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HEARD THIS WEEK👂

🚲️ Fed up with congestion, Willoughby parents looked for a new approach to the school drop-off. Now it’s being deployed across the state.

In 2022, the Parents Committee of Willoughby Public School approached Willoughby City Council with a problem: during drop-off and pick-up times, the roads around their kids’ school became a congested mess.

It’s a problem faced by many educational institutions.

At a school like Willoughby Public, just half of its students being picked up could mean finding space for 500 cars at the same time.

Stretched between playground duty, lesson plans and marking homework, teachers are hard-pressed finding time to also be traffic managers.

So the council, parents and teachers looked toward another solution. If a majority of students live in the local area (68 percent within a kilometre of schoolgrounds) is there a way to avoid driving altogether?

What happened: Demanding all children walk to and from school wasn’t really a practical approach, so they were brought on board and asked to help design the routes they would eventually walk on.

Geography class: The first stage of the project involved the fifth grade of Willoughby Public.

Students experienced a shift in their geography lessons: instead of learning about weather and mountains, they were handed maps of the local area and asked to figure out the quickest way to get from home to school.

After teachers and road safety officers weighed in, this assignment turned into four routes that students living in each part of Willoughby could follow to get to school.

Each one had signage installed along it to guide students, and council surveyed them for any obvious infrastructure repairs.

Safety concerns: When asked whether parents had any safety concerns, Mayor Tanya Taylor told the Lorikeet that some parents would opt to walk with their children at first.

“Until they're at that age where you want to give them a little bit more independence … then they're off doing it themselves, with their friends” she said.

Independent kids: Program director Nick Chapman told the Lorikeet that while parents were happy to avoid the morning traffic, they also thought it was a huge benefit to their kids.

“A number of the parents said … that walking and cycling to school helps kids develop this sense of independence”, he said. “They can do it with a mate, so it's good for improving their socializing confidence as well”.

Reducing traffic is just one motivation for the local council. They’re also keen to reduce local noise, and pollution from more cars on the road. While that impact might be minimal now, the model they have been developing has begun to be adopted across the state.

Read the full story below.

🔥 North Ryde CSIRO fire-testing laboratory to shut down after 82 years

Australia’s premier research body, the CSIRO, will be vacating its historic premises in North Ryde this year, with the lease set to expire in December.

That decision spells bad news for the organisation’s fire-testing lab, a facility used to test fire-resistant building materials.

What happened: The CSIRO confirmed to the Lorikeet on Friday it would not be renewing its lease on the North Shore laboratory, in use since 1944.

The facility is primarily used for testing the resistance of construction materials to fire. It contains multiple industrial furnaces.

Cuts to blame? When asked whether the closure was related to recent job cuts at the agency, a spokesperson for the CSIRO said the decision followed an “extensive assessment of our long-term property strategy, and organisational priorities”.

CEO Doug Hilton recently announced the agency would be sacking 300-350 full time roles.

Fire heritage: Lorenzo Fazzini is the managing director of L&A Fazzini Manufacturing, a fire protection system manufacturer who has been using the North Ryde facility since 1961, then run by Lorenzo’s father.

Through the decades, his company has paid to test their fire resistant materials at the facility.

Fazzini told the Lorikeet these products are particularly important for Australian houses built in areas vulnerable to bushfires.

Projects built with material tested at the North Ryde laboratory include the Quay Quarter Tower, the Sydney Metro and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

“Why could we do all of this? Because of the testing we did at the CSIRO”, Fazzini said.

Read the full story below.

👷 North Sydney Olympic Pool to reopen August 7

After numerous delays, cost blowouts and a legal dispute with its construction company, North Sydney Council’s pool redevelopment finally has a firm opening date.

What happened: Concluding the council’s May meeting, Mayor Zoe Baker announced the keys to the pool had been handed over to council and that residents could expect to take a dip in early August.

“I can confirm that [the pool] will reopen to the public on the 7th of August 2026,” Baker told the chamber.

Tickets: When the doors reopen, adult visitors will pay $11 for a single visit, including use of the spa, steam room and sauna. Access to the gym is $74 a fortnight.

See the full story below.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

“…”

— The office of Communications and Sports Minister Anika Wells in regards to an interview with the National Account

If you’ve been reading this bottom section of our newsletter for a while, you’ll know gambling reform is one beat that Archie, over at the National Account, has regularly covered.

The minister responsible? Anika Wells.

Over the last year Archie has reached out to her office multiple times to try and secure an interview, to no avail. In the meantime, he’s had her colleagues Murray Watt and Ed Husic (click here to watch) on to talk about matters of national significance.

In this video, Archie speculates on why Wells won’t do an interview with him.