The QPR Blog

As the 2012 Council elections approach, it’s a good time to review how votes are distributed under the proportional representation voting system that is used for Local Government elections. The following is by necessity a simplified overview. The interested reader should consult Schedule 5 of the Local Government (General) Regulation 2005 for more detail. (more…)

Believe it or not, we’re only months away from the NSW local government elections. All NSW residents will go to the polls on 8 September 2012 to elect their local Council for the next four-year term. While it is my intention to stand again, most of the current Palerang councillors have indicated that they will not be seeking re-election. This election therefore promises the best opportunity since the formation of the Palerang LGA to elect a Council with a unified view of the shire, and a genuine community focus, but this opportunity can only be realised if the right candidates come forward. (more…)

Local government in NSW has the primary responsibility for controlling the development of flood-prone land, through the application of policy developed by the NSW Government, through the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and in collaboration with the State Emergency Service (SES).

In this context, floodplain management involves a flood study, which defines the technical details of the nature and extent of flooding in a particular location, a floodplain risk management study, which evaluates management options that address flood risk and flood management issues, and a floodplain management plan, which essentially outlines strategies to manage flood risk and flood management issues.

The Bungendore Floodplain Risk Management Committee, one of Council’s s.355 committees, was established to assist Council in the development of planning guidelines for flood prone areas within Bungendore. (more…)

At its December 2011 GM, Council resolved to hold a referendum, in conjunction with the Local Government elections in September 2012, on whether or not to introduce a ward system within the Palerang LGA.

The subject of wards, or electoral ridings as they were previously known, has been under discussion since Palerang came into existence. Both the former Talleganda and Yarrowlumla Shires operated under ward systems, but wards were eliminated without any public consultation when the two shires were amalgamated.

Wards are simply a means of dividing a local government area into several electoral regions for the purpose of local government elections, in the same way that states are divided into electoral Districts, and the nation into electoral Divisions, for state and federal elections respectively. (more…)

Many people will be aware of the on-going investigations by ICAC into certain aspects of the operation of a large number of NSW Councils. Hopefully, just as many will be aware that Palerang has been identified as the only Council in our immediate area that is not under investigation. (more…)

I’ve been procrastinating over posts since I started this Blog, trying to get things just right before posting anything. The predictable result is No Posts! So I’ve decided to just get on with it, and post the stuff I have lying around regardless. There’ll be a few ‘dangling pointers’ for a while, while I get things together, but at least things will be happening!

Bear with me. It shouldn’t be long before things are running smoothly…

I’ve been umming and arring about what would be the best way to present useful information on my site. At first I didn’t think I had enough to contribute to operate a meaningful/useful blog, but in the brief time since the by-election, there have already been many issues that have arisen that I thought might be of interest to the community.

Many of these are specific issues involving individual residents, and a level of misunderstanding in relation to Council regulations. I am happy to say that most of the issues that residents have brought to me to date have been resolved fairly quickly. Accordingly, I thought it might be of use to jot down some brief comments on such matters as a way of helping residents better understand everyone’s (i.e. both Council’s and ratepayers’) responsibilities in matters involving Palerang Council.

I will continue to maintain more detailed information about Council issues in other areas of the site. In this blog, I hope to present brief snippets of information that will, nonetheless, be of value to Palerang residents.