Dear LG Focus,
Local Government is assailed by many community, government and quasi-government bodies for participation and support,
Councils have to choose carefully before committing resources to many of them.
One body that my Local Government Area, The Hills Shire, has found of great value is the Floodplain Management Association, commonly known as FMA.
The value we have derived from our participation prompts me, as a recent attendee at the annual FMA conference, to draw this to the attention of other councils who may not be aware of the contribution that FMA activities can bring to their area.
Flood is responsible for the largest segment of annual disaster relief in Australia and regularly affects all eastern states and occasionally South and Western Australia.
Although like other natural events flooding is often unpredictable, it is also increasingly foreseeable and can be mitigated against with the growing sophistication of land mapping, hydraulic engineering and meteorology.
FMA draws experts from overseas and across Australia in its charter to build a more flood resistant nation.
Membership and attendance at the conference is a way in which councils can draw on FMA’s knowledge and influence for the betterment of their communities.
I’d strongly recommend Councillors and senior officers taking a look at FMA’s web site, www.floods.org.au
Kind Regards,
Alan Haselden
Liberal Councillor for East Ward
The Hills Shire
Dear LG Focus
I whole-heartedly agree with Rod’s article in June’s LG Focus (The Good Oil, Pg.6, June 2015).
Last year we were on a fishing holiday on the NSW South Coast at Merimbula and we were catching a lot of flathead.
We did frequent the local Golf Club one night for dinner and on their Specials Board they had New Zealand Flathead Fillets.
We are over governed and there is too much red tape in this beautiful country of ours.
Kind regards,
Mike Kingwill.
Gundagai Shire Councillor.
