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Developers Propose 24-Hour Drive-Through for Willawong

A development application has been lodged for a new food and drink outlet on the corner of King Avenue and Sherbrooke Road in Willawong.

Read: How Mater Volunteers Like Kevin Kelly Make a Difference in Cancer Patients

The proposal by Verve Building Design seeks to convert an existing shop tenancy into a 70 sqm food and drink outlet. An additional standalone 131 sqm food and drink building is also planned, complete with drive-through facilities.

The drive-through is designed with capacity for 15 cars on one side and 10 cars on the other.

Plans (Photo credit: Verve Building Design)

To accommodate the new buildings and drive-through lanes, the site will be reconfigured. However, existing access to the surrounding road network will be maintained.

According to the planning report, the proposed design puts forward a modern, industry-leading vision for the quick service restaurant model. The building incorporates various contemporary design elements to create an aesthetically appealing and attractive structure and layout.

Willawong — Photo credit: Verve Building Design

“Notably, the design provides a geometric form, utilising awnings and change in materials to provide visual interest and variation,” planning documents read.

The development will also deliver an extra 17 car parking spaces, bringing the total number to 48. Landscaping will make up 4.4 percent of the site.

The site previously received approval for an additional 28 parking spaces, which would have resulted in 59 total spaces across the development and service station site. The current change seeks to add 17 general spaces (including 1 disabled space), and three short-term bays, bringing the total number of parking spaces across the site and service station to 52.

It’s believed that the development will create employment opportunities and activate an underutilised corner site.

Read: Brisbane Parks and Reserves Identified for Future Mountain Bike Trails

The new outlet in Willawong is proposed to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which aims to provide more late night food options in the area.

Published 30-October-2023

Carole Park Battery Factory Ordered to Improve Safety After Worker Loses Finger

Century Yuasa, one of Australia’s most prominent and long-standing battery manufacturers, has been instructed to undertake a comprehensive safety review following a harrowing workplace accident in Carole Park.

In November 2020, a factory worker lost a finger and suffered a thumb “degloving” incident during the night shift. The unfortunate incident occurred when the worker’s hand became ensnared in a machine. The worker was injured while cleaning the rotary divider section of a battery plate production line. Subsequently, he was rushed to the hospital, where it was necessary to amputate one of his fingers due to the severity of the injury.

This has prompted Worksafe Queensland to issue an enforcement notice, highlighting concerns over the company’s compliance with health and safety regulations.

Worksafe Queensland’s Notice

Worksafe Queensland alleged that the company failed to meet its health and safety obligations under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. As a result, Century Yuasa accepted an “enforceable undertaking” (EU) as an alternative to other enforcement measures. The EU includes several key requirements to enhance safety measures at the battery factory:

Hiring a consultant to identify the top five manual tasks with injury risks.
Implementing automation in production processes to reduce or eliminate manual handling in the battery assembly area.
Engaging a consultant to conduct an audit of the rotary extender and assembly lines.

Company Background and Expansion

Century Yuasa Batteries, Australia’s oldest battery manufacturer, has recently experienced significant growth in response to the heightened demand for batteries driven by the work-from-home trend during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company, which produces over 1.5 million batteries annually for cars, trucks, and other vehicles, expanded its operations by adding extra night shifts and hiring more than 20 new employees as part of a $21 million expansion initiative.

This expansion was made possible through substantial investments in new machinery for lead plates in batteries, increasing production by a remarkable 58 per cent.

Century Yuasa Carole Park — Photo Credit: Jess Pugh MP for Mount Ommaney/Facebook

The factory has also been a popular location for political figures, attracting the attention of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, ministers, and local MPs, who frequently visit for photo opportunities.

As Century Yuasa embarks on enhancing its safety measures, it seeks to ensure a safer working environment for its employees, preventing further accidents like the one in 2020 and maintaining its prominent position as a key player in Australia’s battery manufacturing industry.

Published 18-Oct-2023

Pallara State School Among Brisbane Schools Facing Enrollment Surge

Pallara State School is among the schools that are expected to face capacity issues in the coming years as rising enrollment puts pressure on some public primary schools in Brisbane.

Read: Students at Inala School Face Food Crisis Amid Rising Cost of Living

At Pallara State School, the student numbers are forecasted to jump to 1,600 by 2027, an increase of 472 from current levels.

The swell in enrollment is being driven by new housing developments in the area surrounding the school, located in the city’s south side.

According to Mandi Tran, president of the Pallara State School P&C, there are many young families moving into the area, so it is not surprising that the school is projected to see significant growth.

