Willow Court talks

A FULL and frank discussion on the realities of the Willow Court site was held during a Special Closed Council Meeting on Thursday night. Strong views were expressed by those present (two councillors were absent). I voted against the meeting being closed to the public.

Councillors did not support my motion to make public the decision of this meeting, but they did agree to a follow-up motion to issue a public statement to the effect that the council was writing to Heritage Minister Brian Wightman in regard to future options for Willow Court and was seeking his urgent attention to the matter. 

Time to review Willow Court position

I HAVE asked that a special council meeting be held this week to review the council's position on the handback of the Willow Court site. The mayor has agreed and the meeting will be on Thursday at 6.30pm in the courthouse at New Norfolk. My reasons are as follows:

• The council has spent a year unsuccessfully negotiating to return the remainder of Willow Court to the State Government
• The State Government clearly has no intention of fulfilling its election promise to resume ownership of the site
• The council has done nothing with the Willow Court development strategy (the MacDonald report) it received two months ago
• The mayor's failure to convene a promised meeting with its Willow Court Committee to discuss implementation of the MacDonald report 
• Continuing vandalism of heritage buildings on the site as reported in last week's Derwent Valley Gazette.

UPDATE - May 10: Having received a copy of the agenda documents in today's mail, I was disappointed to learn that it had been decided to hold this week's Willow Court debate in closed session. Willow Court has been mired in secrecy for too long and the council seems to have learned little about the public's desire for information and action.

LegCo election - How we voted in the Valley

THE Tasmanian Electoral Commission has published the provisional polling place figures from today's Legislative Council by-election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Michael Aird two years into his term. Results from local polling booths follow. The electoral commission will re-check its figures tomorrow morning before conducting a provisional distribution of preferences.

BRONTE:
Phillip Bingley 4
Jenny Branch 10
Craig Farrell 13
Deirdre Flint 25
Ray Williams 17
Informal 5

DROMEDARY:
Bingley 31
Branch 47
Farrell 77
Flint 30
Williams 74
Informal 23

ELLENDALE:
Bingley 16
Branch 7
Farrell 18
Flint 44
Williams 37
Informal 10

GLENORA:
Bingley 16
Branch 23
Farrell 62
Flint 42
Williams 35
Informal 11

GRANTON:
Bingley 78
Branch 117
Farrell 167
Flint 108
Williams 113
Informal 48

GRETNA:
Bingley 12
Branch 23
Farrell 30
Flint 49
Williams 36
Informal 4

HAMILTON:
Bingley 3 
Branch 19
Farrell 30
Flint 53
Williams 21
Informal 2

LACHLAN:
Bingley 86 
Branch 52
Farrell 111
Flint 47
Williams 69
Informal 23

MAGRA:
Bingley 24
Branch 48
Farrell 215
Flint 61
Williams 101
Informal 26

MAYDENA:
Bingley 28 
Branch 13
Farrell 41
Flint 6
Williams 37
Informal 11

MOLESWORTH:
Bingley 49
Branch 38
Farrell 117
Flint 26
Williams 41
Informal 17

NEW NORFOLK:
Bingley 205
Branch 220
Farrell 737
Flint 247
Williams 272
Informal 98

NEW NORFOLK NORTH:
Bingley 74
Branch 158
Farrell 610
Flint 167
Williams 202
Informal 80

OUSE:
Bingley 11
Branch 20
Farrell 41
Flint 69
Williams 51
Informal 8

WESTERWAY:
Bingley 32
Branch 23
Farrell 52
Flint 37
Williams 36
Informal 10

Candidates questioned

ABOUT 30 people attended tonight's public forum for candidates seeking election to the Legislative Council seat of Derwent. The function was held at the New Norfolk District Football Club, where club president Steven Dixon welcomed those present and congratulated moderator Ngaire Glover on her initiative in organising the event.

Mrs Glover welcomed candidates Craig Farrell (ALP), Phillip Bingley (Greens) and Ray Williams (Independent) and advised that the two remaining independent candidates (Deirdre Flint and Jenny Branch) had other commitments and were not able to attend.

Each candidate was then given five minutes to introduce himself before the forum moved on to a question and answer session. Some of the questions were:

Do you support the mandatory detention of asylum seekers? Mr Bingley was the only candidate to specifically answer this question, stating that he did not support mandatory detention.

Do you support container deposit legislation? All three candidates answered "yes".

Do you support the clearfelling of native forests? Mr Williams and Mr Bingley answered "no", while Mr Farrell said he supported selective harvesting in native forests.

How would you promote employment in the electorate? Mr Williams said he would lobby parliament and businesses for improved inland irrigation for increased agricultural production. He said Willow Court needed increased government funding to become an employment generator. Mr Farrell said there was no magic solution to employment but it was important to build on what we already have, in particular in tourism. He saw Willow Court and the Derwent Valley Railway was potential tourism employment generators. Mr Bingley said he would advocate the provision of government mentoring services to support private enterprise. He spoke of the success of the Agrarian Kitchen which had grown from a start-up business only a few years ago to now employing eight people.

