Corellas ‘louder than a jet engine’, Geraldton council told

Walkaway residents had corellas, skip bins and public toilets on their minds when they were invited to ask questions before a recent City of Greater Geraldton’s agenda forum.

About 20 community members filled the seats in the Walkaway Recreation Centre for the forum — the first time one has been held in the rural town.

And residents had a lot to say, with public question time running twice as long as the actual agenda forum.

First up was Christine Smith, who asked if the City could start culling corellas as soon as they migrate to Geraldton.

“We’ve had an issue here with the corellas for 10 years,” she said.

“They perch in the trees at the primary school and you cannot hear yourself think — (the noise) must be damaging the children’s ears; I’m sure it’s a lot louder than a jet engine.

“Can we please get something set up, so when they hit town we don’t have to wait months or months for a ranger or authority to organise the gun club to come out and do some culling.”

Mayor Shane Van Styn said the City had engaged the gun club in the past but found it was ineffective as they were only able to kill a handful of birds before the flock moved elsewhere.

Development and community services director Phil Melling said culling was just one way to control the growing corella population.

“Culling has to take place in conjunction with other measures,” he said.

“Councillors will be getting an overall strategy from officers to try and deal with corellas in the City of Greater Geraldton as a whole.”

During the forum, David Clement questioned why those living in Walkaway were not allowed to use the City’s skip-bin program, which allows residents to apply for one verge-side skip bin each financial year.

In a surprise twist, Mr Melling said Walkaway residents would now be able to use the service — as long as they lived in the town’s urban area.

“It doesn’t extend out to the farming properties, and the same applies in Geraldton,” he said.

“You do need to register as it is a popular program and there’s a three-month waiting list at the moment.”

Mr Melling was the bearer of good news throughout the meeting, announcing construction of new public toilets in Walkaway would start in August.

He was also able to confirm a handful of roads in Walkaway would be repaired.

He encouraged residents across Greater Geraldton to contact the City when issues arose through the Snap Send Solve app.