Showing posts with label state government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label state government. Show all posts

Monday 15 May 2023

Doesn't matter which major party forms government in New South Wales, they all have cost-shifting onto local government down to a fine art

 

There are 128 local councils in New South Wales and this month the new Minns Labor Government decided to demonstrate that it too knows how to cost shift onto the third tier of government just like the preceding Baird-Berejiklian-Perrottet coalition state government.


Minns and Cabinet decided to test the waters with the Emergency Services Levy on 28 April 2023.


From local councils, Revenue NSW collects payments that account for 11.7% of the costs of fire and emergency services in NSW. From insurers of property in the state it collects the remainder of the levy which is paid as part of insurance premiums. Payment is in four instalments over the relevant financial year.


In 2022-23 the Revenue NSW collection target for the Emergency Services Levy was $1.17 billion, with local councils paying est. $143 million of that total. It would appear that the 2023-24 target is significantly higher, with the total annual local government contribution expected to rise to est. $219 million - a 53.1% increase.


According to Clarence Valley Council's financial statements: in the 2019 financial year the Emergency Services Levy cost to council was $952,000; in 2020 it rose to $995,000; in 2021 it rose again to $1,131,000; and in 2022 this cost fell to $752,000.


As late as September 2022 IPART had been telling local government that: The NSW Government has undertaken to fully fund the increase in councils’ 2023-24 emergency services levy (ESL) contributions, so the rate peg does not include increases in the cost of the ESL.


Local Government NSW, News,1 May 2023:


Emergency Service Levy increase will be catastrophic for councils


The newly elected NSW Government has kicked off its first term in the worst possible way by sending NSW council budgets into meltdown, forcing them to shed jobs, close services and scrap infrastructure plans.


Councils’ peak body, Local Government NSW (LGNSW), said the decision to apply sky-high increases in the Emergency Services Levy (ESL) would be catastrophic for many councils, and could see some become insolvent.


LGNSW said that for some councils the unexpected cost hit would all but wipe out any IPART-approved rate rise, shredding budgets already under massive pressure from the combined impact of the pandemic, extreme weather events, high inflation and wage increases.


The ESL is a cost imposed on councils and the insurance industry to fund the emergency services budget in NSW. The majority is paid as part of insurance premiums, with a further 11.7 per cent picked up by councils and 14.6% by the State Government itself.


The ESL is an absolutely blatant cost shift by the State Government,” LGNSW President Cr Darriea Turley AM said.


To make things worse, the ESL has seen stratospheric increases year-on-year to make up for the Government’s unfunded workers' compensation liability for emergency services workers struck down by a range of cancers.


Now it appears councils are being asked to fund massive rises in emergency services budgets, including a 73% increase in the budget allocation to the State Emergency Services (SES).


The levy increase for the State’s 128 councils in 2023/24 alone sits just under $77 million.


To put that in perspective, Hay Shire Council will immediately lose 88.6 per cent of its approved rate rise to the ESL, while Bourke Shire Council will lose 94%, Yass Valley Council will lose 96%, and Tenterfield will lose 119%.


Hornsby council will lose about 75% of its approved rate rise.


This is an alarming development coming late in the council budgeting cycle and well after the IPART’s rates determination for 2023-24.


The effect will leave some councils with insufficient funds to cover cost increases in other areas. These costs will need to be met by cuts to staff and services.”


Cr Turley said the local government sector’s fight was not with emergency services workers, but with a duplicitous and financially unsustainable funding system.


I’m seeking urgent talks with Treasurer Daniel Mookhey where I will ask him to work with councils to develop a fairer funding system,” she said.


This shock increase comes at a time when council budgets are still struggling with flood and bushfire disaster recovery.


When you factor in the inflation and soaring costs we are all facing across the full gamut of our operations, the immediate future looks particularly bleak.


We are urgently calling on the Government to:


  • restore the subsidy for 2023

  • unshackle this payment from council rates

  • develop a fairer, more transparent and financially sustainable method of funding the critically important emergency services that benefit us all.”


Clarence Valley Council, Our Performance, 2023/2024 Operational Plan, excerpt, May 2023:


The Draft Budget does include a 5.4 per cent rate peg which assist to cover cost escalations beyond Council's control such as costs related to materials and constructions, which are up 37 per cent, fuel and utilities, and the Local Government State Award salary and wage negotiations. The recent NSW Government decision to not subsidise the increase in the Emergency Services Levy adds a further strain on Council's resources.


