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We're trading repairs for housing affordability
We're trading repairs for housing affordability

The Advertiser

time3 days ago

  • Business
  • The Advertiser

We're trading repairs for housing affordability

SINCE 2022, there have been regular flooding events occurring along the entire Australian east coast, from north Queensland through NSW to Victoria. They have resulted in tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed. Houses damaged and destroyed in the Lismore floods of 2022 are still being repaired or rebuilt so that their owners can live in them once more. Flood events since then have occurred in Cairns, Ingham, Townsville, Brisbane, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Taree, the Hunter Valley, the Sydney Basin and areas down the south coast into Victoria. That's all within just two and a half years. All areas hit by such disasters require renovation and rebuilding of people's homes. In the most recent floods, authorities estimate 10,000 houses have been affected. Thousands of tradespeople are engaged in the repair and reconstruction of these homes. With so many tradespeople occupied in these rebuild programs as disasters keep coming, the workforce required to construct the large numbers of new houses to address the general housing shortage just doesn't exist. Trying to train substantial numbers of new tradespeople to address the scale of the shortage seems impossible. It is reasonable to presume that more disasters, such as floods and fires, will provide plenty of ongoing reconstruction work and take large numbers of tradespeople away from new home builds. In two or three years, I expect they will still be repairing and rebuilding homes in Kempsey and Taree. Substantially reducing immigration into Australia for a number of years to allow a catch-up in the workload is required. The problem with that, of course, is that to maintain our economy and standard of living, it is reliant on an ever-increasing level of migration into this country. Many people would be surprised by how important it is to have a high level of immigration occurring on a constant basis. It's very much like an ongoing Ponzi scheme. If you stop, the whole system (economy and living standard) goes into decline. Things are bad enough now, but I believe house prices are going to go up substantially, while availability will plateau, or at least not increase substantially. THE Davidson Report found Newcastle council meetings were too long and overly political, from what I understand. So, at the first council meeting after the report, it felt like all the party politicians lined up to spend two hours attacking the lord mayor. One hour was devoted to recognising the University of Newcastle. It's not that hard to recognise; it's huge. Perhaps a positive is that our elected party politicians are now all voting together, albeit on everything, to drive out any 'non-party' views. They seem united in backing the opposite of lord mayor Ross Kerridge to me. Wow, maybe party politics is dead in Newcastle. HERE go the Boomers again, trying to kill off a proposed tax on super accounts over $3 million. They were successful in defeating changes to negative gearing, franking credits and capital gains tax concessions, so why not? This is a generation for whom university was free, jobs were plentiful, houses were cheap and for many, an era of two-income households. A lot of wealth was created. They are also being supported by the taxpayer in retirement and have their hands out for whatever is on offer. This comes at a terrible cost to younger generations, who see the future as a continual struggle and unfairly carry the tax burden. We have real poverty in Australia, with children who go without, which limits their potential. We have homelessness growing, and people living with insecurity over food, housing and healthcare. It is not good enough and can only be addressed through fair and sweeping tax reform. The Labor government has six years to turn the growing inequality gap around and we must all pay where we can afford to do so. The vulgar displays of wealth in this country show a cohort who have not paid enough tax and don't seem to think they owe society, from which they have done very well, any recompense. The pressure on public hospitals, schools, social housing and welfare is not sustainable. End the bleating from those who can afford to pay. TWO recent opinion pieces made some good points. One by Mark Kenny on party politics, and another on super changes by Jack Thrower. Thrower is an economist with the Australia Institute, which claims to be non-partisan. It was started by former Greens candidate Clive Hamilton and its director, Richard Denniss, is a former senior strategic advisor to Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, who taught at the Newcastle University and the Australian National University (ANU). Mark Kenny also writes for The Canberra Times, a left-centre paper. He is a professor at ANU and a former Fairfax and ABC employee. He is the director of the National Press Club. Their opinions are relevant, but thanks to the Herald, we can look at those opinions with more insight. Mind you, if you want a left-wing opinion, on just about anything, you can get it from the ANU. Even if the City of Newcastle was considered high performing, clearly some common sense is missing in the hard rubbish collection section ("Flooding leads to fight over rubbish", Newcastle Herald 23/5) if poor residents affected by flooding are told to wait and take their rotting rubbish inside. How about organising a priority collection for them? I'm sure those not affected by flooding could wait another week. It's not rocket science. MICHAEL Hinchey is spot on ("The centre is where you must hold", Letters, 28/5). The near-defunct Coalition needs to stop pandering to the climate change deniers (an ever-diminishing minority) and state clearly and categorically that they accept the reality of anthropomorphic climate change. Until they do so, they'll remain an anachronistic irrelevant force in Australian politics. Did 'Macadamus' predict the Coalition band getting back together? They won't pull a crowd, but they don't have to; the band just has to sit back and watch Albo turn into Milli Vanilli. I WONDER if Steve Barnett ("Insurgents are survivors somehow", Letters, 27/5) knows he is talking about old Israeli propaganda, suddenly replaced by 'Hamas is using the food to buy weapons.' From who? The surrounding Israeli Army. Then it changed to 'They are using it to buy war materials'. What, rubble? Then it morphed into selling it to get money from Palestinians. Why, when they can just take the