Latest news with #WAtoday
The Age
a day ago
- General
- The Age
From battle to Bunnings: How an ex-SAS soldier and City Beach dad builds resilience
In this series, WAtoday reaches out to the Perth community to discover three things people love most about our coastal capital. Today we feature City Beach's Tim Curtis, MBA, former Special Forces officer, crisis management executive, co-author of 2021's The Resilience Shield, co-host of The Unforgiving60 podcast, and father of three. He has led businesses and cross-cultural teams in some of the world's most challenging and austere environments. His new book, Building Resilient Kids, published July 1 by Macmillan, focuses on helping children become happy, healthy and confident adults. I love Innaloo Bunnings. I'm ex-SAS, and I call Bunnings a family mission. You have never been tested as until you've taken three kids to Bunnings, it's the SAS survival course meets a close-quarters battle. Have you heard of the four Ds of time management? Well this is another four Ds: the Danger of the paint aisle, the Distraction of the sausage sizzle and the Delusion – of thinking you'd get out in five minutes, or you just needed one thing. Cue the kids loading up the trolley with a pile of things you don't need. And the fourth D, of course, is the family dog. The Innaloo Bunnings is mainly good for its proximity to me, but it's also got a really good plant section; I'm geeking out about all things gardening, I'm now spending more time in the garden section than the warehouse. I love City Beach. It's where I've taught my kids to get through the turbulence of the waves, providing a bit of a metaphor for life; when it comes to building resilient kids you have to be a bit like a lifeguard, and not prevent the swimming – just the drowning. All my kids have learnt their surfing skills with the Floreat Nippers and it is resilience training disguised as fun; watching them get knocked over and back up was inspiring. We always go to City Beach on Christmas morning and meet the extended group of friends we met through the kids' schooling. Every year, it's a special few hours we spend together and embodies the philosophy that it takes a village to make a resilient kid. Those adults all have great relationships with my kids, and they can change the angle and the prism on things that their parents would have, which has a big impact, especially in the teen years. I love running the two bridges at sunrise. The one thing we know adults must do to build resilient kids is to build it in themselves – to model resilience, to be the best version of themselves. A precious time to do that is running the two bridges in the city at dawn, where effort and exhalation meets stillness. The calm river, the rising sun over the hills, the rowers on the water – it's all quite meditative, and you feel you're ahead in life whatever else happens that day. You've experienced all these moments, no matter what might hit you for six later on that day. People might say they have to exercise, but it's important to recognise that it's a privilege to exercise. And it doesn't have to be effort, effort, more effort, or a heroic distance or time. It's just being able to do small things, in such a special time and place. Loading
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
From battle to Bunnings: How an ex-SAS soldier and City Beach dad builds resilience
In this series, WAtoday reaches out to the Perth community to discover three things people love most about our coastal capital. Today we feature City Beach's Tim Curtis, MBA, former Special Forces officer, crisis management executive, co-author of 2021's The Resilience Shield, co-host of The Unforgiving60 podcast, and father of three. He has led businesses and cross-cultural teams in some of the world's most challenging and austere environments. His new book, Building Resilient Kids, published July 1 by Macmillan, focuses on helping children become happy, healthy and confident adults. I love Innaloo Bunnings. I'm ex-SAS, and I call Bunnings a family mission. You have never been tested as until you've taken three kids to Bunnings, it's the SAS survival course meets a close-quarters battle. Have you heard of the four Ds of time management? Well this is another four Ds: the Danger of the paint aisle, the Distraction of the sausage sizzle and the Delusion – of thinking you'd get out in five minutes, or you just needed one thing. Cue the kids loading up the trolley with a pile of things you don't need. And the fourth D, of course, is the family dog. The Innaloo Bunnings is mainly good for its proximity to me, but it's also got a really good plant section; I'm geeking out about all things gardening, I'm now spending more time in the garden section than the warehouse. I love City Beach. It's where I've taught my kids to get through the turbulence of the waves, providing a bit of a metaphor for life; when it comes to building resilient kids you have to be a bit like a lifeguard, and not prevent the swimming – just the drowning. All my kids have learnt their surfing skills with the Floreat Nippers and it is