SLOW DOWN AT FULL SPEED
WE have been horribly let down by our senior council staff when it comes to planning for the future, and the worst is when it comes to roads.
Roads minister Duncan Gay was in Parkes late last week announcing $50 million for a bypass for that town, a 10.5 kilometre section of new highway plus a new bridge.
“In 2014, the then local member for Parkes Troy Grant and the community told us a bypass of the highway would be vital for the future of the shire and we are today delivering the concept design for the new bypass,” Mr Gay said.
Parkes mayor Ken Keith said the council was keen to get the truck, one each minute, out of the town centre to make it a more friendly and safer place, and thus attract people.
What a shame our former elected councilors and unelected council staff haven’t been as visionary.
Instead, we’re left with council-driven options for a second, high level bridge that won’t get us moving along a freightway bypass route but instead see ever more trucks ducking and weaving as they try to get through Dubbo.
If we got the trucks out, and the cars which were not intending to stop in town, we wouldn’t need an extra bridge crossing in Dubbo into the near future.
NEWELL SLOWDOWN
HERE we have the state government dropping the speed limit on the Newell Highway on the city’s northern outskirts to make things safer for motorists exiting businesses on that side of town, when a freightway bypass would make things a hell of a lot safer in the first place.
It’s like the new, slower speed limits to the south of town, after some serious and fatal road smashes near the Blackbutt Rd intersection – a heavy vehicle ring road to get the trucks out of town would do wonders in all sorts of ways.
For decades Parkes has been an amazing example of dedicated and common sense councillors who’ve showed visionary leadership, working with senior staff who’ve had the best interests of the town at heart, rather than having empire-building as their over-riding priority.
This explains why a town of less than 15,000 is currently running rings around the alleged hub of the west.
In many ways Dubbo is a laughing stock, and once again we’re being left way, way behind.
MY DUBBO, SUCH AS IT IS
IT’S difficult to get too excited about good things happening around the margins when our city has dropped the ball so continuously on so many major issues, but credit where credit’s due – at least some people at council are doing good things at the lower level, smaller scale side of things – even if it does feel like we’re somewhat fiddling while Rome burns.
Dubbo Regional Council is introducing the mydubbo shopping card, an EFTPOS based gift card aimed at keeping money within the local Dubbo economy, just in time for Christmas.
The mydubbo card program is being delivered by the Dubbo Ignite initiative in collaboration with businesses in the CBD.
“The mydubbo shopping card works like any other gift card or voucher based system, the only difference is the money can only be spent in Dubbo at any of the 54 participating businesses,” Ignite Program Co-ordina-
tor Nicola Chandler said.
“Simply visit a Load Up Store, decide how much money to load onto the card and this money can then be used to purchase goods and service at any participating business. The cards cannot be redeemed outside of the participating store network.”
“You can purchase the card at Snares Newsagency on Talbragar Street and at both of the We Know Travel agencies in Macquarie Street and Orana Mall.”
COP THAT
ON one hand, maybe it’s a good thing we don’t have too much going on in our city, because out of the recent 130 new cops they made down in Goulburn, our entire Orana Local Area Command is getting just a single, solitary one.
I know we’ve had a pretty good run in recent years, but one?
Barrier LAC, centred on Broken Hill, was the big winner – they’re got 10 boys and girls in blue heading out their way.
ESSENTIAL COPS AND ENERGY
THE state opposition probably thinks the $28.1 million in Essential Energy dividends to NSW could have paid for some new police out here.
Instead, the opposition claims, the NSW government pocketed that cash while company management was arguing it needed to slash 600 jobs to remain profitable.
I don’t know how Essential Energy CEO Gary Humphries justifies his $764,353 pay this year, especially considering that’s a 40.3 bump upwards since the previous year.
Since Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher convinced the world that “trickle-down” economics wasn’t some kind of fairytale, there’s been good money for managers who specialise in sacking people.
There’s always two sides to the story, but after looking at the rise in remuneration for senior Essential staff, I’m not much interested in their side of the story – how people can get away with increased pay for destroying regional jobs is beyond me.
