Better Pathways is a programme set up by Orange City Council and staff member Margaret aiming at supporting children in their experience of attending school. Each of the public schools located in Orange had the opportunity of giving young children who made a concerted effort to attend school an award.
This proved to be a wonderful incentive and this was evident by the smiles radiated by the children receiving their awards and recognition.
I was able to present several awards at Calare school to two students and then had the opportunity to enjoy music put on by a group of musically talented students afterwards. They certainly had the beat and mood happening when they gave us their rendition.
Our Children, Our future!
It was my pleasure to celebrate International Day of People with a Disability and speak on behalf of the Mayor John Davis in Orange recently.
The recognition of issues faced by people with disability had its beginnings in 1981, as the International Year of Disabled Persons. International Day of People with a Disability was established in 1992 by the United Nations General Assembly at the conclusion of the United Nations' Decade of Disabled Persons which was held from 1983-1992. International Day of People with Disability is a worldwide celebration that occurs on 3 December each year and in 2007 celebrated its 26th anniversary.
International Day of People with a Disability aims to encourage support for the dignity, rights and well being of people with a disability by creating awareness and promoting an understanding of disability issues. It also seeks to educate the community on the benefits and gains to society of integrating people with a disability into every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.
Orange City Council was proud to have had the opportunity to facilitate the guided tour of the Archibald Prize as a part of the mornings events.
It was very much a biblical scene with children dressed as nativity characters. It was nearing Christmas and the reminder of the true meaning of Christmas was evident. There was a mini-festival and lots of fun. The children paraded up Summer street dressed as their characters giving shoppers and business owners a feeling of the Christmas spirit.
My son and our two foster children viewed the start of the event which was held in Roberston Park.
The excitement on the children's faces was a picture to behold. Fusion Orange Bev Ranking and organisers did a tremendous job in putting together this event and it was evident that there way much joy in putting this event together.
Since my election to Council and over the past 4 years I have noticed and been a part of making our Aboriginal Community more inclusive. We have included our Aboriginal Community into our 2020 plan for Orange, Council activities with the flag being placed outside the chambers and the reading of acknowledgement to Country at each of our Council meetings.
Over time Orange City Council and Councillors have been all encompassing with the Aboriginal Employment strategy and with the Aboriginal community the development of the Orange Aboriginal Community Plan 2007-2011.
It is now we can share with the wider community the Orange Aboriginal Community Plan 2007-2011. The aim being "To create an Aboriginal community that fosters unity, ownership, participation and leadership, while contributing to the social, cultural and economic activities of the wider community with Orange."
The Orange Indigenous Social Action Plan is for the Orange Aboriginal Community and was developed by the Orange Aboriginal Community Working Party with assistance from community members, the Orange City Council and planning consultants.
The four main priorities that emerged from the planning were:
1) Community development and information sharing:
The plan supports strengthening Community unity, leadership, communication and promoting cultural awareness and sharing success.
2) Education:
The plan supports educational activities that give Aboriginal people in Orange the chance to go to an Aboriginal pre-school, finish high school, go on to further study and gain meaningful employment.
3) Employment:
The plan aims to make imaginative use of community resources and particularly help young people just entering the work force and those people who have been unemployed for long periods of time.
4) Home Ownership:
The plan aims to provide practical self-help support to people wishing to purchase their own home.
The Community Working Party will organise Sub-Committees that include community people who have skills or interests in the activities. At least three Sub-Committees will be formed, to cover:
1) Housing (mainly private home ownership)
2) Employment (mainly expanding employment opportunities), and
3) Education (mainly support and mentoring).
Time lines, responsibilities and milestones will be developed in discussion with each Sub-Committee and tasks will be revised to fit Sub-Committee feedback and interest.
As you can see there has been considerable work done and will continue well into the future.
Some information on this page has been referenced from the flyer provided at the launch of the Orange Aboriginal Community Plan launch held at the Orange Civic Theatre. For further information contact: The Secretary, Community Working Party, C/- Department of Housing, 272 Summer Street, Orange, NSW, 2800 or phone 6360 8170
Back to education for me. This time it was to undertake "Mentoring in the Community" training. It was a two day weekend training course which provided participants with the knowledge and skills to work effectively as mentors in a wide variety of contexts.
