Peak donates sports equipment Changes imminent for Far West FDC

Cobar Shire Council is seeking to withdraw the Broken Hill Family Day Care (BHFDC) service from their Far West Family Day Care (FWFDC) operations.

Cobar Shire’s general manager Peter Vlatko said council absorbed BHFDC (which looks after approximately 130 children) as part of its Family Day Care operations across the region in 2020 “to help them out”.

They were screaming out for services and nobody was doing it, it was just an extension of ours,” Mr Vlatko said.

He said Cobar Shire however now feels that s not in their best interests to be “providing a service to another town” and have been in discussions with Broken Hill Council about taking it over.

We’re busy enough with what we’ve got and we thought that the Broken Hill Council will feel comfortable in looking after some of their families who live and work in their ” he said.

Cobar Public School were thrilled to receive a donation of $1,136 from Aurelia Metals’ Peak Gold Mine to purchase two soccer sets, one large and one small, along with some other sporting goods. Some of the school’s students are pictured with Peak Gold Mine representative Laura Newton with their new equipment. ▪ Photo contributed

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Broken Hill Council is however not interested in taking on the service according to a Mirage News report saying they “lacked the resources, experience, and regulatory and compliance knowledge required for day care services”.

Mr Vlatko said he believed it would be in Broken Hill Council’s best interests for the city to take on BHFDC.

“Some of the people that use this service are doctors, police, nurses, etc that actually work in the town.

“If you take this away, what are they going to do?” he said.

Mr Vlatko said he plans to have further discussions with Broken Hill Council representatives tomorrow when they are in Cobar for the Western Division Conference.

“I’m going to sit down with them and try and understand why they’ve made that decision,” he said.

“There is a repercussion for them, I don’t understand why they didn’t consider it, but anyway it’s their business and I respect that.”

He said they will look at other options, including a private operator.

“At the end of the day we’ll help whoever takes it on as long as it’s still being run in accordance of how it should be run.

“But the reality of it is that we will have to look at the option of terminating that service,” Mr Vlatko said.

Mayoral report

Late last week the General Manager Peter Vlatko and myself attended the Country Mayors Meeting held at the Parliament House Conference Room in Macquarie Street, Sydney.

It was addressed by Ministers and Shadow Ministers of the newly elected parliament and what little news there was did not appear encouraging to Cobar Shire Council.

The majority of news was that nothing of substance would be handed down prior to the September budget, however one glaring item mentioned by the second speaker, the Minister for Western New South Wales [Tara Moriarty], intimated that Resources for Regions was being looked at as a candidate for scrapping.

This would be an utter disaster for Cobar.

The Resources for Regions grant last year consisted of some two to two and a half times the entire rate base charged by Council.

It is not as if this grant is not raised from emoluments earned in the Cobar Shire, as it is based on a small percentage of royalties paid by mines in the shire directly to the State Government on the value of mine production.

The rate base for Cobar is minuscule compared to a Randwick or Waverly Council in Sydney both of which have the substantial secondary revenue flow from parking meters.

We intend to lobby the Minister heavily to retain this grant. Peter Abbott, Mayor

Check out our photos in colour online at www.cobarweekly.com.au