Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Saturday in New South Wales local government elections will be held, and I see the shadow local government minister is in the chamber with me. As the former local government minister, I firmly believe that probably one of the most important levels of government is local government. It's the level of government that's closest to the people and it's the level of government that can really steer and direct individual communities on to a greater and brighter future. Before I go on, I'd like to mention that I've got 18 local government areas across my electorate, plus the unincorporated area of New South Wales. Of those 18 councils, four of the mayors are not recontesting. Ray Donald from the Bogan shire, based in Nyngan, is not recontesting after a long, long career in local government. Ray has been a fierce advocate for Nyngan and the Bogan shire, and I've worked with him over the last 14 years on improving medical facilities, early childhood facilities and numerous other projects that Ray has fought very hard for to improve his community.

Phil 'Ocker' O'Connor is the mayor or Brewarrina. I've got to say Ocker is going to leave a huge legacy when he doesn't recontest and resigns. Brewarrina shire has a council that reflects the community, and 80 per cent of the employees of Brewarrina shire are Aboriginal people, including directors and the general manager. Ocker has firmly believed that he needs to support his own community, so as we speak today there are local people employed building roads right across his shire, rather than bringing in contractors from the outside. He's done an enormous amount for Bre and Goodooga and other areas of his large shire, which is in the northern part of New South Wales.

Katrina Humphries, a life-long friend of mine, has been the mayor of Moree for pretty well the whole time that I've been a member of parliament. Katrina is incredibly passionate in her work for her community. She's a staunch fighter for her community, and while Moree has the moniker of being the wealthiest agricultural shire in Australia, Katrina's embracing of the Inland Rail and the special activation precinct means we are going to see Moree become an even greater economic powerhouse with further economic developments based on the Inland Rail thanks to Katrina's support.

Stephen Lawrence is the mayor of Dubbo. While Stephen hasn't been mayor for very long, he's shown strong leadership in the recent pandemic. Dubbo at one stage had over 1,000 COVID-19 infections, and Stephen showed strong leadership to get his community through the pandemic. It could have been a much worse scenario than it was. Those four mayors go with my blessings and my good wishes. I wish them all the best in what comes next for them.

It's important on Saturday when people go to vote in the council elections that they vote for people for positive reasons, they vote for candidates that have a vision, they vote for candidates that have life experience and they vote for candidates that are going to lead and drive their communities into the future. Local government should not be a place to settle scores. Local government, I believe, should not be a place for party politics. I know it is in places, but I think it works better when party politics are not involved in local government. In regional Australia, in my part of the world, the outlook is the most positive that we have seen for a long, long time. The potential for regional Australia to grow and prosper is enormous. That goal will be maintained if each individual council is working collaboratively and positively towards a future that is going to secure the growth of its community.