money? None of these things can happen if there is enough food in Gaza to begin with. TO those who pen long, biased political dissertations, I say there's none so blind as those who do not want to see. SINCE 2022, there have been regular flooding events occurring along the entire Australian east coast, from north Queensland through NSW to Victoria. They have resulted in tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed. Houses damaged and destroyed in the Lismore floods of 2022 are still being repaired or rebuilt so that their owners can live in them once more. Flood events since then have occurred in Cairns, Ingham, Townsville, Brisbane, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Taree, the Hunter Valley, the Sydney Basin and areas down the south coast into Victoria. That's all within just two and a half years. All areas hit by such disasters require renovation and rebuilding of people's homes. In the most recent floods, authorities estimate 10,000 houses have been affected. Thousands of tradespeople are engaged in the repair and reconstruction of these homes. With so many tradespeople occupied in these rebuild programs as disasters keep coming, the workforce required to construct the large numbers of new houses to address the general housing shortage just doesn't exist. Trying to train substantial numbers of new tradespeople to address the scale of the shortage seems impossible. It is reasonable to presume that more disasters, such as floods and fires, will provide plenty of ongoing reconstruction work and take large numbers of tradespeople away from new home builds. In two or three years, I expect they will still be repairing and rebuilding homes in Kempsey and Taree. Substantially reducing immigration into Australia for a number of years to allow a catch-up in the workload is required. The problem with that, of course, is that to maintain our economy and standard of living, it is reliant on an ever-increasing level of migration into this country. Many people would be surprised by how important it is to have a high level of immigration occurring on a constant basis. It's very much like an ongoing Ponzi scheme. If you stop, the whole system (economy and living standard) goes into decline. Things are bad enough now, but I believe house prices are going to go up substantially, while availability will plateau, or at least not increase substantially. THE Davidson Report found Newcastle council meetings were too long and overly political, from what I understand. So, at the first council meeting after the report, it felt like all the party politicians lined up to spend two hours attacking the lord mayor. One hour was devoted to recognising the University of Newcastle. It's not that hard to recognise; it's huge. Perhaps a positive is that our elected party politicians are now all voting together, albeit on everything, to drive out any 'non-party' views. They seem united in backing the opposite of lord mayor Ross Kerridge to me. Wow, maybe party politics is dead in Newcastle. HERE go the Boomers again, trying to kill off a proposed tax on super accounts over $3 million. They were successful in defeating changes to negative gearing, franking credits and capital gains tax concessions, so why not? This is a generation for whom university was free, jobs were plentiful, houses were cheap and for many, an era of two-income households. A lot of wealth was created. They are also being supported by the taxpayer in retirement and have their hands out for whatever is on offer. This comes at a terrible cost to younger generations, who see the future as a continual struggle and unfairly carry the tax burden. We have real poverty in Australia, with children who go without, which limits their potential. We have homelessness growing, and people living with insecurity over food, housing and healthcare. It is not good enough and can only be addressed through fair and sweeping tax reform. The Labor government has six years to turn the growing inequality gap around and we must all pay where we can afford to do so. The vulgar displays of wealth in this country show a cohort who have not paid enough tax and don't seem to think they owe society, from which they have done very well, any recompense. The pressure on public hospitals, schools, social housing and welfare is not sustainable. End the bleating from those who can afford to pay. TWO recent opinion pieces made some good points. One by Mark Kenny on party politics, and another on super changes by Jack Thrower. Thrower is an economist with the Australia Institute, which claims to be non-partisan. It was started by former Greens candidate Clive Hamilton and its director, Richard Denniss, is a former senior strategic advisor to Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, who taught at the Newcastle University and the Australian National University (ANU). Mark Kenny also writes for The Canberra Times, a left-centre paper. He is a professor at ANU and a former Fairfax and ABC employee. He is the director of the National Press Club. Their opinions are relevant, but thanks to the Herald, we can look at those opinions with more insight. Mind you, if you want a left-wing opinion, on just about anything, you can get it from the ANU. Even if the City of Newcastle was considered high performing, clearly some common sense is missing in the hard rubbish collection section ("Flooding leads to fight over rubbish", Newcastle Herald 23/5) if poor residents affected by flooding are told to wait and take their rotting rubbish inside. How about organising a priority collection for them? I'm sure those not affected by flooding could wait another week. It's not rocket science. MICHAEL Hinchey is spot on ("The centre is where you must hold", Letters, 28/5). The near-defunct Coalition needs to stop pandering to the climate change deniers (an ever-diminishing minority) and state clearly and categorically that they accept the reality of anthropomorphic climate change. Until they do so, they'll remain an anachronistic irrelevant force in Australian politics. Did 'Macadamus' predict the Coalition band getting back together? They won't pull a crowd, but they don't have to; the band just has to sit back and watch Albo turn into Milli Vanilli. I WONDER if Steve Barnett ("Insurgents are survivors somehow", Letters, 27/5) knows he is talking about old Israeli propaganda, suddenly replaced by 'Hamas is using the food to buy weapons.' From who? The surrounding Israeli Army. Then it changed to 'They are using it to buy war materials'. What, rubble? Then it morphed into selling it to get money from Palestinians. Why, when they can just take the money? None of these things can happen if there is enough food in Gaza