The course was conducted with Orange TAFE and gave the volunteers the opportunity to gain further knowledge in mentoring. We could identify legal, welfare, health and educational needs/issues of the client group and develop strategies for client access or referral to relevant agencies.
We had a variety of groups that came together, some people were from youth, multi-cultural and other organisations. It was nice to meet other like minded people and to learn about their paths in life.
I did the mentoring course in support of the Multi-cultural Migrant and Refugee mentoring program with Orange City Council. Anni Gallagher is the Migrant support worker and be contacted by calling Council offices. I look forward to what the new year brings and helping those who need to learn more about our Australian culture.
The fun and laughter was already happening. There were lots of people about and the balloons were being handed out. Children could have their faces painted or place their hand prints on the wall collage. You could have a guess of how many jelly beans were in the jar or sit down to a meal of burgers and fries.
What was all the fun and joy about. Well it was McHappy Day at Orange Ronald McDonald. Money was being raised to help the Ronald McDonald Houses which in turn helps families with sick children. It was a day that myself and other local people could be a part of the days activities and serve the community people with their orders. I have been involved with this day for the past 3 years and find it a great way to meet the locals with the knowledge of knowing that you are helping a truly worthy cause.
I understand that Orange did exceptionally well with their fundraising effort a true credit to all involved.
A considerable amount of work has gone into developing the Orange Aboriginal Community Plan for 2007-2011. The Community Plan is an outcome achieved by community member's consultation, which has resulted in identified issues that affect our community.
The mission statement reads
"To create an Aboriginal Community that fosters unity, ownership, participation and leadership, while contributing to the social, cultural and economic activities of the wider community within Orange"
I believe it says it all as far as the belief and contribution from all.
It was a meaningful and important to launch this Aboriginal community plan and I feel it an honour to be one of the Councillors who has actively worked towards making the needs of Aboriginal people become inclusive within our Council.
Greening the Silver City seeds of bush regeneration was a regional touring exhibition from the Power House Museum in collaboration with Broken Hill City Council and community. The exhibition tells the remarkable story of how the denuded landscape of Broken Hill was repaired by a bush regeneration scheme in the 1930's.
When we think of Broken Hill it conjures images of a mining town on the edge of the outback in western New South Wales. Not many have known its significance in environmental history, as a site of one of Australia's earliest green actions. In 1936, the Barrier Field Naturalists club led by Albert Morris, an assayer, enlisted the help of a mining company and through the process of native re vegetation, defeated the drifts of sand that were swallowing the outskirts of the town, also reducing the effects from dust storms.
Albert Morris, a Quaker and self taught amateur botanist developed a passionate interest in plants from a young age and founded the Barrier Field Naturalists' club, named after the nearby Barrier Ranges. Albert Morris believed that the growing problem of sand drift and dust storms in Broken Hill could be overcome by establishing regeneration reserves around Broken Hill to the north, west and south. In 1936 the mines and community led by the Barrier Field Naturalists Club and Albert Morris fenced an initial area and planted trees and local native vegetation. Now known as the Albert Morris Park it was seen as highly successful. In 1938 more sections of land were fenced from grazing rabbits and livestock and left to recover, these are known as the re vegetation reserves. The Broken Hill re vegetation site was the first example of successful bush regeneration in its broadest sense within Australia. It improved the standard of living of residents as well as conserving plant and animal biodiversity. The regeneration reserves are now National Trust listed.
Albert Morris's legacy does not limit itself to Broken Hill as he amassed a collection of about 7,000 plant specimens and his collections are represented in several of Australia's major Herbie. More than 1,000 of these are held in the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. His methods were applied to other mining towns in Australia and the improvement of living conditions in Broken Hill were quoted world wide.
Albert also photographed the flowers and landscape of the surrounding area. These black and while slides were hand coloured by his wife Margaret Morris and are represented in the exhibition.
