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I called a friend’s mobile today and it went to their message service. “Hi. The person you have called is not available. Please leave a short 10 second message after the tone and we’ll send the message as a text.” This message…

Regional areas have an image problem. For metro dwellers, there is a fanciful notion that any location outside ‘the City’ is ‘the Bush’ and our sometimes ill-informed City cousins assume that all of the downtrodden residents o…

For our Anzac Day long weekend I want to play a game of hypotheticals. Let’s pretend I have a spare $2 million of loose change sitting in Council’s coffers and I am struggling to work out what to do with it. Maybe we could distribute the …

I recently had a look at the spread of population density in New South Wales and Victoria from the period of 1911 through to today and I found it absolutely fascinating. In 1911, there were hundreds of small communities in the wheat/sheep belt from M…

I sometimes see things and think to myself, “I just don’t get it!” With the start of another Aussie Rules season, the reporting of AFL scores is currently at the top of my “I just don’t get it” list. Only in AFL is…

I have just scored a hat-trick! I managed to get three green lights on my way to work today! Have you noticed how the term ‘hat-trick’ has been significantly devalued to simply mean the number three? The term was first coined way back in …

I haven’t needed to change a tyre on my car for over 20 years. In that same time, I have had a flat battery that needed a jump-start, I have locked myself out of my car and I have run out of fuel. Yet, I still drive a modern car that has a spar…

As regular readers of this column would know, I am a big cricket fan. One of the lifetime presents I have given each of my children at birth has been an application for membership to the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). With a 12-13 year waiting list to …

I love performing the role of Mayor of this City. It is a wonderful City with great people and I have the chance (I believe) to make a positive difference in our community. I am sure if you spoke to any of the other 151 Mayors across NSW, you would h…

I recently saw an advertisement from an insurance company. It was advertising a “Visiting Friends and Relatives” insurance package for travel insurance. This travel sector only started to be taken seriously in the mid-nineties but there a…

Although in Australia you could argue that you are legally an ‘adult’ at the age of 18, we still place a huge amount of importance on the 21st birthday celebration. It is a significant ‘coming of age’ event and often celebrate…

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” This is a quote from Rosalynn Carter, presumably talking about her husband, Jimmy Carter who was US…

I was listening to the radio during the week and I heard Walgett Principal, Richard Rule, being interviewed in relation to the recent fire at the IGA Supermarket in Walgett. There were two specific items he mentioned that grabbed my attention. Firstl…