to begin with. TO those who pen long, biased political dissertations, I say there's none so blind as those who do not want to see. SINCE 2022, there have been regular flooding events occurring along the entire Australian east coast, from north Queensland through NSW to Victoria. They have resulted in tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed. Houses damaged and destroyed in the Lismore floods of 2022 are still being repaired or rebuilt so that their owners can live in them once more. Flood events since then have occurred in Cairns, Ingham, Townsville, Brisbane, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Taree, the Hunter Valley, the Sydney Basin and areas down the south coast into Victoria. That's all within just two and a half years. All areas hit by such disasters require renovation and rebuilding of people's homes. In the most recent floods, authorities estimate 10,000 houses have been affected. Thousands of tradespeople are engaged in the repair and reconstruction of these homes. With so many tradespeople occupied in these rebuild programs as disasters keep coming, the workforce required to construct the large numbers of new houses to address the general housing shortage just doesn't exist. Trying to train substantial numbers of new tradespeople to address the scale of the shortage seems impossible. It is reasonable to presume that more disasters, such as floods and fires, will provide plenty of ongoing reconstruction work and take large numbers of tradespeople away from new home builds. In two or three years, I expect they will still be repairing and rebuilding homes in Kempsey and Taree. Substantially reducing immigration into Australia for a number of years to allow a catch-up in the workload is required. The problem with that, of course, is that to maintain our economy and standard of living, it is reliant on an ever-increasing level of migration into this country. Many people would be surprised by how important it is to have a high level of immigration occurring on a constant basis. It's very much like an ongoing Ponzi scheme. If you stop, the whole system (economy and living standard) goes into decline. Things are bad enough now, but I believe house prices are going to go up substantially, while availability will plateau, or at least not increase substantially. THE Davidson Report found Newcastle council meetings were too long and overly political, from what I understand. So, at the first council meeting after the report, it felt like all the party politicians lined up to spend two hours attacking the lord mayor. One hour was devoted to recognising the University of Newcastle. It's not that hard to recognise; it's huge. Perhaps a positive is that our elected party politicians are now all voting together, albeit on everything, to drive out any 'non-party' views. They seem united in backing the opposite of lord mayor Ross Kerridge to me. Wow, maybe party politics is dead in Newcastle. HERE go the Boomers again, trying to kill off a proposed tax on super accounts over $3 million. They were successful in defeating changes to negative gearing, franking credits and capital gains tax concessions, so why not? This is a generation for whom university was free, jobs were plentiful, houses were cheap and for many, an era of two-income households. A lot of wealth was created. They are also being supported by the taxpayer in retirement and have their hands out for whatever is on offer. This comes at a terrible cost to younger generations, who see the future as a continual struggle and unfairly carry the tax burden. We have real poverty in Australia, with children who go without, which limits their potential. We have homelessness growing, and people living with insecurity over food, housing and healthcare. It is not good enough and can only be addressed through fair and sweeping tax reform. The Labor government has six years to turn the growing inequality gap around and we must all pay where we can afford to do so. The vulgar displays of wealth in this country show a cohort who have not paid enough tax and don't seem to think they owe society, from which they have done very well, any recompense. The pressure on public hospitals, schools, social housing and welfare is not sustainable. End the bleating from those who can afford to pay. TWO recent opinion pieces made some good points. One by Mark Kenny on party politics, and another on super changes by Jack Thrower. Thrower is an economist with the Australia Institute, which claims to be non-partisan. It was started by former Greens candidate Clive Hamilton and its director, Richard Denniss, is a former senior strategic advisor to Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, who taught at the Newcastle University and the Australian National University (ANU). Mark Kenny also writes for The Canberra Times, a left-centre paper. He is a professor at ANU and a former Fairfax and ABC employee. He is the director of the National Press Club. Their opinions are relevant, but thanks to the Herald, we can look at those opinions with more insight. Mind you, if you want a left-wing opinion, on just about anything, you can get it from the ANU. Even if the City of Newcastle was considered high performing, clearly some common sense is missing in the hard rubbish collection section ("Flooding leads to fight over rubbish", Newcastle Herald 23/5) if poor residents affected by flooding are told to wait and take their rotting rubbish inside. How about organising a priority collection for them? I'm sure those not affected by flooding could wait another week. It's not rocket science. MICHAEL Hinchey is spot on ("The centre is where you must hold", Letters, 28/5). The near-defunct Coalition needs to stop pandering to the climate change deniers (an ever-diminishing minority) and state clearly and categorically that they accept the reality of anthropomorphic climate change. Until they do so, they'll remain an anachronistic irrelevant force in Australian politics. Did 'Macadamus' predict the Coalition band getting back together? They won't pull a crowd, but they don't have to; the band just has to sit back and watch Albo turn into Milli Vanilli. I WONDER if Steve Barnett ("Insurgents are survivors somehow", Letters, 27/5) knows he is talking about old Israeli propaganda, suddenly replaced by 'Hamas is using the food to buy weapons.' From who? The surrounding Israeli Army. Then it changed to 'They are using it to buy war materials'. What, rubble? Then it morphed into selling it to get money from Palestinians. Why, when they can just take the money? None of these things can happen if there is enough food in Gaza to begin with. TO those who pen long, biased political dissertations, I