The Echo, article excerpt, 5 May 2023:


At yesterday’s Tweed Shire Council (TSC) meeting it was revealed that the TSC had received the equivalent of a $540,000 levy, a significant increase on what was expected, drawing a quick response from councillors at the ‘bizarre’ and ‘unbelievable’ levy that is putting council in an ‘untenable position’ according to Tweed Mayor Chris Cherry.


The Emergency Services Levy is a contribution paid by all councils that funds all the emergency services across that shire. The issue is that the state government has not only significantly increased the levy, they have removed the subsidy that councils were previously receiving.


The $540,000 represents the equivalent of a 0.85 per cent rate increase,’ explained Tweed Council’s general manager, Troy Green.


That represents one-third of the special rate variation (SRV) that we’ve asked for.’


The Council can not use the SRV to pay for the levy as, if approved, it would have to be spent on the areas identified in the request for the SRV.


Council unfortunately has received this notification outside our rating cycle. So we have not been able to factor this in,’ said Cr Cherry.


The Council had budgeted for a four per cent increase in the emergency services levy, however, the increase by the state government for the next financial year is 24.28 per cent.


Friday 26 August 2022

It’s time. Time that at federal, state and local government level all elected or appointed officials, all public servants and council administrations turned to face what the phrase “climate crisis” actually means in macro and micro terms to coastal populations


 

It’s time. Time that at federal, state and local government level all elected and appointed officials, all public servants and council administrations really accepted that global warming and climate change is real and is happening right now.


To turn and face what the phrase “climate crisis” actually means in macro and micro terms.


Everyone needs to recognise that in 2022 science knows more that it did in the years 1990, 2000, 2010.


What was once thought the degree of global warming that the earth could tolerate (5°C above pre-industrial levels) is now in doubt and the tipping points causing ‘large-scale discontinuities’ are thought to have the potential to occur at as low as 1 and 2 °C – some of which have already occurred.


Australia’s climate has warmed on average by 1.44 ± 0.24 °C since national records began in 1910 leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events. With most of this warming occurring since the 1950s. 


According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in 2020 a number of factors caused by a warming Australia can be identified;

  • Oceans around Australia are acidifying and have warmed by around 1 °C since 1910, contributing to longer and more frequent marine heatwaves.

  • Sea levels are rising around Australia, including more frequent extremes, that are increasing the risk of inundation and damage to coastal infrastructure and communities.

  • There has been a decline of around 16 per cent in April to October rainfall in the southwest of Australia since 1970. Across the same region May–July rainfall has seen the largest decrease, by around 20 per cent since 1970.

  • In the southeast of Australia there has been a decline of around 12 per cent in April to October rainfall since the late 1990s.

  • There has been a decrease in streamflow at the majority of streamflow gauges across southern Australia since 1975.

  • Rainfall and streamflow have increased across parts of northern Australia since the 1970s.

  • There has been an increase in extreme fire weather, and in the length of the fire season, across large parts of the country since the 1950s, especially in southern Australia.

  • There has been a decrease in the number of tropical cyclones observed in the Australian region since 1982.


Again according to BOM, by 2021 the national mean temperature was 0.56 °C warmer than the 1961–1990 average.


In other words, the continent continues to warm and our weather is changing across all seasons of the year and catastrophic weather events are either becoming more frequent or more intense.


The Climate Council in its UNINSURABLE NATION: AUSTRALIA’S MOST CLIMATE-VULNERABLE PLACES, 3 May 2022 report states:


Worsening extreme weather means increased costs of maintenance, repair and replacement to properties – our homes, workplaces and commercial buildings. As the risk of being affected by extreme weather events increases, insurers will raise premiums to cover the increased cost of claims and reinsurance.


Insurance will become increasingly unaffordable or unavailable in large parts of Australia due to worsening extreme weather…..


Across Australia approximately 520,940 properties, or one in every 25, will be ‘high risk’, having annual damage costs from extreme weather and climate change that make them effectively uninsurable by 2030. In addition, 9% of properties (1 in 11) will reach the ‘medium risk’ classification by 2030, with annual damage costs that equate to 0.2-1% of the property replacement cost. These properties are at risk of becoming underinsured….


Climate change affects all Australians, but some federal electorates face far greater risks than others.

