me that money so I can make the difference within my community. [00:20:34] Speaker B: Yeah, probably a little bit of both. But in this circumstance, there was no intention to fulfill the promise. I was privy to those conversations because I was a deputy mayor at the time. Yeah. So that was never going to be fulfilled. [00:20:48] Speaker A: Damn that. You know, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, definitely. Because you feel like you've been lied to. And for all those people that may be listening to this and may have voted a certain way, that may change the way that they're voted. [00:21:03] Speaker B: And it's about, I suppose, really when you think about Rockingham's future. So when there are elections, I suppose there are aspects of people, you know, having knee jerk reactions and promising things and doing things and saying things that they probably wouldn't normally do because they're worried they're going to lose a seat. And that all comes back to planning. Yes. Connecting with your community and really focusing on the things that matter most to the community. So right now I would imagine people are worried about putting food on the table, paying their bills, you Know, all of those things are at the crux of a lot of family, job security, job security. [00:21:39] Speaker A: Alcoa is definitely starting to decrease the amount of people that are working there. A lot of people are getting laid off there. So job security would definitely be absolutely. [00:21:49] Speaker B: Crime. Yeah, crime, you know, all of those things. So those things that people are dealing with, those struggles every single day are the things that I believe the politicians should be talking about and how creating policies that are going to address those issues. So, you know, like those cash grabs and things. Yeah, everyone loves cash, but it's not free. There is no such thing as free cash. We all going to have to pay it back if we don't pay back our kids are. We need targeted, measured approach to try and help our most marginalised and struggling families lift themselves out of that circumstance. [00:22:22] Speaker A: And Rockingham is going to experience a lot of change. You know, Point Perrins changing, Garden Island's changing. There's going to be a lot of change around here and a lot of people are interested in how that will affect us as a community. And I think freedom of information, being able to know that information is very important as well. [00:22:40] Speaker B: Absolutely. And I think when you look at where we are now, so if you picture where we are now and I suppose all of the challenges that we're facing and you look to 2046, I think it is our population is set to increase by 100,000 and that is not including the development at HMAS Sterling. That's not including orcas, that's not including any of those. This is just APS data predicting we are going to increase by 100,000 by 2046. So if we don't have those policies tightened and we use all of the levers that government has at its disposal to help our community forward, I can't imagine where we're going to be. [00:23:21] Speaker A: And you're saying planning 100,000 people more in our community means a bigger load on our healthcare system. Do we have the healthcare system to be able to provide an extra hundred and thousand people that kind of support? [00:23:34] Speaker B: Yeah, planning for the future. And I think that's where I know when I was in local government, every decision I made might not have been popular right there. But I'm always thinking 10 years from now, 20 years from now, how that's going to look. And I think that's how our politicians need to, to start making decisions for the future. Because we are in a crisis now, a housing crisis, cost of living crisis, and these things are going to be very hard to fix if Policy does not change. But if that's bad now and we don't change, imagine what that is going to look like in 10, 15, 20 years. [00:24:07] Speaker A: You talk about that and the symbiotic relationships that has to small business and all of those types of things. Everyone's going to feel it. So if you think you're immune to what's going to happen in 10 years because you're sitting in a good place, you simply not. That's not going to occur. [00:24:23] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, my husband is in the building industry and we all know, obviously, you know, in the media it's well reported about how many builders are going under and they're struggling. Shortage of supplies, Shortage of supplies, Shortage of labor. [00:24:38] Speaker A: That's not getting workers. [00:24:39] Speaker B: Yep. That's not going to get any better. And then we've got all of these houses that need to be built. [00:24:43] Speaker C: That's right. [00:24:44] Speaker B: And they're being built for a margin or a cost that is far greater than what they're actually worth. [00:24:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:50] Speaker B: So then we're going to have a negative equity situation in the future. So all of these things that need to be planned and thought out and creating those policies now to ensure that, you know, our community is not going to fall over in, in the next decade. [00:25:04] Speaker C: That's right. I think some of the statistics I saw, which is, I think the same ABS stuff that you were talking about. So there's going to be over 35,000 homes coming in to be built. So that's a huge number really when you're considering where we're at today. You know, so when you're actually saying, right, we're going to build all these houses into the future, that's such an important point what you made because it's not just now, but how are we going to pay that back into the future? And what's the pressures around the outside for the community? What does that build for employees, workers, companies that already exist in that space and what do they need to look like in the future? So having that strategic vision is so important. I mean, I don't know if