ART CAN MAKE US HAPPY
KEITH YAP spent time as a school student volunteering his services at the Western Plains Cultural Centre (WPCC), now he’s got his own exhibition happening.
Curator Alex Wisser describes the style of Yap’s work as ‘diverse, scattered, tangential’ and ‘seemingly arbitrary’, but notes that this approach contradicts the way the media (and society) depict identity as simple and monolithic.
Using graphite, pens, paint and neon tubes (among other things), Keith challenges the idea that one tag, one word or one adjective can sum up the complex issue of a person’s identity.
Keith grew up in Dubbo and has a Filipino heritage, and that experience of clashing cultures forms the basis of much of his work.
These home-grown exhibits are always worth checking out.
SINGING SONGS OUT LOUD
THE best recommendation Dubbo Sing Australia Choir has ever had is that I’ve never been invited to be a member.
The choir sang Christmas carols outside 58 York St in East Dubbo last Monday evening and all residents had to bring along was a chair or rug and some Christmas cheer.
It’s great to see all these sorts of things happening.
CHRISTMAS, FAIR ENOUGH
THIS Saturday (December 17) is the annual Christmas fair, an event which is put on by the Rotary Club of Dubbo South.
It’s held behind the Visitors’ Centre in Lions park and runs from 4:30pm to 9:30pm.
Santa will hand out 60 kilos of lollies to the kids and they can have as many rides as they want for just $5 – that sounds like the sort of prices that were around in the 1960s.
Lots of other goodies, with food and craft stalls, handmade jewelry and fashion along with knick-knacks - great last minute Christmas presents for people who just can’t get organised.
ZOO BUBS
THE zoo just can’t seem to keep out of the news, but with so many things going on out there, and in the conservation programs it’s involved with across the globe, there must be newsworthy stuff happening almost every day.
Now, on the eve of Christmas we find out it’s double trouble times two.
Two sets of Ring-tailed Lemur twins were born in October and, after some previous bibs didn’t last very long, zoo staff are taking this pretty slowly.
“Both Rakitra and Cleo are new mothers, they have had offspring before but sadly none of their young have survived past the first 12 weeks, so we’re taking things very slowly,” said keeper Sasha Brook.
“So far the mothers and their babies are doing well and we are very happy with progress to date. Both mums are quite protective and are very careful of the way they move around and the speed at which they move around, ensuring their babies are holding on properly.”
The babies will cling to their mothers until they are about four months old, but they have started to venture short distances away from their mothers to play.
POOL PARTY
THE change rooms at the Dubbo Aquatic and Leisure Centre now features an automatic, accessible change table to cater for people with special needs.
This exciting new addition to the facility will greatly assist carers and parents of special needs children and adults who use the pool for leisure and therapy.
Dubbo Aquatic Leisure Centre also features a waterproof wheelchair and an automatic chair lift so users can get in and out of the pool.
This is fantastic news for people who struggle to do things most others take for granted, and a great initiative by DRC to help make the public pool more inclusive.
And it does get hot out here in summer.
POOL CLOSED
LET’S hope it’s not too warm in town when the pool’s closed for the Water Polo NSW Under-14 Boys State Championships.
The pool will be closed all day on Sunday 18 December, all day on Monday 19 December, all day on Tuesday 20 December and until 4pm on Wednesday 21 December.
Wello and Geurie pools will be open all the way through, and with petrol so much cheaper in Wello it may be cheaper to drive down there, fill up the Family Truckster and take the kids for a dip at the same time.
FIRES ABLAZE
GOOD to see some proactive hazard reduction around Bourke hill last weekend in a combined effort from Fire and Rescue NSW and the Rural Fire Service (RFS).
For some reason many people call “burning off” a “backburn”, but a “backburn” is the term used to describe firies deliberately lighting fires to scorch country to prevent an exisiting blaze from getting out of control.
Hazard reduction is just that – burning off grasses and other fuel build-ups in a pre-emptive strike so that either firebug kids won’t be able to torch the place, or there’s a handy firebreak to contain any naturally lit fires.