COUNCILLOR PROFILES

Roslyn Talbot

Mayor Copper Coast Council

The Copper Coast is famous for having some of South Australia’s best holiday beaches. Located a comfortable hour and a half drive from Adelaide, this region of the Yorke Peninsula is rich in history and thriving with coastal developments. Its many attractions and accommodation make the Copper Coast an ideal tourist destination for both local and international visitors.

We are very proud of our heritage and our Nationally Heritage Listed Moonta Mining Precinct. The Council recognises the importance of the Moonta Mining Precinct and has worked with the Moonta National Trust to create a Conservation Management Plan. The plan underpins the additional tourism product that is being established to highlight the Cornish Mining history.

I have been involved with the Copper Coast Council, firstly as a Councillor and now as the Mayor for 13 years and am very proud to represent the Copper Coast.

Local government is something that has always played a part in my life. As a third generation Mayor I have followed in both my Grandfathers and Father’s footsteps being involved in Local Government helping to shape the Copper Coast to the wonderful vibrant community that it is. Dinner time discussions revolved around the community for as long as I can remember and it seemed a natural progression to also become involved in Local Government.

Whilst I have carried on the family’s involvement in Local Government, I have also carried on the family business. We have a clothing retail store in Kadina that takes a lot of my time but with a supportive husband and fl exible, accommodating staff I am able to combine the two roles.

These two roles don’t leave me with a lot of spare time. I value my time with my family, get a great deal of pleasure in watching my children’s sporting pursuits and appreciate time with friends and relaxing at home.

Like many councils the demands on the budget to upgrade and maintain infrastructure to a standard that the community wants and deserves is always a balancing act. Whilst we are proud of our heritage, the cost of maintaining and preserving old buildings is a challenge coupled with providing modern current facilities. Continual cost shifting from other tiers of government to us puts further strain on our budget and dealing with red tape that these other tiers of Government can create is very frustrating and often costly.

Whilst dealing with these challenges we have had some great achievements and continue to provide some great attractions for both tourists and locals to enjoy.

Our sporting facilities are of a great standard. Our sporting precinct is largely shaped around the Copper Coast Sport and Leisure Centre. A centre comprising of a program swimming pool, four sprung floor courts, squash courts a creche and a very well equipped 24/7 gymnasium. Between this centre and other sporting facilities in the Copper Coast there are not many sports that are not offered, giving our athletes the same opportunities that the athletes in the metropolitan areas enjoy and we have had some very successful athletes hail from this region.

The Farm Shed Museum and Tourism Centre in Kadina provides excellent visitor information services, supporting the region’s tourism aspirations, while the 18-hole putt putt course adds another element to the fantastic Copper Coast Information Centre. Tourism continues to be bolstered with the Splash Town Water Park (Moonta Bay), and the permanent Wallaroo Silo Light Show gives you a reason to experience some of our wonderful accommodation and stay an extra night.

The Copper Coast is fast emerging as a special place in which to live, conduct business and visit. Enjoying a Mediterranean ‘just right’ mild climate, the area’s population, both permanent and visitors, continues to grow as people seek to enjoy the relaxed lifestyle and the region’s many assets.

Most importantly it is the people that make the Copper Coast what it is. We have a wonderful community of people that are friendly, hardworking and always willing to volunteer their time. They are what makes the Copper Coast the ‘Lifestyle Location of Choice’. Next time you are looking for a holiday destination – drop in – your fi rst visit won’t be your last.

Ben Browne

Mayor Northern Areas Council

Northern Areas Council, is in South Australia’s Southern Flinders Ranges, the traditional lands of the Ngadjuri and Nukunu People. We’ve been working to better acknowledge and respect the traditional owners, working in conjunction with our neighbours on key projects including NAIDOC celebrations lead by one of our local leaders, Spalding resident Nat Sommerville.

Our Council area is located largely on the former pastoral run of Bundaleer Station which was settled by the Herbert Hughes family, who were also key contributors in the settlement of what are now the townships of Gladstone and Laura.

Several of our towns have recently turned 150 or are very near that milestone; whilst some Australian icons began their time in this region such as RM Williams, famous Chocolatier Alfred Haigh, CJ Dennis, Farmers Union, and we’re still home to the famous Golden North Ice Cream.

The picturesque Bundaleer picnic ground and the Maple and Pine Function centre within it is a favourite place of mine. This incredible community owned and operated facility was developed by local volunteers lead by Greg Boston and Mel Kitschke. It was recently opened by Premier Stephen Marshall, who described it as the state’s best function centre North of Adelaide.

Contribute to your community I have been a Councillor for about 16 or 17 years. I fi rst served on the former Spalding District Council for two terms before the council amalgamations in 1997. I have been a Councillor on the Northern Areas Council for 11 years serving as Chairman for two years when first elected in 2010 and have been elected to lead the Council once again as Mayor in November 2020.

I guess like most people, when you stand for an elected position you hope you can make a difference and a positive contribution to the community in which you live.

Over the years I have worked in several areas mostly around agriculture. I live on our family farm at Andrews in the Mid North of South Australia. I started my working life in the shearing industry and understand that some people have to work very hard for their money, and Council has to be diligent in how we spend the community’s money.

I’ve been a volunteer with the local Country Fire Service for many years and am currently a Deputy Group Offi cer with the Hallett CFS Group. I also enjoy attending cricket and football matches at the local level and in Adelaide from time to time.

Our challenges We have an ageing workforce, which is a challenge when a lot of experienced people move in to retirement. Our local area is lacking public housing, which is important as people are looking to move to the regions, whilst we also need improvements in power and water augmentation to encourage regional development.

Council is currently working on facility upgrades across all our communities including pools, community buildings, town centres and main streets including the undergrounding of powerlines. We are working on an economic and population growth plan of which my colleagues, Cr Denise Higgins and Cr Leon Pollard are the key drivers. Constraint has brought rewards We’ve had great success over the past decade, when due to financial constraints we undertook a major review into our finances and adopted a challenging but responsible long term fi nancial plan. Some extremely hard work in the fi rst two to three years by our staff lead by the former Chief Executive Offi cer and elected members, set a platform which has seen Council’s debt ratio revert to 67 percent of annual revenue in the current budget, compared to almost 125 percent which was forecast in the former plan which we superseded in 2011.

In recent years we’ve seen significant benefits, through the installation of solar energy systems across the Council area, resulting in an annual reduction in energy costs of over $100,000. Some councils look to cut services to their rate payers as a means of keeping their fi nances in check, but we took a highly proactive measure and were able to fi nd savings without detriment to our community.

This has been lead by our Manager of Corporate Services, David Rattley who has really gone above and beyond his normal line of work in overseeing our financial matters, but the results have been outstanding. At the end of the day people in the community pay rates and they expect services, our Council took a proactive approach and opted to look to find efficiencies rather than deny services to the community in the name of savings.

On a personal note What I enjoy most about being a Councillor is listening to the community and helping to deliver outcomes for people. On the fl ip side, there is always a high level of scrutiny in local government particularly in rural areas as we are very much available to community members. However, we do appreciate this comes with the territory and it’s part of our job and often people are just looking to be heard, which I can appreciate.

What do I hope to accomplish in the future? A Council delivering a high standard of services to the community in an equitable and economically sustainable manner.