The re vegetation also planted a seed for further similar work around Australia. In the 1960's there was the birth of a larger conservation and land care movements in rural and suburban Australia.
(The above information came from the Powerhouse Museum web page for this exhibition on greening)
I had the pleasure of opening this exhibition at our local Library and also presenting the display placed their for our own example of green open space. Orange has always prided itself on the beauty and diversity of parks and gardens, and areas were reserved for this in 1846. The grandest park is Cook Park, created in 1873. It's band stand was established about 1907, and the Frank Mulholland Memorial garden about 1940.
The benefits of creating open and green space was apparent even in 1920. When as a girl of ten in 1920 Alice King had climbed every tree in Cook Park.
Cook Park is a good example of historic open green space in a city area, proving how valuable it was to put aside that space.
The Friends of Orange Regional Gallery invited myself to a magnificent Melbourne Cup Event. The Gallery was magically transformed into a "Race Day" theme with a spring carnival atmosphere. My friend Rachel and I along with many other race day enthusiasts enjoyed a glass of champagne, delicious food, a fabulous fashion parade and judging of the best dressed and best hat.
There were plenty of sweepstakes, raffles and prizes along with the live race action on the big screen. One could have almost thought that a horse had got away as there was a life size horse on display to add to the atmosphere.
It was a glorious way to spend a Tuesday afternoon mixing with lovely people and sharing the excitement of race day. An added bonus was the benefit of knowing that this was a special fundraising event for Ronald McDonald House Orange.
Thanks to all the people who organised this event, it was a fabulous afternoon and I look forward to next years event!
We had a well attended launch of Australian Family Matters which is a family orientated not-for-profit organisation. It was a pleasure having Senator Fiona Nash and Mayor John Davis to launch the site. Senator Fiona Nash spoke of the importance to support family and the distance for some people which impedes and isolates people.
The event was held at the Orange TAFE library with a presentation on what exactly you can access on the site. Parkes Council have become the first Family Friendly Council to show case what they have available for people in the way of recreation and fun and it is a place which my husband and children will be visiting in the new year.
I would recommend a visit to the site and can see that this will be a place of the future which will develop friendships and help people with referrals to supporting organisations.
Australian Family Matters thanks all the supporters both with goods, acts of kindness or support with promoting the site. I will keep you updated on the progress with this site as an ongoing way to support the site.
So jump on and have a look at the new Australian Family Matters web-site www.australianfamilymatters.com.au
The Local Government Association (LGA) was held at Coffs Harbour this year and myself and several other Orange Councillors attended. Orange City Council had one motion put forward which was to support regional and rural people who need to travel great distances for medical attention. The request was to ask the Health Minister for some type of re-imbursement or a perforated card placed in the Isolated Patient Transport and Accomodation Scheme claim form.
Conference Opening of Business Session started with a presentation from the Hon Paul Lynch MP, Minister for Local Government. The remainder of the day concentrated on further presentations from various Ministers and Dr Graeme Pearman. Prior to lunch we adopted the standing orders received a presentation of the treasurers report, then commenced consideration of the motions.
The following two days continued with consideration of motions and several presentations. The LGA was very informative and of course allows you the opportunity of meeting with and networking other Councillors and staff members.
Orange City Council had a motion put forward to the Government asking for help with or some type of reimbursement of parking fees for patients that travel outside of country areas for medical help. The motion was voted on unanimously and we are now awaiting a reply and hopefully support from the Government and Health Minister.
Our recent visitors to Orange came from our Sister City Timaru. It was a pleasure to meet the visitors with fellow Councillors Gryllis and Davis. We heard about some recent projects they were undertaking and how they found Orange at this time. They were impressed with the friendliness of the community and said that they enjoy the colour and atmosphere of the city.
Always a pleasure to welcome new people to our beautiful city.
After receiving an invitation for Andrew Lloyd Webbers smash hit musical CATS a friend and I attended the production. We were entertained with a cast of people who performed an outstanding musical. This production of CATS showcased the talent of 30 local singers and dancers who dedicated themselves to this production for just over six months of rehearsal to bring this show to the boards of the Civic Theatre.
