19 AUGUST 2021
ISSUE 023
REAL INDEPENDENT LOCAL WEEKLY NEWS
News
Fill the gap
Community group Residents for Responsible Ettalong Development (RRED) say Ettalong is under attack from high rise buildings. See page 5
Out&About
A local doctor is putting the call out to get moving in a bid to raise funds for research, prevention and support services for cancer patients across Australia. See page 13
Small and micro-business owners are buckling as lockdown drags on but crisis payments promised by the State Government to fill the gap are either unattainable or not getting through.
Out&About
See page 8 Owners of Osteria il Coccia, Alexandria and Nico Coccia
Will keeping submissions private serve the public interest? Shadow Minister for the Central Coast, David Harris, has written to the Local Government Minister, Shelley Hancock, questioning the decision to keep all submissions made to the Public Inquiry into Central Coast Council confidential. “I have had concerns raised with me by members of the community about the way public submissions will be handled,” Harris’ letter to the Minister, a copy of which has been sent to CCN, said.
Those concerns followed a statement by the Inquiry Commissioner, Roslyn McCulloch, that, on balance, no submissions would be made public. “While I understand that submissions of a defamatory nature should not be published, submissions which address financial or policy decisions should be made on a case-bycase basis with appropriate redaction removing names,” Harris said in his letter. “The integrity of having a Public Inquiry is undermined if
all submissions are unpublished,” he said. “Parliamentary Committees consider submissions on a case-by-case basis in regards to publication. “I have been informed by some community members that when they asked could they have a protected submission they couldn’t be given the guarantee so they did not make a submission. “Now they are upset to find all submissions are to be confidential which would have meant they could have made
their submission,” Harris said. A spokesperson for the Minister for Local Government, Shelley Hancock, said: “This is an independent process and a matter for the Commissioner.” Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, reiterated the Minister’s office – he said: “The public inquiry is an independent process being conducted by Roslyn McCulloch, a lawyer with over 30 years’ experience in the judicial system. “The public inquiry is conducted at arms-length from
the NSW Government and is entirely controlled by Commissioner McCulloch.” Commissioner McCulloch and the Office of Local Government were asked for comment and had not responded at the time of going to press. Shadow Minister for Local Government, Greg Warren, said keeping the submissions private meant the Inquiry was “about as transparent as a brick wall”. Continued page 10
Members of a Central Coast Council committee believe more dog attacks happen on the Coast than are reported to Council. See page 21
Sport
Two new developments have occurred under Head Coach, Nick Montgomery, since his signings of Nicolai Müller and Noah Smith in July. See page 31
Puzzles page 19
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