Mrs Tran stated that it is a substantial increase and the P&C is working closely with the education department to ensure all necessary provisions are in place.

At the start of this school year, Pallara students had to temporarily learn in portable classrooms due to delays in installing new permanent facilities. The situation highlighted the capacity crunch facing the school as it tries to accommodate the rapid influx of new students.

To help schools like Pallara meet growing demand, the Queensland Government has committed funding for major expansions. The Department of Education said the expansions at Pallara, along with nearby schools Griffin and Indooroopilly, will ensure sufficient capacity to handle continuing growth.

Artist’s impression of new learning centre at Pallara State School (Photo credit: pallarass.eq.edu.au)

For Pallara, the state has allocated money to construct a three-story building with 21 new learning spaces. The proposed development, expected to be completed in time for the 2025 school year, will include 20 classrooms with four devoted to preps, as well as one specialist classroom.

Earlier this year, Pallara State School announced additional temporary hire spaces will be installed before the end of 2023 to ease the transition between school years as the permanent expansion takes shape.

Read: Forest Lake Teen Charlie Eggins Breaks Rubik’s Cube World Record

For growing schools across Brisbane, striking the right balance between meeting current demand and planning for the future will be key to ensuring a quality learning environment for students.

Published 10-October-2023

Forest Lake Teen Charlie Eggins Breaks Rubik’s Cube World Record

Forest Lake’s Charlie Eggins, 14, competed at the National Speedcubing Championships in Moreton Bay last weekend. In a blistering solve, he set a new world record of 12.10 seconds in the 3×3 blindfolded event.

Charlie Eggins sets new world record by a wide margin

Charlie’s sensational time shattered the previous blindfolded world record by 680 milliseconds. According to the teenager, he did not expect to break the record going into the event.

Here’s his record-breaking solve, as posted on his YouTube channel:

Speedcubing is the art of solving Rubik’s cubes quickly. In blindfolded solving, competitors have only a few seconds to memorise the cube before donning a blindfold to complete the puzzle.

Charlie uses visualisation techniques and his synaesthesia to help him remember the positions of the cubes. He says he trains for at least an hour a day in the run-up to major tournaments.

Friends with national champion Toby Seufert

Charlie’s friend and rival Toby Seufert of Kippa-Ring Ring also excelled at the competition. The 14-year-old took home the national title in the 3×3 non-blindfolded event with an average solve time of 6.69 seconds.

Toby’s fastest individual attempt was 5.71 seconds, making him Australia’s fastest Rubik’s Cube solver. The two boys met at a competition in Townsville in 2021 and have been pushing each other to improve their skills ever since.

Charlie and Toby have turned their passion for speedcubing into budding careers. Eggins earns an income from his popular YouTube channel, Swift Cubing, where he teaches speedcubing techniques. Seufert also coaches others in speedcubing and analyses winning methods on his own channel.

Published 7 October 2023

Forest Lake Village Shopping Centre Newsagency’s Remarkable Lucky Streak

Photo Credit: Tirachard Kumtanom / Pexels

Did you know that this newsagency located in the Forest Lake Village shopping centre now has a remarkable track record of producing million-dollar winners in under two years, with one player recently pocketing $1 million?

It’s been barely two years, but Nextra Forest Lake News has already picked up a total of $34 million in Gold Lotto draw winnings for their patrons with the latest having won in September 2023. And even more astonishing is that the ticket they sold late last year resulted in a whopping $33 million windfall for their customers during the highly anticipated $100 million Powerball draw.

The Forest Lake Village Shopping Centre newsagency’s store manager, Jenny Ford, expressed her delight at the store’s recent success, emphasising their excitement at delivering yet another division one winning ticket. She said that they did not expect it to happen a second time in just under 12 months.

Now, she said that beating the $33 million win or even duplicating that would be very hard, but she hopes they would.

Their latest winner remains anonymous and now joins the growing list of winners in Brisbane’s south this year. There are now a total of six division one winning entries in the area who have collectively taken home more than $6.8 million in prize money.

The Lott announced an impressive tally of 306 division one winning entries across the nation thus far in 2023.

Nextra Forest Lake News’ latest winner held one of two winning tickets in the Monday and Wednesday Gold Lotto draw 4375 that was drawn on 27 September.

Published 5-October-2023

Trailer Manufacturer MaxiTRANS Shuts Down Carole Park, Moves Ops to Victoria

MaxiTRANS, a leading Australian trailer manufacturer, has announced it will be closing its manufacturing facility in Carole Park and consolidating all trailer production in Ballarat, Victoria.