resilience training disguised as fun; watching them get knocked over and back up was inspiring. We always go to City Beach on Christmas morning and meet the extended group of friends we met through the kids' schooling. Every year, it's a special few hours we spend together and embodies the philosophy that it takes a village to make a resilient kid. Those adults all have great relationships with my kids, and they can change the angle and the prism on things that their parents would have, which has a big impact, especially in the teen years. I love running the two bridges at sunrise. The one thing we know adults must do to build resilient kids is to build it in themselves – to model resilience, to be the best version of themselves. A precious time to do that is running the two bridges in the city at dawn, where effort and exhalation meets stillness. The calm river, the rising sun over the hills, the rowers on the water – it's all quite meditative, and you feel you're ahead in life whatever else happens that day. You've experienced all these moments, no matter what might hit you for six later on that day. People might say they have to exercise, but it's important to recognise that it's a privilege to exercise. And it doesn't have to be effort, effort, more effort, or a heroic distance or time. It's just being able to do small things, in such a special time and place. Loading
Sydney Morning Herald
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Three Things I Love: Community leader shares her top Perth experiences
In this series, WAtoday reaches out to the Perth community to discover three things people love most about our coastal capital. Today we feature Ilona McGuire, an artist and cultural leader whose drone-light performance First Lights opened the 2021 Fremantle Biennale then toured regional WA. McGuire, a Bibbulmun Noongar and Kungarakan woman and the daughter of Walter and Meg McGuire, founders of Go Cultural Tours, has work held in collections including the Janet Holmes à Court Collection and John Curtin Gallery. She leads Blak Dingo Club, a social and events club that celebrates Indigenous achievement and is running a month-long program of free film screenings and a community quiz night in the City of Melville. I love Mudurup (Cottesloe area), and every Saturday morning I get up and walk for ages on the beach and be mindful, think about the place I'm in, and about my ancestors here; like so many places in Perth, this was a significant gathering area. I love looking at the seagrass in the shallow waters, a simple thing but also rare and vulnerable. When we had some mob visiting from Queensland who have been advocating for bringing back seagrass to the Great Barrier Reef, they mentioned how special it was to see it here. I also look at the shells, and I don't often collect or take those, but I do collect sea glass. I look at Wadjemup (Rottnest Island) when it's a clear day and think about the things our people have been through here, and about how despite everything that's happened, I am still here to find this place home, and share stories, language and culture. I can share, for example, that the name of this place is Mudurup, and I'm privileged that my family holds that knowledge. I love our new river conservation project BoorYul-Bah-Bilya (Magic River). My family owns Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Corporation and this project has been in the works for some time. We've partnered with our family friends who are environmental scientists, and we envision it will also empower the community to improve the health of the river: from Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) to the Derbarl Yirrgan (Swan River) to Walyalup (Fremantle). It's about sharing knowledge about the state of the river, which parts are healthy and which need more love and care, like the city area in particular. It will empower the public to monitor and take ownership of areas. We will be running workshops, cleanups and teaching people about water testing. This river is the heart of our country, and the water in it stretches to neighbouring clans and language groups that benefit from its level of health. So too will future generations, so this is an exciting intergenerational piece of work that will grow and expand. I love Kidogo Art House, in Walyalup (Fremantle). It's a gallery, exhibition and live music venue that also hosts events and functions and dining experiences, all in this beautiful building – one of the oldest heritage buildings in Fremantle. It has had many lives, but it is now such a hub for art, storytelling and music, run by my family friend Joanna Robertson. I love it for its creative community. We have helped with its Hand in Hand Irish Aboriginal Festival which celebrates the friendship and cultural similarities, and often blood ties, between these two communities. It's always a great time, and you end up meeting and connecting with new people every time you go there. Loading
Sydney Morning Herald
28-05-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
The ‘toughest anti-nang laws in the country' only work if you enforce them
