At its last meeting, Ballina Shire Council adopted the new streetscape master plan for Newrybar, decided ratepayers should pay for councillors’ alcoholic beverages at Council events, and endorsed the independent review into the DA processing system. Council also agreed to move and upgrade Ballina’s SES building, which will destroy a number of significant trees.
With no motions being presented by councillors, this long meeting was mostly a series of unanimous votes.
Cr Kiri Dicker described the streetscape master plan for the Newrybar Village Centre as ‘a really great outcome… I’m looking forward to seeing some funding to implement it.’
Mayor Sharon Cadwallader went further, saying ‘I think it’s a fabulous plan.’ She suggested relocating the fire station would bring positives, ‘and the Harvest Cafe will also be open soon, which is great. That’ll really reinvigorate the little village… So it’s well on the way, I would say, to recovery, because it’s taken a big, big hit.’
Artisinal experiences and public realms
Cr Simon Chate said, ‘I love the way the document incorporated community suggestions and addressed community and stakeholder aspirations of an authentic village with charm, memorable, artisanal experiences, home grown produce and flavours, honoring the Big Scrub connection to country and a connected community.’
Another document which found unanimous support was the draft Place and Public Realm Framework, about to go on public exhibition.
Cr Therese Crollick said, ‘If we had something like that in Alstonville, that would be amazing. What they’ve done here in Ballina looks wonderful. It’s addressing issues of urban heat exchange. It’s addressing the issue of making this a good place to live, of connectivity and encouraging people to use public transport and forms of transport other than car based transport.
‘it just ticks so many boxes. I really think it’s a plan for the future, and I think Ballina shire will be a better place in so many aspects if we can proceed with this and start implementing the recommendations.’
Cr Phillip Meehan said ‘this is a fantastic, futuristic document’ showing how to make ‘better connections through the community and across the community, greener streets, a strong sense of place, community vibrancy… the themes that come out of it will be shaping how our community and infrastructure develops for a long time.’
Regarding Ballina Council’s investment summary, Cr Simon Chate noted that ‘the total combined cash and investments as of 30 June was $116,938,630 which is excellent, also total non-fossil fuel aligned investments increased to $47 million, which is great.’
Should councillors have a bar tab?
There was a long debate about whether or not it was appropriate for councillors to partake in alcoholic refreshments at council events at council expense.
Cr Meehan said, ‘I see that as something which is completely acceptable in Australian society, and I would expect that our community would see that as something completely acceptable in our community here as well.
‘That is, of course, not talking about overdoing it, not talking about lots of different occasions. I’m talking about just certain particular functions.’
Cr Kiri Dicker begged to differ, saying ‘I respect everyone has their own opinions on alcohol, and there’s nothing to stop councillors drinking alcohol. The question really is whether the ratepayers should foot the bill. I don’t need alcohol to collaborate with my colleagues or to have a chat. I can do that without alcohol. And it concerns me that the word “appropriate” is subjectively defined…
‘It’s the old fashioned opinion about councillors, you know, drinking beers in the back room, and I think that’s demeaning to me personally. So if people want to drink alcohol at Council functions, they’re totally entitled to do that. All that I think is reasonable to ask is that you pay for it yourself. So I’m strongly opposed to this as it currently stands.’
Cr Therese Crollick suggested that a certain amount of alcohol was ‘considered part of fostering the relationships and team cohesion. So I would support that it is made available for councillor meetings and briefings.’
Cr Erin Karsten supported Cr Dicker’s position on alcohol, saying ‘I think that times have changed. A lot of young people feel that, you know, that’s that’s not part of their existence as much anymore. There’s really a movement to mocktails and non alcoholic beverages.
‘It also just reinforces the negativity that people associate with politics and politicians with that, you know, boozy kind of atmosphere,’ she said.
‘I think most of us are well enough off that we can afford to pay for our own alcohol beverages, if we so choose, in those times, and when we’re asking for rate payers to fork out additional money for the special rate variation, you know, as well as CPI increases, I think it’s just unreasonable to ask our rate payers to support us having a drink.’
Cr Simon Chate said, ‘I’m not comfortable with the whole alcohol thing. We had a very vigorous debate about it last time. Basically, what we’re what we’re advocating for, essentially, is an open bar tab for councillors on the council’s dollar.’
The anti-alcohol councillors were ultimately over-ruled by the pro-alcohol faction.
What’s in a name?
A later debate on the naming of council-owned facilities stirred up a debate about whether living as well as dead people should be honoured in this way. Cr Meehan suggested that Ballina Council should follow the example of the NSW Geographical Names Board and only use the names of the deceased.
Cr Crollick reminded her fellow councillors of exceptions such as the Kerry Saxby walkway. Cr Dicker said, ‘I don’t believe we should be naming things after people at all. This is not a hill I’m going to die on, but personally, I just find it to be a sort of weird tradition…
‘There is a risk that we name things after people, you know, who we thought were good at the time, and then, you know, whether they’re living or deceased, really, it turns out that perhaps they weren’t so good.’
She also noted the significant expense associated with the recent renaming of Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital.
Council voted unanimously to put the new naming policy up for public comment.
Ballina SES going ahead
The other big item on July’s agenda was the new Ballina SES facility progressing to tender, with $4,588,160 to be awarded to Blaze Projects to create a new building, not far from the current base of operations but on Bangalow Road.
Mayor Sharon Cadwallader said, ‘Well, it’s finally happening. This is great news… I think our volunteers will be ecstatic over this, once they’ve got a fit-for-purpose place to work out of. It’s certainly good for our community all around.’
Cr Eva Ramsey said, ‘It’s been such a long time coming. It’s such a vital point for our delivery program… The trees have been an issue, but our strategic planning has done a really great job to factor in that we can have 200 trees in the other section.’
Cr Damian Loone criticised the fact that Ballina Council was having to cover so much of the cost, saying, ‘The cost shifting from state to local government is just outrageous here… This is the State Emergency Service, not the Ballina emergency service…
‘I’ve said it before that we’re putting in a lot of money for this, and the state government are happy to say, right, you know, when you have a major flood, we’ll come up with the army and the helicopters and everything else.
‘But when they go, we’re left with, you know, just a little band of supporters here and our volunteers who do an absolutely amazing amount of work.’
Cr Loone went on to say it was unfortunate that so many established trees would be destroyed for the expansion, but these would be offset by plantings elsewhere.
Cr Kiri Dicker asked staff whether the success of offset plantings would be monitored, and was assured by staff that this would happen.
Council ultimately voted unanimously to accept the Ballina SES tender, and proceed with the construction phase.
More stories about Ballina Shire Council:
Twelve Northern Rivers residents are celebrating the completion of a groundbreaking program designed to build essential skills and unlock employment pathways for women in civil construction. With local government meeting practice across the state returning to confusion following the NSW Legislative Council's recent decision, Ballina Shire Council's last meeting included a lot of unanimous decisions and an argument about the remnants of the Big Scrub, in which Mayor Cadwallader used her casting vote to squash Cr Simon Chate's motion. Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has approved Ballina Shire Council's application to increase its general income through a permanent special variation (SV) of 26.25% [in rates] over four years, from 2026-27 to 2029-30. Byron Greens members could expect to be asked to take the future of the Richmond River further south into account when choosing a candidate for next year’s state election. Local business owners in the Alstonville and Wollongbar townships are being encouraged to take the time to read through Ballina Shire Council’s draft plans, which are currently on exhibition.
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