Read: Safety First: After Violent Incident in Forest Lake, Online Sellers Urged to Exercise Caution

The company opened the 14,300 square metre Carole Park site only in 2021, but is now shuttering operations due to post-pandemic pressures, continual changes in the labour market, and rising operating costs.

MaxiTRANS, which has over 75 years of experience in the industry building high-end truck trailers, intends to expand manufacturing capabilities at its original Ballarat site.

Photo credit: MaxiTRANS Carole Park Manufacturing/Google Maps

“Ahead of the announcement, MaxiTRANS has been gearing up to support the growth and expansion of its manufacturing capability at the Ballarat site, where it will now produce the full range of Lusty EMS, Hamelex White and AZMEB products alongside Freighter and Maxi-CUBE,” said Greg L’Estrange, Executive Chairman of MaxiTRANS, in a statement.

Mr L’Estrange expressed sadness over the Carole Park closure but excitement for the company’s future as it focuses on centralising production in Ballarat.

“While we are saddened by this decision, we are certainly excited for the long-term future of the business, as we forge ahead with our plans to expand the manufacturing capability at our Ballarat site and continue serving our customers and the transport industry,” he said.

MaxiTRANS also thanked the Carole Park employees for their efforts to boost site capabilities.

“We take this opportunity to thank everyone within the Carole Park manufacturing facility for their total commitment and extensive efforts to try and boost the capability of the site, unfortunately this decision was needed so that our business remains here long into the future,” Mr L’Estrange said.

Read: Students at Inala School Face Food Crisis Amid Rising Cost of Living

The company said concentrating operations in Ballarat will ensure it will be well-positioned to continue delivering industry excellence and serving customers into the future.

Published 20-September-2023

Students at Inala School Face Food Crisis Amid Rising Cost of Living

What seems to be a growing number of students at Richlands East State School in Inala and in 173 other schools in Queensland are going to school with either empty lunch boxes or meager, days-old provisions.

This troubling phenomenon is part of a looming crisis that has emerged as a stark consequence of the ever-escalating cost of living. At Richlands East State School, teachers have taken matters into their own hands. Faced with students in need, they have been sharing their own lunches and preparing extra food at home to ensure their students have access to nourishing meals.

At Kairos Community College, located north of Brisbane, nearly all 65 students at their Deception Bay campus are relying on Eat Up for sustenance. It’s a stark reflection of the challenges many families face in these trying times.

Providing a lifeline to these students is the not-for-profit organization, Eat Up, which has been striving to keep pace with the increasing demand for its services.

Lyndon Galea, the founder of Eat Up, reveals a disconcerting trend. There has been a staggering 22% increase in the need for lunch support in schools already enrolled in their programs over the past year.

Furthermore, a daunting waiting list of 69 Queensland schools is seeking urgent funding. The demand for assistance is distributed across metropolitan and regional schools alike.

Questions have arisen about the government’s role in alleviating this crisis. Education Minister Grace Grace remains non-committal about supporting Eat Up directly. Instead, she emphasizes a $2.7 million budget allocation to expand the school breakfast program and other support services.

Critics argue that existing programs are limited in scope. Greens MP Amy MacMahon calls for a more comprehensive approach, asserting that no child should go hungry in a state with a substantial budget surplus.

Despite the challenges, Eat Up perseveres, hosting large volunteering events to prepare thousands of sandwiches. Their tireless efforts, supported by generous corporate donations and philanthropic backers, provide a glimmer of hope for students facing hunger in Inala schools.

Published 20-Sept-2023

Traffic Lights to Be Installed as Part of Safety Upgrades at Intersection in Doolandella

Photo Credit: Siobhan Dolezal from Pixabay

A long-awaited, significant safety upgrade is coming to the hazardous intersection of two bustling roads in Doolandella as traffic lights are soon to be installed at the Blunder Road and Wallaroo Way intersection.

Long-Awaited Safety Upgrade in Doolandella

Councillor Charles Strunk, who has been advocating for the safety upgrades at the intersection of Blunder Road and Wallaroo Way, Doolandella since 2015, made the announcement recently. The safety upgrades will involve the installation of new traffic lights. In his social media post last August, Cr Strunk said that the upgrade is a “safety win for commuters and bus drivers” who use the busy intersection on a daily basis.