say there's none so blind as those who do not want to see. SINCE 2022, there have been regular flooding events occurring along the entire Australian east coast, from north Queensland through NSW to Victoria. They have resulted in tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed. Houses damaged and destroyed in the Lismore floods of 2022 are still being repaired or rebuilt so that their owners can live in them once more. Flood events since then have occurred in Cairns, Ingham, Townsville, Brisbane, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Taree, the Hunter Valley, the Sydney Basin and areas down the south coast into Victoria. That's all within just two and a half years. All areas hit by such disasters require renovation and rebuilding of people's homes. In the most recent floods, authorities estimate 10,000 houses have been affected. Thousands of tradespeople are engaged in the repair and reconstruction of these homes. With so many tradespeople occupied in these rebuild programs as disasters keep coming, the workforce required to construct the large numbers of new houses to address the general housing shortage just doesn't exist. Trying to train substantial numbers of new tradespeople to address the scale of the shortage seems impossible. It is reasonable to presume that more disasters, such as floods and fires, will provide plenty of ongoing reconstruction work and take large numbers of tradespeople away from new home builds. In two or three years, I expect they will still be repairing and rebuilding homes in Kempsey and Taree. Substantially reducing immigration into Australia for a number of years to allow a catch-up in the workload is required. The problem with that, of course, is that to maintain our economy and standard of living, it is reliant on an ever-increasing level of migration into this country. Many people would be surprised by how important it is to have a high level of immigration occurring on a constant basis. It's very much like an ongoing Ponzi scheme. If you stop, the whole system (economy and living standard) goes into decline. Things are bad enough now, but I believe house prices are going to go up substantially, while availability will plateau, or at least not increase substantially. THE Davidson Report found Newcastle council meetings were too long and overly political, from what I understand. So, at the first council meeting after the report, it felt like all the party politicians lined up to spend two hours attacking the lord mayor. One hour was devoted to recognising the University of Newcastle. It's not that hard to recognise; it's huge. Perhaps a positive is that our elected party politicians are now all voting together, albeit on everything, to drive out any 'non-party' views. They seem united in backing the opposite of lord mayor Ross Kerridge to me. Wow, maybe party politics is dead in Newcastle. HERE go the Boomers again, trying to kill off a proposed tax on super accounts over $3 million. They were successful in defeating changes to negative gearing, franking credits and capital gains tax concessions, so why not? This is a generation for whom university was free, jobs were plentiful, houses were cheap and for many, an era of two-income households. A lot of wealth was created. They are also being supported by the taxpayer in retirement and have their hands out for whatever is on offer. This comes at a terrible cost to younger generations, who see the future as a continual struggle and unfairly carry the tax burden. We have real poverty in Australia, with children who go without, which limits their potential. We have homelessness growing, and people living with insecurity over food, housing and healthcare. It is not good enough and can only be addressed through fair and sweeping tax reform. The Labor government has six years to turn the growing inequality gap around and we must all pay where we can afford to do so. The vulgar displays of wealth in this country show a cohort who have not paid enough tax and don't seem to think they owe society, from which they have done very well, any recompense. The pressure on public hospitals, schools, social housing and welfare is not sustainable. End the bleating from those who can afford to pay. TWO recent opinion pieces made some good points. One by Mark Kenny on party politics, and another on super changes by Jack Thrower. Thrower is an economist with the Australia Institute, which claims to be non-partisan. It was started by former Greens candidate Clive Hamilton and its director, Richard Denniss, is a former senior strategic advisor to Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, who taught at the Newcastle University and the Australian National University (ANU). Mark Kenny also writes for The Canberra Times, a left-centre paper. He is a professor at ANU and a former Fairfax and ABC employee. He is the director of the National Press Club. Their opinions are relevant, but thanks to the Herald, we can look at those opinions with more insight. Mind you, if you want a left-wing opinion, on just about anything, you can get it from the ANU. Even if the City of Newcastle was considered high performing, clearly some common sense is missing in the hard rubbish collection section ("Flooding leads to fight over rubbish", Newcastle Herald 23/5) if poor residents affected by flooding are told to wait and take their rotting rubbish inside. How about organising a priority collection for them? I'm sure those not affected by flooding could wait another week. It's not rocket science. MICHAEL Hinchey is spot on ("The centre is where you must hold", Letters, 28/5). The near-defunct Coalition needs to stop pandering to the climate change deniers (an ever-diminishing minority) and state clearly and categorically that they accept the reality of anthropomorphic climate change. Until they do so, they'll remain an anachronistic irrelevant force in Australian politics. Did 'Macadamus' predict the Coalition band getting back together? They won't pull a crowd, but they don't have to; the band just has to sit back and watch Albo turn into Milli Vanilli. I WONDER if Steve Barnett ("Insurgents are survivors somehow", Letters, 27/5) knows he is talking about old Israeli propaganda, suddenly replaced by 'Hamas is using the food to buy weapons.' From who? The surrounding Israeli Army. Then it changed to 'They are using it to buy war materials'. What, rubble? Then it morphed into selling it to get money from Palestinians. Why, when they can just take the money? None of these things can happen if there is enough food in Gaza to begin with. TO those who pen long, biased political dissertations, I say there's none so blind as those who do not want to see.

