Last night I was re-elected as the Chair of the Hawkesbury River County Council for a second year.
This is a great honour. I am the first Hawkesbury Liberal Councillor ever to be elected to this role, let alone re-elected. It's been a challenging year, with most of our meetings still occurring via Zoom. Balancing the welfare of staff with maintaining on-the-ground operational capacity has not been easy.
The HRCC covers 3,823sq.km over four municipalities (Hills, Blacktown, Penrith and Hawkesbury). It has responsibility for waterway health through the control of weeds, and increasingly takes a role in terrestrial weed control as well under the Biosecurity Act.
In this last year alone it conducted 3,949 property inspections. With its specialised assets like weed harvesters, and using new and innovative techniques like biological control (Salvinia eating Weevils, anyone?), it plays a major role in caring for our local environment.
I'd like to thank outgoing Deputy Chair, Robyn Preston MP - Member for Hawkesbury for her work with the Board.
Councillor Karen McKeown
Councillor Julie Griffiths
Clr Samuel Uno - The Hills Shire
Councillor Amanda Kotlash
Councillor Jacob Jackson ... See MoreSee Less
2 hours ago
I learned today that famous magician and debunker of charlatanry James Randi has passed away at 92.
I met him in Sydney in 2014, when he was touring to promote his excellent biographical film An Honest Liar.
I've been a supporter of his James Randi Educational Foundation for many years.
I grew up watching him exposing frauds like Uri Geller. In 1988, 60 Minutes journalist Richard Carlton and Randi cooked up 'Carlos', a psychic who could channel the spirits of the long dead. It culminated in a live appearance before the credulous at the Sydney Opera House, where the imposture was unveiled. It was a cautionary tale of how easy it is to suck people in.
In a way, it influenced my choice to do a Masters Degree in Critical Thinking and Ethics when I became a teacher.
Randi became something of an idol to me -- someone dedicated to rationality and using his gifts of prestidigitation to beguile us while challenging us to understand the many ways in which wooly thinking can lead us astray.
Vale, 'The Amazing Randi'. ... See MoreSee Less
19 hours ago
For all those families braving the HSC in this most dislocated of years, we're with you.
This young man has had the most important year of his schooling life turned absolutely upside down, along with 70,000 others around the state.
Our advice? Hug your kids. Provide some perspective. Tell them to do their best, but also "This too, shall pass". ... See MoreSee Less
2 days ago
Overnight, the Hawkesbury City Council website got a major overhaul. This process has taken years -- I joined a working group to revamp Council's digital strategy in 2017.
This is one step along a longer journey. Council needs to replace paper based processes with online ones, where possible, as well as finding new ways of engaging with the community when important decisions are being considered.
When I joined the working group, I observed that we have email addresses for only 11% of ratepayers, the Council's YouTube channel had two subscribers, we barely had a social media presence at all, and data was siloed without cross-referencing from the Library, the Pool, the Pound, and Council itself.
We don't seek to boost those numbers for their own sake, but so we can reach more of you and ask what your views are.
After four years on Council, I'm still the only Councillor with a website, who writes at length, or who makes videos explaining the issues before Council.
I hope you find the new website to be helpful.
www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au ... See MoreSee Less
3 days ago
Last night your Liberal Councillors tried to make the rating system fairer for residents suffering under Council rates that are anywhere between 50% higher to 300% higher or more than other suburbs, despite those families having similar incomes and similar access to Council services.
We encourage you to listen to Liberal Mayor of Hawkesbury Patrick Conolly and Liberal Councillor Nathan Zamprogno as they make their case.
The vote was defeated 8:4 by the majority bloc of Labor, the Greens and the left-leaning independents.
Councillor Sarah Richards ... See MoreSee Less
1 week ago
Stop press: Liberal Councillors will move to make rating system fairer at tonight's Council meeting.
Liberal Mayor, Patrick Conolly has placed the following Mayoral Minute on the agenda for tonight's Council meeting.
"That Council implement the current rating structure commencing from the 2021/2022 financial year, with the exception of increasing the Base Rate applied to the Residential Rating Category from 30% to 50%, commencing from the 2021/2022 financial year."
The short explanation is that your rates are a mix of a "Base Rate", plus an amount based on land value. If your land value has risen because of development speculation, your rates may have doubled (or worse) in recent years, even though your ability to pay hasn't doubled, and you use exactly the same amount of Council's services.
Council can move the slider for the "Base Rate" up to 50% and Liberal-led Councils in the past did so to take the edge off inequalities in the rating burden.
In 2016, Council changed the base rate to 30%, meaning these inequalities were magnified. We're trying to move that slider back to 50% tonight.
We invite you to tune into the Council meeting on-line and listen to the debate, and particularly to pay attention to who supports fairer rates and who does not.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj_FC_ShsiE
councillorzamprogno.info/2017/08/10/are-some-hawkesbury-residents-paying-too-much-tax/ ... See MoreSee Less
1 week ago
