There are primarily three kinds of people: Realists, Pessimists and Optimists.
Pessimists tend to dwell on the negative – their focus is mostly on everything that can go wrong and is wrong. Optimists on the other hand tend to live in la-la land, where everything is good and perfect, whereas realists try to deal with the reality of the moment, with perhaps a tinge of the optimism within that, so that they always have a goal to work towards.
In the Central Goldfields Shire we have 480.5kms of sealed road, 660 kms of unsealed local roads and 148 kms of kerb. We have 66 major bridges/culverts, 13 pedestrian bridges, 56.6 km of drainage pipes with 1988 drainage pits. Fact.
The reality is that we are a small Council, with a small budget, faced with rate capping. At a recent conference, a statistician stated that with the current damage to infrastructure Australia wide, it is going to take up to 20 years to repair the damage. Even if we have the financial resources to pay for the repairs, we do not have the manpower to do the work.
People using roads will know the extent of the damage caused to our roads by recent weather events aggravated by road usage. Bridges were damaged and closed for use after the floods in October 2022. It was impressive to see how quickly the two bridges on the Red Lion Road were repaired and the road opened to motorists.
Instead of focusing on the negatives, why not focus on the positives. Realising the enormity of the issue our Council is faced with and wrestling on a daily basis. Be grateful for every pothole filled in, every km of road repaired and say thank you to our council workers when you see them.
We are all doing the best we can.
