LOCAL
Matters All editorial, advertising and distribution enquiries to Mark Brooker By email: mark@ hunterlocal.com.au or ph 0455 210 000 Mail: PO Box 130 Lambton, 2299 Founder & publisher: Mark Brooker
with Mark Brooker Publisher of The Local
Make your mark
Advertising bookings for December issue close on Monday 15 November The Local is lovingly produced then carefully hand delivered each and every month to more than 11,000 residential letterboxes and businesses in Lambton, North Lambton, New Lambton, New Lambton Heights, Broadmeadow, Hamilton North, Jesmond and Kotara. You can find back issues of The Local and check out the latest community news and information at: www.thelocalnewcastle.com.au or on our Facebook page @thelocalnewcastle. If you enjoy receiving The Local in your letterbox each month please support the businesses you see advertising on these pages. Without their support your local paper could not and would not happen. Pretty simple really...
....and here’s some fine print Readers, advertisers and community groups are encouraged to contribute to The Local with news items, community events and any matter of general interest to residents of the area. In contributing news items the contributor accepts that such information may or may not be published in print and/or online using websites and social media channels at the sole discretion of the publisher. No guarantee of publication is ever implied by this invitation to contribute. Except where noted otherwise, all information, photographs, text and images, within The Local is subject to copyright. Material may not be reproduced and/or distributed in whole or part in any form without the prior, explicit consent of the publisher. The Local is printed on Australian-made paper using up to 55% recycled fibre. The Local is 100% recyclable. Please recycle it, but of course only after you’ve read it!
ABN 48 260 331 896
Page 2 > The Local > November 2021
This month’s issue of The Local has a strong focus on the upcoming local government elections. And that’s not just because I am a candidate. It probably helps though, just quietly. I bang on about local elections every time they come around. I think there’s now been four elections or byelections in the time I’ve been publishing The Local. Local government is the level of public administration that is most likely to impact your life locally. It’s important that we take the opportunity offered by the compulsory voting system to have a say in determining who sits around the table that constitutes our local council. At the last local government elections in September 2017 ward 3 had a voter turnout of just over 81%. So almost 1 in 5 of us didn’t show up at a polling booth. With the Electoral Commission issuing $55 fines to the ‘no shows’, just the handful of suburbs that make up ward 3 would have generated fines of more than $280,000. Can you imagine what the voter turnout would be if it wasn’t compulsory? Let’s do better this time around. You will find profiles of the six candidates for ward 3 councillor on pages 16-19 of this issue. The profiles for the four candidates for lord mayor are on pages 20 and 21. Please have a read, ask yourself who might best serve your community in these roles, then show up on election day Saturday 4 December. There will be 23 different places you can place your ward 3 vote. Alternately there will be five pre-poll locations across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie open for business in the fortnight before election day.. For more information go to https://www.elections. nsw.gov.au/Elections/Find-my-electorate/Councils/ Newcastle/Ward-3 Apologies that some of our regular content has not appeared in this month’s issue. Do not adjust your letterbox, normal transmission will return to The Local soon! www.thelocalnewcastle.com.au