Susanna Freymark
There were plenty of questions from the floor at the Meet the Candidates forum at Evans Head Sandbar Restaurant on Tuesday, September 3.
About 70 people attended the event moderated by Lauren Heath from the Evans Head Business & Community Chamber.
18 out of 23 candidates were present: Neale Genge, Rob Hayes, Daniel Simpson, Rachel Arthur, Tracey Knox, Deb McGillan, Anne Toohey, John Walker, Scott Brereton, Kylie O’Reilly, Robert Mustow, Steve Morrissey, Samuel Allis, Bianca Rayner, Simone Barker, Lyndall Murray, Nathan Scully, Kylie Maunder and William Drew.
Here are some questions asked and the most relevant answers:
Question: Put your hand up if you favour Iron Gates
Answer: NO ONE put their hand up.
Question: What steps will you take to make your solicitors engage with the community (re council’s case on court judgement to approve Iron Gates?) What steps will the council take so a developer gets the message that you can’t break the law?
(re the developer not doing remediation work at Iron Gates as directed two years ago by the courts.)
Mustow: I’m not a legal eagle but if you put your defence out in public, it could affect your case. As far as clearing the development– it’s out of the council’s hands. It’s a murky, nasty case and its in solicitors’ hands. We can’t change the court’s decision.
Murray: I would support the appeal proceeding. I’m not supportive of Iron Gates. It’s the wrong location.
Hayes: The information on the court case was published on the council’s website. There were 148 community submissions against and two for. We don’t want to affect the future of an appeal.
Walker: Whatever is legally able, should be released. Whatever is legally able should be enforced.
Question: Given all candidates are opposed to an incinerator, at the first meeting can the council write to the NSW Government to remove Casino as a location (for an incinerator)?
Mustow: There’s been a fair bit of misinformation on the incinerator. I’ll give my word if I’m elected as mayor, that will not happen in the next four years. We can write to the State Government about legislation.
Rayner: The community wants it completely taken off the table. Yes, we would pass a motion. Yes, we have researched other solutions.
Walker: Yes, I would. I don’t care what the State Government rules are. Council needs to make a statement that it would be removed.
Question: With the town’s concerns over cars driving on the beach, what do you think should be done?
Walker: Beach access is important to Evans Head people. We must maintain beach access for local people.
Hayes: In my years on council, new rules have helped council rangers and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. We have a plan to reduce the area this side of Salty and reduce access to one entry point. If the behaviour doesn’t stop, we have to reduce the area.
Murray: We are for keeping 4WD access and use a permit system and technology to monitor users. I walk my dog there and have been scared by car behaviour. I’ve talked to local fishermen.
Mustow: This is a hard one. Generations have used it for decades. We have to get harder on the culprits with bad behaviour.
Question: Previous council teams have mostly been represented by people from Casino. If elected will you support the introduction of wards? Yes or No?
Murray: I support a referendum on wards.
Mustow: The process for wards would have to go to the community. Wards were dissolved after amalgamation, we would have to have a referendum.
Hayes: Representation down here is getting harder and harder. Casino’s population is growing faster than ours. A ward system is something we could look at. If we get three representatives from this area, then I’m happy with the status quo.
Walker: I’ve worked in Local Government with wards. They don’t work, the smaller locations miss out. The best way to get representation is to elect councillors who represent broad areas. Unless there is a major push, I’d say no.
Question: I find it extremely difficult to engage with Richmond Valley Council as a group. How can they make this council more responsive to ratepayers and residents? Council says it does community consultation yet the council seems hostile to community consultation.
Walker: Culture starts at the top. It should allow public access not just for subjects on the agenda – I hear about this every day. I’ve watched public consultation – it starts with the council saying we are open for business and we will listen.
Simpson: The old school community consultation on the website isn’t enough. We should be open to new ways of doing things and trying to communicate better with the community.
Murray: We will commit to getting data and local knowledge from the community. We will have roundtables for the community.
Mustow: On consultation, we’ve done 6–8 months on Place Plans through pop-ups, we walked around towns, and we had hall meetings. What else can we do? When you get $200million in funding, you need special consultants (experts) to do the designs and plans. The glossy brochures – we produce them ourselves in-house.
Question: There is worry in the community that the airport is under pressure following the sale of the land. What is your interest with regard to the airport museum should it be forced to close?
Walker: I had a lot to do with the museum when I was GM. It’s a mega tourist asset and it should always stay there. It needs protecting and growing. Everyone should be very proud (of the museum).
Mustow: I don’t know how it could be closed. There are heritage listed items. I thought there was a ruling under the Heritage Act for it to remain.
Resident Tim Smith asked about how candidates might address the high vacancy rates of homes in Evans Head.
After the forum, he made this comment:
“Every census – 279 homes in 2021 (18% of homes here, or 33% of empty homes in the LGA vs 12% of the population) – these offer more housing potential than Iron Gates does.
“It was disappointing that only one of them had any thoughts on ways to possibly tackle this (Lyndall Murray exploring what Byron Council are doing about holiday lets – the 120-day limit). Council needs to make moves to capitalise on this potential to either free up empty homes, or make them contribute fairly to our economy such as special rate variations on empty homes or short term lets) such as what Brisbane City Council and several others do.
“This will bring extra income to Richmond Valley Council from the wealthy who can afford to let a home sit empty, instead of pushing exceptional rate variations on those struggling such as pensioners or young families.”
There were questions on roads and rates. The above is a summary of the audience interaction.
Lots more election information including ballot papers can be read here.
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