Councils join forces to tackle dangerous, criminal behaviour on Fernleigh Track
Councils join forces to tackle dangerous, criminal behaviour on Fernleigh Track

The Advertiser

time28-05-2025

  • The Advertiser

Councils join forces to tackle dangerous, criminal behaviour on Fernleigh Track

NEIGHBOURING councils Newcastle and Lake Macquarie will join forces at a forum aimed at tackling a spate of dangerous and criminal behaviour on the Fernleigh Track. Earlier this month, more than 1000 people walked the track in solidarity at a 'Taking Back Our Paths' event after a number of attacks, incidents of harassment and the reckless use of e-scooters and unregistered trail bikes. City of Newcastle unanimously supported a lord mayoral minute at Tuesday night's meeting to fully participate in the forum to ensure the Fernleigh Track remains "a safe and welcoming environment" for all. Independent lord mayor Ross Kerridge said issues on the Fernleigh Track had become a matter of great public concern. "The proposed outcome is to collectively determine responsibilities and specific strategies to enhance safety measures on and around the track and foster community engagement in these matters," he said. The forum hopes to bring Hunter state politicians, Minister for Women Jodie Harrison and Minister for Police Yasmin Catley, together with representatives from Newcastle and Lake Macquarie councils and community groups, to discuss initiatives to make the Fernleigh Track safer. A petition for a safer Fernleigh Track has received more than 5000 signatures. Labor Cr Paige Johnson joined more than 1000 other Novocastrians at the Taking Back Our Paths event on May 4. "It's pretty simple. Our shared paths should be safe for everyone, it's that simple, really," she said. "The petition attracted a groundswell of support very quickly and got to the 5000 signatures that we see today." A spate of violent incidents on the Fernleigh Track this year has seen fear mount in the community. Cyclists, walkers and joggers have been abused and had rocks thrown at them. Last month, a woman was grabbed from behind and knocked to the ground while running near Whitebridge. There have also been several vandalism incidents, including the theft of an Indigenous canoe sculpture from a newer section of the track at the Belmont Wetland. NEIGHBOURING councils Newcastle and Lake Macquarie will join forces at a forum aimed at tackling a spate of dangerous and criminal behaviour on the Fernleigh Track. Earlier this month, more than 1000 people walked the track in solidarity at a 'Taking Back Our Paths' event after a number of attacks, incidents of harassment and the reckless use of e-scooters and unregistered trail bikes. City of Newcastle unanimously supported a lord mayoral minute at Tuesday night's meeting to fully participate in the forum to ensure the Fernleigh Track remains "a safe and welcoming environment" for all. Independent lord mayor Ross Kerridge said issues on the Fernleigh Track had become a matter of great public concern. "The proposed outcome is to collectively determine responsibilities and specific strategies to enhance safety measures on and around the track and foster community engagement in these matters," he said. The forum hopes to bring Hunter state politicians, Minister for Women Jodie Harrison and Minister for Police Yasmin Catley, together with representatives from Newcastle and Lake Macquarie councils and community groups, to discuss initiatives to make the Fernleigh Track safer. A petition for a safer Fernleigh Track has received more than 5000 signatures. Labor Cr Paige Johnson joined more than 1000 other Novocastrians at the Taking Back Our Paths event on May 4. "It's pretty simple. Our shared paths should be safe for everyone, it's that simple, really," she said. "The petition attracted a groundswell of support very quickly and got to the 5000 signatures that we see today." A spate of violent incidents on the Fernleigh Track this year has seen fear mount in the community. Cyclists, walkers and joggers have been abused and had rocks thrown at them. Last month, a woman was grabbed from behind and knocked to the ground while running near Whitebridge. There have also been several vandalism incidents, including the theft of an Indigenous canoe sculpture from a newer section of the track at the Belmont Wetland. NEIGHBOURING councils Newcastle and Lake Macquarie will join forces at a forum aimed at tackling a spate of dangerous and criminal behaviour on the Fernleigh Track. Earlier this month, more than 1000 people walked the track in solidarity at a 'Taking Back Our Paths' event after a number of attacks, incidents of harassment and the reckless use of e-scooters and unregistered trail bikes. City of Newcastle unanimously supported a lord mayoral minute at Tuesday night's meeting to fully participate in the forum to ensure the Fernleigh Track remains "a safe and welcoming environment" for all. Independent lord mayor Ross Kerridge said issues on the Fernleigh Track had become a matter of great public concern. "The proposed outcome is to collectively determine responsibilities and specific strategies to enhance safety measures on and around the track and foster community engagement in these matters," he said. The forum hopes to bring Hunter state politicians, Minister for Women Jodie Harrison and Minister for Police Yasmin Catley, together with representatives from Newcastle and Lake Macquarie councils and community groups, to discuss initiatives to make the Fernleigh Track safer. A petition for a safer Fernleigh Track has received more than 5000 signatures. Labor Cr Paige Johnson joined more than 1000 other Novocastrians at the Taking Back Our Paths event on May 4. "It's pretty simple. Our shared paths should be safe for everyone, it's that simple, really," she said. "The petition attracted a groundswell of support very quickly and got to the 5000 signatures that we see today." A spate of violent incidents on the Fernleigh Track this year has seen fear mount in the community. Cyclists, walkers and joggers have been abused and had rocks thrown at them. Last month, a woman was grabbed from behind and knocked to the ground while running near Whitebridge. There have also been several vandalism incidents, including the theft of an Indigenous canoe sculpture from a newer section of the track at the Belmont Wetland. NEIGHBOURING councils Newcastle and Lake Macquarie will join forces at a forum aimed at tackling a spate of dangerous and criminal behaviour on the Fernleigh Track. Earlier this month, more than 1000 people walked the track in solidarity at a 'Taking Back Our Paths' event after a number of attacks, incidents of harassment and the reckless use of e-scooters and unregistered trail bikes. City of Newcastle unanimously supported a lord mayoral minute at Tuesday night's meeting to fully participate in the forum to ensure the Fernleigh Track remains "a safe and welcoming environment" for all. Independent lord mayor Ross Kerridge said issues on the Fernleigh Track had become a matter of great public concern. "The proposed outcome is to collectively determine responsibilities and specific strategies to enhance safety measures on and around the track and foster community engagement in these matters," he said. The forum hopes to bring Hunter state politicians, Minister for Women Jodie Harrison and Minister for Police Yasmin Catley, together with representatives from Newcastle and Lake Macquarie councils and community groups, to discuss initiatives to make the Fernleigh Track safer. A petition for a safer Fernleigh Track has received more than 5000 signatures. Labor Cr Paige Johnson joined more than 1000 other Novocastrians at the Taking Back Our Paths event on May 4. "It's pretty simple. Our shared paths should be safe for everyone, it's that simple, really," she said. "The petition attracted a groundswell of support very quickly and got to the 5000 signatures that we see today." A spate of violent incidents on the Fernleigh Track this year has seen fear mount in the community. Cyclists, walkers and joggers have been abused and had rocks thrown at them. Last month, a woman was grabbed from behind and knocked to the ground while running near Whitebridge. There have also been several vandalism incidents, including the theft of an Indigenous canoe sculpture from a newer section of the track at the Belmont Wetland.

