Happy birthday, Hawkesbury! Recently we celebrated the 215th anniversary of Governor Lachlan Macquarie proclaiming the names and locations of what we now know as the "Five Macquarie Towns".

Shaun Williams, presenter at the "Common Point" program at Hawkesbury Radio told me we were overdue for a chat. I thought this was a good opportunity to recap the year on Council. We covered a lot of territory! I'll be breaking this up in to more digestable fragments over the Christmas / January break.

At its November 2025 meeting Hawkesbury Council decided in an 7:4 vote to hike everyone's rates by 39.4% over four years. I voted against it. Here's what you need to know.

I've spent time this week at the Australian Local Government Association National Government Assembly down in Canberra.
It's a great opportunity to hear speakers and trade ideas about what works in Local Government. I was grateful for some release from my teaching work to go down and take place.
The highlight for me was being able to confront the Federal Minister for Local Government, Kristy McBain about the growing shortfall of funding Local Governments are facing and how this has deteriorated over the years.

I recently took the opportunity to walk through the whole of the refurbished Windsor Mall. Now the work is substantially done, I have to say it's looking amazing. New sandstone flagstones greatly exceeds the original sandstone; the sponsored pavers are now proudly on display. The garden beds are now being planted with a range of attractive species.

This week I was a signatory to call rare extraordinary meeting of Council to address a dispute between the Hawkesbury District Agricultural Association, Dressage NSW and Equestrian NSW. The subject was a dispute over the future of dressage facilities at the Hawkesbury Showground.

What a wonderful city we live in! Vivid Sydney has been just amazing this year, covering multiple sites and showing off our city’s architecture old and new. This is my tribute to VIVID, which we did in perfect weather! #vividsydney

Council approved my Notice of Motion to permit Detached Dual Occupancies after seven years of delay and disappointment with our moribund LEP process. There's some way to go yet.

For those of you who asked me what my opinion is of yesterday's Federal Election, I humbly offer you this. I try to provide a Global, National and Local (to the seat of Macquarie) explanation of What Just Happened.
Mics are dropped.
I want to know what you think.

The skyrocketing costs of home insurance is a massive issue for people in the Hawkesbury.
Damage from flooding could cost us billions, but the risks of living in on a floodplain have driven up Insurance costs even when the sun is shining.

In 2019 and 2021, to secure votes in what was at the time the most marginal Federal seat in the nation, the Liberals pledged $200M, and then $500M to build a high, flood-resilient bridge across the Hawkesbury River that would loop around North Richmond and relieve congestion at the intersection of Grose Vale Road, Bells Line and the Terrace. Now we're told by Labor that that money isn't enough.