May 2007: 29th May 2007

Mothers Union Orange- Public Speaking

Rotary Function for new club CBD Orange-Newstead Bowling Club - 25th May 2007

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.

Celebration for the naming of the School of Nursing and Midwifery in Honour of Sheila Swain - 25th May 2007

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.

Biggest Morning Tea- Home Start Mums Orange - 24th May 2007

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.

Telstra Business Awards- Sydney - 23rd May2007

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.

Visit to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital- 7th May 2007

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 2^nd 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- Lismore 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th May 2007

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

Citizenship Ceremony- Orange Council Chambers - 1st May 2007

What an amazing turnout. There were 23 people if my memory serves me right and five of them were children. The Mayor John Davis conducted the ceremony and then each of the people awaiting naturalisation read out their pledge. The event concluded with the Australian National Anthem and a drink and food to allow us to get together and chat. The Mayor gave the children the opportunity to wear his chain and this of course is quite exciting for them.

There were a mix of nationalities and a commemorative coin for each person to keep. We feel very proud during these ceremonies and in knowing that people have chosen Orange as their home.