Mayor being handed an award

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Hello, G’day, how are you all going?

Sally Clayton (your public relations officer) and I recently went to Canberra for the Australia Day Conference, to find out how we could run Australia Day 2014, Litchfield style! This past year it was handed to Litchfield Council to organise and I would very much like to thank the marvellous Olive Frakking for managing it all these years. Her enthusiasm and passion for this special day, is what Australia Day is about. Thank you Olive, from all of us.

Sally and I came back with some great ideas on what we can do and how we can further develop, Australia Day 2014. It is time for you to nominate your workmates, friends & family for entry into these categories:

  • Australian of the Year
  • Young Australian of the Year
  • Community Event
  • Achievement Award
  • Sportsperson Award
  • Junior Sportsperson Award

Australia Day works really well when all these categories are full, then the people that deserve the “thanks very much” and the Community “pat on the back for doing a great job throughout the year” are known to us all. Please, if you want to show them your thanks email us council@lc.nt.gov.au, nomination forms will be available soon. If you start telling us now, we can make things happen on 26th January 2014.

NT Seniors Survey

Council of the Ageing (COTA NT) have launched their 2013 Survey for Indigenous People over 45 and Community Members over 50, to collect information and update the 2006 Survey on NT Senior Needs and Changes.  The survey is open for NT residents and your information collected will be stored securely.  If you would like to take part in the survey you can:

This survey will help you (Seniors) in the long term. The information gathered will identify what is most needed in the future for you and our community. Speak now and enjoy later.

Recycling

Council has budgeted $1.7 million towards the recycling shed at Humpty Doo. This may be the start of some BIG changes regarding the waste issues that we have now and which will only magnify in time. We must reduce the waste sent over the Weighbridge at Shoal Bay as it is simply becoming too costly to keep doing this long term. One way of reducing waste is to go further into the 3 R’s, namely Recycling/ Re-using & Re-designing from the original purpose! Instead of putting it into landfill (which creates its own pollution hazards) we may be able to recycle some of the items that are still good through the new shed at Humpty Doo, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. We cannot afford to ignore this and pretend the waste will go away; landfills are not an Environmentally Aware option.

We may be heading down the same path as what you see interstate, where Recycling is separated into different sections for future handling. It could even mean the Council looks at a complete curb-side pickup for the Litchfield Council area, (including a rubbish & recycle bin per block). BUT this will be after a lot of research and a lot of financial costings have been done. You have to remember this is your waste we are trying to deal with, in the best possible way for all of us. As you are all very aware the Litchfield population is growing rapidly, both in private dwellings and industrial/business constructions. To help minimise future Rates increases (specifically due to waste production) we all need to take responsibility to minimise our individual waste contributions so reducing the total. Happier Earth!

There could be Federal funding money to help this project on its way and it would be good to get some Northern Territory Government funding as well.

So don’t panic on this one, it’s in the Very early stages and I will keep you informed about how it is going and what we are doing. Russell Anderson (your Council CEO) and I have just visited a Council that has recently implemented a full bin pickup service. They have much the same demographics as us and we have more questions than answers at this stage!

Changes to Rates Payments

A lot of people have been asking Council if we could go to instalments for paying the rates. You now have the options of a) paying the full amount in September, b) paying half in September and then half in February, or c) pay half in September and then set up a monthly direct debit for the next 5 months to help budget the remaining amount. Do come in and talk to us, we are here to assist.

Get Ready for Digital TV

If you haven't made the switch to digital television you have less than a month to do so as analogue television signals in our area will be cut off on 30 July 2013.  Litchfield Council website has more information including an 8 step factsheet, The household Assistance Scheme Brochure and information about Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST). Click here to view.

Knuckey and Ironstone Lagoons Discussion Paper

The Northern Territory Planning Commission has prepared a Discussion Paper – ‘Towards an Area Plan for the Knuckey and Ironstone Lagoons Locality’. The Discussion Paper is open for comment until Friday 9 August 2013.  To download the paper, visit http://www.planningcommission.nt.gov.au/. 

Until next time,

Give somebody a smile

Allan McKay
Mayor of Litchfield