you guys remember back in the 80s when they, the government, sorry you brought anyone around, but when were you born? [00:25:55] Speaker A: 80s. [00:25:56] Speaker B: What year? [00:25:57] Speaker A: 80. [00:25:58] Speaker B: Oh, I was 81. [00:25:59] Speaker A: Oh yeah, yeah. [00:26:01] Speaker C: Damn it, I feel old. Oh my Lord. But like I think one of the things was, I remember them at the time making a joke about the 40 year plan that the government had put out. And at the time they said, we're gonna make a satellite satellite cities in Joondalup, Rockingham and Out at Midland and everyone's like, oh yeah, that's ridiculous. You don't need a 40 year plan. Why do you need a 40 year plan for? Well, now we're living in that 40 year plan plus some. And I think that vision that people had at that time, that's what you're talking about, Hayley, like what's the long term stuff that we need to do? But they just started making it happen incrementally. I, I think that action, like that consistent action and having a strategic vision, that's something we're missing at the moment. It'd be really great to see that starting to come back through and see where we're going to be going, what does it need to look like? [00:26:50] Speaker A: And that clear communication to the community means that there's people there that will see opportunity for them within that vision. And that's really important for our community to be able to see opportunities for us to grow within that strategic plan or an opportunity for business to grow within that strategic strategic plan or an opportunity for a not for profit to be more involved. And yeah, I think that's where clear communication to our community will help. And a lot of those voices will help that strategic plan because they'll say what they need. And that goes back to the point that I was saying before. If you feel like that you have something to offer or you've got something to say or you've got a resolution to a problem, where should people go? Should they be going to their local np? Should they be. Where should they go to get their voices heard? [00:27:40] Speaker B: Absolutely. They should be going to the local mp. Yeah, local mp, Local government, depending on the issue. Obviously we are, I think we're the third largest local government in Western Australia now. So we are right up there with Joondalup and Midland. And the infrastructure that say Joondalup has compared to Rockingham is very, it's vast. It's like polarising almost. So those sort of issues, people, I don't think, realize what Rockingham is lacking now, let alone what it's going to look like obviously in 10, 15 years. But getting back to your point about how do people make their voices heard? It's really hard to speak up for some people. And I, I understand that people can contact me. I'm open my, my, I can make my contact details available. That's, that's no problem at all. But, but if they have specific issues right now I'd be contacting my local MP and asking for a solution. [00:28:37] Speaker A: Don't be afraid. Know that you're probably not alone in the issues that you're probably facing at the moment. And I know times are tough for a lot of people, but if you believe that you've got an issue to be raised, head to their office, hit their email address up, use the old phone, pick it up, press the numbers in and talk to people. Because that's how you create change and it's so important. [00:28:59] Speaker B: Absolutely. And just a little bit of advice, too. When you are raising some issues like that, it's sometimes. Sometimes is really good to get it in writing because then you get a response. Because sometimes I find when you talk to people and there's a lot of emotion involved, you can forget half of the conversation. [00:29:14] Speaker A: Yes. [00:29:14] Speaker B: And then forget the key message, what your. You know, what the key message was. So if you wanted to email, I think that's always a good. Because then you've got it in black and white and you can reference back to it as well. [00:29:24] Speaker A: That's very, very good advice because I [00:29:26] Speaker C: think what I heard from that as well is being respectful when you actually do send the email, like, just be factual, you know, and that's what I took away from what you just said. It's like, put it in writing so that there's something permanent, you know, and it needs to be addressed. But also, then you can order your thoughts, you know, you can order your thoughts and you can go back to it and go, oh, I think I need to just tailor that a little bit, tone it down. But then be very impactful with the words that you choose and you can send it as many times as you want. [00:29:56] Speaker A: Being an email, I'm very proud of making that, you know, sending send. [00:30:02] Speaker B: I might get Donna to check on my emails before I send them. [00:30:06] Speaker A: We all. I always say this. We all need a bit of Donna in our lives. Oh, my gosh. [00:30:11] Speaker C: I need a bit of Haley, a [00:30:12] Speaker A: bit of Jess, I think, look, to talk about any. Like, something a little bit bit more fun. You were talking about Shelford, obviously a big part of the community here. They were a sponsor of the Catalpa Adventure Festival. Now, did you come down? I'm not sure that I saw you. I think I saw a photo of you actually there. I was there working the two days over Easter. [00:30:33] Speaker B: You're amazing. [00:30:34] Speaker C: Yeah, it is. [00:30:35] Speaker A: It was such a fun festival to have here. And I love the fact that we're kind of honoring history in such a fun way, but also educating our community. And this actually happened and this is what occurred. This festival is here to stay, and it's only going to get bigger and more things are bringing like coming and it's going to be like, it's going to put Rockingham a little bit on the map. Not that we're not already. We've won beaches, which is amazing. Yeah. Six Exciting. Yeah, I, as I said, my comment was I think