G’day folks,
August has been busy so far. After a week in Parliament, it was back on the road for committee hearings in the Far West, then back to Sydney for events there. Next week I am headed for an important meeting in Wee Waa, part of the process of moving toward restoring the hospital there to full operational hours, but there will be a few stops in between.
Wee Waa Hospital
Things are moving on the issue of Wee Waa Hospital. During the sitting week there was a bit of discussion of Wee Waa Hospital in the chamber, there was also a temporary return to 24 hour operations at the hospital during the recent flood and last week members of the Committee on Community Services held hearings in Narrabri for its inquiry into my Health Services Amendment (Splitting of the Hunter New England Health District) Bill 2025.
During the sitting week I also asked the Health Minister, Ryan Park, during Question Time if he could provide an update on the progress of restoring the Wee Waa Health Service to a 24‑hour, fully functioning hospital with access to an onsite doctor. In his answer he specified that at the core of the independent review recommendations was that the hospital would return to 24-hour operations and establish a “community health committee that will help drive the implementation of those recommendations.” A couple of days later, in answer to another question about the government closing the Wee Waa Emergency department he said, “the problem with the question is that it infers that the Government is shutting the emergency department, but no decision has been made in relation to that.” He stressed that there would be a community meeting on August 25 to work on the process of building on those recommendations.
There are people spreading fear and misinformation about the recommendations. This is all part of a process of restoring services to the hospital, which will involve community consultation at every step of the way.
Private Members Statement on Civics
During the sitting week I delivered a Private Members Statement talking about the importance of civics. I spoke about how the secondary students who come to visit Parliament every year for the Student Leadership Program are generally well informed about civics, but they also get a bit of a better understanding of how our state government works as part of that program. But not everyone is as well informed. Studies have shown that knowledge of civics is declining, which is a serious threat to democracy – if you don’t understand the way the government works it makes it easier for people to manipulate opinion against our democratic institutions.
If you aren’t familiar with the word, civics is a knowledge and understanding of the levels of government – local, state, federal and even global – how they operate, as well as the rights and duties of a citizen. It also takes in the legal frameworks we work within and the ways that we can become active community members within our democratic system and in the wider world.
To some it might sound a bit dry, but a knowledge of civics can go a long way toward helping a person understand the way the world works, what things they need to be doing, and what they are allowed to do, as citizens and what they can be doing to advocate for change in society.
A working knowledge of our three-tiered system of government makes it easier for people to find the right person to deal with their issues at a local, state or federal level and makes the processes of interacting with government much more comprehensible. If the government is more comprehensible and accessible people are more inclined to trust its processes. That lack of trust in government is eroding the foundations of our democracy.
From this week on, in this newsletter I will offer some basic facts about all levels of government and how they operate that will help build a knowledge of civics. The first is a basic overview of the local level of government – councils.
Civics: Three levels of government in Australia- Councils
Australia has three levels of government – Shire councils, State Parliament and the Federal Parliament. At the local level in NSW there are 128 councils, with councillors elected every four years, each council is presided over by a mayor elected by the councillors.
Councillors are usually prominent community members, businesspeople, activists, or people who in community organisations, elected to represent the views and interests of people living in the council area. They participate at council meetings and help to shape council policy. They do not work full-time for the council and are paid an annual fee not a salary to compensate them for the time they spend working on council business, the General Manager and council staff are responsible for the daily operation and delivery of services.
Councils have responsibility for a range of things like waste management, local roads, planning and development, community services and managing the local environment. Councils can also make and enforce local regulations or “by-laws” regarding some of their areas of responsibility such as development, pet ownership, waste management, and parking. These by-laws are subordinate to state and federal laws.
The number of council members varies in each council depending on the population size and the structure of its electoral divisions or wards. Councils derive money for operation and services they provide primarily from rates collected from every registered voter in the council’s area, but in areas that are more sparsely populated the council’s rates are supplemented by State and Federal government funding, including grants.
Councils are regulated by the Office of Local Government, which sits under the Minister for Local Government, in the State Government.
To find out more about councils and their responsibilities see https://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/public/about-councils/
Far West Power Outage Inquiry Report
In the August sitting week, the Report of the Committee on Environment and Planning on ‘The electricity outages affecting Far West NSW in October 2024’ was tabled in NSW Parliament.