The top 10 most at-risk federal electorates by 2030 are:

1. Nicholls (Vic)

2. Richmond (NSW)

3. Maranoa (QLD)

4. Moncrieff (QLD),

5. Wright (QLD),

6. Brisbane (QLD),

7. Griffith (QLD),

8. Indi (Vic)

9. Page (NSW) and

10. Hindmarsh (SA).

  • In these at-risk electorates, 15% of properties (165,646) or around one in every seven properties will be uninsurable this decade….

  • The percentage of properties that will be uninsurable by 2030 in each state and territory is 6.5% in Queensland; 3.3% in NSW; 3.2% in South Australia; 2.6% in Victoria; 2.5% in the Northern Territory; 2.4% in Western Australia; 2% in Tasmania and 1.3% in the ACT.


People living in the NSW Northern Rivers Region’s seven local government areas will recognise that both of their federal electorates are on the Top 10 most at-risk” list.


In the Page electorate this refers to Parts of Ballina, Lismore, Richmond Valley, Clarence Valley, with a combined total of 103,657 properties at levels of risk ranging from medium to high. With 5.4% of properties at high risk to riverine flooding, 0.4% of properties at high risk to surface water flooding and 5.3% of properties at high risk to bushfire.


While in the Richmond electorate this refers to Tweed, Byron, Ballina, with a combined total of 106,445 properties at levels of risk ranging from medium to high risk. With 14% of properties being at at high risk to riverine flooding, 0.4% of properties at high risk to surface water flooding and 5.2% of properties at high risk to bushfire.


The insurance, banking and real estate industries have noticed these statistics for years and now speak in terms of coastal zone properties in danger of becoming uninsurable, sited on land that will no longer have a monetary value.


One co-author of the Climate Council report has advised home owners and buyers to have a deep understanding of the local hazards and to acquire a property-specific report on their risk.


Three years after the first U.N. assessment report containing predictions of global warming and climatic impacts, the NSW Government protected itself and local councils against being held accountable for future deficiencies in decision making with regard to urban and infrastructure planning by establishing a new the Local Government Act in 1993


This Act divested local councils of any and all responsibility by a presumption that local government in all things acts in good faith unless proven otherwise and, local government across the state slowly began to apply a superficial wash of climate change mention in policies and sometimes even planning documents.


Safe in the knowledge, that when considering actual development applications for both large and small land subdivision by predominately professional incorporated property developers, councils In The Chamber, council executives, administrations and all employees had a “Get out of Jail Free” card. Because after all it’s just a game of Monopoly, innit?


This attitude is what drives Clarence Valley Council and a number of property developers with land in Yamba. Who after decades of poring over maps of West Yamba together have increasingly been making decisions about Yamba township with little or no regard for either the wellbeing or concerns of residents and ratepayers.


It’s reached the risible stage in relation to that land zoned residential, accessed via Carrs Drive. Where a long promised Master Plan for the entire urban land release was not proceeded with and its need later denied. 


When land filling resulted in problems on surrounding properties becoming very evident, Council administration was careful to go through a very limited form of cursory community consultation designed not to have a binding outcome and, rather conveniently is now only offering a West Yamba Urban Release Area information page on Council’s website and a printed quarterly update on development progress previously mutually agreed to by property developers and Council.


A move which offers no binding certainty on population density, lot numbers or sizes and still treats land filling on an ad hoc basis.


The lack of any real consideration of climate change impacts is appalling and mirrored in other large subdivisions such as those in Orion Drive, Park Ave and Golding Street.


The video at https://www.keepyambacountry.com/copy-of-more-information demonstrates just how poorly thought through was the approx. 2.8 AHD landfill and drainage at the Park Ave lot which has raised an est. 6.65ha of land above the ground level of a significant number of adjoining and adjacent long established and occupied residential properties. 


Screenshot taken from video "IN-DEPTH DETAILS OF THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT on the Keep Yamba Country website, 2022














Similar scenarios are being played out in other Northern Rivers local government areas. Developers are not stupid. They know that now climate change is not just an abstract idea but something that can be seen and experienced they only have a finite time to offload their coastal zone subdivisions onto unsuspecting residential lot purchasers – before the next catastrophic flood or bushfire devastates a town/area considered to be a desirable place to live and wipes out the urge to buy land there. 