On the day then-health minister Amber-Jade Sanderson proclaimed a ban on 'nangs' last October, I walked into a convenience store and bought the illegal nitrous oxide gas canisters — no questions, no ID, no proof of purchase, no problem. Day one of the new regulations, fair enough, give them time, despite a promise to 'enforce compliance from today', having long sounded a warning the ban was coming. That was seven months ago. But this week, I walked into that same convenience store and tested their compliance as part of a 9News Perth investigation. Once again, no questions, no problems. Ten nangs for $10. Tobacconists and retailers in the Perth CBD and Northbridge are flagrantly flouting the law. And why wouldn't they, when the state government is not policing what it touted as the 'toughest laws in the country'. 9News Perth and WAtoday revealed this week that not a single fine has been issued by the Department of Health for the sale of nangs. It is difficult to believe, when any teenager — or at least anyone with a working debit card — can buy the popular and potentially deadly party gas in the ubiquitous corner stores or even online, delivered to your door in under 30 minutes, just like Uber Eats. Nangs give users a high when they inhale the gas. And they are popular; an ED doctor even told me during my investigation that he had used nangs. They can also cause seizures, heart attacks, psychosis, or irreversible neurological damage — like the case of Perth teenager Molly Day, who paid the price for the cheap thrill.
The Age
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Three Things I Love: Community leader shares her top Perth experiences
In this series, WAtoday reaches out to the Perth community to discover three things people love most about our coastal capital. Today we feature Ilona McGuire, an artist and cultural leader whose drone-light performance First Lights opened the 2021 Fremantle Biennale then toured regional WA. McGuire, a Bibbulmun Noongar and Kungarakan woman and the daughter of Walter and Meg McGuire, founders of Go Cultural Tours, has work held in collections including the Janet Holmes à Court Collection and John Curtin Gallery. She leads Blak Dingo Club, a social and events club that celebrates Indigenous achievement and is running a month-long program of free film screenings and a community quiz night in the City of Melville. I love Mudurup (Cottesloe area), and every Saturday morning I get up and walk for ages on the beach and be mindful, think about the place I'm in, and about my ancestors here; like so many places in Perth, this was a significant gathering area. I love looking at the seagrass in the shallow waters, a simple thing but also rare and vulnerable. When we had some mob visiting from Queensland who have been advocating for bringing back seagrass to the Great Barrier Reef, they mentioned how special it was to see it here. I also look at the shells, and I don't often collect or take those, but I do collect sea glass. I look at Wadjemup (Rottnest Island) when it's a clear day and think about the things our people have been through here, and about how despite everything that's happened, I am still here to find this place home, and share stories, language and culture. I can share, for example, that the name of this place is Mudurup, and I'm privileged that my family holds that knowledge. I love our new river conservation project BoorYul-Bah-Bilya (Magic River). My family owns Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Corporation and this project has been in the works for some time. We've partnered with our family friends who are environmental scientists, and we envision it will also empower the community to improve the health of the river: from Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) to the Derbarl Yirrgan (Swan River) to Walyalup (Fremantle). It's about sharing knowledge about the state of the river, which parts are healthy and which need more love and care, like the city area in particular. It will empower the public to monitor and take ownership of areas. We will be running workshops, cleanups and teaching people about water testing. This river is the heart of our country, and the water in it stretches to neighbouring clans and language groups that benefit from its level of health. So too will future generations, so this is an exciting intergenerational piece of work that will grow and expand. I love Kidogo Art House, in Walyalup (Fremantle). It's a gallery, exhibition and live music venue that also hosts events and functions and dining experiences, all in this beautiful building – one of the oldest heritage buildings in Fremantle. It has had many lives, but it is now such a hub for art, storytelling and music, run by my family friend Joanna Robertson. I love it for its creative community. We have helped with its Hand in Hand Irish Aboriginal Festival which celebrates the friendship and cultural similarities, and often blood ties, between these two communities. It's always a great time, and you end up meeting and connecting with new people every time you go there. Loading
