Community and civic events

In 2020/21 we hosted, sponsored and supported many events that provided residents, businesses and visitors with the opportunity to connect within the diverse natural and built environments of Georges River. Although COVID-19 forced the cancellation of some events, we were able to adapt to this changing environment and the following events were able to be held:

September 2020

Spring Foodies Market

October 2020

Frightful 80s Drive-In Cinema

November 2020

No Domestic Violence Ceremony

December 2020

Christmas Ice Rink

January 2021

Australia Day Awards

February 2021

Little Lunar In Good Taste

March 2021 In Good Taste

April 2021 It’s a Mood

May 2021

Georges River Council 5 Year Anniversary Eurovision Song Contest 2021 – Grand Final Live Broadcast

June 2021

Un[contained] Arts Festival

November 2020 - March 2021

Mobile Musos

We hosted three citizenship ceremonies including two on Australia Day. We cancelled four citizenship ceremonies dueto COVID-19 restrictions.

Mulga the Artist at Pop-up Skate Park for 2021 It's A Mood.

Aerial artist performing at Un[contained] Arts Festival.

Significant media coverage

Media coverage reflects what is important to our local community and the broader interest in what is happening in Georges River.

The Kogarah War Memorial Pool was a regular local media story as the DA process to demolish the old pool and the feasibility studies for a potential location for a future pool progressed through Council.

Community consultation to harmonise Council rates was consistently reported from November 2020 when the proposal was released through to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) approval of the application in May 2021.

As we adapted events to be COVID Safe, those events really captured media attention as people were interested in the digital element of events that could be enjoyed by people outside Georges River.

Little Lunar was a COVID safe Lunar New Year celebration, delivered as part of the In Good Taste festival in February 2021. In Good Taste and Little Lunar were the first community events in Georges River after the restrictions were eased.

Little Lunar attracted unprecedented media coverage with 157 stories in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Japanese across TV, radio, print and online channels. Coverage was seen on 10NEWS, China Central Television, and SBS Food. SBS Mandarin radio told the story and ABC covered it online. The story appeared in The Age, Xinhua News Agency, TimeOut Sydney, Sydney Morning Herald, SBS, Good Food

Little Lunar in Hurstville.

Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Daily Telegraph and our local paper, The Leader.

The inaugural Un[contained] was another innovative event in Kogarah that captured 40 stories in TV, radio, print and online channels in Sydney and in Asian languages.

Un[contained] Art Festival was featured in Concrete Playground, Broadsheet editorial (which generates 29 re-publications, including Australian Online News, Newcastle Online News, and Wollongong Online News), Ella’s List, Sydney.Com, Weekend Notes, Get Sydney, Sydney Times, Arts Hub, Indomedia, WeSydney, and Netease.

International TV coverage for Un[contained] included Xinhua News - Chinese National Midday News Bulletin, Xinhua News Agencies more than 20 newspapers and magazines, as well as social media channels.

Radio also carried the story of Un[contained] Art Festival with appearances on ABC Radio, 2GB 873AM, 99.7FM Sound of the Shire, East Side 89.7FM, and 2NBC 90.1FM.

There was significant media coverage on the ongoing ICAC investigation into Councillors Hindi and Badalati. This investigation is ongoing and, therefore, will not be reported in detail at this time.