All Episodes

July 4, 2024 14 mins

Welcome back to your local news fix. 
In this week's episode we get a breakdown of the new Queensland Fire Department and what it means for local firefighters.
You'll also hear from the former Gympie Deputy Mayor and the remarkable journey of his Melbourne Cup winning race horse.
Meet the region's first Special Constable.
And we chat to two women chasing country music stardom. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I have White Bay Bonnette.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Welcome to Iheartwhite Bay Burnett, your local news fix. I'm
Taylor Larson, joined by Bruce Atkinson. Coming up, we catch
up with the owner of a champion racehorse and why.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Former police officers are giving up retirement. First, though, there's
been an overhaul of some of our emergency services.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, that's right, Bruce. Well, many changes come with the
new financial year, and this year our frontline services are
part of the shakeup. We now have the Queensland Fire
Department that's made up of fire and rescue as well
as rural brigades. The transition away from Queensland Fire and
Emergency Services is because the sees and Marine Rescue now
fall under the police banner. An additional forty five volunteer

(00:42):
brigades are now part of the Bunderberg Area Office, and
many were worried about what that would mean for staffing
and resources. Among the critics is Member for Burnette Stephen Bennett.
His criticized staffing levels, worried it won't be enough to
keep up with the increased workload. Has so many brigades
now fall with the the local office of the one
hundred and fourteen new roles for the department statewide one

(01:06):
is to be based out of that office. I caught
up with Chief Officer of Rural Fire Service Queensland, Ben
Millington to hear more about the new system.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
As part of the change, the Rural Five Service Queensland
now has what we call an area office a district office,
which is a new level or a layer for us,
our region and our states. So whilst there has been
some concern, there's only been one additional staff member uplifted
into the area office. Our new district office, based at Maryborough,

(01:34):
has seventeen new staff and whilst the office is based there,
they'll actually be out and about in the field, visiting
towns and brigades and are supporting them with training, their
appliances and other administrative functions. So there'll be certainly a
lot more support for our brigades going forward in that regard.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
That District office covers pretty much all of the White
Bay Burnett.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
There's a whole lot of work to do and I
meant and they're our area and district offices. We also
have a region office as well as the Corporate Hub,
which will be able to assist both the Fire Rescue
Service but also the real fire service with uniform and
a whole heap of other things. So there's certainly a
lot more support that's going to be available to brigade
members going forward, and that's really important. You know, they

(02:19):
give up their time to assist and protect the community,
and the least we can do is make sure that
they have the right help and support that they deserve. Historically,
we had only area and region offices. Our poor staff
in the areas were certainly undertaking a lot of those
administrative functions and duties and that sometimes prevented them from
getting out and supporting our brigades with training. So the

(02:41):
introduction of the district offices will allow a lot of
that administrative workload to be pushed up to the district
and that will allow our area staff more so to
be out and about with our brigades and members and
providing that support. So brigades will certainly see some changes
over the coming weeks and months and a lot more support.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
And in a region prone to bushfires, what do these
changes mean for our communities, Well, hopefully not much.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
People won't see any difference in the service delivery. You know,
if they ring triple zero and they need help, you
will still get that same level of service that Queenslanders
have expected and deserved. But the Queensland Fire Department is
an exciting opportunity. As I said, that'll allow both the
fire services to concentrate simply on fire more so, but
work more collaboratively and together on training exercises, responses.

Speaker 5 (03:34):
Declaring on the inside de clan to vers lifting like
pardies really just did.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
Theyre a tuple of that's foul and declare Winning the
twenty nineteen Melbourne Cup among the streaming fans that day
was part of a Bob Leach from Gimpi. It's been
a remarkable journey for the former Deputy mayor and school
teacher since he received a small stake in the Championhi
Horse in twenty seventeen. Foul and Declaire will be nine
this year, but he's still winning on the weekend, breaking

(04:05):
the track record at Eagle Farm in Brisbane to win
the Tatsaus Cup. He won the same race in twenty nineteen,
also in record time, and Bob still can't quite believe
the ride the horse has taken him and his family on.

Speaker 6 (04:17):
It really has been a wonderful journey and I could
chain it's like the fiftieth birthday present from my wife Kareen,
that it just keeps giving. I'm still celebrating my fiftieth
birthday even on the weekend now, I was celebrating what
the president I was given. So he's given us such
great opportunities, you know that the people we've met, you know,
just connections we've made through the racing industry and not

(04:40):
just that, through just being around and traveling. It's been
a huge experience. Our family, you know, the first Melbourne Cup,
both of their boys blew down for it. We're a
group of people from Gimpi's a photo there's about twenty
people at the Melbourne Cup and honestly they wouldn't have
been down there if it wasn't for our running. So
he's provided not only me and my family, but also

(05:00):
other people from Vinky some wonderful experiences.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Val and Declaire has now won more than seven point
five million dollars prize money, but the outlook wasn't so
promising When he was passed in an auction for forty
five thousand dollars. Bob Leach was turning fifty and thought
what bet a present from his wife than to share
an unproven race horse.