In addition they teamed up with the Orange Regional Music Conservatorium under the baton of Director Graham Sattler.
This was a truly memorable evening which had us glued to our seats. The production was vibrant, fun, colourful and very entertaining. It was a true credit to all the actors and musicians involved and just goes to show that the Orange talent can certainly compare with the greatest.
A brilliant night of entertainment!
This has to be one of those rare times that I was unable to attend an event. I was looking forward to the opportunity to speak with the people out there and of course Glenn Smith from the Black Dog institute. Some of our Youth here in Orange have been very supportive of this organisation and initiating events themselves.
Living with a mental illness and having support in place is essential. It can be a lonely journey otherwise and it is a time when people need to work together. I congratulate the people from the O'Brien Centre who run support groups for people, carers and friend's of those people.
In my nursing role I understand the importance of working together and supporting those in need of help.
Visit http://www.mwcag.org.au/ to find out more information
At the last annual Australian Local Government Women's Association held in Lismore I learnt about the living book scheme that they organise at their local Library. They spoke about the value of this service to locals who wanted to learn more about other peoples lifestyle and interests. They invite a variety of people to speak as the living book and then locals come in to meet them and chat.
Orange City Council Library organised a living book day just recently with the opportunity of 9 local people to meet. I couldn't miss the chance to learn more about at least one of our locals so called in to say hello to Tony Leahey- Former car dealer and avid golfer. We were given questions if you needed prompts but Tony and I made our own conversation and I enjoyed hearing the story of Tony and his family. He is quite a character!
I do recommend the living library and maybe if you get a chance next time you could call in and meet some of our prominent locals.
Well done to Orange Library staff for organising this event which aloud us the opportunity to learn more about our local people.
This was a beneficial trip organised by Council staff. We had the opportunity to visit all three sites and see the impact of having a shopping centre placed on each one.
Site 1 or otherwise referred to as Woolworth's site is situated diagonally opposite the Children's Adventure Playground.
Site 2 was deleted at a recent Council meeting (otherwise known as Council's site)
Site 3 or otherwise referred to as Coles site was on a down hill slope off Hill street and at the side of the services entry to the Botanical Garden.
Site 4 was closer to the centre of Orange also off Hill street.
All these plans can be viewed at Council.
From this trip I learnt just how close the Children's Adventure Playground will be to the site 1 development and I will discuss this further in more up to date posts.
I also learnt that the view that was mentioned by some concerned citizens for Mount Canobolas had to be viewed from either the service entry point to the Botanical Gardens or the Botanical Gardens car park, neither really a safe option when you have children near by.
I also learnt that there is no view of the Botanical Gardens from the Ploughmans Lane as was suggested in a recent news article where people were stating this as the case. Our works inspection bus drove along Ploughmans lane and we were hard pushed seeing past the trees.
I have always been in support of works inspections as a valuable resource to better understand some of the issues we are faced with as Councillors when making decisions.
Thank you to Council staff who organise these trips.
After being elected as the representative for Orange City Council on the Chamber of Commerce I am able to attend the executive meetings in Orange. I find this informative as a Councillor not otherwise having an interest in businesses at this time. I have been undertaking a Business Management course which I will complete at the end of this year. This in itself is giving me further insight into what it would be like to run a business. In my younger years I was a Manager with Coles/Myers for 5 years but back in those days no paperwork was given to substantiate your qualifications.
Anyway back to why I have posted this section.
As a part of the monthly events for the Orange Chamber of Commerce they invite new businesses to hold an "After Five" event to show case their business. In August the new Eye Centre "Young Eyes" in Summer Street invited Chamber members to hear a presentation about how they evolved and where they are hoping to go. They also show cased there products.
This is a great way to find out what new businesses are opening in Orange and to welcome new business owners to our town.
Held at the Orange Art Gallery was the official welcome for the Ministers. My husband Paul and I attended this function and enjoyed an evening of networking and chatter. The Mayor John Davis did the official welcome and then we heard about all the reasons to enjoy Orange from Taste Orange co-ordinator Kim Curry. Kim did a magnificent job of show casing Orange and spoke with true passion about why people should be here.
