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Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 233: 9 March 2016

Mayoral Column

There was incredible pressure on some of our Engineering staff yesterday. Forget a $23.5 million Sewage Treatment Plant Augmentation or a ten-year Village sealing program. I had Shivani, Jey and Kuljeet – three of our young Engineers – wi…

2016

Dubbo is on the MONEY: Weekender Column 101

Helicopter View

Avid readers of my column out there (hi Mum) would remember Column 68 which was published in Weekender at the end of October 2014. In that column I introduced a concept that I called MONEY. MONEY was not what we normally think of as money, but instea…

2016

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 232: 2 March 2016

Mayoral Column

The Romans are generally recognised as pioneers in ancient plumbing systems. The Roman Empire can lay claim to many advances in society but it is generally recognised that the most significant contribution to our modern society was in relation to san…

2016

Adequate Is Not Adequate

Small Business Ru!e of the Month

Many people have approached me over the years and have asked for some advice on their business. “What am I doing wrong?” they often ask. In their opinion, their pricing is competitive, and their stock is at the right level and of t…

2016

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 231: 24 February 2016

Mayoral Column

Thankfully this is the last week you will hear me talk about formal submissions to our Delegate Dr Ian Tiley. Submissions close on Sunday 28 February at 5pm. I can’t stress it enough – it is essential that every man, woman and child sends…

2016

Is past behaviour an indicator of future performance? Weekender Column 100

Helicopter View

I thought I might put my hand up for the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year. I could put together a pretty good document telling the franchises about the wonderful feats I could perform for them if they secured my services in the auction. The high…

2016

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 230: 17 February 2016

Mayoral Column

The French expression, fait accompli, comes from fait (a fact) and accompli (accomplished) and is generally understood to mean that something has already been done and cannot be reversed. It is an ‘accomplished fact’. I don’t mean t…

2016

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 229: 10 February 2016

Mayoral Column

Thank you to the people of Dubbo for turning up in numbers last Thursday. That was the day, of course, that the State Government held public meetings in Dubbo and Wellington in relation to the proposal to amalgamate the two Council areas. There were …

2016

What is true public consultation? Weekender Column 99

Helicopter View

I am currently sitting at the end of the nervous nineties with this column being my ninety ninth Weekender column as Mayor. If my name was Shane Watson I would somehow manage to make this my last column! Who knows – with the current State Gover…

2016

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 228: 3 February 2016

Mayoral Column

Tomorrow is a big day. I will be risking everything and putting my life on the line for the benefit of Dubbo. To help promote the opening round of the Australian Kart Championships this weekend, I will be strapped into a racing kart and then hurtle a…

2016

Our Ear-to-Mouth Ratio is 2:1

Small Business Ru!e of the Month

Listening is the greatest single action we can take to improve our businesses. Some say that great salespeople have the “gift of the gab,” but in contrast, great salespeople and leaders know how to listen. Handling complaints is a particu…

2016

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 227: 27 January 2016

Mayoral Column

Thank you to the people of Dubbo who turned out in huge numbers yesterday. With at least 650 people present at our Australia Day celebrations, I can confidently say that it was the best attended Australia Day ceremony ever in Dubbo. Yesterday was cer…

2016

Admitting to mistakes: Weekender Column 98

Helicopter View

Newsflash! Humans are fallible. Some may like to think otherwise but it has been proven a few times in the past that we all make mistakes. Organisations, including Government organisations, are made up of humans. It would therefore stand to reason th…

2016

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 226: 20 January 2016

Mayoral Column

It was a great day for Dubbo yesterday with the Premier, the Hon. Mike Baird, MP officially opening the new clinical services building at Dubbo Hospital. This was a jointly funded project with the NSW Government providing $84.2 million and the Austra…

2016

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 225: 13 January 2016

Mayoral Column

While the year has started off positively for Dubbo with businesses generally recording good Christmas sales numbers and events and projects for this year starting to roll out already, it is hard to think about long-term strategies and positive progr…

2016

What skills are needed by leaders and what is intelligence: Weekender Column 97

Helicopter View

Over the last few months of last year and particularly over the Christmas break, we have seen a number of incidents involving representatives from all three levels of government that have ranged from questionable to thoroughly disappointing. It start…

2016

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 224: 6 January 2016

Mayoral Column

As a city, we start the New Year in fantastic shape. Last year – by a number of measures – was generally regarded as the best year ever for Dubbo and Dubbo City Council. We therefore start this year in a very strong position with a number…

2016

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 223: 30 December 2015

Mayoral Column

The last column for the year. Around this time we see news and columns dedicate space and airtime to a review of the year. Far be it for me to be any different, so here is my very short version of the Dubbo City Council Year in Review. On the sportin…

2015

Daily Liberal Mayoral Column 222: 23 December 2015

Mayoral Column

We held our final Council meeting for the year on Monday night. While there was a lot of goodwill at that meeting and it was generally recognised by Councillors and staff that this was the best year ever for Dubbo City Council (and I will give a year…

2015