20 OCTOBER 2021
ISSUE 261
REAL INDEPENDENT LOCAL WEEKLY NEWS
Smokey Mountain facing the bulldozer
News
Train services will be disrupted on Wednesday, October 20, when rail workers take industrial action following the breakdown of negotiations between the NSW Government and the union... See page 5
Business
Public comment is being sought, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act), in relation to a development proposal
The former Smokey Mountain and Grizzly Flats Railroad has closed after five decades of providing a place for locomotive enthusiasts, and tourists to enjoy the joys of steam trains.
Health
See page 26
See page 17
Former Council CEO touts selling water assets Rob Noble, who took over as Acting CEO in 2016 when Central Coast Council was created, told the Public Inquiry he was surprised to discover a cash reward system in place for Gosford staff. “I handed out cash rewards totalling about $166,000 in the first year because I had to and because it was a very nice thing to do, but a similar system wasn’t in place for people who might have been performing to the same level at Wyong,” he said. Noble suggested that the Gosford Council staff had more anxiety and it was more of a feardriven culture than the Wyong Council where he had been CEO before the merger. “As a result of that, they were
heavily unionised,” he said. “I recall that at the time of the amalgamation, the Gosford Council had about 31 matters in front of the state Industrial Relations Commission, and Wyong had zero,” he said. “It was very difficult and highly expensive to harmonise the salary and wages systems and conditions across the two councils.” He said it was somewhere in the vicinity of “20-something million dollars”. Noble revealed he had contemplated the idea of selling the water, sewerage and drainage system because of the massive backlog of infrastructure works at both former councils. “I used to have regular meetings with the CEO of Hunter
Water,” Noble said. “We had, you know, a shared water pipeline arrangement and other collaborations. “I raised the idea as a potential for the future with him and he thought it was well worth pursuing. “I suggested that one option might be to sell the business to either Hunter Water or to Sydney Water, if the complexities of the government’s permissions and all that sort of thing could be gotten through. “If that could have been achieved, I thought that there might well be a multi-billion dollar benefit for the general fund to Council that would remain at the Central Coast, which would not only cover all of the infrastructure backlogs many, many times over, but provide a
whole new lifestyle and way forward and quality of life for the citizens of the Central Coast with fabulous infrastructure and wonderful service levels and maintenance levels. “I’m throwing that out there as something that, you know, the CouncilandtheStateGovernment may wish to think about into the future,” he said. The inquiry continues this week. Council commissioned an independent review of the model governing its water and sewer operations late last year. CEO David Farmer said at the time that the review would explore if there are opportunities to produce better value and return on investment for the community.
He said Council’s water and sewer assets are valued at close to $4B. “Our obligation to the community is to ensure we are maximising the value of these assets, and improving efficiency and performance in how water and sewer services are delivered,” Farmer said. “This review is about gathering and assessing all the data to get an informed view of all the possible operating structures.” The United Services Union was concerned that the review could open the door to privatisation. Administrator, Rik Hart, said in August last year that he was against any sell-off. The review has yet to return to a public meeting. Merilyn Vale
Two Central Coast nurses have travelled to the furthest reaches of outback NSW, as part of a COVID response health team to help the remote community of Wilcannia. See page 31
Sport
Local fundraisers Bryan Dorfling and Matthew Johnstone were so impressed by Anton Nootenboom, also known as the Barefoot Dutchman, that they joined him when he passed through the Central Coast last week. See page 40
Puzzles page 18
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