BACKGROUND


Excerpts from Local Government Act 1993 as of 16 July 2022:


731 Liability of councillors, employees and other persons

A matter or thing done by the Minister, the Departmental Chief Executive, a council, a councillor, a member of a committee of the council or an employee of the council or any person acting under the direction of the Minister, the Departmental Chief Executive, the council or a committee of the council does not, if the matter or thing was done in good faith for the purpose of executing this or any other Act, and for and on behalf of the Minister, the Departmental Chief Executive, the council or a committee of the council, subject a councillor, a member, an employee or a person so acting personally to any action, liability, claim or demand.


733 Exemption from liability—flood liable land, land subject to risk of bush fire and land in coastal zone

(1) A council does not incur any liability in respect of—

(a) any advice furnished in good faith by the council relating to the likelihood of any land being flooded or the nature or extent of any such flooding, or

(b) anything done or omitted to be done in good faith by the council in so far as it relates to the likelihood of land being flooded or the nature or extent of any such flooding.

(2) A council does not incur any liability in respect of—

(a) any advice furnished in good faith by the council relating to the likelihood of any land in the coastal zone being affected by a coastline hazard (as described in the coastal management manual under the Coastal Management Act 2016) or the nature or extent of any such hazard, or

(b) anything done or omitted to be done in good faith by the council in so far as it relates to the likelihood of land being so affected.

(2A) A council does not incur any liability in respect of—

(a) any advice furnished in good faith by the council relating to the likelihood of any land being subject to the risk of bush fire or the nature or extent of any such risk, or

(b) anything done or omitted to be done in good faith by the council in so far as it relates to the likelihood of land being subject to the risk of bush fire.

(3) Without limiting subsections (1), (2) and (2A), those subsections apply to—

(a) the preparation or making of an environmental planning instrument, including a planning proposal for the proposed environmental planning instrument, or a development control plan, or the granting or refusal of consent to a development application, or the determination of an application for a complying development certificate, under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, and

(b) the preparation and adoption of a coastal management program under the Coastal Management Act 2016 (and the preparation and making of a coastal zone management plan under the Coastal Protection Act 1979 that is continued in effect by operation of clause 4 of Schedule 3 to the Coastal Management Act 2016), and

(c) the imposition of any condition in relation to an application referred to in paragraph (a), and

(d) advice furnished in a certificate under section 149 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, and

(e) the carrying out of flood mitigation works, and

(f) the carrying out of coastal protection works, and

(f1) the carrying out of bush fire hazard reduction works, and

(f2) anything done or omitted to be done regarding beach erosion or shoreline recession on Crown land (including Crown managed land) or land owned or controlled by a council or a public authority, and

(f3) the failure to upgrade flood mitigation works or coastal protection works in response to projected or actual impacts of climate change, and

(f4) the failure to undertake action to enforce the removal of illegal or unauthorised structures that results in erosion of a beach or land adjacent to a beach, and

(f5) the provision of information relating to climate change or sea level rise, and

(f6) (Repealed) anything done or omitted to be done regarding the negligent placement or maintenance by a landowner of emergency coastal protection works authorised by a certificate under Division 2 of Part 4C of the Coastal Protection Act 1979,

(g) any other thing done or omitted to be done in the exercise of a council’s functions under this or any other Act.

(4) Without limiting any other circumstances in which a council may have acted in good faith, a council is, unless the contrary is proved, taken to have acted in good faith for the purposes of this section if the advice was furnished, or the thing was done or omitted to be done—

(a) substantially in accordance with the principles contained in the relevant manual most recently notified under subsection (5) at that time, or

(b) substantially in accordance with the principles and mandatory requirements set out in the current coastal management manual under the Coastal Management Act 2016, or

(c) in accordance with a direction under section 14(2) of the Coastal Management Act 2016.

(5) For the purposes of this section, the Minister for Planning may, from time to time, give notification in the Gazette of the publication of—

(a) a manual relating to the management of flood liable land, or

(b) (Repealed) a manual relating to the management of the coastline.

(c) a manual relating to the management of land subject to the risk of bush fire.

The notification must specify where and when copies of the manual may be inspected.

(6) A copy of the manual must be available for public inspection, free of charge, at the office of the council during ordinary office hours.

