THE TWEED Volume 2 #19 Thursday, January 21, 2010 Advertising and news enquiries: Phone: (02) 6672 2280 Fax: (02) 6672 4933 editor@tweedecho.com.au adcopy@tweedecho.com.au www.tweedecho.com.au
Ijoufsmboe!! page 9
LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Councillors push for big pay rise Ken Sapwell
Tweed councillors will push for a 55 per cent pay rise but say they don’t want the extra $8500-a-year for themselves. All but Greens councillor Katie Milne backed the pay hike which was variously dubbed as ‘visionary’, ‘a test for the future’ and a ‘crack up’. Cr Dot Holdom set the tone after being the first to put up her hand up to seek the pay rise, saying it would encourage younger people to become councillors. She said she ‘cracked up’ when she first saw the report from a senior council staffer suggesting councillors apply to the remuneration tribunal to boost their pay from $15,500 to $24,000 a year. ‘I thought, who’s brought the April Fools day joke forward, we are going to be vilified,’ she said. ‘But how do young people get onto council and perhaps use it as a stepping stone? We want to attract young people.’ But Cr Holdom predicted the tribunal would reject the move. ‘I don’t think it’s got legs. I think the tribunal will crack up like I did,’ she said.
‘Visionary thing’ ‘I don’t want more money in my hip pocket but I can see a visionary thing in this. It’s about testing something for the future.’ Cr Kevin Skinner, who seconded the move, said a higher salary would attract other people to stand for council. ‘It’s an onerous job and if we want to attract the right people we need to increase it slightly. If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.’
Cr Joan van Lieshout echoed his views, saying councillors were very under-funded and as a result did not attract a high level of expertise. ‘Unless there is more money they can’t afford to leave their jobs.’ Deputy mayor Phil Youngblutt was more blunt: ‘If any councillor feels they are not worthy of a pay rise then they don’t have to accept it.’ Cr Barry Longland was also brief, saying he did not enter the job as a career move, but believed the council should be moved to a higher category to reflect their workload. The only hold-out and other speaker on the sensitive issue was Cr Milne, who dismissed the idea that a pay rise would attract younger candidates. Lola Wilkins, head of art at the Australian War Memorial, carefully removes one of Sidney Nolan’s paintings from its
Nolan works go on show
packing crate at the Tweed River Art Gallery on Tuesday in preparation for the exhibition Sidney Nolan: the Gallipoli Series, which opens at the gallery tomorrow, Friday, January 22. Ms Wilkins, the curator of the exhibition, will lead ‘I personally don’t think a pay rise an exhibition preview at 5.30pm before the official opening at 7pm. She will repeat her floor talk on Saturday at is essential or appropriate. I would 2pm.The gallery is the first regional gallery to host the travelling exhibition, featuring 80 works by the Australian art rather see more councillors doing icon. Photo Jeff Dawson
Comment ‘offensive’
more work,’ she said, earning a rebuke from Cr Longland who dubbed the comment ‘offensive’. Cr Milne said because the community was paying the councillors they should be consulted first, but she later failed to get any support for a motion to put the matter out for public comment. Corporate services chief Troy Green took the unusual step of recommending that councillors seek a reclassification to smooth the way for the pay rise this year, even though the tribunal was not due to review categories until 2012. He said the council adjoined a Queensland growth corridor, was undergoing strong growth but also had recognised national heritage values and biodiversity. ‘Along with other large coastal councils, balancing and managing
the competing priorities is a complex challenge, requiring a commitment from elected members that may not be evident in other regions of the state,’ he said. Mr Green also cited the $200-anhour to be paid to members of the new joint regional planning panel, even though they did not have to deal with the complexity of issues confronting councillors. ‘If the appointed panel members attend 10 one-day meetings in a year they will receive the equivalent to councillors’ current fee.’ He also noted that their workload had increased after the number of councillors was cut from 11 to seven following the sacking of the previous council. ■ More perks than pay, page 2 ■ Editorial, page 6
Draft LEP goes on display A draft version of the document set to guide Tweed Shire Council’s planning decisions well into the future goes on exhibition for public comment next week. The Draft Tweed (Shirewide) Local Environmental Plan (LEP) 2010 will be on exhibition from January 27 to March 31, along with the Draft Tweed City Centre LEP 2009. Council will use information sessions across the shire next month, displays and a CD to promote the plans and seek public input. Tweed mayor Warren Polglase said an LEP was a legal planning document that provided information on what development is permitted within the various zones
within a local government area. ‘It specifies the zoning, height controls and numerous other planning controls to each parcel of land in the shire, as such, the document is of great importance to all landowners and I encourage residents, businesses and community groups to use all of the information provided to you to best understand the plan,’ he said. The LEP documents are available now through council’s website www. tweed.nsw.gov.au. For a CD, visit one of council’s offices or for information call (02) 6670 2503. ■ See also draft Tweed LEP in ‘Minis-
ter ambushed by protesters’, page 3
ABN 82 087 650 682
<echowebsection=Local News>