Council Connect 27 March
Hello, Dungog Shire. Councillor Liam Ley here doing this week’s video update.
So, as you’re driving around the shire like I have, you will have noticed the Dungog Rodeo signs are starting to pop up, which is great to see. It’s still a while away over the Easter long weekend, so Saturday April 19 for Saturday. This is one of the biggest events that Dungog has here. I know last year they had absolutely huge crowds, and I know this year they’re anticipating massive crowds again. So please make sure you’re inviting all your friends and family, particularly people that don’t live here in Dungog. We want to get as many people as we can here for this event. Dungog is already building a name for itself with this event, but it’d be really good to build on that and get Dungog’s name out there into the wider community.
Also, next month, we have Anzac Day coming up, and there will be lots of services happening across the shire. Dungog RSL is doing a dawn service at 5.30am, as well as the march at 10.45am down in the main street of Dowling St. Paterson War Memorial will be doing a dawn service, Clarence Town will be doing a dawn service, and Gresford will be doing a march at 10:30am as well. So this is a really good time for us to come together as a community and reflect and honour those who served and the sacrifices they did pay, particularly those people from Dungog Shire. I know last year they had a really good turnout at Dungog. I know this year they’re anticipating a big crowd as well, and I’ll be down there at Dungog, so make sure you say hi if you see me. I encourage everyone to come down there.
So the Mayor has been a busy man, as he always is. This week, he’s been out in Maitland, and he’s been working with the Hunter Joint Organisation with the other Hunter Mayors in the region. They’ve been in Maitland to call on the state and federal governments to reinvest coal royalties back into the communities. With 1000’s of jobs expected to go over the next decade due to our energy transition away from coal and just transition away from coal in general, there’s a real push for funding to support hunters’ economic future, and that includes repurposing former mine sites. This is a strong uniting voice, which is vital for small councils like us. There are benefits to being one of the last small independent Councils left in NSW, but there are also disadvantages. One of those big disadvantages is that sometimes our voice isn’t as loudly heard, especially at the state and federal levels. So this is something that the Mayor has been really focusing on, as well as the Council in general, and that’s to come together with other neighbouring councils and unite our voices together. This has paid off recently, in Dungog shire even, in our ability to negotiate contracts with neighbouring Councils as well. So this is something that is definitely a focus for us, something that’s definitely a focus for the Mayor, and something hopefully we see a lot more of in the future.
TAFE NSW is also exploring the possibility of setting up right here in the Dungog Shire! It’s a huge step for us to access education and training skills beyond high school here in Dungog Shire. They’re asking for community feedback right now. I’ll put a link to a survey in the comments below. If this is something that you support and you want to see happen, please make sure that you fill out that survey. We do have an issue with retaining youth here in the shire, and the two main reasons are employment and education. To be able to offer education past high school would be an absolute game changer for Dungog shire. So I really encourage you to fill out that survey.
Council’s Youth Week Grants are now open as well. This is for local not-for-profit organisations who can apply for grants of up to $750 to run during the Youth Week activities in April. But applications do close today, so make sure you jump on and fill out one of those applications. I’ll again put a link in the comments below for that.
Keeping on grants, Council is running a free grant workshop to be held on Wednesday, 9 April at the Doug Walters Pavilion. This is perfect for community groups and small businesses really wanting to boost their funding success. Here in Dungog Shire, we do know that grants are absolutely instrumental to us, even the Council budget more than heavily relies on grants. And so whilst we may not have that funding there, what we do have in strength is all these community and business groups that are really investing in, and really building the shire. So for you guys to be able to get out there and hopefully get more grants, it’s just going to be a net win for everyone, including you, including the community, including Council, including everyone. So I really encourage you to book your tickets for that. I’ll put the link in the comments below, and make sure you attend that.
Touching on those community groups, the Volunteer of the Year nominations are now open. As I just said, we’ve got so many outstanding volunteers in our shire. This is the strength that we have here in the Dungog shire, and it’s really important that we actually recognise them. Volunteerism as a whole is down, unfortunately, across Australia, and so if you know someone that goes above and beyond, it’s really important to take a moment and nominate them. Nominations close 23 May. You still have a while to act, but again I’ll put a link in the comments below. Make sure you’re out there nominating those hard working volunteers.
I think that’s about it for me this week. If there’s anything else you want to talk to me about, or any concerns that you have, as always, if you see me in town come have a chat, or give me a call or shoot me an email. I’m always open for a chat, so make sure you reach out. All right, thank you guys. Have a good week.
https://www.dungog.nsw.gov.au/News-Articles/Council-Connect-28-March-2025