our community matches our beaches here, so I think that's amazing. [00:31:09] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:31:10] Speaker A: But what was your feeling of the Catalpa Adventure Festival? [00:31:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought it was really good and I think it's a good. It's really important for the community to be connected to its roots and find out how it started. And that creates culture. Yes. So creating a positive culture in Rockingham and a connected community is really, really important. And I think that this festival is a bit of a catalyst for that and for people to get involved and learn more about where we come from. I wasn't born here, so me learning about all of this, this is like really. [00:31:43] Speaker C: Oh, wow. [00:31:44] Speaker A: Do you know what I love? [00:31:45] Speaker C: I know, but I love the story. It's such a great story. [00:31:48] Speaker A: I like the way it made me feel when someone would go, oh, I don't know about Catalpa. And then I would tell them the history and they go, oh, you're really smart. And I'm like, yeah, take it. Yeah. [00:31:58] Speaker C: Do you have a cut down version for people who might be listening that don't know what Catalpa is? [00:32:03] Speaker A: So Catalpa is all about the great colonial escape. So basically political prisoners were held in Fremantle. They had a huge, big plot, which you could imagine back in colonial times. We didn't have telephones, we didn't have emails, but they had to get a boat over and they had to get out of jail and then get to Rockingham to then get on an old whaler's boat and then get out to the Catalpa. So you can, if you just imagine in colonial times how hard and difficult that would have been. And the fact that these guys weren't actually bad guys, they were actually political prisoners that had good careers and things like that and people actually wanted to free them. But then the story of the fact that Australia did actually start to chase this, Catalpa fired upon them and they were cheeky little Irish people who then raised the American flag and said, if you fire on us, you're going to create a war. And Australia went, nope, no, thank you. And we came back. But yeah, that is the story of Catalpa. We do have a monument in Rockingham which is the flying geese, which a lot of People don't realize that that is in reflection to the Catalpa. And then a lot of people go, oh, didn't know that actually happened here. So we are educating the public about what happened in history here in Rockingham and Fremantle. [00:33:26] Speaker B: Yeah, it's incredible. [00:33:27] Speaker A: It is. [00:33:28] Speaker B: And the connection between Fremantle and Rockingham and obviously all along that coast is pretty significant as well. [00:33:34] Speaker A: And the Irish heritage we have here in Rockingham. I didn't realize it was so strong until I spoke to Laurie, who has been a huge instigator of this whole event and has such a vision for Rockingham in itself. So, yeah, he was. Yeah. Crazy. [00:33:51] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:33:52] Speaker B: We are very lucky to have someone like Laurie Smith in our community. [00:33:54] Speaker C: I think so too. I think he's fantastic. [00:33:56] Speaker A: I've heard that there may be an art center in his name. I don't know. I'm just putting that out there. [00:34:04] Speaker C: If you say it makes it happen. Right. [00:34:06] Speaker A: Laurie Smith, what do you think? Think? [00:34:08] Speaker B: I think that sounds. [00:34:09] Speaker A: It sounds really good, doesn't it? So maybe gonna happen in the future. I don't know. I definitely support it. You've got my vote if you're doing that. [00:34:19] Speaker C: Let's go, ladies. [00:34:20] Speaker A: It was so good to have this discussion with you guys. I. I want you to know that you're welcome to come back here anytime. There are a lot of issues that do happen in our community that I think you both, as leaders, can shed light on. And not only that, for my listeners. And I can say thanks to everyone who sent me messages on Facebook to say that they were looking forward to today's show. That only makes me feel really happy that the reason why I'm sitting in this chair is to have people like you to come on board and people actually listen to you guys and are interested in what you have to say. So thanks so much for coming in. Is there anything else you want to let the community know? [00:34:56] Speaker B: I just wanted to touch on the conversation we had before we went live about leadership in the community. [00:35:02] Speaker A: Yeah, go for it. [00:35:02] Speaker B: And. And I just wanted to thank you because I know you don't see yourself as a leader in the community, but you are absolutely a leader in the community and giving space for people like Donna and myself to come in and have a discussion about the community and how we can possibly move it forward and just talk about life in general in Rockingham and all of the good bits. Because there are a lot of good bits. [00:35:23] Speaker A: There are a lot of good bits, and that's what we want to celebrate. [00:35:26] Speaker B: That's right. [00:35:27] Speaker A: Shed light on issues, but also celebrate the amazing community we have. And it's something I'm very, very passionate about. [00:35:33] Speaker B: Yeah. And you're a great leader. So thank you. You are great. [00:35:36] Speaker A: Guys. It's a big love fest here at IPL Radio. You can be a part of it. If, as I said, if you've got an issue or anything you would like to shed light on, come in, message me on my Facebook page, come in, sit in the chair and we can discuss it. Because that's how we create positive change, isn't it? [00:35:52] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:35:52] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:35:53] Speaker A: We're going to bop away now. I'm not sure what we're going to bop away to. Taylor Swift. She's fairly popular, just a little bit.