Thursday, 8 February 2024
Subjects: Australia Day, importance of agriculture in the Cootamundra electorate, CGRC de-merge, Parliamentary sitting calendar, 6th annual Cootamundra Summit, Boorowa water pipeline, rural policing, importance of volunteering.
E&OE…
Dave Eisenhauer: Steph Cooke joins us on the line; Steph, a very good morning.
Steph Cooke: Good morning Dave, and it's good to be back with you. It's been a busy start to the year for a lot of people. Certainly, Australia Day was a good day this year, right around the Cootamundra electorate. I know that – and I'm sure down into your part of the world where I've visited before – it's a special day, isn't it?
Dave Eisenhauer: My word, it is. Look, the Snowy Valleys had all the different community groups running the events; some wonderful people being recognised, but it's also the people that just get in and make it all happen. They deserve the awards as well too, whether it's turning a sausage on the barbecue or it's getting the seating all organised, these community events are so important. They're the fabric of where we live, aren't they? They make it what it is.
Steph Cooke: Absolutely Dave. This year I had a special focus on very small communities in the Cootamundra electorate. Our largest town centre is Young with about, give or take, 10,000 people or so, and the communities get smaller and smaller from there. I went to some of the smallest this year, including Ariah Park and Weethalle in the west of the electorate, then back through Barellan and Ardlethan.
These are towns that only have a few hundred people, and the volunteers, almost every second person or more volunteers in some capacity in those communities, so to see them all come together on Australia Day – to your point, the barbecues, the cake stalls, just people putting out the seating, organising the audio and the PA systems, and raising the flags, all of those sorts of things – these events just don't happen unless people pull together and offer up their time and expertise just to make it something special, and that it was. So, it was as much a celebration of what we achieve at a local level as it was Australia Day itself.
Dave Eisenhauer: Those areas you mentioned – Weethalle, Ariah Park, Barellan – in those farms out through there, those communities I think from a state point of view, they're preserving the history of agriculture without any second places. They're the top of the list there with their historic days.
Steph Cooke: It's interesting you should mention agriculture Dave, because I have been really crunching numbers in relation to where people work in the Cootamundra electorate and more than one-in-five jobs in the Cootamundra electorate are directly related to agriculture; it's over 7,000 people, which is quite extraordinary and one of the highest, if not the highest, in the state.
Then on top of that, we have five abattoirs; the 1,000 to 1,500 workers at any given time are on top of those people that are directly employed by agriculture businesses, farming enterprises, and other ag businesses. Ag is incredibly important in our part of the world. I think it's always important that we remind people in the city of where this food and fibre comes from, and just how important the work that we do west of the divide actually is. That's what I try and do every time I come to Parliament.
Dave Eisenhauer: Let's have a look at the latest that is going on with the Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Council and the merger discussions that are taking place. Steph, for people that aren't aware, there's a bit of a background. I know we had a big round table meeting in Gundagai…
Steph Cooke: Yes. I think as most people know, this has been a long-running saga ever since the former Coalition Government announced forced mergers in 2016. I came into office toward the end of 2017, some 18 months into these merged council arrangements. Our council area of Cootamundra and Gundagai has been fighting to de-merge and establish the independence of those two council areas ever since; it's been a long journey.
The latest instalment, as you've just mentioned, there was a de-merge forum hosted by the Cootamundra-Gundagai Council. I was invited to attend that forum along with a number of other members of the New South Wales Parliament from both the upper and lower houses. A broad spectrum of us attended, whether it's Independents like Joe McGirr, the Greens were represented, the Labor Party was represented, and from the Liberal Party Justin Clancy was also there.
It thrashed out a lot of the issues right across the state. From my perspective as a local member, it was my opportunity to again, remind everyone in the room that as the local member, it was my responsibility to represent the communities of Cootamundra and Gundagai when it comes to this issue. There are so many issues in this space right across the state, but we are in a unique situation, and it's our unique circumstances that I continue to fight for.
Dave Eisenhauer: Yesterday the Government put forward that next phase, which is: if you want to de-merge, you've got to pay for it yourselves. We talked to Mayor Ian Chaffey and Deputy Mayor Trina Thomson yesterday about that; it's early days for Snowy Valleys. For Cootamundra and Gundagai, as you said, they have been fighting for this for a long time, that's throwing a big spanner in the works.
Steph Cooke: There's no doubt that my biggest concern continues to be around the cost of the de-merge, along with achieving a timely resolution to these matters which have been outstanding for a long, long time. You and I have talked at length about the uncertainty and the impacts of the uncertainty on staff, on the community, on councillors. It's a very, very difficult situation all ‘round.
