Mayor Paul Robson has established a Leadership Group in the City comprising the following members.
- Mayor Paul Robson
- Dick Scallan, Chair, Eastern Region Council of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy
- Tom Cole, President, Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc.
- Hugh Gallagher, CEO, Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc.
- Kath Finlayson, Chairman, Goldfields-Esperance Development Commission
- Colin Purcell, CEO of the Goldfields-Esperance Development Commission
- Barry Haase, MP, Federal Member for Kalgoorlie
- John Bowler, MLA, State Member for Eyre
- Matt Birney, MLA, State Member for Kalgoorlie
- Other relevant persons by invitation as required.
This forum has proven to be a very effective vehicle to address various issues. During 2001, the matters dealt with by the Leadership Group included Centaur Mining going into receivership; the impact of the Australian Taxation Office rulings on tax effective schemes on Goldfields residents; possible closure of the Kalgoorlie Nursing Home; the new valuations of property by the Valuer General and their impact on rates paid by owners of property and land; the collapse of Ansett Airlines; and the local health fund (GMF Health) having an Administrator appointed.
“The City must take a community leadership role, but is like any other business, it has income and expenditure and our ratepayers, together with all our residents are the shareholders,” said CEO, Ian Fletcher. “Our objective as a City must be to ensure that we protect the interests of our residents and ratepayers so they get the best value for money or best return on investment from the City.
“We are proposing to undertake a ‘Needs Analysis’ of the whole city from which we will develop a ‘People Plan’ that strategically addresses the needs of residents in the short, medium and long term. The Needs Analysis will look at what the needs of the community are, how they are being met and where there are gaps.
“In 2002/03 we will be better placed to strategically target where the City allocates funding in association with other levels of government ensuring that a comprehensive range of services are available to residents. The Needs Analysis will integrate the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s Strategic Plan as well as any other plans already in existence.”
Another innovative development for the City and the region is the proposed Regional Portal. This is being established by the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which received a grant of $330,000 from the Federal Government’s ‘Networking the Nation’ funds to develop the portal.
The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is making a direct cash contribution to the portal of $34,500, and all the new IT systems that are included in the 2001-2002 budget, amounting to approximately $200,000, are considered to be an integral part of the regional portal development.
“We are extremely fortunate in that, unlike most regional cities in Australia, we have three fibre optic cables that pass through this city giving us access to an incredible amount of bandwidth,” Ian Fletcher said. “This is the first occasion in Western Australia and indeed Australia where Local Government, the business community and the community itself are all working in partnership to have one regional portal. It has the potential to put the region at the cutting edge of the information/knowledge revolution that is taking the world by storm.”