(7) This section applies to and in respect of—

(a) the Crown, a statutory body representing the Crown and a public or local authority constituted by or under any Act, and

(b) a councillor or employee of a council or any such body or authority, and

(c) a Public Service employee, and

(d) a person acting under the direction of a council or of the Crown or any such body or authority, and

(e) Water NSW, but only with respect to the exercise of its functions in the Sydney catchment area (within the meaning of the Water NSW Act 2014) or the exercise of its functions in any part of the State in connection with the granting of flood work approvals under the Water Management Act 2000,

in the same way as it applies to and in respect of a council.

(8) In this section—

coastal zone has the same meaning as in the Coastal Management Act 2016.

manual includes guidelines.


8 Personal liability

A matter or thing done or omitted to be done by the Project Review Committee, a member of the Project Review Committee or a person acting under the direction of the Project Review Committee does not, if the matter or thing was done or omitted to be done in good faith for the purpose of executing this or any other Act, subject a member or a person so acting personally to any action, liability, claim or demand.


Monday 25 July 2022

Welcome to the global pandemic that does what big pandemics do, just go on and on and on....

 

CSSE: Global COVID-19 Infections in the 28 days ending 2:20am
on 24 July 2021 
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

 


When thinking of global pandemics there are two historical events which spring to mind, spaced a little over five centuries apart – the Bubonic Plague which included an infection wave known as “The Black Death” and the Influenza Global Pandemic known at the time as “The Spanish Flu”.


When the Bubonic Plague first manifested itself across the Northern Hemisphere it lasted approximately three years in the mid-14th Century and became an unwelcome infectious presence during another four episodes of closely spaced, similar time periods before that century ended. By which time it was thought to have caused the deaths of at least 75 million men, women and children, around one third of the Northern Hemisphere population.


Bubonic Plague never went away as a highly infectious disease capable of reaching epidemic proportions and killing tens of thousands of people during outbreaks, however a better understanding of plagues and modern medicine has kept it relatively contained in recent centuries.


The Influenza Global Pandemic of 1918-1920 caused by the 1918 Influenza H1N1 virus was of shorter duration than the plague but appears to have come in three waves across the one event. It is estimated that about 500 million of the world’s population became infected with this virus resulting in est. 50 million deaths. There are similar Influenza A(H1N1) viruses in existence today.


Right now in 2022 the world is halfway through the third year of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic and, due to four significant and increasingly infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2 developing and spreading around the world, there appears no end in sight to its pandemic status in the near future.


According to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore USA, as of 4:20pm on Sunday 24 July 2022 there were 25,973,159 new COVID-19 cases recorded world-wide in the last 28 days with 55,140 deaths caused by the virus in the same period. That brings the total global cumulative infection count to est. 569,644,897 men, women and children including 6,383,484 deaths.


Again, according to CSSE, Australia recorded 1,103,009 new COVID-19 cases in the 28 days up to 4:20pm on Sunday 24 July 2022 with 1,490 deaths caused by this viral disease in the same period. That brings Australia’s cumulative infection number since 25 January 2020 to est. 9,103,321 men, women and children including 11,172 deaths.


When it comes to New South Wales, in the 28 days up to 4pm Friday 22 July 2022 NSW Health had recorded 157,460 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases (a deliberate under reporting as it only includes diagnoses by PCR omitting reported RAT results) including est. 497 deaths caused by this viral disease. Bringing the total cumulative infection number since 25 January 2022 to 3,091,157 men, women and children across the state, including 3,996 deaths.


Currently health authorities around Australia are warning that another wave of COVID-19 infections underway which is driven by the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants and, mainstream media is reporting that almost half a million people who had been infected with COVID-19 recently will possibly develop a post COVID-19 condition aka “Long Covid” in the coming months.


So when will this particular global pandemic end? When WHO identified the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant B.1.1.529 in November 2021 the world seemed to feel quite confident that  we might see an end to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2023.


However, not only did Omicron spread swiftly it began to produce subvariants, including BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4, BA.5 and descendent lineages. The Omicron variant group also includes BA.1/BA.2 circulating recombinant forms such as XE. WHO emphasizes that these descendant lineages should be monitored as distinct lineages by public health authorities and comparative assessments of their virus characteristics should be undertaken


Given Australian federal and state governments appear to have lost the will to keep in place all public health measures which actively resist the spread of Omicron & its subvariants which now dominate the infection pool, it is difficult to be optimistic about any timeline for an end to the pandemic within Australian borders.


