Susanna Freymark
Richmond River will be getting a special coordinator in the first appointment of its kind in NSW. The announcement was made on September 2 at Ballina.
At the announcement Minister for Water Rose Jackson explained more about the position of Richmond River coordinator position.
“We’re looking to have this position sit within the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water,” Ms Jackson said.
“We’ve been very clear that that coordinator role has direct links in to the departments of regional development or primary industries, the EPA, and environment – it has to sit somewhere. So we’re going to put it there.”
The department links are at the heart of the coordinator role, Ms Jackson said.
“We want to see what candidates are available. It’d be amazing to have someone local with really strong local links and knowledge to take that coordinator role, we’re very open-minded about that and want to see what kind of level of experience and person might put their hand up and make sure that you know we sit them at the right level in the department.”
Ms Jackson said the coordinator would have “an important purview across government agencies to really make sure that decisions don’t stall.”
“They don’t sit in someone’s bottom drawer. They don’t sit at the bottom of a to-do list.”
This is a real position that’s actually got some teeth, Ms Jackson said.
A time frame was not given about when the coordinator would be appointed.