Narrandera Shire Council hosted members of the NSW Government’s Senior Leaders on Wednesday as part of their tour throughout the Riverina Murray region.
Organised by the Department of Regional NSW, represented departments included:
- Department of Communities and Justice
- Department of Customer Service
- Department of Education
- Department of Enterprise, Investment & Trade
- NSW Health
- Department of Planning
- Department of Premier and Cabinet
- Department of Regional NSW
- Service NSW
- NSW Treasury
The tour has allowed leaders to challenge and reflect on their decision making, and to consider the impacts on the local community in future policy and program development. They were also able to gain a deeper understanding of liveability-themed issues facing regional communities, the roles and responsibilities of regionally-based public sector staff and the value of place-based responses to improve outcomes for industry, businesses and communities.
Deputy Mayor Cr Cameron Lander welcomed the visit. “Narrandera Shire is a wonderful place to work and live. Its economy is improving through growth in agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and power generation, and Council continues to explore and promote opportunities in these and other areas. While there is little comfort knowing that challenges experienced by our Shire are present across most rural and regional communities, it was very helpful to reinforce this with senior officers from a range of State departments and highlight areas specific to us.
“The adequacy of local services such as health and policing needs addressing, and the possibility of novel solutions to ongoing challenges should be explored with the community. Our need for State support to implement improvements in stormwater, water supply, roads, health and tourism infrastructure can’t be understated, and Departmental representatives were both thanked and urged to continue with this. Our capacity to plan under current State and Federal requirements was also noted as a potential impediment to addressing housing concerns in the Shire which are growing along with our Shire.
“We are facing affordable housing and skills shortages as like much of regional NSW, and this has been exacerbated by the current and future solar farm developments in the area.”
The group was extremely impressed by the Lake Talbot facility and stated that this was a fantastic example of what can be achieved in a well-planned and delivered project.