I think one of the things to note is that the circumstances facing Snowy Valleys are different to the circumstances facing Cootamundra-Gundagai now. For a long time they weren't; we were in lockstep in a lot of ways. But we were, through just sheer tenacity and perseverance, able to secure the decision to de-merge by the former minister, Wendy Tuckerman. So our circumstances are unique, and now it's about finding a pathway for those councils like Snowy Valleys that have still got a lot of work to do.
You've got our council where we've done all of the work, and we have a decision, and now it's about how to actually implement that decision of the former minister. It would seem that the Local Government Minister has recognised the uniqueness of our circumstances, and his second reading speech made reference to alternative pathways for Cootamundra and Gundagai. Having said that, the bill is a reasonably lengthy bill; there's a lot of complexity in it, and I need to go through it in detail, and make sure that I truly understand the implications for Cootamundra and Gundagai. To that end, I've sought a briefing directly with the minister, and I'm really hoping to get some more answers out of that.
Dave Eisenhauer: It's such a big process, and as you said, there's certainly unique circumstances. But it's the cost, Steph. That's the big thing that worries me is this enormous cost, where's that going to come from?
I mean, councils are battling, as you know, financially. We're looking at another rate variation for the Snowy Valleys. There's a fair bit of pressure on the community, and you put into that the cost of living and everything else that we're looking at there, Steph, it's a journey ahead for 2024, isn't it?
Steph Cooke: It is a journey that will no doubt have its challenges throughout this year. You've quite rightly summed up many of the issues facing our small rural councils and the communities that rely on them. It's incumbent upon people like myself from a state level to hold the Government to account, to make sure that we aren't left behind. There are a lot of rural councils, whether they're facing a merger/de-merger circumstance or not, who are really, really struggling with financial viability issues. That's something that the Government is certainly going to have to address.
It was raised at the Cootamundra Summit, which I held for the sixth time last week, and that brings together all of the mayors and general managers of the Cootamundra electorate. We talked at length about the issues that are facing them. There's no doubt that things like big infrastructure projects – we've got communities that need to upgrade water and sewage treatment plants and the like – these are big infrastructure projects and the councils will be relying on support from the State and Federal Government in order to see those sorts of projects through to fruition.
I'll just continue to keep pushing-up, bearing in mind what's at stake, because a good thing for me is that I spend so much time at a grassroots level in our community. So I get to hear directly from people what's going on and how it's impacting them, and I bring that straight back to Macquarie Street every time that I'm here.
Dave Eisenhauer: Except this year we're going to see a few less days Steph, with shorter sitting days; that's come up as a concern – I know you mentioned that in a recent press release – with the New South Wales Parliament.
Steph Cooke: Yes, it is concerning. I think we're scheduled to sit for, all going well, for around 48 days this year. That's a substantial drop from what the Coalition has had previously of up to 65 days. It really has a couple of impacts, especially for regional MPs; it's much different for city MPs because they live and work in the city where the ministers are based.
For us in the bush, it's really got a couple of implications: number one, we have less Question Time during the Parliamentary sitting week itself, and that means that there's less opportunities to hold the Government to account on the floor of the Parliament, which is really important; it's an important part of our democratic process.
But the second implication that it has is that, for rural MPs like myself, we rely on the sitting days for meeting times with ministers. They are hard to get at the best of times whether you are in Government or in opposition. I've got a string of them that we are chasing at the moment; the ministers will have less time because there are less sitting days to open up their diary for people like me to come and see them about the issues impacting our communities.
Nonetheless, despite that challenge, it won't stop me from continuing to seek those meetings, press up, be very efficient and effective in the lobbying that we are doing on behalf of our communities, because these issues are really important. It’s a shortened calendar, but I'll make the most of the advocacy opportunities.
Dave Eisenhauer: As you do, Steph, as you do, working huge… people think 48 days for the year, but there's so much work that goes on around those days. One of them, Steph of recent times was your sixth annual Cootamundra Summit. Six years, this has been happening. I can't believe six years.
Steph Cooke: It's an important opportunity for the mayors and general managers to come together. What we're able to achieve, which I think is quite special, is that our councils come together and actually agree what the priorities should be from a Cootamundra electorate perspective, so it guides my advocacy; we agree to them, and prioritise.
You do have a situation where every council is responsible, understandably, for advocating for their community, but they will be supporting projects which may not even have a direct impact on their own council area, but recognise that, as a region, it's a really important project to push up on.