Traffic Lights to Be Installed as Part of Safety Upgrades at Intersection in Doolandella — Photo Credit: Facebook / Charles Strunk Councillor for Forest Lake Ward

Cr Strunk had been working with stakeholders including Doolandella Neighbourhood Watch, bus drivers and officials from the Queensland Rail and Bus Transport Union (RTBU), and Doolandella locals in campaigning for the installation of traffic lights at the said intersection.

Apart from its troubling history of accidents, recent enhancements to the main roads and local development have led to a significant increase in traffic volume along Blunder Road and Wallaroo Way.

The scheduled construction is set to be carried out in the 2023/24 financial year. Cr Strunk said he will be closely monitoring the process to ensure that the Council fulfils its commitments to the local residents.

Traffic Light Implementation in Brisbane

Brisbane City Council oversees an extensive network of roads spanning more than 6,800 kilometres, including more than 50,000 intersections. To improve pedestrian, cyclist and motorist safety, traffic lights are used at intersections where there is a substantial volume of vehicular and pedestrian traffic throughout the day.

On major roads, traffic lights provide a safer environment for vulnerable users including pedestrians and cyclists and are considered as a more cost-effective measure.

BCC and the Queensland Government have a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint management of traffic signal coordination at 40 key intersections throughout the city. Within this set of 40 prioritised intersections, the Council assumes control and management responsibilities for 12 of them, whilst the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) oversees the remaining 28.

Published 5-September-2023

Watch! Mt Ommaney Fire and Emergency Crew Save Adorable Ducklings from Storm Drain in Forest Lake

Photo Credit: Kerin Gredge/Unsplash

A group of 11 ducklings found themselves in a bit of a quacky situation when they tumbled into a storm drain in Forest Lake; not for long though, thanks to the dedicated fire and emergency officers from the Mt Ommaney Fire and Rescue Station.

The incident unfolded on Friday, Sept 1 when these adorable ducklings strayed too close to the edge of a storm drain and, one by one slipped into the dark abyss.

Fortunately, their worried parents were not about to let their feathery offspring face this predicament alone. Quacking frantically, duck mum and dad attracted the attention of a nearby homeowner who quickly dialled emergency services.

Responding to the call, the Mt Ommaney Fire and Rescue crew arrived swiftly, prepared to do whatever it took to reunite the family.

Equipped with specialised tools and equipment, the rescuers carefully took the ducklings out of the drain. One by one, they scooped up the frightened ducklings and lifted them to safety.

The reunion between the ducklings and their relieved parents was captured on camera, with footage showing the ducklings eagerly waddling toward their mother, who counted each of them as they emerged from the rescue bag, ensuring no one was left behind.

Overjoyed by the successful rescue, the homeowners expressed their gratitude to the dedicated fire and emergency officers.

“She counted them as they came out of the bag. No need to look.”

“Thank you two for your service and for going above and beyond your job god bless and keep you all safe.

“In these times when there is so much bad on fb or the news it is so nice to see this. Thank you to QFES for all that you do. This is so so good to see 💞 🥰”

Published 3-Sept-2023

The Lake Parklands Comes Alive for the Forest Lake Community Festival

Photo Credit: Facebook / Forest Lake Community Festival

The Forest Lake Community Festival 2023 is coming up soon and it promises to be bigger and better than ever before, with shows, rides, food and market stalls, and other activities covering the stage, amphitheatre, The Esplanade and the playground surrounding the lake at The Lake Parklands. Best of all, entrance is FREE!

On the 26th of August, from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m., a day of fun and entertainment awaits visitors at The Lake Parklands featuring a diverse array of entertainment that include roaming performers, dance troupes, cultural showcases, and community performances by students from local schools.

The Lake Parklands Come Alive for the Forest Lake Community Festival — Photo Credit: Facebook / Forest Lake Community Festival

Those seeking a bit more excitement won’t be disappointed as there will be dragon boat rides, along with exhibits featuring reptiles and animals plus interactive touch-and-feel activities.

Meanwhile, foodies won’t be disappointed, with a selection of food trucks on hand to serve scrumptious treats. And after you have your fill, you can browse through a broad assortment of products, crafts, and other treasures just waiting to be discovered.

As the sun sets, a visual extravaganza will cap the festivities with a stunning display of lasers and fireworks that promises to light up the night sky and leave attendees in awe.

The Forest Lake Community Festival is made possible through the generous sponsorship of Heritage Community Branch Forest Lake and other local businesses.

The Forest Lake Community Festival will be held on 26 August 2023 at The Lake Parklands, Forest Lake Blvd, Forest Lake.

Published 21-August-2023