Speaker 6 (05:18):
I still remember the look on her face when I
said she was demanding that I tell her what I
wanted from my fiftieth And seriously, it came down to
a text on my phone from Anthony Lensky's saying that
Uncle Paul wants to know are you in? He got
ball that bread the horse and he was passed in
at auction, and Anthony had an option of a percentage
of the horse, but he couldn't do it all on

(05:39):
his own, so he felt that he invited a few
close friends. I got a text and I looked at
my wife. I said, I think I know what I
want from the fiftieth now, and she went, yes, what
would that be? And I said a share in a
race horse. She kreen looked at me and went, what
are you kidding? They just cost money. It was like, oh, yeah,
but you know it's one thing. Yeah, I'm turning fifty.
I just do it, you know. And look at the story.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
It's hard to imagine, and what a story it is
about opportunities taken and lost.

Speaker 6 (06:05):
Oh look, I guarantee there's a few people around that
the underbitter might have been kicking himself. And there's always
a story, and there was a couple of mates of
Anthonys that he offered them initial shares as well, and
they sort of turned it down. And I don't think
they're upset about the opportunity, but they turned down it,
and Anthony chose to keep those two shares, one for

(06:25):
his eldest son was graduating, so he got a share,
and the youngest son graduated a high school in Brisbane,
so he got a share. So you know, that was
up to them to pay the ongoing cost, but he
sort of donated those shares as a gift. Yeah, there's
always a great story and a bit of disappointment somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Of those vow and declare raced at last year's Melbourne Cup,
but won't be running in the race that stops the
Nation later in the year. He's considered too old for
such a long race. That will aim for shorter events
during the spring Carnival.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Stay with us after the break. The muso's calling GIMPI
home in hopes of catching their big breaks.

Speaker 6 (07:05):
I heard white.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
I heard Whitet.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
You're listening to Iheartwhite Burnette. I'm Bruce Atkinson, joined by
Taylor Larson for.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Many retirement couldn't come soon enough with few people considering
getting back into the workforce. But that's exactly what's happening.
In a first of its kind policing initiative, the Bunderberg
Patrol Group has welcomed its first Special Constable, Grant Watkins.
It's mandatory in the Queensland Police Service to be piped
out and retire at sixty. When it was Constable Watkins

(07:38):
turn two years ago, he wasn't quite ready to give
up the job. He applied to become a Special Constable
and was sworn in this week.

Speaker 7 (07:46):
I think it's a great idea by the GPS. I
know the numbers are a bit short everywhere in Queensland
police officers. Allowing older officers to come back again and
do the job that most of them are able to do,
so that's really good.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
It's a first for the broader One Bay Burnette region.
The aim is to boost the frontline with existing knowledge
and experience. Chief Inspector Grant Marcus says it's somewhat similar
to the role of a relief teacher.

Speaker 8 (08:10):
These are officers who can come in on a casual
basis if we've got someone who's gone sick or we've
got training that needs to be undertaken and we're you know,
we're a bit short stuff. We can get that person
in to fill that void for us. So it's a
really good opportunity to use that officer. If we're running
special operations and we want to increase the number of
stuff that we need for those operations, we can call
the Special Constable into supplement what we've already got. So

(08:34):
the task that they need to take on our frontline
general duties tasks, so they're not to be sitting in
an office doing office work or anything like that. We
require more officers out on the road, and this is
exactly what this officer will do. It doesn't necessarily mean
that they'll need to work here at Underberg. We could
use them at for instance, we could use them at Baghara,
or we could use them at Childers or something like that.

(08:55):
If they need the rose, we could go further afield
as well.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Just a couple of hours after being sworn back into
the force, Constable Watkins was already out in the community.
While it's a familiar role, it's a new beat after
spending his fifteen year police in Korea further south.

Speaker 7 (09:11):
It was in the Gold Coast size station at Surface
Paradise for number years walking the beaten Surface Paradise and
the entertainment precinct. I then went out to a smaller
station at Rabin, a police station and then transferred to
the Gold Coast Rapid Action Patrol group that was evolved
after the Biky wars on the Gold Coast evolved to
dealing with all the crime and being proactive.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
The program is voluntary, which may explain why it's taken
a couple of years for someone to be based locally.
Officers need to be mentally and physically still fit for
services well. Constable Watkins is ecstatic to be back at
the job he loved and says he will easily love again.

