President Jonas Edner opened the meeting at 6.30 pm.
Welcome to our guest speakers: Rob Laurie, Geoff Cahill’s wife, Marion; John Lindquist’s guest, Patrick Warrand; and Anita Bourke’s guest, Brent James.
The meeting was opened by singing the National Anthem.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
Which horse came last in the 2025 Melbourne Cup?
Answer: Buckaroo
Correctly answered by Ross Mackellar.
CLUB AND COMMITTEE REPORTS:
• Business lunch – The business lunch will be held on Thursday, 20 November 2025, at noon at the Royal Perth Golf Club in South Perth. The guest speaker is Amanda Lacaze, CEO and Managing Director of Lynas Rare Earth.
• Christmas toy drive for Grandcarers – Please support this initiative again by donating new, unwrapped toys at the next meetings on 24 November and 1 December. The most needed toys are for ages seven and up to teenagers and gift cards for teenagers would be very welcome. Richard Ranshaw has organised again for Toyworld Claremont to give Club members a discount of 20% on toys bought at Toyworld Claremont (except on Lego and Connectix), please mention that you are a Club member to receive the discount. Alternatively, you can donate an amount and Toyworld will pick out suitable gifts. The gifts purchased at Toyworld will be stored there until they are collected and taken to Grandcarers in Warwick in early December.
• Christmas dinner – The Christmas dinner will be held on Monday 8 December at the Weld Club, invitations with all the details will be issued soon via email or if you just cannot wait you may book here on https://www.trybooking.com/DHKXQ Please consider inviting the spouses of past members and any potential new members. $65 per head for a two course sit down dinner with pre-dinner drinks and wine throughout dinner.
• Bicycle count – Thanks to all members who participated in the bicycle count on Sunday and to Peter Panek for organising the opportunity. Approximately $1,800 was made from the volunteering.
BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES: The following birthdays were announced by Susan Watson:
Members’ Birthdays:
Ross Mackellar 4 November 2025 76 years
Leon Lorenzen 11 November 2025 65 years
Bruce McGeorge 13 November 2025 85 years
Partner Birthdays:
Ilse Lorenzen 10 November 2025
Shelley Smith 15 November 2025
Anniversaries:
Peter and Rebecca Robertson 13 November 2025 15 years
John and Beth MacKinnon 14 November 2025 55 years
ROTARY MOMENTS:
ShelterBox Champions – Our gold champion award certificate!
• Magic Coat Foundation – Many thanks to Peter Panek for donating twenty easels to the Magic Coat Foundation. The children used them for the first time on Sunday during a painting session.
SERGEANT JASON SESSION: The following members were fined by Sergeant Jason:
the wine table;
the Melbourne Cup winners, many of whom donated their whole winnings! Thank you to those generous people, your hearts are as big as Phar Lap’s;
President Jonas for flying to Sydney.
GUEST SPEAKER: Rob Laurie - introduced by Ross Mackellar
Rob spoke to us about cyber-attacks. In Australia, there is a data breach every eight hours. There is an absolute necessity to protect data and assets, but there has to be a balance of risk appetite and tolerance.
Data loss is more than a technical issue, there are real human losses with data breaches.
Rob used the example of the loss of the ship El Faro off the Florida coast on 1 October 2015 with the loss of 33 souls as what is happening with cyber-attacks. Each little issue by itself is not the cause of the whole data loss but the overall breach is achieved by many smaller problems which could have been stopped.
To try to mitigate data breaches, the keys should be to learn from past disasters; start with individual security; look at risks one at a time; communicate with all levels of workers; know the attackers and what they are likely to do next; use threat intelligence security technology.
Thanks to Rob for helping us to understand this issue and why it is important for all of us.
REMINDER OF COMING EVENTS:
Monday 17 November 2025 – No meeting, business lunch this week.
Monday 24 November 2025 – Geoffrey Thomas, Aviation writer.
Monday 1 December 2025 – To be advised.
ROSTER:
Monday 24 November 2025
Richard Ranshaw Welcoming members and guests.
Peter Panek Table duty.
David Miller Registrar 1.
John Murdoch Registrar 2.
Anthony McGrath Introduction of guest speaker.
Jock Laurie Pass the microphone.
THANKS:
Thanks to the Staff of the Nedlands Golf Club, Sofia and Claire, for their service tonight and Chef Alvin for dinner.
WE RECOGNISE OUR VERY GENEROUS SPONSORS:
Lizzi Bee - supplier of flowers.
Dry Kirkness Chartered Accountants (Butler Settineri) – Club Auditors.
Accura Accounting & Advisory Services for providing Xero Accounting software and Sharesight Portfolio reporting software to the Charitable Trust.
Dirk Vanderstruyf from Euroz Hartleys.
MEETING CLOSE:
President Jonas closed the meeting by recognising the Rotary International presidential theme for 2025-26, "Unite for Good"