Room to improve: public call Newcastle council's approach 'tokenistic' and 'superficial'
Room to improve: public call Newcastle council's approach 'tokenistic' and 'superficial'

The Advertiser

time09-05-2025

  • Business
  • The Advertiser

Room to improve: public call Newcastle council's approach 'tokenistic' and 'superficial'

IT'S said communication is the key to a successful relationship, but with Novocastrians describing City of Newcastle's engagement as "tokenistic" and "superficial" with a "decide and defend" approach, it seems there's room for improvement. Transparency, communication and community trust were three of four key themes that emerged in public submissions to the highly anticipated independent probe into the council's policies, processes and procedures. The review was a key pillar of Independent lord mayor Ross Kerridge's election campaign, which promised a "thorough, forensic investigation into the Scott Neylon/Jeremy Bath/Jason Sivo letters saga". That issue has been a thorn in the side of the council and community since the Newcastle Herald launched its investigation into the letter to the editor writing campaign over a year ago. Extensive submissions were made about the letters to the editor palaver, which the firm responsible for the review, Davidson Business Advisory, looked into in great detail. It found investigations within City of Newcastle, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and the Office of Local Government (OLG) were undertaken by the appropriate authorities. Davidson noted ICAC and the OLG have both closed the matters, have "no further investigations under way" and do not consider them necessary. The firm's lead consultant Colin Jensen said the issue has caused "significant angst" to council, the community and council staff and encouraged City of Newcastle to "look at ways to draw a line in the sand on this and move forward for the benefit of the city". The 2023 council-commissioned independent investigation into the City of Newcastle CEO's links to a Herald letter writer found "no evidence that the CEO incentivised the author to write the articles". The Herald was not contacted during the council-commissioned investigation, nor were copies of the letters requested. The public overwhelmingly told reviewers they wanted greater transparency, clearer and more accessible reporting on council decisions, how ratepayers' money is spent and how the council measures its performance. The community called for more consistent and accessible communication, particularly around capital works, major projects, and changes as they happened. Mr Jensen said better communication would be "essential" to strengthen engagement and build trust in the council's activities. "Residents felt that clearer communication and more opportunities for dialogue are needed to strengthen trust," he said. "Good communication and ongoing communication is critical to building their trust, it ensures the community's needs are fully considered in your council decisions." More than 270 public submissions homed in on governance, highlighting issues around transparency, decision-making, meeting procedures, clarity in council meetings, and ensuring they are not only legally compliant but conducted in an orderly manner. Davidson found the council did not act outside the law in its council meetings, but that meetings could be better structured, particularly around adherence to speaking times and declaring whether councillors are speaking for or against an issue. Other areas for improvement included proactively releasing information to the public, communicating the outcomes of investigations and compliance and regulatory enforcement and managing conflicts of interest within the council. While the reviewers did not identify illegal activity or a lack of compliance when it comes to conflicts of interest, they found improvements could be made in how members of the public perceive the handling of those conflicts. Mr Jensen said there was evidence the council has a "good" community engagement policy, but feedback from submissions was that the way the council engages with the public feels "tokenistic and superficial, with an approach which is described as 'decide and defend'". "Community members seek clearer insights into the decision-making processes, council plans and long-term strategies," he said. "Concerns were also raised about poor access to councillors to raise issues or discuss the decisions already made by elected officials. "This is not an easy thing, but it is actually crucial to your success and the success of the council, as well as the city." More than 800 public submissions were made to the review, 548 of which were made by individuals. A number of people made multiple submissions on different issues. IT'S said communication is the key to a successful relationship, but with Novocastrians describing City of Newcastle's engagement as "tokenistic" and "superficial" with a "decide and defend" approach, it seems there's room for improvement. Transparency, communication and community trust were three of four key themes that emerged in public submissions to the highly anticipated independent probe into the council's policies, processes and procedures. The review was a key pillar of Independent lord mayor Ross Kerridge's election campaign, which promised a "thorough, forensic investigation into the Scott Neylon/Jeremy Bath/Jason Sivo letters saga". That issue has been a thorn in the side of the council and community since the Newcastle Herald launched its investigation into the letter to the editor writing campaign over a year ago. Extensive submissions were made about the letters to the editor palaver, which the firm responsible for the review, Davidson Business Advisory, looked into in great detail. It found investigations within City of Newcastle, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and the Office of Local Government (OLG) were undertaken by the appropriate authorities. Davidson noted ICAC and the OLG have both closed the matters, have "no further