“Stop CSG Illawarra is a local community group campaigning for:

* A moratorium on Coal Seam Gas mining
* A Royal Commission into all aspects of CSG mining
* A ban on fracking.

The most powerful force in this country is a community working together to stand up for its rights. Please don’t underestimate your contribution – your voice is needed and it will make a difference.

Next Meeting:

11am, Sunday May 15
Thirroul Railway Institute Hall
Railway Parade,Thirroul.

Coal Seam Gas Mining In The Illawarra

Map of Northern Illawarra15 coal seam gas (CSG) wells have been approved for development in the northern Illawarra, and drilling has already commenced. Further wells are being discussed and applied for in the region. These wells are in and around the Sydney Water Catchment, and pose a direct threat to our water supply.”

Read more:
http://www.stop-csg-illawarra.org/

UPDATE 6 May 2011:

Announcement – Coal Seam gas, Apex Energy NL & Hydraulic Fracturing

Hydraulic Fracturing and Apex Energy NL

“Our position is clear – We have no intention to complete any wells via the ‘fraccing’ completion method.”

full announcement at:
http://www.apexenergy.com.au/

Local Government Act 1993 No 30
Current version for 3 March 2011 to date (accessed 21 April 2011 at 22:09)
Chapter 10 Part 2

Part 2 Who may be elected?

274 What are the qualifications for civic office?
275 Who is disqualified from holding civic office?
276 What is the effect of disqualification?

details:

http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/viewtop/inforce/act+30+1993+FIRST+0+N

“Ordinary Meeting of Council
27 April 2011 Page 1
Wollongong City Council
ITEM 1
REF: CM57/11
PRESENTATION: DRAFT STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS 2011-14 AND DRAFT
MANAGEMENT PLAN 2011-14
Report of Manager Organisational Strategy and Improvement [Acting] (AW) 5/04/11 OSI-10.20.20.002

PRECIS

Wollongong City Council has revised the Strategic Directions for 2011-14 and presents it to Council for endorsement. The draft Management Plan 2011-14 demonstrates how the Strategic Directions will be implemented over the next three years and is also submitted for approval to place on public exhibition.

The draft Management Plan 2011-14 identifies ongoing services and projects Council proposes to deliver and will be placed on public exhibition for a period of 28 days to provide opportunities for the community to comment.

The revised Strategic Directions document will be made available during the exhibition period of the draft Management Plan 2011-14 to support the community engagement process.”

Full report:

http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/council/meetings/BusinessPapers/Presentation%20-%20Draft%20Strategic%20Directions%202011-14%20and%20Draft%20Management%20Plan%202011-14.pdf

Former WCC Lord Mayor Alex Darling’s lack of knowledge about the political and/or social connections of the three state appointed Administrators is deeply instructive.

Alex Darling claims he was listening to the wrong people when he made an earlier comment about the Administrators having connections with the ALP.

While this is not the place to pursue the specific matter of what kind of professional and social connections the Administrators have with the ALP (or others) they certainly were appointed by the former NSW ALP government – and one of the initial Administrators came from a family whose name is all to well know in ALP circles.

But Alex Darlings lack of any real knowledge of such a connection has resulted in him making a public apology for his earlier statement.

One of the key points raised by this embarrassing back-down by the former WCC Lord Mayor is this – if Alex Darling does not know who these people really are, who does?

Alex Darling has served in public office in the Illawarra for many, many years.

In addition to serving several terms including time as a Councillor, Deputy Major and Lord Mayor with Wollongong City Council, Alex Darling has also served as an Alderman and Deputy Mayor with Shoalhaven Council.

The hard-working former Wollongong Lord Mayor stated on the ABC today that, for him, being Lord Mayor was a full time position, seven days a week and he attended as many local events as he possibly could. We are not talking ancient history here. Alex Darling was fully engaged in the finer details of Wollongong civic life right up to the moment the Council was unilaterally sacked and replaced by the Administrators.

Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that someone who – in addition to his life-long personal contacts – has been at the heart of civic life in Wollongong and the Shoalhaven over decades, has had an unequalled opportunity to get to know who is who and how they are connected.

And yet he has no real idea of who these people are who are running our city – they are strangers. But they occupy the very core of our decision-making process.

How, then, can they possibly know what is really good for this city?

We had absolutely no say in who would be acceptable as an Administrator, nor what qualifications and local knowledge should be required by those imposed upon us by the failing NSW ALP government.

I have lived in Wollongong since 1991 (a mere 20 years!). A large area of the greater city of Wollongong remains a complete mystery to me. For this reason, I have come to deeply appreciate the role played in civic life here by people who really know – who have a depth of knowledge and genuinely care – about their own locality and the wider area.

Such attributes, when brought into play in local decision-making, cannot be matched by the ablest of technocrats.

The fiasco over their introduction of parking meters to the CBD demonstrated that the Administrators are completely out of touch with who we are.

It was widely known that such a measure would not be possible with an elected Council – and that is exactly the point! We are who we are.

It is not merely time for a change to replace these strangers at the core of our local decision-making process with real local people, elected by our communities – it is long overdue.

Bruce Reyburn
Coledale

———————

For info regarding Alex Darling’s elected history see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Darling and http://www.shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au/council/History/ElectedRepsHistory.htm

Former Wollongong Independent Mayor Alex Darling Apologises to administrators

Posted April 19, 2011

The former Independent Mayor of Wollongong Alex Darling has publicly apologised to Wollonging City Council administrators for suggesting they were too closely connected to the Labor Party.

He says he received a letter from Council saying he was wrong and he offered to make a public apology.

full story:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/19/3195402.htm?site=illawarra

“Mr Darling says former general manager Rod Oxley would be a good choice for the Mayoralship.”

To which reformwcc says:

“Wrong again!”

Premier moves to stop Israel boycott
Josephine Tovey and Melissa Davey
SMH April 15, 2011

A spokesman for Barry O’Farrell said the Premier had sent a letter to Cr Byrne cautioning that he could sack the council if it did not drop its pursuit of the boycott. In the letter Mr O’Farrell threatened to use his powers under the Local Government Act if the council did not rescind its resolution within 28 days.”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/premier-moves-to-stop-israel-boycott-20110414-1dg23.html#ixzz1Jq3gRgGz

Comment by reformwcc:

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of Marrackville Council’s attempts to include moral dimensions into local decision-making in this particular case, this heavy-handed approach by State Premier O’Farrell to lean on a local council is exactly the sort of thing we have to prevent by way of protection of local government by way of Constitutional recognition.

Sacking democratically elected Councils must be removed from the powers of State politicians (who are subject to all manner of other influences).

The proper course of action would be for a local referendum on the issue. If the Council maintains the confidence of the people it represents, then that is that. If not, a new council election.

Did someone say “Democracy Now!”?

Louder!

If Rod Oxley truly loved this city, he would know that it should not be used in his personal crusade for public redemption.

You may have noticed that, unlike recent events in the Middle East, the streets of Wollongong have not been full of excited citizens demanding – in the name of “Democracy – Now!” – that Rod Oxley be the next WCC Lord Mayor.

His bid for the position of Lord Mayor, and the comments by the new Leader of the NSW ALP, have made it onto ABC Radio National news this morning. Between them they have raised the spectre of a tainted and corrupted Wollongong and brought it back into the State-wide limelight.

The revival of this rotten image is exactly what our city does not need if we are to recover our civic pride and dignity after the ICAC investigation. Let that old 20th century Wollongong rest in peace.

It seems the only person seriously considering that he run for this key high office for our city is Mr Oxley himself. Many of us remember all too well the way he, as General Manager, ran Wollongong City Council as a kind of personal fiefdom.

The Gong he publicly declares his heart for is not the same Wollongong as the rest of us. Read his book (and count the number of times he uses “I” ). Oxley’s “Wollongong First” vision is very narrow in focus.

Those of us with real social and environmental concerns should never have been marginalised by his 1980s gung-ho development vision of the wider city of Wollongong. Arkell was young Rod’s mentor.

