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Summer 2020 Newsletter
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Friend, how connected do you feel to your Local Government?
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The decisions your Council makes have real impacts on the quality of your neighbourhood, the taxes you pay, and the standard of services delivered to you.
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My mission over the past four years has been to keep you informed and consulted about Council’s decision making. As a Hawkesbury City Councillor and as a member of the Hawkesbury Liberal Team, I’ve worked to address big questions and explain complex issues through my website, and the best way to get regular updates is to follow me on my Facebook page.
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I hope these occasional email newsletters are helpful.
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I invite you get in touch with me on any subject.
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Helping Bushland Regeneration in Bilpin
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I was pleased to launch the Blue Mountains Shale Cap Forest Project at Bilpin today, as the Chairman of the Hawkesbury River County Council. The Shale forests stretching across Berambing, Bilpin and Mountain Lagoon are State listed endangered ecological communities, even more threatened in the aftermath of the fires. This is a great initiative, because it works directly with landowners…
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The NSW 2020 State Redistribution
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Every two elections or so, the NSW Electoral Commission re-draws the boundaries of seats in our State.
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You should care, because it might change which seat you're in, or who your State MP is.
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Many people find this process confusing, so I thought I would offer a guide...
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What are the facts about raising Warragamba Dam?
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There have been 124 floods in the Hawkesbury-Nepean since the 1790s. The one earlier this year was a baby. Worse ones are a statistical inevitability.
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A 2017 NSW Government report says that the damage from a bad flood could top $7 billion dollars, considering that 134,000 people live and trade on the floodplain.
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In a bad flood, 90,000 of those people would need to be evacuated. 12,000 homes would be inundated.
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There is a lot of misinformation put about concerning the Warragamba Dam raising project. Most people who are opposed to the project don't live on the floodplain. They live elsewhere, high and dry.
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I did an interview recently where I explain the issues...
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Hawkesbury's Local Housing Strategy and the pressure for development
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Recently, Hawkesbury City Council adopted our long-awaited Local Housing Strategy.
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This document sets out how we will meet our housing targets over a timeframe of several decades.
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Although this has implications for our whole city, the Liberal Councillors felt it was important to address a gap in the document.
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Some of our suburbs sit adjacent to some very aggressive urban growth. This pressure is tearing our community apart. Some are in favour of development, some against...
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The fight to ensure fairer Council Rates
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Some residents in the Hawkesbury are suffering under Council rates that are double (or worse!) than other suburbs.
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This is despite those families having similar incomes and poorer access to Council services than elsewhere.
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Recently, the Mayor tried to move a motion to make the system fairer...
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Council Committees and protecting our Heritage
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They’re a mess – some have been around since Noah. Some have forgotten the reason for their creation. Some took it upon themselves to re-write their own terms of reference. Some are chaired by Councillors, some are not. Some take in members of the broader community as voting members, some not.
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A proposal was advanced at tonight’s Council meeting to restructure our committees for the first time in decades. It was a great idea – it streamlines the number and remit of committees, taking on detailed feedback received by a Council review over the last year.
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I disagreed on one critical point – the proposal, as it was moved, sought to abolish our Heritage Committee...
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Be informed. Follow me for updates.
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