INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD SPENCE 1350 2LF YOUNG

Friday, 25 July 2025

Subjects: Passing of former Temora Councillor Dennis Sleigh, Demerger of Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Councillor, NSW Farmers conference 2025, drought relief, Farm Safety Week 2025, Bob Holder heads to Mount Isa Mines Rodeo.

Richard Spence: Welcome into the studio Member for Cootamundra, the Nationals' Steph Cooke. Good morning. Steph, good to see you in today.

Steph Cooke: Good morning, Rich. It's great to be in studio with you today and able to have a yarn, and hopefully the listeners will get something out of it as well.

Richard Spence: Firstly, a little bit of sad news. Commiserations to the Temora Shire Council and the Temora community. The passing of Dennis Sleigh, a former councillor.

Steph Cooke: Oh look, this is a huge loss to the community of Temora. I've personally known Dennis for many, many decades, being a Temora person myself. Dennis's contribution to that community, whether it's in terms of the Temora Community Center. Of course, his time on council. He was elected in 2012. Long standing councillor and whatever Dennis put his mind to, he just got outstanding results for the community and the people that he was so passionate about representing. He had an enormous influence on me as the Member for Cootamundra, particularly when it came to upgrades to the Temora Neighborhood Center and other really important local causes. So, look, I just want to extend my deepest condolences to Dennis's wife, Margaret, their families and, of course, the Temora Shire in general. It's a huge loss.

Richard Spence: It certainly is, and I express condolences as well from 2LF. Moving on to the Cootamundra Gundagai Council demerger. It's finally got approval. It will happen by the time the next local government elections come around in 2028. This sets a bit of a precedent for other merged councils, including the Hilltops.

Steph Cooke: Yeah, look it does and it doesn't Rich, it's a little more complicated than that. I think the first thing to really acknowledge is that the people of Cootamundra Gundagai have fought for this for a very long time. Their councils, or the council has never backed away from it for a moment. I've had the great honour and privilege of playing a part in this result, having represented these communities now for just shy of eight years, and it's been a long running battle, and they deserve this outcome. We've got a lot of work in front of us, as you mentioned, the next council elections for local government will be in September of 2028 so we have a journey over the next three years to get to that point.

There is every chance that there will be a period of administration for both areas, but we are and that would result from a proclamation, but we are some way off that yet. We've got to do the groundwork around the distribution of assets and liabilities and really implementing that transition plan to make sure that whether it's from the point of proclamation or from the point of the local government elections, whichever comes first, that the two re-established council areas are off on a strong start, a strong footing so that those two council areas can go forth and put this long saga and this very sorry chapter in their history behind them, and that day, from my perspective can't come quick enough, and I know that I speak for the vast majority of people from that area, and I'd like to thank Abb McAlister for his leadership, the former mayor Charlie Sheahan before that, and the councillors that have served right from the start of this whole carry on, and there's only a few of them left now. But the ones that have put their hands up since to try and continue to deliver services whilst also working through the you know, the advocacy for demerger and now what will come before us.

So, when it comes to answer your question directly about the implications for other councils, there were amendments passed to the Local Government Act in 2023 and Cootamundra Gundagai was carved out of those amendments. So, the reason why it's not necessarily a precedent for other councils is that we were always on our own pathway to begin with, and that's because of the advocacy, the number of times we've been before the Boundaries Commission, and the fact that we just didn't give up, and there were processes in train already around a demerge, because former minister Wendy Tuckerman announced a demerger in August of 2022. So, we were already sort of outside the main efforts of other councils to demerge. So those amendments to the Local Government Act still provide a pathway for other councils to demerge, but it wouldn't occur in the same way as Coota Gundagai did.

So, there is another pathway, and now there is, you know, there is now firmly in the court or the hands of other local governments, Hilltops, Snowy Valleys, whoever else might choose to go down this path to determine whether they want to go down that new pathway that has been established by this government.

Richard Spence: Right, and the Cootamundra Regional Council will as far as the councillors go, and you mentioned Mayor Abb McAlister. I spoke to him just days after this announcement, they will remain in place until the local government elections, while a lot goes on around them over the next three years, and then candidates will come forward to be part of both separate councils and a new mayor for each council.

Steph Cooke: Oh, look, that's exactly right. That's a really neat summation of what will happen for residents over the next three years. There will be two lots of work, if you like, happening at the same time, and that is the work of the council as usual, as we have seen for the last nine years, and a separate body of work being undertaken to enact the demerge and transition to that point. So that's why I continue to say that we've got a lot of work in front of us, but having said that, I'm very, very confident that we can do it, the Minister has been incredibly supportive of us throughout. He has committed that he will remain supportive. He's indicated to Abb McAlister and I that his door is open should we ever need to have follow up meetings with him about the challenges, noting that this is a first. This is a first for New South Wales, and it's extraordinary. It'll be history making, there's no doubt about that. But, with that will come some challenges, and the Minister has said that he and his department, the Office of Local Government, will do everything that they can to ensure that this is a success. And now the onus really is on the current councillors to start to get that organised and in train, and I'll be there with them every step of the way to make sure this happens.

Richard Spence: And the Minister you mentioned is, of course, the New South Wales Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig.

Steph Cooke: Yeah, that’s correct, yes. And I've had a very strong relationship with Minister Hoenig right from the start, I'm very grateful for that, as I do with many Ministers in the Labor government. People listening will know that I am part of the New South Wales opposition, and that, in and of itself, comes with challenges. However, I've said about right from the outset, wherever possible, working with the government of the day, because at the end of the day, I need to make sure that we get the right outcomes for our communities, regardless of who is serving in government at the time.

