Top news from the Busselton Dunsborough Times

In this week’s edition of the Busselton Dunsborough Times we see the impact rental hikes are having on Busselton’s most vulnerable, we welcome a new principal to Busselton Senior High School and dive into the impact constant Melbourne flight date changes are having on the local tourism industry.

Support services in crisis

Busselton’s housing crisis has reached a critical point, with social housing wait lists soaring because of rent rises.

Evidence collected by the Housing Emergency Response Group last month showed the State’s social housing wait list had increased by 563 new applicants since a moratorium on rent rises and evictions ended at the end of March, including 274 new priority applicants, and rental evictions rose, with 319 termination notices issued to public renters and 886 to private renters.

Watters run deep

Busselton Senior High School steps into the second semester with new leadership as the school community welcomes John Watters to the helm.

The new principal, who hails from the Central Wheatbelt, was welcomed to the local high school with gusto this term after a six-month process to find a new leader. The former sports and science teacher has more than 20 years of experience.

Capes bookings take a pandemic hit

Ongoing COVID-19 chaos over east and the sixth failure to start direct Jetstar flights from Melbourne are heaping pressure on the Capes’ tourism industry.

Margaret River-Busselton Tourism Association co-chief executive Sharna Kearney said while past interstate lockdowns disrupted bookings, tourists were now less likely to rebook their holidays because of uncertainty.