The remainder of the evening gave the chance for us all to mix and meet with significant people.
The following day allowed Councillors and Council staff the opportunity to meet directly with some of the Ministers some of who were not here for the previous evenings welcome.
Whilst it is valuable to have this opportunity, it can sometimes be disheartening to hear that some things have taken a backward step such as was the case for the announcement for the Private, Public Partnership for the new hospital.
We the public were to hear the announcement in August as to who was the successful tender but now we will have to wait till November 2007. Roll on November....
.jpg)
Know your stuff! that is what people in the public say to me especially in my role as a Councillor. Well on Friday with the company of a Council staff member I had the opportunity to increase my knowledge on recent developments and cases of interest in planning, Local Government and Environmental Law.
There was the chance to hear first hand from Council members and staff about issues they have had in particular items about the LEP template, the review of the Heritage act, concessional allotments, increased cost shifting to local governments, open spaces and sports facilities and of course amalgamations. This was an extremely informative day which also allowed the audience the opportunity to ask questions and seek out further information.
The afternoon consisted of topics such as Sustainable Environmental Planning with current issues and future directions. Work Choices entered into the discussion as did Growth Centre Commission and how it works, Pecuniary Interest and Conduct Issues are items I was particularly interested in hearing about. Then the MP Paul Lynch Minister for Local Government finished of the days discussion with a light presentation which mainly consisted of question time.
I find these type of information days a valuable resource in my role as a Councillor. The topics are pertinent and there are ample opportunities to tap into the skilled speakers that are on hand. Thanks Marsdens Law Group.
Dr Porges and I travelled to Bathurst to address the Combined Pensioners and Superannuates' Association. We had the opportunity to speak with the audience about the statistical findings for the future of patients suffering cancer. In particular the impacts on the individuals and their families who needed to travel to Sydney, Canberra or Wagga Wagga for Radio-Therapy treatment. Dr Porges explained that in some cases patients were electing to have radical surgery because they cant manage or cope financially with the length of time needed to be away from home for radio-therapy treatment (anything up to 7 weeks at a time).
The statistics give a true understanding of the position that rural people are placed in because of a lack of services in rural areas. There has been a letter of support from the Federal and State Health Ministers but it is a letter of commitment that is really needed. Cancer Care Western NSW Board members are available to do presentations to Government organisations, businesses and service groups in fact any one who feels they need to gain information and possibly be looking at helping with fundraising.
Which leads me to the tremendous support we received from the Combined Pensioners and Superannuates Association. On completion of our presentation we were given a cheque to further help with our fundraising efforts for accommodation. There isn't a figure to date on the amount needed to be raised for the accommodation as we are waiting on more detail from the government before we set a target figure. We feel privileged to have the support of this wonderful group of people.
If you have a particular interest to learn more about the problem that rural people face at this time then please send me an email with your details and we will see what we can organise in the way of a presentation or information. We welcome community groups fundraising for this cause.
We as Councillors had the opportunity to meet with the staff and students from the Rural Health school.
So this invitation I accepted. Councillors speak often about the importance of making new professionals welcome especially in the health industry. We have the major referral centre in Orange for Central West NSW so naturally we would like to make potential future health professionals welcome. If was nice speaking with the students and hearing of their likes for our city, we can learn a great deal from these opportunities to network.
Our Mayor John Davis emphasised the welcome to Orange for the students and encouraged them to contact Council if they need help with information. The Mayor spoke with pride about all the services we have available in our wonderful city and delighted the audience with a final joke.
Welcome to the students and I look forward to working with you in my nursing capacity.
What a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I met with the Consul General prior to the Philippine flag being raised and then joined in with the National Anthem in both English and Philippine. We moved over to Orange City Library where I formalised the welcome from Council and our Community. There was a large number of people in attendance who showed great support. The Consul General handed to Orange City Library a package of reading material for the public to utilise. So for those keen readers I understand the books are available.
