The Hawkesbury Greens in Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia | Political organisation

The Hawkesbury Greens

Locality: Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Community organisation
• Political party
• Political organisation

25.01.2022 Something quite remarkable happened in NSW Parliament on Thursday night. The usual conventions were dispensed with to allow representatives of 4 different poli...tical parties to sit down around the table to finalise and pass a set of vital domestic violence reforms. In stark contrast to the usual situation, where members sit across a chamber from each other, rising from their seats to approach the table to contribute to debate each time, Thursday night’s ‘round-table’ set a more collaborative and less adversarial tone for the debate. This was fitting for a Bill on which there was so much common ground, and on which negotiations between the parties had contributed to both the original and the final versions of the Bill. We talk a lot about how we could do politics differently, and how we might create a more inclusive culture in parliament. This was the first time I can recall that I didn’t feel the ‘fight or flight’ hormones coursing through my body as I sat in the chamber. We have the power to make parliament a more inclusive, productive and democratic place to be - we just need to be willing to make the changes required.

20.01.2022 The Liberal Party is destroying the very fabric of Sydney

17.01.2022 Spinning the media

16.01.2022 Democracy for sale

16.01.2022 It was a bloody hot weekend and energy use was extremely high - over the last 48 hours each of wind, solar and hydro power peaked at 16% of energy produced (and this doesn’t include megawatts of rooftop solar). Renewables are already keeping the lights (and air conditioning!) on

12.01.2022 On Friday, Council’s excellent General Manager, Peter Conroy, had his last day at Hawkesbury Council. He resigned on Tuesday. The Mayor presented Peter’s resi...gnation to Councillors in a confidential session, using a Mayoral Minute. Five of us had no warning and no time to digest the information. We have received very little information about what actually happened on Tuesday and any information we do have we must keep confidential. We have not been provided with any reasons why the GM was not welcome at Hawkesbury Council or why he should no longer continue to lead the organisation. Nor have we been provided with his performance review, conducted under the previous Mayor. We’ve asked for it, but it has not been given to us. This is the General Manager who helped us bring a community-focus back to Council. He was well known for his excellent consultation. He has guided us through drought, flood, fire and COVID-19. Unlike other Councils, we have come through 2020 with a small surplus, no loss of staff and no reduced staff hours. We have met all Fit for the Future benchmarks and delivery of the Operational Plan remains on track. So why on earth would we want to lose this man? This has come as an enormous shock. It was presented to us as a done deal. I believe the GM was backed into a corner and forced to resign to serve the political agenda of the Liberal-Labor block which now controls Council with the assistance of Cr John Ross. Peter was working hard to improve Council and fix the neglect the Hawkesbury has suffered for decades under conservative councils too tight to pay for services and basic infrastructure like footpaths. I don’t believe he arrived at work on Tuesday morning with any intention of resigning that afternoon. So what actually happened? Who knows, but you should ask. Ask the Mayor, Cr Conolly, who is still refusing to answer our questions. Ask the former Mayor, Cr Calvert, who is yet to provide the GM’s performance review to the rest of Council. Ask Crs Zamprogno, Richards, Tree, Kotlash and Ross, who all seemed to be in on the secret. I now have serious concerns about the Hawkesbury’s future. I believe this will cost Council several hundred thousand dollars. It has left us leaderless at the tail end of a pandemic, and shattered staff morale. The community is furious. This is a disgraceful display of political hubris from the major party councillors who are more interested in their own agendas than in the community we are all elected to serve. I believe the push for more development lies at the bottom of this. I want to personally thank Peter Conroy for his work in the Hawkesbury. He is a thoroughly decent man of very high integrity. He is well known and very well respected throughout local government circles in Australia. I really enjoyed working with Peter and I will miss his knowledge, wisdom and his sometimes frustratingly fair approach to Council matters a great deal. This is a very great loss for the Hawkesbury. Both Peter and the community deserved better than this.

12.01.2022 More and more single older women are at risk of homelessness and poverty. We are heading back to the dark ages where a women had to rely on her husband for survival! Smash the patriarchy!

