Mayoral Column

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…

On Monday night we saw a textbook example of the benefits of a modern democracy combined with an open progressive Council. There has been significant discussion in this newspaper; on radio; on social media and in pubs and lounge rooms throughout the …

I am currently sitting in chilly Canberra (5°C last night) attending the annual National General Assembly which is a gathering of all 565 Councils from across the nation. This is an opportunity to hear from our Federal politicians (such as Warren…

Forget submissions closing last Friday on our $160 million Operational Plan and Budget for the next year or Ignite our Centre ideas or even the most significant reform of Local Government since 1993, Fit for the Future, all anyone has been able to ta…

Thanks to our Deputy Premier, the Hon. Troy Grant MP, I am at Parliament House today meeting with the Minister for Regional Development, the Hon. John Barilaro MP, to push for funding for Evocities. The Evocities concept was launched on 22 September …

This Thursday sees the 45th time that local and regional talent in Dance; Vocal; Instrumental; Speech and Drama will be showcased in a multi-week extravaganza. The annual Dubbo Eisteddfod starts tomorrow and will continue on for 24 days. The City of …

Congratulations to the Dubbo Show Society for once again putting on a magnificent show over the weekend. It was certainly helped by the fact that the weather was beautiful and the crowds reflected the hard work put in by the Show Society. It is also …

On 6 May 2010, the Rudd Government released an implementation study on the NBN. By 18 August 2010, Mayor Allan Smith, General Manager Mark Riley and myself managed to be seated at NBN Co. headquarters in Sydney to push the case for Dubbo to be includ…

The Dubbo 2036 process has been rewarding for all those involved – in particular for the community. To provide a snapshot of how far we’ve come so far to realise the community’s vision for Dubbo, I will deliver the inaugural ‘…

On 18 August 2005, Linton Besser wrote a story for the Daily Liberal explaining that I was committed to pushing Council to use hybrid vehicles. The hybrid concept was very new at the time (I had purchased one the previous year for my business), the e…