We need to leave all that well behind us.

What we need in the next WCC Lord Mayor is a man or woman who has some exceptional personal qualities and a proven ability to bring a healing approach to life.

Former WCC Lord Mayors and ALP Councillors – and all those driven by polarising factionalism – need not apply. The grandstanding, self-promoting conflict feeders of the old Wollongong need not apply either.

The position of Lord Mayor (and why not a Lord Mayor and Lord Mayoress) is a key symbolic position in terms of representing who were are – both to ourselves and to significant others elsewhere.

But most importantly, for a new Wollongong City, the Office of the Lord Mayor needs to have new ears with which to hear the concerned voices of people in our communities – people who are not on the make, but who act out of genuine heartfelt concerns.

This means that the next Lord Mayor will need to either:

1. have a Council which brings in new Precinct Committees as committees of Council or, failing that,
2. ensure that the concerns arising from the regular monthly community meetings (such as Neighbourhood Forums) are uppermost in informing the Lord Mayor’s vote on key matters.

In other words, if we are to properly address the present and emerging social and environmental issues which confront us, the next WCC Lord Mayor/ess must be a true champion of all the people of Wollongong.

Accept no substitutes.

Bruce Reyburn
12 April 2011

John Robertson weighs in on Rod Oxley mayoral bid
BY NICOLE HASHAM
Illawarra Mercury
12 Apr, 2011

A corruption finding against former council chief Rod Oxley should not be ignored when Wollongong elects its new lord mayor, State Labor leader John Robertson has urged.

The Labor heavyweight yesterday joined the frenzied reaction to news the former general manager is planning a Wollongong lord mayoral tilt in the promised September election, despite a 2008 Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) ruling that he created an environment at the council where corruption flourished.

….

ICAC delivered findings of corrupt conduct against four Labor councillors – Kiril Jonovski, Frank Gigliotti, Val Zanotto and Zeki Esen, as well as council official and then-ALP member Joe Scimone. NSW Labor officially expelled the group in the wake of the scandal.

….

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/john-robertson-weighs-in-on-rod-oxley-mayoral-bid/2130596.aspx

Rod Oxley to run for lord mayor
BY NICOLE HASHAM
09 Apr, 2011

A key figure in Wollongong’s corruption scandal has called on the community to overlook the past and install him as the city’s lord mayor.

Rod Oxley, the former council general manager who in 2008 was found to have created an environment where corruption flourished by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), urged the city not to dwell on history and instead elect him to its highest office.

full story:
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/rod-oxley-to-run-for-lord-mayor/2128694.aspx

And see the front page story in full colour:
http://covers.ruralpress.com/frontpages/258/50800.pdf

See also:

Rod Oxley answers the ‘tough questions’
09 Apr, 2011
Illawarra Mercury

Rod Oxley addresses the issues he considers paramount to his candidacy for Wollongong mayor by responding to questions he has framed himself.

full story:
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/rod-oxley-answers-the-tough-questions/2128720.aspx

There was something in the Illawarra Mercury the other day about this, but it was not part of their on-line service so i did not see what they reported.

I could not find anything new on WCC website at:

http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/council/governance/Pages/icacrecommendations.aspx

Same old same old.

To my knowledge this whole exercise, in relation to the removal of our non-corrupt Councillors by the former ALP State government, was never something which could provide a well articulated reform program with outcomes which could be measured by empirical and objective criteria.

No doubt there were necessary reforms in relation to the staff involved in planning matters. These could always have been done with our elected Councillors in place.

The ALP state government was wrong in sacking our Councillors in the first place. It was a panic over-reaction from a dying NSW ALP (to which, good riddance).

The smear to Wollongong has now substituted itself for the reality that we always had a clear majority of honest, hard working Councillors.

To repair that damage, we need a fresh and new Council – a real one with democratically elected Councillors – who are prepared to take this city into a new, creative and positive age at the start of the 21st century.

Now is the time to bring forth a healing spirit into our local form of governing ourselves.