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Caption: Winterfest 2026 at the Hawkesbury Showground
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For ten years as a Hawkesbury City Councillor, I have sought to keep you informed about the issues that concern and affect you .
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I'm the only one of your eleven Councillors who tries to keep you connected in this way. I am a local schoolteacher by vocation, so I consider it one of my core responsibilities to engage you and keep you up-to-date.
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Councillor Nathan Zamprogno
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Major Update on Detached Dual Occupancy in the Hawkesbury
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This is one of the most common issues I am asked about, and there has been an important development on this question.
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In my last newsletter I promised you an update, so click the link or image above for my video.
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Sadly, this saga goes back to 2012, and is an example of how difficult it is to get simple and desired reforms through when deadlines are set and just keep being missed.
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At a time when there is a crisis in housing affordability, where the costs of rural living are eased by facilitating multi-generational households, and where people should enjoy the flexibility of building on their own land, all I can say is that I will continue to advocate for you.
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Explore our wonderful Hawkesbury River network virtually
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What do you know about the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment?
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There are times when my role as a teacher and being a Councillor overlap in a joyful way.
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Recently I've been teaching my HSC computing class about data visualisation. It prompted me to complete a project I've been working on as an example for my students, and I'd love to share it with you.
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My fascination with maps drew me to the intricacies of our river system. This only grew when I spent five years on the Hawkesbury River County Council. Our river stretches nearly down to Canberra, west past Lithgow, and north of Newcastle.
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Our catchment crosses 20 Councils and encompasses 17 National Parks. I've made a new interactive webpage that lets you explore the web of 35 named rivers, 179 creeks, and over 40 dams, lakes, lagoons, swamps and bays. Intended as a teaching resource, it's also just cool to play with. It is viewed best on a Desktop browser, not a phone. Check it out!
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All the talks from the recent TEDx Hawkesbury event
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In April I was honoured to host the inaugural TEDxHawkesbury event at the Richmond School Of Arts.
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This event has presented to a Hawkesbury audience wisdom about things as diverse as Artificial Intelligence, mental health, community service, trauma, ecology, disaster resilience, critical thinking and leadership. Having our speakers present from the same stage that once hosted debates about Australian Federation is a big thrill. I was specially proud to introduce two of my own students who gave well-received talks.
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I certainly hope this sold-out event indicates we’ve started something that will grow.
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All the talks are available at the button below:
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How much debt is Hawkesbury Council in?
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Do you know how much debt Council is in? No? Would you even know where to look?
With so much recent discussion around Council's financial management, I've managed to score a win for some transparency in the way we report this.
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As I point out in this speech, figures that I suspect most ratepayers would like a clear presentation of includes how much debt Council is in, how it's changed, and how we measure up to our neighbours and demographic peers.
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I expected a fight; to need to move a motion to get something simple: a better summary of debt in our Annual Report. Instead, Council staff commendably took up my suggestion and have recently responded to me with this:
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"It is acknowledged that Council, due to the Special Rate Variation, major projects funding and media climate is in a position where accurate and forthright information pertaining to its financial position is of value to stakeholders.
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With this noted, Council will develop a section within its 2025/2026 Annual Report on borrowings and other financial matters of importance. This will be actioned by relevant teams developing the Annual Report."
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I thank our staff for their proactive stance in response to my suggestion.
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Oh, and to answer my earlier question:
Council's current debt stands at $54,809,000.
In 2009, Council had zero debt.
The Richmond Pool project cost-blowout alone may add an additional $43,000,000 of debt to Council, which is why I regretfully had to withdraw my support for it.
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Vale, Brett Wild
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Brett was instrumental in securing Federal funding to arrest the decline of the buildings and find adaptive reuse for the site as a Veterans hub and military museum.
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However it seems more appropriate to share Brett's words here, recorded in February 2025 as a tribute to his vision for Veterans and to preserve this unique site in our local history.
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Do I have your correct contact information? (Nathan Zamprogno, , ). If not please reply with corrections.
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