investigations under way" and do not consider them necessary. The firm's lead consultant Colin Jensen said the issue has caused "significant angst" to council, the community and council staff and encouraged City of Newcastle to "look at ways to draw a line in the sand on this and move forward for the benefit of the city". The 2023 council-commissioned independent investigation into the City of Newcastle CEO's links to a Herald letter writer found "no evidence that the CEO incentivised the author to write the articles". The Herald was not contacted during the council-commissioned investigation, nor were copies of the letters requested. The public overwhelmingly told reviewers they wanted greater transparency, clearer and more accessible reporting on council decisions, how ratepayers' money is spent and how the council measures its performance. The community called for more consistent and accessible communication, particularly around capital works, major projects, and changes as they happened. Mr Jensen said better communication would be "essential" to strengthen engagement and build trust in the council's activities. "Residents felt that clearer communication and more opportunities for dialogue are needed to strengthen trust," he said. "Good communication and ongoing communication is critical to building their trust, it ensures the community's needs are fully considered in your council decisions." More than 270 public submissions homed in on governance, highlighting issues around transparency, decision-making, meeting procedures, clarity in council meetings, and ensuring they are not only legally compliant but conducted in an orderly manner. Davidson found the council did not act outside the law in its council meetings, but that meetings could be better structured, particularly around adherence to speaking times and declaring whether councillors are speaking for or against an issue. Other areas for improvement included proactively releasing information to the public, communicating the outcomes of investigations and compliance and regulatory enforcement and managing conflicts of interest within the council. While the reviewers did not identify illegal activity or a lack of compliance when it comes to conflicts of interest, they found improvements could be made in how members of the public perceive the handling of those conflicts. Mr Jensen said there was evidence the council has a "good" community engagement policy, but feedback from submissions was that the way the council engages with the public feels "tokenistic and superficial, with an approach which is described as 'decide and defend'". "Community members seek clearer insights into the decision-making processes, council plans and long-term strategies," he said. "Concerns were also raised about poor access to councillors to raise issues or discuss the decisions already made by elected officials. "This is not an easy thing, but it is actually crucial to your success and the success of the council, as well as the city." More than 800 public submissions were made to the review, 548 of which were made by individuals. A number of people made multiple submissions on different issues. IT'S said communication is the key to a successful relationship, but with Novocastrians describing City of Newcastle's engagement as "tokenistic" and "superficial" with a "decide and defend" approach, it seems there's room for improvement. Transparency, communication and community trust were three of four key themes that emerged in public submissions to the highly anticipated independent probe into the council's policies, processes and procedures. The review was a key pillar of Independent lord mayor Ross Kerridge's election campaign, which promised a "thorough, forensic investigation into the Scott Neylon/Jeremy Bath/Jason Sivo letters saga". That issue has been a thorn in the side of the council and community since the Newcastle Herald launched its investigation into the letter to the editor writing campaign over a year ago. Extensive submissions were made about the letters to the editor palaver, which the firm responsible for the review, Davidson Business Advisory, looked into in great detail. It found investigations within City of Newcastle, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and the Office of Local Government (OLG) were undertaken by the appropriate authorities. Davidson noted ICAC and the OLG have both closed the matters, have "no further investigations under way" and do not consider them necessary. The firm's lead consultant Colin Jensen said the issue has caused "significant angst" to council, the community and council staff and encouraged City of Newcastle to "look at ways to draw a line in the sand on this and move forward for the benefit of the city". The 2023 council-commissioned independent investigation into the City of Newcastle CEO's links to a Herald letter writer found "no evidence that the CEO incentivised the author to write the articles". The Herald was not contacted during the council-commissioned investigation, nor were copies of the letters requested. The public overwhelmingly told reviewers they wanted greater transparency, clearer and more accessible reporting on council decisions, how ratepayers' money is spent and how the council measures its performance. The community called for more consistent and accessible communication, particularly around capital works, major projects, and changes as they happened. Mr Jensen said better communication would be "essential" to strengthen engagement and build trust in the council's activities. "Residents felt that clearer communication and more opportunities for dialogue are needed to strengthen trust," he said. "Good communication and ongoing communication is critical to building their trust, it ensures the community's needs are fully considered in your council decisions." More than 270 public submissions homed in on governance, highlighting issues around transparency, decision-making, meeting procedures, clarity in council meetings, and ensuring they are not only legally