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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

On 23 November 1849, Dubbo was officially gazetted as a Village. After names such as Oxley; Dulhunty and Serisier had been involved in the very early days, this was the day that Dubbo officially came into existence. The next census listed the Dubbo p…

After several years of local government reform and meetings; discussions; forums; reviews and panel discussions, today marks the final day allowed by the State Government to state a Council’s final position in relation to amalgamation options. …

The majority of our residents were not alive when the Great War was being fought and it is often difficult for residents (including myself) in our modern society to fully understand the implications of World War I on Australia’s early history. …

On Monday this week we had a very productive meeting involving Wellington Shire Council; Narromine Shire Council and Dubbo City Council. The Mayors and General Managers of the three Councils met to discuss information from the IPART report and the ne…

There is one thing that always brings a smile to my face. Community involvement. It is one of many strengths that Dubbo has. I have mentioned many times the wonderful asset we have called the Tracker-Riley Cycleway. There are many people in our commu…

Yesterday I had the great honour of marching 30km into Dubbo with the Coo-ee March re-enactment. What a great way to commemorate 100 years Anzac. The group will continue to march today and for many days until they finally end up in Sydney on 11 Novem…

After being on the bike last week with the Tour de OROC, I have spent the first two days this week at the annual LGNSW conference. It will be good to spend a few days in Dubbo for the rest of this week. The annual local government conference is essen…

As you read this, I will be well on my way to Bourke having stayed at Cobar last night. There is nothing particularly unusual about that – many people travel the Kidman Way each day. The major difference is that I will be doing this on a bicycl…

Dubbo has many strings to its bow but there is no doubt the constant visitation to our city is a major contributor to our economy. We are gaining an excellent reputation as a city that can host events from small to large. With accommodation variety a…

Congratulations to Councillors Kevin Parker and John Walkom who were elected to the important committee chair positions on Monday night. Thanks also to Councillor Lyn Griffiths who had served with distinction in the Chair’s position for the pre…

In a close vote, I made it through my Mayoral election last week which gives me the opportunity to lead this city for one more year. Thank you to the incredibly strong show of support I received from throughout the community and thank you to my fello…

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…