Richard Spence: Moving on to the NSW Farmers conference. You attended that. Local farmers dealing with a lot of challenges, both with the weather and Government police. What did you get out of the conference?

Steph Cooke: Oh, look, the conference was fantastic, and it was great to see so many farmers from the Cootamundra electorate who are members of NSW Farmers, we have a number of branches across the electorate, and they all congregate once a year at Rosehill Racecourse for their annual conference. I've had the opportunity to attend a number of years now, and I was there for the whole time this year and last year. There were a lot of motions that were debated addressing some of those issues that you're talking about Rich.

I think, in terms of hearing from the Premier, the Minister for Agriculture, the Minister for the Environment, it was good that they attended and are showing that they acknowledge the importance of the farming sector. I think one of the most disappointing aspects I found from Minister Moriarty's address, as she is that New South Wales Agriculture Minister, is that there is just no support for drought, and she had to concede that the only support available are loans. And our farmers are telling me, and I continue to advocate to the government that loans are not what they need right now, and there were certainly motions to the effect of the transport subsidies that we have now been calling for, for several months, and I'm on the record around that. So, it was good to hear from farmers right across New South Wales, not just our area about how effective those subsidies are. We are talking about around $40,000 per farmer. So, on balance, when you look at the size of the New South Wales budget, $40,000 is not a lot of money.

However, farmers were telling us that the cost of fodder is not actually the issue, or the cost of the water that they need for their stock is not the issue. It's the cost of the transport that's the issue, and that's what that subsidy is about. But unfortunately, the minister did not commit to that. So, our advocacy around that will continue, but it was great. It was really great to see a lot of farmers from our area up through Greenethorpe and Cowra down to Junee, out past Temora, down into that Ganmain area, and it was an opportunity for farmers to make their voice heard directly to the government.

Richard Spence: And you mentioned the lack of drought relief. With the recent rains and more to come, what is the official position on the drought declaration at the moment?

Steph Cooke: Yeah, so the DPI still has vast amounts of our electorate classified as either drought impacted, or drought affected. And what I keep talking about is this concept of a green drought. And I've done a lot of Sydney media in in the last fortnight, which has been enlightening, because you that's when you sort of really realise that people in Sydney don't necessarily understand the concept of a green drought. Many of them might come out and visit our area and see that it's lovely and green and think, 'Oh, gee, isn't this really lovely?' And look for us, it's better than looking at brown which is which is great. But we know that with low rainfall coming into Winter, we have had some rain, which is very welcomed. But those cold conditions and the frost after frost after frost, very cold on the ground, has meant that the crop, whether they be the winter grain crops or the fodder crops, are off to a very, very slow start, and as a result, our farmers are still hand feeding every day, and that's the conditions that we're facing now. The forecast is for below average rainfall as we move into spring. I certainly hope that turns around and we welcome any rain, I think we've got a bit on the way in the next few days, and we'll keep a watching brief on this Rich, and I will continue to make rep after rep to the Government in any format I can to make sure that our farmers, who produce the food and fibre for this state, country and the globe, are supported in the way they need to be.

Richard Spence: Yeah, they deserve all the support they can get. Now a farm safety week. When is that on? Is that this week, or?

Steph Cooke: Yeah. Farm Safety Week is this week, and there was a real focus on that at the conference as well which is, you know, really, really great to see. Yeah, yeah. Farm Safety Week is this week, yes. And there was a real focus on that at the conference as well. Which is, you know, which is really, really great to see. FarmSafe is a really important organisation. It's a not for profit, and they've produced a 'Second Chances' campaign, which is a strong focus on the near misses that farmers just don't talk about. And for whatever reason, they might be sort of a bit, you know, embarrassed by something that they did that with hindsight was a bit silly, or they're just sort of not game for to talk about it for fear of shame or repercussions, or whatever. But FarmSafe, through this campaign, are effectively focusing on those lucky escapes, so encouraging farmers to talk about when they have had a near miss with safety on their farm, in the hope that by spreading the word, other farmers will, you know, think twice about some of the activities that they are doing, and just making sure that we do everything as safely as possible, because at the end of the day, you know, farmers are very special, and their people and their families, and we don't want to lose people.

Richard Spence: And unfortunately, there can be elapses of focus and judgment, because they work long hours, day in, day out and day after day, and very rarely with a break.

Steph Cooke: Spot on. And that was such a big part of the conversation. And as you say, when you know, when you are tired and you've been working, you know 16-17 hours in a day with very few breaks, it's very, very easy to have that lapse in concentration, which could end with some very poor outcomes. And we want to avoid any of those tragedies.

Richard Spence: And in our midst, we’ve got a world-renowned local celebrity in the name of Bob Holder. 95 year-old rodeo performer. He’s on his way to Mount Isa now for a rodeo in a couple of weeks time.

Steph Cooke: Isn't he just such a legend of a guy, and you know, a thorough gentleman. A nicer bloke, you'd be lucky to find. I've had the great honour of getting to know Bob over the last eight years, and love catching up with him in Cootamundra, and he's always got great stories, and as you say, 95 heading to Mount Isa. He's a great man, and we wish him and his family all the very best.

Richard Spence: That's for sure, the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo on the eighth, ninth and tenth of August. I spoke to him briefly earlier this week, a lovely fellow, and I hope to speak to him on air in the week leading up to that radio so listen out for that.

Steph Cooke: We will indeed.

Richard Spence: All right, thanks a lot Steph. Thanks for joining me today.

Steph Cooke: Thanks for having me.