Do you support cuts to state health and education budgets? Mr Williams said he had not seen the government's budget figures but had been concerned to read that cuts maybe made at the New Norfolk Police Station . Mr Farrell said those budgets should not be cut and said there was a need for increased support for policing and education when times were tough. Mr Bingley said front line services should be quarantined from budget cuts.

Do you support the linking of the Derwent and Huon Valleys by road? All three candidates said they supported this concept and the benefits it would bring to tourism in both regions.

What specifically are you going to do to get projects like Willow Court off the ground? Mr Williams answered "whatever it takes" and Mr Farrell said Willow Court deserved all that could be put into it, but noted that the Callington Mill redevelopment at Oatlands had taken about 30 years. Mr Bingley condemned the State Government for allowing the neglect, decay and vandalism at Willow Court to occur and said the involvement of private enterprise was needed. 

Given what went wrong with Willow Court how can voters put their trust in you? This question was addressed to Mr Williams as a former Derwent Valley Councillor and Mr Farrell as a serving councillor. Mr Farrell said Willow Court's problems began when the government handed the site to the council without proper support. He said he did not carry all the responsibility for what had gone on and he did not have all the answers. Mr Williams acknowledged being on the council "when the lack of action was about" but said he had not been given the information he should have received as a councillor at the time. In particular, he did not know wages were being paid from Willow Court funds. While the question was not directed at Mr Bingley, he said he believed the recently completed report by Malcolm MacDonald provided a way forward.

Where would your office be situated? All three candidates answered that they would have their electorate office in New Norfolk.



Please note: By law, comments relating to the election must include the given name, surname and locality of the writer. Anonymous comments cannot be published during the election period. 

Candidate forum latest

THREE of the five Legislative Council election candidates for Derwent have confirmed their intention to appear at a public forum in New Norfolk on Monday night. They are the three New Norfolk-based candidates Phil Bingley, Craig Farrell and Ray Williams. Apologies have been received from Deirdre Flint, of Hollow Tree, and Jenny Branch, of Claremont.

The forum at the New Norfolk District Football Club on Monday (May 2) will start at 7pm with each candidate being given the opportunity to make a brief statement. After these introductory proceedings there will be a public question and answer session.

Please note: By law, comments relating to the election must include the given name, surname and locality of the writer. Anonymous comments cannot be published during the election period. 

Public forum

Council media release - Tidy Towns Awards

MAYOR Martyn Evans issued the following media release today.

"Mayor Martyn Evans and Ian Lacey from the Tidy Towns Committee represented the Derwent Valley at the National Awards over the weekend and was thrilled that New Norfolk has won the Young Legends and Heritage & Culture category awards at the Keep Australia Beautiful, Australian Tidy Towns Awards.

"It was a great honour to be representing New Norfolk at these awards, and I was very proud to be able to deliver the good news to those involved on Saturday night. This just shows how our community when it works together can achieve great things. The judges commented on the partnerships developed between community organisations, the Tidy Towns Committee and Council.  These partnerships were the key to our achievements,” Mayor Evans said.

"The judges were impressed with the work that has been done on the Back River Cemetery, an historical icon of the area which houses the grave of Betty King, said to be the first white woman to set foot in Australia.  This project was bought together through a partnership between Council, the church community, Lions Club and the Chamber of Commerce.

The category of Young Legends celebrates youth participation in the community.  D’FAT the Council’s youth advisory group has reason to be particularly proud of their achievements in this area. In 2009, D’FAT members recognised that there were ongoing issues with the Ellis Dean Reserve, and after community and Council consultations took responsibility for the area. D’FAT now works with Council to keep the area well maintained and clean, including members of D’FAT removing graffiti. One of D’FAT’s initiatives was to include a legal graffiti wall, which has proved very popular with local youth.  In 2010 a graffiti art workshop was held in partnership with New Norfolk High School and D’FAT.

Matt Hill, Council’s Youth Participation Officer, said he was very proud of what has been achieved. “From being a founding member of D’FAT, and now working with Council as the Youth Development Officer, I can see the changes that have happened over the years. I’d like to congratulate everyone involved, from each of the members of D’FAT to Council and the Councillors who have put their faith in us. Everyone should be very proud of what has been achieved,” Matt Hill said.

Council’s entry in Tidy Towns was spearheaded by Cr Narelle Hill, the Council Representative on the Tidy Towns Committee. “It’s just fantastic to see what we can achieved when we work together, this has been a real team effort, with members of the community, local service organisations and businesses all pulling together. I’d like to thank everyone who has taken part in some way”, Cr Hill said.

Tidy Towns awards take into consideration many things when judging the awards and the community spirit of an area and initiatives being undertaken are taken into account, as well as the tidiness of the town. There’s a lot going on under the surface that we sometimes forget, from the work of the Historical Information Centre to promote our important history, to initiatives in food waste management at Molesworth Primary and Glenora District school, are just a couple of examples, many people are involved in some way. These awards are recognition of the hard work done by many people, and give us something to build on into the future,” Martyn Evans said.