12.01.2022 This morning Heritage Act posted a photo showing the gradient of the recently-landscaped greenspace in Thompson Square a slope so steep stairs are required on ...each side for safe passage. A concerned community member rightfully asked Are there any concessions for people with wheelchairs, canes, scooters or walkers to get down to the bottom where the stairs are? and on another photo taken from a different perspective:- Please show me way down to the bottom for all the people who have walking issues and use aides. All good to have stairs, but what about a way down to the bottom for people with wheelchairs, scooters, canes, walkers? In 2012 the RMS released Questions and Answers:- "Q: What facilities will be available for persons using a wheelchair? Can they access the shared user path? A: Unfortunately, due to the steep natural topography of Windsor and its interface with the river some elements of this project may not meet the normal guidelines followed in the provision of facilities for wheelchairs. So the Government always knew it wouldn’t be accessible, they just didn’t care. Neither did the Liberal politicians who supported it, or they would have demanded the historic bridge be kept for pedestrian access, which is located just metres from the disabled parking bays. Campaigning continues to retain the historic caissons of our Windsor Bridge, with the view it could be re-decked for pedestrian use. However taking into account that just two weeks ago, the Hawkesbury Liberals voted AGAINST simply CONSIDERING (just consider!) a minor increase in the budget to improve access to public toilets for people with disabilities (with around 30 public amenity facilities in the Hawkesbury not meeting requirements of current legislation), we are not hopeful they will care about providing a pedestrian crossing that can actually be accessed.

11.01.2022 If you’ve got nothing to hide, you should have nothing to worry about....

10.01.2022 This is the flood evacuation route for thousands of Hawkesbury residents if we need to get to safety in a bad flood. The state government has crammed so many houses on it that those who live there can’t get in and out in a timely fashion on a dry day. What chance have we got in a flood, with all these people on the road before us? The LNP keep telling us that raising the dam wall isn’t about more development on the flood plain. No, it’s clearly about more development BESIDE the floodplain along our evacuate route which blocks our ability to evacuate to safety and destroys the environment and quality of life for those who have to sit in traffic for hours. 40,000 more houses are due to be built in Marsden Park.

10.01.2022 Today we debated the Greens bill to clean up iCare, to close the loophole that has allowed for the extraordinary misuse of hundreds of millions of dollars of pu...blic funds. Shamefully, the Liberal/National government filibustered to stop it going to a vote. It’s disgraceful how little this government thinks of the thousands of injured workers that have been swindled out of compensation payments so that greedy executives could pocket the cash. We will bring the bill back next week, and keep working with David Shoebridge (who has done amazing work to expose the iCare disaster) to get this done.

10.01.2022 This week, the Premier has offered us food vouchers, while cutting our promised wage rises. What do you think?

09.01.2022 While millions of Australians are languishing below the poverty line, the billionaires are getting wealthier by the day. We need economic justice now.

08.01.2022 Cheers to the Institute of Public Affairs for sending us a copy of your latest report. Since climate denial is absolute junk we filed it directly into the recycling bin where it belongs

06.01.2022 The Premier seems willing to sacifice the koalas to hold onto her job? The week ended with the defeat of a disastrous amendment to the Local Land Services Act, ...which was a death knell for the koalas, but environmentalists believe that amendments to the Rural Fires Act, which will allow clearing up to 25 metres of boundary fences, will do even more damage to koala habitat. "Eager to avert another breakdown, Berejiklian barely spoke in what one colleague described as a "trainwreck" session, and agreed on a compromise of a 25 metre fire break for private land. The concession came despite its own inquiry into bushfires making no such recommendation among its 76 findings, nor the existence of research by agencies backing such a move, as a call for information about boundary clearing of vegetation found. The clearing rate passed into law this week following amendments to the Rural Fires Act."

05.01.2022 The National Justice Project does extraordinary work for some of the most vulnerable people in Australia. Please consider helping them.

03.01.2022 If you would like to help build a thriving and resilient Hawkesbury, please come along to this virtual forum: Thurs 26th Nov 12.00 1.00pm, Register via this link: www.westernsydney.edu.au/rcegws/rcegws/rce_programs/hawkesbury_resilience_project/hawkesbury_resilience_forum

03.01.2022 Is the LNP running it’s own protection racket?

01.01.2022 TO RECAP: Following a forensic document recovery process that revealed the Premier’s central role in the $252 million council grants rorts scheme, the Premier n...ow admits to pork barrelling. Her novel and remarkable ‘defence’ is that everyone does it. This is an extraordinary admission from the Premier which shows the level of arrogance and contempt for the people of NSW at the heart of the Coalition government. This is public money, meant to be spent where it was most needed not where it is most politically advantageous for the Coalition government.