The best example I can give you for example, is the Boorowa pipeline. This is a community that forever has not had a safe, reliable supply of water for the township. It's got over 2,000 people; it's trying to grow, and in fact, there are subdivisions that have been granted where we just don't have safe and secure water to those areas.
We've got the council areas, including Bland and Narrandera, and even say Junee, if you like, that will not benefit directly from Boorowa having safe and secure water. It's not in their Local Government Area, but they recognise the importance of every small community in the Cootamundra electorate having safe and secure water. So they're able to put their own circumstances, I guess, a little bit down the list, to make sure that a more vulnerable community gets its time to shine and that the spotlight is on their issues, knowing full-well that when the pendulum swings back the other way and we've got an issue of a similar nature in one of their communities, everyone will rally and support their community.
The summit is very, very special and it's also an opportunity for us to come together and talk about the bigger issues that are really affecting each and every community; there are many that are similar. That whole council sustainability and viability piece is a really big one – along with roads – that just came up over and over again. We have so much work that needs to be done on our road network and I'll absolutely continue to fight for more spending, and more opportunities to upgrade our roads to a better standard.
There was a lot of discussion about how the disaster funding arrangements provide for road renewal to get them back to the state that they were at, before the disaster happened, but that really defeats the purpose of conducting that work, because when you get another similar event in the future, those roads will be washed away to the same extent as they were again. What we are really seeking is that betterment piece so that our roads are built back to a higher and better standard, so that when we see these weather events in the future, that our road network is more resilient and able to withstand these impacts.
Dave Eisenhauer: We're going to see more of them Steph, as time goes on I think.
Steph Cooke: Yeah, I think you're right Dave, unfortunately. We were talking off-air earlier about the unpredictability now of the seasons, in general. It's not just the day-to-day weather. We're never really quite sure what we're going to get, and it's important that our communities really are prepared for anything that might come along. That goes for our infrastructure; it's got to be resilient.
Dave Eisenhauer: Of course, one thing that comes up, it doesn't matter where you travel in the country, people are always talking about policing and making sure that our police have enough resources; that there's enough police in our districts to provide the service, that wonderful service that they provide for the community in so many different areas. You'll continue lobbying the police minister for our regional areas of the Cootamundra-Gundagai Electorate, as well?
Steph Cooke: Absolutely Dave. Rural policing is incredibly important. Our women and men in blue do a magnificent job, and sometimes they really do find themselves stretched. It's not just in relation to the day-to-day policing that they undertake, but it's their involvement in the broader emergency management space, of course. We saw them play a really special role during COVID, during our disasters that we've seen across New South Wales and the electorate, of course. They do a magnificent job, and it's really important that we continue to support the work that they're doing.
I was really pleased that under the former Coalition Government, we saw a number of police stations have their numbers increase across the electorate, which was great, but we can always do with more police; there's not a question of that. It was raised at the Cootamundra Summit. I have been calling for several months now for an inquiry into regional policing and the resources that are allocated to the regions. So far, the Government is not supporting a Parliamentary inquiry along those lines, but I stand firm with the Country Mayors Association of New South Wales; I met with their chairman, Jamie Chaffey just a couple of days ago to reaffirm my support and commitment to seeing such an inquiry, because I believe that in the bush we deserve our fair share. I think there's a lot more that needs to be done in this space to support the men and women in uniform, who are already doing a magnificent job in our communities.
Dave Eisenhauer: We're very fortunate. We've got some wonderful, wonderful police. We have young police coming through the system now, leaving school, finishing their HSC, becoming career police, off to Goulburn, and to Charles Sturt Uni, and of course our established services, as well. Steph, we're out of time. It's coming up to news time, but anything you'd like to add this morning while we're chatting on our fortnightly catch-ups?
Steph Cooke: Dave, it's just wonderful to be back with you this year. I will have a renewed and continued focus on the importance of volunteering this year, Dave. So it's another opportunity for me to say thank you to everyone in our communities who are volunteering in any capacity, in any organisation in our small communities. We are really grateful for what you give. For those people out there that are looking for something new and something different and challenging for 2024, find an organisation that you might be able to give a few hours a week to, or a few hours a month; it's all about keeping our organisations and our community strong.
Dave Eisenhauer: It's a great feeling to give back to your community, too.
Steph Cooke: Absolutely. Thanks very much for having me, Dave.
Dave Eisenhauer: Steph Cooke, thank you very much for joining us, as we do on a Thursday fortnight. All the best for the day ahead there in Sydney.
Steph Cooke: Thank you so much.