For the social component and it certainly was a social afternoon there were several displays. The Mayor of Orange John Davis spoke about Councils support and the Consul General expressed her enjoyment of visiting Orange again and the partnership retained. We then went on to see a variety of dancing and costumes along with a Martial Arts Display where we were shown routines and board breaking (yes wooden boards). Two young ladies sang to us with a song they had produced themselves. As if that wasn't enough we were then treated to some wonderful food and delicacies. I could have almost stayed there for the night it was such an enjoyable event.
The people who organised the event should be given due credit it was such a treat to be a part of another culture and meet with such lovely people.
The first official event for the new young club “The Orange Rotary CBD club”. At Newstead Bowling club people were invited to dinner and two guest speakers. For those feeling lucky you could also have the opportunity of winning a lucky door prize or a raffle prize.
We had a meal fit for a King cooked by NJAC which stands for “Not Just A Café”. This is an organisation which was set up some time back for marginalised Youth who were given the opportunity to learn many skills to do with running a business, hospitality and public relations. Alysha gave a well informed speech on how the organisation was first set up and since then has grown and continues to run.
This was an extremely special event for me; you see I was one of the first recipients of the Marjorie Clair Commin's Scholarship provided by the Swains. This scholarship was the difference between me being able to complete my nursing degree or not. The Swains have since provided the scholarship every year. Mrs Swain has been an active member at the University at to both Mr and Mrs Swain I congratulate them both on the honour of having the Nursing Building named after them. I was given the opportunity to speak as a recipient and gave my sincere thanks and admiration to the Swains for being such incredibly caring, supportive and devoted people in supporting nursing and nursing students. Two absolutely wonderful people who are very deserving of this honour.
What a wonderfully supportive group of ladies and of course the Co-ordinators for Home Start Mums. Well it is not enough for them to give up their time to help mums in times of need they have extended their arm out and fundraised for the Cancer Council Biggest Morning Tea event also. What a lovely group of ladies and what fine talents and food they prepared. My son Tristan and I met some lovely people and totally enjoyed the morning’s activities. Well done and I do hope you raised plenty of money.
My husband and I were invited to the Telstra Woman’s Business Awards workshop in Sydney just recently. We had the opportunity to learn about the winners from last year and how this award in the different categories has helped to change business women’s lives. Our web-site Australian Family Matters has been entered into one of the categories. What now, well it will be the completion of the entry form and awaiting the evaluation process. We believe our web-site is important as it allows people to network and support each other while providing resources both in the Orange district and throughout Australia. Electronic communication is a great way to stay in touch and we feel our site gives people the opportunity to stay in touch any time of the day. We will keep you updated on the progress.
Cancer Care Western NSW along with Orange City Council and the Cancer Council has been active in producing a DVD to tell the story of people and the effects that occur when seeking Radio-Therapy treatment. The unfortunate truth is that Country NSW people need to travel great distances for treatment either to Canberra, Wagga Wagga or Sydney. This is causing some tragic outcomes in that some people are requesting amputation or refusing treatment.
There have been many people involved in the initial lobbying to State and Federal Government seeking their support in building a Radio-Therapy unit in conjunction with the New Base Hospital for Orange. It is pleasing to see that letters have been received from both parties confirming their support along with our local Members of Parliament and Councillors.
The DVD which has been filmed over the past 6 weeks has now been edited and will be launched on the 2nd of June. The stories on the DVD are well worth viewing to understand the sheer impact that distance is causing. Should you like to have a guest speaker or view the DVD please contact me so we can discuss this further. The DVD will allow us the opportunity to fundraise for the accommodation and educate individuals and organisations on Radio- Therapy Treatment. Watch this space because you will hear about it more in the future.
Australian Local Government Women’s Association (NSW) Annual Conference - May 3rd to 6th 2007
Since being elected in 2004 to Council I have been a member of the Australian Local Government Women's Association. I have attended the past two Australian Local Government Women’s Associations (ALGWA) NSW Annual Conferences. I was able this year thanks to my fellow Councillors to attend the 2007 conference. This is a valuable event and resource in my role as a Councillor in Local Government. Sixty delegates representing more than 30 Local Government areas in NSW attended the conference of the Association which has been running for 53 years.