In the 28 days up to 4pm on 23 July 2022 a total of 2,721 people living across the 7 local government areas within the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) have been diagnosed with COVID-19. This is a significant under reporting as it only includes diagnoses by PCR omitting reported RAT results.


This aforementioned figure includes positive diagnoses by PCR testing in:

Tweed Shire – 1,104 cases

Ballina Shire – 613 cases

Lismore City – 347 cases

Clarence Valley – 293 cases

Byron Shire – 177 cases

Richmond Valley – 120 cases

Kyogle Shire – 35 cases

Tenterfield – incidence where there is a shared postcode which includes some Tenterfield residents within NNSWLHD not reported in relevant NSW Health statistical table for this period.


Monday 4 July 2022

CLIMATE CHANGE & NEW SOUTH WALES: filed under 'What could possibly go wrong?"


Global sea levels have already risen by 20cm (between 1901 and 2018) and the Australasia region, which includes New Zealand, has experienced even higher rates than the global average. More coastal flooding is expected as levels rise even further. The latest predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report reveal further increases are largely locked in, with a rise of about 15cm to 30cm [0.3m] expected by around 2050. [news.com.au, 21 September 2021]


Coastal Risk Australia updated inundation mapping for
Lower Clarence Valley at 0.3m rise above mean sea level



Coastal Risk Australia updated inundation mapping for
Lower Clarence Valley at 0.6m above mean sea level




















I find it immeasurably sad that the NSW Government and coastal local government councils continue to plan development based on pre-Climate Emergency conditions. 

It's a though every climate change induced disaster and widespread adverse weather event that has occurred in the last 22 years - from the Millennial Drought to stronger East Coast Lows to constant coastal erosion eating away at foreshores to mega-bushfires to devastating record flooding to what appears to be a food shortage cycle developing - are still matters these two tiers of government can only deal with as compartmentalised abstracts when it comes to both short-term and long-term urban planning.

They still see low lying coastal areas with soft shore lines and city, town & village precincts slap in the middle of coastal floodplains already under stress, as capable of development far into the future - when in reality many may well be reduced in area or completely uninhabitable within the next 30 to 100 years. 



Clarence Valley Independent, 29 June 2022:


The state government is calling for public submissions about changes to Clarence Valley Council’s Business and Industrial Zones, which will be called Employment Zones, under new Local Environment Planning laws.


In May 2021, The NSW Department of Environment and Planning DEP proposed that existing Business and Industrial zones be replaced with five Employment zones and three supporting zones under the Standard Instrument Local Environment Plans SILEP Order, 2006.


Since then, DEP planners have been working with Clarence Valley Council planning staff to ensure its Local Environment Plan ‘is amended consistent with the intent of the state government reforms, while also ensuring the land-use planning outcomes are appropriate to the Clarence Valley.’


When the Independent searched what impact the changes would have on a Yamba Street, Yamba address and a Prince Street, Grafton property, we discovered the premises would switch from a Business 2 Local Centre to an Employment 1 Local Centre.


Under the planning changes, home business, home industries and home occupations will be permitted without planning consent, adhering to the Employment zone objective ‘to provide a range of retail, business and community uses that serve the needs of people who live, work or visit the area.’


The new Employment zone also expands land use permissibility in both Grafton and Yamba, with a wider variety of businesses and land uses permitted than under previous laws, including serviced apartments, hotel and motel accommodation, local distribution premises and recreation areas…...


The zones will also address current barriers within the planning system that limit the ability of businesses to establish, expand or adapt.


The new LEP zones are designed to better support councils in the delivery of the strategic vision contained in their Local Strategic Planning Statements and background studies.


The spokesperson said the Employment zones will be in place within individual LEPs by December 1, when the Business and Industrial zones will be repealed.


Stakeholders are invited to make submissions on the changes to the NSW DEP until July 12.


To investigate the changes under the new employment zones in your area visit the NSW DEP Website www.planning.nsw.gov.au/employment-zones-reform


Saturday 21 March 2015

NSW Clarence Electorate March 2015: So who was trying to fiddle the outcome of a local independent Survey Monkey opinion poll?


It seems that some political party supporters never learn……

This was on Facebook this week.

Rebecca Beare-Bath So who ever has a computer positioned here is adding multiple votes in the same time period from the same IP address:


Which candidate was someone in the Croydon-Five Dock area attempting to boost in this small local poll?

Well it appears Rebecca has the answer:



The opinion poll can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-VFCSMB37/.