Speaker 7 (09:49):
Serving the community. The comerandship between officers, as I say,
it's a blue family and that's a really good important
part of the job, have each other's backs and the
backs of the community.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
And racial constables could be on the way. These interest
in the Mirraborough area.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Last week you heard about the songwriting workshop in Gimpi
for aspiring country music singers. To find out a bit more,
I met up with Imagen Hall from Musclebrook and Ruby
Jane from Geelong. Ruby came to the Gippie Master two
years ago and hasn't been home since. She says the
workshop has been amazing and her bid to be a
country singer songwriter.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
Writing like upbeat songs written the sadest songs I've ever written.

Speaker 9 (10:28):
There.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
It's just a really cool place to learn how other
people's brains work with songwriting and make connections there too.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
What subjects do you write on and what style of
country is it?

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Oh, well, it's not specifically country that we're writing, and
you can write about whatever your heart desires. So we
break off into groups with mentors, probably like four to
five a group, and you can bring whatever ideas to
the table and collectively decide what you're going to write
about and drive the song altogether.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
Cly in the old days of country music was like,
you know, I've left the wife or my lover and
I've taken my dog in the ute and I've gone
off into the sunset. Is it evolved since then?

Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, it definitely has. But usually when I say yeah,
I see country and Western people are like, oh, yeah,
you drink whiskey and your husband's left. But no, it's
definitely a lot deeper than that. Yeah, we write about
all things. I wrote a song called Hoot and holl
Are about drinking.

Speaker 7 (11:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Image has written a beautiful song about paint brushes and
brush strokes. The sky's the limit. We've been writing about
all different things.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Imagen, you've come a long way too. Have you moved
here or you're just up and back and then come
back for the master.

Speaker 9 (11:43):
No, So i flew from Brisbane a week ago on Saturday,
and I'm coming back on Saturday again. So I've been
up here for a week and I've loved the warmth completely.
I don't want to go back to freezing cold windscreens
are frosted and ice everywhere. And yeah, so I fill
up for the song last Tere. It was my very
first one, and I was extremely nervous. I didn't know
what to really expect, and I was welcomed in with

(12:05):
the warmest arms I've ever been in. I meet all
the mentors could see that I was so incredibly nervous,
and it was just very good experience. I mean, some
people cried, laughed, you know. There was just so many
mixed emotions, especially when coming to songs. I mean, I've
had writer's block since January, and I haven't really written
a song that I was happy with. And I came
back with two songs that I was extremely happy with,

(12:28):
one called Running from the Fire and one called Brushstrokes
and Colors, which is a batter love story between artists
and a girl who fell in love and he's painting
their sort of like their future through the canvases and
she's just you know, laying there and watching and all
that sort of stuff. So very different to what I
usually write, But I don't think I've ever been so
happy with the song like that one. And yeah, it
was just super amazing to be able to not only

(12:50):
catch up with old friends but make so many new
ones and be able to meet all these incredible mentors
like Link and all that sort of stuff, And yeah,
just really sort of eating these people for four days.
It feels like you've known them for years. It's great
when you meet people with similar interest and.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
Have helped you with your writing. To get rid of
that block and have an experience as well, that's pretty amazing. Yeah.

Speaker 9 (13:12):
Yeah, definitely got rid of my writer's block, which was
something that I just went in there. We did like
a whole little big group over meeting about why we
were there, and I just went, look, I have writer's block.
I just want to get out of it. Like it's
just like constantly walking into a brick wall, Like you
can just keep on walking and walking into it, but
I learned that there's ways to go around that brick wall,
and just sitting there, I feel like being given a
timeframe to write a song, like some days we're given

(13:35):
two and a half hours, some days we're given an hour,
some days we're only given about thirty minutes and stuff
like that. It was definitely something to sort of go,
oh my gosh, I have to write this song super fast,
and even if you're not happy with it, you can
always go back or call these people that you've just
met and go back and fix it up to be
what you all want it.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
To be, and you get to perform. I believe that
the muster must be pretty excited about that.

Speaker 9 (13:57):
Yeah, I am so. I went to the Musta last
year for the first time, was very more chilled back, relaxed.
I was going there just to watch and have fun
and just experience my first muster because I did that
with the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and that's when I realized, man,
music's kind of cool, like I want to be a musician.
And then yeah, so this year I get to hop
up with all my friends that I met at the
song Master sing a song or two. I'm not too

(14:17):
sure yet, but yeah, I'm really excited to get the
artistry span this year.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
It's gonna be cool.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
That's it for this week. If you want to hear
this episode again or search for previous ones, look up
iHeart Wired Baby Bernette on the iHeartRadio app or wherever
you get your podcasts.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
We're back again next week with more local, trusted, and
free news I have at
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

1. Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

1. Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.

2. The Joe Rogan Experience

2. The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

3. Dateline NBC

3. Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2024 iHeartMedia, Inc.