The conference was held at the Lismore Workers Club which is well situated in the main street, close to motels and shops. It was well organised and the keynote speakers were from a variety of different areas of interest and backgrounds.
Cr Sue Page from Penrith City Councill was the President of the Association in 2006/07. She remained elected to the position during the conference.
The keynote address was from Professor Colleen Cartwright, Southern Cross University and she spoke on changing demographics: an ageing population and the challenges for women. In particular there was discussion on the positive impact that could be achieved by keeping retirees in the work force for longer in a mentoring/ skills assisting role. Margot Sweeny spoke about “Living with change or Living to change”? And gave some examples.
Outcomes Local Government Reform Proposals: A representative from the Department of Local Government spoke about a new direction for local Government and planning a sustainable future. This was followed with Hotspots which always brings out the discussion of all members. A hot topic for discussion was the Local Government Minister's announcement that Councillors would have to undergo professional development courses within six months of election. Some delegates believed that this was an important issue but training should be linked to annual Councillor performance reviews, similar to those expected of employees.
The delegates said they believed all Councillors should be offered training but there level of expertise was different and there was a need to offer individual development opportunities.
These could be linked to a review which involved the Councillors:
Personal development, eg dealing with difficult people, conducting meetings
Skills eg media, financial
Knowledge of Local Government and State legislation eg Planning
Commitment to Community eg. attendance at meetings, community involvement
The behaviour of Councillors, State and Federal Government politicians was questioned again. The introduction of the Code of Conduct and Ethics Committee was discussed and many delegates believed it was a good start but needed to be enforced across all levels of Government if it was to be successful in raising the standard of behaviour.
The afternoon concluded with a tour of the Northern Rivers Waste Depot and viewing of the worm farm, revolve centre, recycling depot and the Botanical Gardens Sites with a commentary as to the workings of each area and who were involved in the running and maintenance of each area.
The second day commenced with a guided tour on foot around the streets of Lismore with reference to culture, history and significance of tiles placed in the footpaths throughout the town. Back at the venue voting for the 2009 conference location took place. Cr Dariea Turrley National member of ALGWA spoke about the actions planned at a national level.
Shauna McIntyre from Lismore City Council spoke about their “Living Library” where people come to the library to be both books about different ways of life and lifestyles and to borrow the living books and spend half an hour at a time learning about how these people live. It was really interesting to listen to and there was also the opportunity to experience this service yourself. Apparently it is a hit with the Lismore community and they have been contacted from other council areas wanting to learn how to carry this out in their own towns.
The Keynote address was from The Hon Linda Burney Minister for Fair Trading, Minister for Youth and Minister for Volunteering. She spoke about strategies to elect women to be representative bodies and also about the struggles that some women have. There was reference made to the low amount of women representation in executive roles and what the possible reasoning could be. This was followed by a workshop held by Jan Strom who spoke about the Councillors conundrum: Community Representative or Represent Community. The last workshop was conducted by Cr Ros Irwin who spoke about “Dancing in the Lions Den- Women Leaders in Local Government in Five Countries” and there was reference and examples given to the different leadership styles in each country.
The afternoon concluded with the voting for executives in which I was nominated and voted in along with a further 8 delegates as an executive member for the Australian Local Government Women’s Association. A delegate’s bus tour of Lismore and surrounding areas finished of the afternoon nicely. We were shown some of the sights and in particular the Koala sanctuary, University located within a rainforest area and an extensive herb garden.
The official dinner provided a guest speaker called Di Morrissey who has worked in the media industry for many years and written several books. Her speech was titled “Life’s Journeys- People, place and spirit play an important role in all our life journeys”. Di started her dream to become an author at the age of eight and not until the age of 40 was able to fulfil that dream. The following day concluded with a walk along the Wilson River, summary of the conference outcomes and the ALGWA executive meeting.
The Conference was a great opportunity to learn more about the workings of Local Government, changes to legislation as well as establishing strong networking with Councillors from other Councils.
Cr Fiona Rossiter
