Blog

With the Mayoral election being held tomorrow, this may well be my last column as Mayor. Although I know that I have put 110 per cent into the role and I believe that I have met my number one criteria for the position (leaving the city in a better st…

I participated in a Council workshop on Monday night to discuss Evocities and a range of issues related to Fit for the Future. That doesn’t seem like that big a deal – Council holds a variety of workshops on various issues on an ongoing b…

I am in Albury today delivering a presentation at the Australian Regional Development Conference with a focus on the NBN helping to drive population growth in regional areas. It is a timely presentation as the excitement builds in Dubbo as we see mor…

Keep an eye out at the end of next week for His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) and Lady Cosgrove who will be visiting Dubbo for three days. I have been working with his office for the last five weeks to build a full…

Thank you to the residents of Yarrawonga who again turned up in force on Monday night to our extraordinary meeting to debate the Oaktree development. I spoke to several residents after the meeting and I fully understand that there was disappointment …

Make sure you have a look at the glistening Gold Rhino at the rotunda. This is a collaborative project with the Dubbo Chamber of Commerce to help celebrate the 20th Gold Rhino award which will be handed out this year. The Chamber of Commerce has cont…

You may have noticed some Chinese visitors around Dubbo or at some of the schools in Dubbo over the last week. We had some visitors from our Chinese sister-city, Wujiang, and they had an educational and thoroughly entertaining time in Dubbo. I am sur…

The number one ranked batsman in the world, Stephen Smith, scored his first Test double century four days ago in the second Ashes Test. I will never experience the pleasure of a Test double-century but I am hugely satisfied with this being my two hun…

I am currently attending the July breakfast in the Dubbo Chamber of Commerce CEO Series where Jonathan Ling from GUD Holdings will be the guest CEO. GUD is not necessarily a household name but the company is listed at Number 169 on the ASX200 with a …

An exciting chapter of Dubbo aviation history is being written this morning. The Deputy Mayor, Ben Shields, and myself are flying direct from Brisbane to Dubbo with JETGO. This will be their proving flight for final CASA approval to start passenger o…

On Monday night our Fit for the Future submission was formally ratified by Council and has been submitted. It is now a waiting game to allow IPART to analyse the 152 submissions and the State Government to make final decisions on their direction. I a…