compliant but conducted in an orderly manner. Davidson found the council did not act outside the law in its council meetings, but that meetings could be better structured, particularly around adherence to speaking times and declaring whether councillors are speaking for or against an issue. Other areas for improvement included proactively releasing information to the public, communicating the outcomes of investigations and compliance and regulatory enforcement and managing conflicts of interest within the council. While the reviewers did not identify illegal activity or a lack of compliance when it comes to conflicts of interest, they found improvements could be made in how members of the public perceive the handling of those conflicts. Mr Jensen said there was evidence the council has a "good" community engagement policy, but feedback from submissions was that the way the council engages with the public feels "tokenistic and superficial, with an approach which is described as 'decide and defend'". "Community members seek clearer insights into the decision-making processes, council plans and long-term strategies," he said. "Concerns were also raised about poor access to councillors to raise issues or discuss the decisions already made by elected officials. "This is not an easy thing, but it is actually crucial to your success and the success of the council, as well as the city." More than 800 public submissions were made to the review, 548 of which were made by individuals. A number of people made multiple submissions on different issues. IT'S said communication is the key to a successful relationship, but with Novocastrians describing City of Newcastle's engagement as "tokenistic" and "superficial" with a "decide and defend" approach, it seems there's room for improvement. Transparency, communication and community trust were three of four key themes that emerged in public submissions to the highly anticipated independent probe into the council's policies, processes and procedures. The review was a key pillar of Independent lord mayor Ross Kerridge's election campaign, which promised a "thorough, forensic investigation into the Scott Neylon/Jeremy Bath/Jason Sivo letters saga". That issue has been a thorn in the side of the council and community since the Newcastle Herald launched its investigation into the letter to the editor writing campaign over a year ago. Extensive submissions were made about the letters to the editor palaver, which the firm responsible for the review, Davidson Business Advisory, looked into in great detail. It found investigations within City of Newcastle, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and the Office of Local Government (OLG) were undertaken by the appropriate authorities. Davidson noted ICAC and the OLG have both closed the matters, have "no further investigations under way" and do not consider them necessary. The firm's lead consultant Colin Jensen said the issue has caused "significant angst" to council, the community and council staff and encouraged City of Newcastle to "look at ways to draw a line in the sand on this and move forward for the benefit of the city". The 2023 council-commissioned independent investigation into the City of Newcastle CEO's links to a Herald letter writer found "no evidence that the CEO incentivised the author to write the articles". The Herald was not contacted during the council-commissioned investigation, nor were copies of the letters requested. The public overwhelmingly told reviewers they wanted greater transparency, clearer and more accessible reporting on council decisions, how ratepayers' money is spent and how the council measures its performance. The community called for more consistent and accessible communication, particularly around capital works, major projects, and changes as they happened. Mr Jensen said better communication would be "essential" to strengthen engagement and build trust in the council's activities. "Residents felt that clearer communication and more opportunities for dialogue are needed to strengthen trust," he said. "Good communication and ongoing communication is critical to building their trust, it ensures the community's needs are fully considered in your council decisions." More than 270 public submissions homed in on governance, highlighting issues around transparency, decision-making, meeting procedures, clarity in council meetings, and ensuring they are not only legally compliant but conducted in an orderly manner. Davidson found the council did not act outside the law in its council meetings, but that meetings could be better structured, particularly around adherence to speaking times and declaring whether councillors are speaking for or against an issue. Other areas for improvement included proactively releasing information to the public, communicating the outcomes of investigations and compliance and regulatory enforcement and managing conflicts of interest within the council. While the reviewers did not identify illegal activity or a lack of compliance when it comes to conflicts of interest, they found improvements could be made in how members of the public perceive the handling of those conflicts. Mr Jensen said there was evidence the council has a "good" community engagement policy, but feedback from submissions was that the way the council engages with the public feels "tokenistic and superficial, with an approach which is described as 'decide and defend'". "Community members seek clearer insights into the decision-making processes, council plans and long-term strategies," he said. "Concerns were also raised about poor access to councillors to raise issues or discuss the decisions already made by elected officials. "This is not an easy thing, but it is actually crucial to your success and the success of the council, as well as the city." More than 800 public submissions were made to the review, 548 of which were made by individuals. A number of people made multiple submissions on different issues.

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