I had a fair bit of involvement with the inquiry, referring to the committee, developing the terms of reference, making a submission and appearing as a witness at one of the hearings.
When it was tabled, I gave a contribution to the take note debate (more an acknowledgement of the report than an actual debate) thanking everyone who took the time to make a submission or to give evidence at the hearings.
One of the major findings was the lack of redundancy in the system and why that was the case. It highlights the need to expedite the connection of solar and wind projects and the battery energy storage system — or BESS — into the existing system to help with the reliable delivery of energy in the region. We also need to work on the problems with insurance, because peoples’ experiences with insurance companies as a result of this event were very inconsistent.
There are still ongoing investigations by the Australian Energy Regulator and the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, so we wait with interest to see what they find.
This inquiry was very important to me and to the people of the Far West who lost power and subsequently much more in the weeks that followed. Inquiries like this help us gain a better understanding of how and why, and hopefully, help us plan for the future.
Thanks to Clayton Barr, his committee and the secretariat for their work and attention to this inquiry.
You can read the report here https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inquiries/Pages/inquiry-details.aspx?pk=3084
IIRD Committee hearings
Last week I travelled to Menindee, Wilcannia and Broken Hill, as chair of the Industry, Investment and Regional Development Committee, for more hearings into the effects of the Impacts of the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Act 2023 on NSW regional communities.
There was a range of evidence given from community groups, businesses and local councils including South West Water Users Association, Menindee community members, Wilcannia Tourism Association, Wilcannia Local Aboriginal Land Council, Wilcannia Community Working Party and Barkandji Prescribed Body Corporate Ranger, Australian Floodplain Association, Broken Hill City Council, Pastoralists’ Association of West Darling, Barkandji Native Title Group Aboriginal Corporation and Tolarno Station.
I want to thank everyone involved – the committee members for making the trip out west, the committee secretariat, Hansard, and everyone who helped with the conduct of the hearings and the Streaming Guys for their technical support. I also want to thank all of the witnesses for taking the time to present evidence.
There will be more hearings in the northern basin before the committee delivers its report. I will keep you posted about future hearings and the results of the inquiry.
Public Service job losses in regional areas
Over the last month we have heard news about job cuts to the public service in the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and in WaterNSW, which will mean job losses in regional areas.
During the sitting week I delivered a Notice of Motion focusing on the impact of these job losses.
In it I called on the house to “object to the announced job losses in regional government departments.” I also asked that they note that well-paid government jobs help drought-proof communities in dry times. The money paid to public servants based in country towns helps support local businesses.
The notice also said that the government also needs to “consider the impact on good policy development when local voices are lost from regional departments.”
It asked the government to acknowledge the losses of public servants based in the bush “reduced capacity to respond to significant events in remote, rural and regional communities.”
The last point of my notice was to urge the Government “to maintain overall full-time equivalent employment to protect regional communities.”
Indian Independence Anniversary function
One of the functions I went to, after returning from the committee hearings in the Far West, was an event celebrating the 79th anniversary of India’s independence at the Sydney ICC. The event was also attended by the Indian Consul General, along with other MPs, past and present, including the Premier Chris Minns and Opposition Leader Mark Speakman.
Indian won its independence from British Colonial rule on August 15, 1947, becoming the world’s biggest democracy. Australia’s relationship with the nation has evolved and grown ever since.
Recently I hosted the Indian Consul General and members of the Australia India Business Council in Barwon with the potential for investment and certain value ad mutually beneficial projects. Work on those projects is ongoing and there will be another visit to the electorate soon.
Australia is home to around a million Indian-born people and a significant number of people living in Australia have Indian heritage, including many in Barwon. It makes India a very important partner in the region, economically, culturally and politically.
Story tellers go Heywire
Everywhere I travel in the electorate I hear some compelling stories. Stories of triumphs, tragedies, resilience, ingenuity, pride, loyalty, independence and community. I think people from the bush have a great tradition of telling tales, the best ones are true stories.
Every year the ABC’s Heywire competition highlights that tradition, asking people aged 16-22 to tell a true story, in whatever form suits them best – text, video or audio. Last year one of the winners was Jezabella from Broken Hill who told her story of her journey of finding her identity through singing, rising above society’s label of being a person living with a disability.
So if you have a true story, I urge you to enter the competition.
For details go to https://www.abc.net.au/heywire
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