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 operations on 20 July. Initially JETGO will provide Brisbane return flights on Mondays; Wednesdays and Fridays but if our community supports the flights they will look to introduce additional services to cater for the demand. We have been lobbying for many years and I have personally met with seven different airlines to try and encourage these services so it will be very satisfying to sit on the plane for the 65 minutes that it will be in the air. I encourage everyone in the region to support these services and hopefully we can continue to grow our flight network.
It was an honour to be a part of the NAIDOC celebrations in Dubbo yesterday. Council, in conjunction with the Dubbo Aboriginal Community Working Party, works very closely with the Aboriginal Community and I believe we have taken great strides forward in ensuring the Aboriginal Community is an integrated part of our community. Councillor Rod Towney and our employee, Grace Toomey, have done, and will continue to do, a fantastic job.
If you have a budding cartoonist at home over the holidays, send them to the Library this Friday. From 10.30am to midday, Marcelo Baez will convey his fun technique to help 13 to 18 year olds create interesting and compelling comics characters. This is another great example of how our Library continually changes what it offers to ensure it remains relevant.
The next breakfast in the Dubbo Chamber of Commerce CEO Series will be held on Wednesday 15 July where Jonathan Ling from GUD Holdings will be the guest CEO. GUD is not necessarily a household name but the company is listed at 169 on the ASX200 with a market capitalisation of almost $800 million and the brands they own are household names – such as Sunbeam; Davey; Ryco; Dexion and many more. The CEO Series has been incredibly successful so far and I encourage our business community to attend the next event.
Next Wednesday will see an important summit being hosted in Dubbo – the Building Regional Australia Summit. If you have an interest in seeing how regional areas can grow, I encourage you to attend.
Keep an eye on my Mayoral Facebook page (http://facebook.com/MayorOfDubbo) this Saturday as an announcement will be made in relation to a major event that Dubbo has secured for next year.
Councillor Mathew Dickerson
Mayor of the City of Dubbo