Helicopter View

We are at the end of the first week of the HSC for 2015 and I must say that I am a little disappointed by the current methodology employed by the Board of Studies. There is a huge emphasis placed on averaging your performance over an extended period …

World renowned cultural anthropologist, Margaret Mead, once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Seth Godin, marketer extraordinair…

As part of a process that started at the beginning of this Council term, the State Government made it mandatory for every Council to create a long-term strategic plan for their LGA. This ‘Community Strategic Plan’ had to look forward at l…

Can the NBN save regional Australia? Does regional Australia even need saving? Is the lack of the NBN rollout in regional Australia just one of the symptoms of the general malaise in relation to regional infrastructure that governments have demonstra…

We all make decisions every day. Do I get out of bed? Do I have toast or cereal? Do I bother to watch the last Ashes Test after the embarrassing defeat in the fourth Test? These are all decisions which don’t require a lot of thought and the con…

Evocities is the saviour of regional Australia! It might seem like an extraordinary statement but I firmly believe that Evocities – and other programs that perform similar roles in other States – are required to see long-term growth in re…

Maybe it is just because I am more attuned to it or maybe it is reality – but there seems to have been a significant amount of discussion lately in relation to regional areas and the focus for more people and investment to go to regional areas….

Councils across the state had to submit their Fit for the Future submissions this week. With our submission alone consisting of 111 pages, and with 152 Councils across the State preparing documents of a similar size, the State Government would have r…

Having just returned from Canberra, where all 565 Councils from across the nation gather each year at the National General Assembly, the helicopter view of Councils is firmly in my mind. When you sit down and speak with Mayors from every part of Aust…

Marketing. Just the word conjures up images of people with pointy shoes that spell their names in strange ways. Conjures is probably a good word there – marketing can sometimes seem like dark magic with money disappearing into a black hole with…

At the moment the National Ice Taskforce is consulting around the country with Senator Fiona Nash in Dubbo this week. We hear that the nation is in the grip of an ice epidemic or perhaps even worse – a pandemic. I have two thoughts on this. Fir…

The ability to fail is an important ingredient in any organisation. That may sound like a crazy statement. Surely you want the ability to succeed rather than fail. In a utopian world, sure, succeeding at everything you do sounds fantastic. But the re…

As many people would know, I have had to spend some time in hospital over the last week. We live in an incredibly lucky country and at no stage did I have any concerns about my health and I knew that I would be cared for. From my fellow racers who st…

Where should Councils stand on paying for major events to come to their City? It is a perplexing issue and one that seems to be brought up more and more. At the heart of the issue is the difference between the Council bottom line and the injection of…

Last week I had the opportunity to spruik the benefits of Dubbo on a Sydney radio station. The interview was going quite well and the two presenters asked relevant and sensible questions about Dubbo until…until the question that went along the…

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time. There is no doubt in my mind that democracy isn’t perfect and one area where potential hazards exist is in the ar…

I love my sport. I have never been a particularly talented sportsperson but, over the years, I have enjoyed doing my individual best in a competitive environment in a range of sports including cricket (indoor and outdoor); rugby league; rugby union; …

Way back in the early eighties, my brother owned a VW Kombi van. It was a classic mustard colour and I can distinctly remember, when I was lucky enough to be allowed to sit in the front seat, that other Kombi drivers used to be very keen to wave to u…

Let me start off my first column of the New Year with two major admissions. Firstly, I support the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. I have followed them since as far back as I can remember. My earliest memories were of Manly being an attractive and creati…