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Powering up
Existing hydro power generator could easily be upgraded to pumped hydro producing excess clean energy to support the needs of mainland states. Photo courtesy of Hydro Tasmania.
Temperatures across the country soared in January breaking all time records, while in Victoria businesses and residents were once again subjected to rolling blackouts as the Australian Energy Market Operator ordered load shedding across the grid, leaving thousands sweltering without air conditioning or refrigeration. Read more >
Letter to the editor
Dear Editor,
“Sometimes it’s not just about the numbers”
A couple of years ago our Council asked the community what they thought about replacing a busy round-a-bout in the centre of Horsham with a set of traffic lights.
A large, loud group of the community voiced their concerns. Issues of traffic flow, impact on the shops, and a chorus of “we don’t need more traffic lights” led the public debate.
However, there was a small, quiet group of the community who requested the lights to make it easier and safer for elderly people, people in gophers and wheelchairs and parents with young children, to cross this busy intersection.
The traffic lights have been a success.
Sometimes it’s not just about the numbers, but what is fair and reasonable for our community.
In your January LG Focus, Rod Brown referenced some recent commentary from ‘experts’ in relation to supporting Australia’s Regions; Mr John Daley, CEO of the Grattan Institute and Mr Terry Rawnsley, a principal at SGS Economics and Planning.
Some people, who simply look at the ‘numbers’ when making statements of how and where services should exist and funds spent, often (not all of the time) don’t understand life in rural and regional Australia.
Where people choose to work and live in 2019 is governed by many factors. Technology with good NBN service is creating opportunities for small businesses with young families to migrate from the concrete jungle to live and experience a better life.
You know, the Wimmera Region is characterised by farmland. Our farming families grow a variety of crops including wheat, canola, barley, oats and chickpeas, and also raise livestock including sheep, cattle, dairy cows, goats and pigs. Ducks, turkeys and chickens are farmed; we have native flower farms, olive groves, vineyards and orchards. Horsham has a well-earned reputation in crops research.
Our produce feeds Australia and the world.
Why should the Australians who live and work in rural Australia be made to feel like second class citizens by some writers and commentators based on the fact that, put simply, there are not many of them. Is the business conducted somehow less important when the office space is a kitchen table instead of an air conditioned multi-story building with a view?
Our Wimmera councils work together well, petitioning governments for investment into the services that attract residents, particularly professionals. Our Wimmera Development Association, with Regional Development Victoria, works to attract new private business and investment to our region.
I grew up in Melbourne. Shifted to the Wimmera 29 years ago. It has been a wonderful location to run a small business and bring up our family.
Been a local Councillor for 10 years.
This is not a numbers game. This is about realising we are a big, wide brown land, with hard-working people dispersed throughout.
Our needs are similar but different to the city dwellers. I would encourage those who write off the Wimmera, with such insulting language as ‘palliative care’ in provocative sentences, to – come and pay us a visit.
Councillor Mark Radford
Mayor Horsham Regional City Council
‘It’s all happening in Horsham’
Commemorating the first reconciliation
Traditional owner Fred Deeral, a direct descendant of the ‘little old man’ who initiated reconciliation with James Cook in 1770, presented the Prime Minister with a spear at the site of the original reconciliation, now called Reconciliation Rocks.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, on a visit to the far north last month, announced a boost of $5.45 million to Cooktown’s 2020 Festival to support local infrastructure. Read more >
Irrigation conference designed for council staff*
For council staff working with irrigation, the first-ever Landscape Irrigation Conference and Exhibition ever to be held is not to be missed.
Organisers of this key 2019 event, being held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, are Irrigation Australia, Nursery and Garden Industry Australia, Turf Australia and Landscape Queensland Industries Association.
Their combined membership encompasses all aspects of landscape irrigation making the conference and exhibition an ideal place for people involved in irrigation to meet and share knowledge and experiences.
With its focus on landscape irrigation, this unique event will bring together the entire urban irrigation sector to learn from each other and industry experts about best irrigation practice and to see the latest water efficient products on display.
Participants will hear about the latest innovations in technology and management of public open space and how others have introduced measures to improve water use and reduce costs.
One of our presenters is Richard Dilena, who has worked with the City of Geelong since 1988 helping to manage the city’s many parks, gardens and sports grounds in a sustainable manner.
His case study will focus on the theme of providing functional green assets in the community, where he will look at an example of a recent irrigation project in a passive green space. This project includes turf and garden beds using a variety of irrigation hardware; basically, a typical small community park.
The project was designed to use captured and stored rainwater off the roof of buildings, supplemented by a potable water supply, to do the irrigation. Richard will describe the planning process, the outcome desired and the reality.
Where: Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre
When: from Tuesday 18 to Thursday 20 June 2019
Days 1 and 2: Exhibition, presentations and case studies
Day 3: Field visits to see the latest technology at work
landscapeirrigation.com.au; ph 1300 949 891; info[@]irrigation.org.au
*Copy supplied by Irrigation Australia
Festival celebrates the best of the west
Western Downs Big Sky Festival culminates in the day on the Plain concert.
Set in the stunning Jimbour Plains of Queensland’s Western Downs, just three hours west of Brisbane, Big Skies is a nine-day festival celebrating the sights, sounds, tastes and unique experiences of the region from Saturday 27 April to Sunday 5 May 2019. Read more >
Election success shows communities are engaged - President’s comment
Local Government Association Tasmania President, Mayor Doug Chipman
Temperatures across the country soared in January breaking all time records, while in Victoria businesses and residents were once again subjected to rolling blackouts as the Australian Energy Market Operator ordered load shedding across the grid, leaving thousands sweltering without air conditioning or refrigeration.
