WTF: Westfield chase, trailer trash, vape disposal, hard labour

In this week’s WTF column we take a look at a Westfield altercation caught on video, a homemade trailer that has made its home in Highton, and Geelong council’s alternative to the contentious machete bin scheme.

As usual, this week’s WTF has a bit of everything.

A woman has chased security guards around Westfield Geelong.

A video that landed on the desk at WTF HQ this week was a reminder that sometimes the deserted halls of Market Square are a little more peaceful than those of the neighbouring Westfield.

One of WTF’s younger statesmen came across the footage while enjoying a quiet scroll on Instagram.

Posted by Australia Daily, it showed an older lady terrorising a pair of security guards while unleashing a maelstrom of colourful language near the level two Cotton On outlet.

While her aggressive movements appeared to startle the sweater-wearing sentinel, worries were quickly put to bed upon seeing the woman’s top speed.

Commenters applauded the guards’ handling of the situation, although the scene’s similarities to a bogan Benny Hill picture were pointed out.

One hit the nail on the head.

“Can security just run out to the nearest exit and she follows?”

TRAILER TRASH

This trailer full of rubbish was dumped near the intersection of Barrabool and Mt Pleasant roads in Highton. Picture: Supplied.

It takes a certain type of person to dump a trailer full of rubbish in a public space, particularly nearby a busy thoroughfare in Geelong’s inner-southwest.

The caged homemade trailer, which has cut a lonely figure on the verge of Mt Pleasant Rd for more than a week, was recently decorated with a green sticker that, thankfully, signals its imminent departure.

Picture: Supplied.

Located close to the Barrabool Rd intersection, the trailer is symbolic of a growing problem of illegal dumping that is not only costing City Hall millions of dollars to tackle, but councils across the state.

That’s why the state government committed $13m on the weekend to an Illegal Dumping Taskforce so it can ramp up surveillance, enforcement and clean-up efforts.

The taskforce will be led by the Environment Protection Authority and undertake enforcement activities using expanded intelligence and monitoring to detect and respond to waste crimes.

How’s the serenity? Overgrown grass and a dumped trailer full of rubbish. Picture: Supplied.

It will also review fines and cost recovery for illegal dumping, hold offenders to account through the courts, and – in a move Geelong mayor Stretch Kontelj has been lobbying for – step up naming and shaming of those who do the wrong thing.

VAPE DISPOSAL

Picture: Supplied.

Rather than the contentious machete bin scheme, Geelong council’s attention is firmly on a different nefarious item plaguing the populous.

A vape bin has been set up at The Nest Youth Hub in central Geelong and Norlane’s The fOrT Youth Hub until the end of January.

Disposal vapes, popular with kids these days, are classified as e-waste, and contain batteries, plastic and harmful chemicals that pollute the environment and cause fires in rubbish trucks and landfills.

The game changing move by City Hall to introduce two bins for a grand total of four months was revealed in a 327-word press release including quotes from the mayor and councillor Elise Wilkinson.

HARD LABOUR

Shadow Police Minister David Southwick, local MP Bev McArthur and Piano Bar owner Andy Pobjoy at a recent crime forum in Geelong. Picture: Mike Dugdale.

Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu famously wrote in his Art of War book that “if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles”.

In the context of contemporary politics, you would think knowing your enemy would begin with spelling its name correctly.

Not so the state Liberals, a party that has long been its own worst enemy.

At a recent Geelong crime forum convened by Bev McArthur, attendees were left wondering who was responsible for the all-important PowerPoint presentation.

“Crime is rising, safety declining under Labour,” it ominously warned.

Surely it was pointing the finger at the Victorian Labor Party that has been in power since 2014, not the UK Labour version that is currently trying to contain a growing anti-immigration movement.

CLOSE TO HOME

We here at WTF have long championed for the upgrade of Geelong’s roads.

Pointing out potholes you could swim in, roads to nowhere and misleading signs, we’ve covered it all.

But never did we think one of the city’s roads would strike back.

A leisurely commute to work behind the handles of a pushy took a turn for the worst last week for one of this column’s leading lights.

Travelling at speed down Yarra St, the wind in their hair, a head check turned into a trip over the handlebars as the bike’s front wheel met a manhole cover.

The worst injury? A severely bruised ego.

Originally published as WTF: Westfield chase, trailer trash, vape disposal, hard labour