REAL ENGAGEMENT
We need to see real engagement, not just surface level consultations. We’ve become accustomed to community often being encouraged to engage with council operations, and unfortunately all too often they walk away feeling as if their opinions were not valued.
Not only within the organisation, but as individual councillors, it’s important to see real engagement with the community – having normal conversations that feel productive for the community and feed into the capacity of council to deliver great outcomes for our regions.
I’ve made it clear in the past, if elected this would be my full-time commitment, I don’t intend to treat the role or our communities as a side-role or hobby, as so often happens. Instead, my time will be allocated to truly engaging with the communities of Mooroopna, Toolamba, Murchison, Dhurringile, Arcadia and surrounds.
Community is at the heart of everything that a council should do, decisions cannot be made for community without community involved.
Rowan Farren
Candidate for Goulburn River Ward
POLITICS ARE HURTING FARMERS
Dear Editor,
Australians are in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis, with no light at the end of the tunnel. But how many people realise we are not going to see that light until we address the issues that are exacerbating the crisis, in particular lack of support for our core industries of mining and agriculture?
While many things change, our nation’s reliance on mining and agriculture has been a constant for centuries, yet we now have a Federal Government trying to ‘kill the golden goose’.
Tuesday, September 10, farmers gathered in Canberra to protest what some are calling the most anti-agriculture government in Australia’s history. Numerous policies are hurting farmers, and when we make it more difficult to grow food the cost at the supermarket naturally increases.
There are many examples, none more stark than Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s insistence on water buybacks, which are not needed and will further reduce production, cost thousands of jobs and severely impact rural communities. These are all proven facts yet are ignored by a Minister with insufficient knowledge of her portfolio or the unintended consequences of her ill-informed decisions.
Likewise, we see mining proposals jeopardised or halted, with the Blayney gold mine a prime example of the same Minister’s interference for political reasons, yet at our nation’s expense.
If Australia wants to claw its way back to being ‘the lucky country’, we could start by supporting the agriculture and mining industries that have sustained us for generations, instead of doing everything possible to reduce their productivity or shut them down, which is what we are seeing from the Albanese Government.
Yours faithfully,
Stephen Ball
Mayrung, NSW
