September’s Ballina Shire Council meeting was dominated by a mayoral minute about the future of Wardell, approved delegates for the Local Government NSW Conference, revisited the saga of 26 Endeavour Close, discussed funding arrangements for local libraries and ended with a farewell to Ballina’s long-serving civil services manager John Truman.
The meeting opened with two deputations in support of Mayor Sharon Cadwallader’s motion of concern about the future of the Wardell Recreation Ground, currently occupied by the Wardell Pod Village. Cr Cadwallader suggested the sports fields were at risk of being permanently sacrificed for housing by the NSW government, at least in part, with no alternative provision being made for local sporting facilities in the long term.
Wardell local Jennifer Foster-McPherson spoke about rumours that the land was going to be ‘handed over’ to the JALI Aboriginal Land Council. ‘There is no objection to that happening,’ she said. ‘However we believe the grounds and the recreation club should be available to the whole community… not just one demographic.’
She said the town needed to be compensated, if the sports grounds were lost.
Cr Kiri Dicker later explained that all Ballina councillors, including Mayor Cadwallader, had been told by the government before this meeting that the Wardell site was not going to be used for permanent housing, and that the mayor had not bothered to consult JALI Land Council before submitting her minute (with Ballina Council having no legal ability to intervene in Aboriginal land claims anyway), but Mayor Cadwallader continued with her one woman crusade.
She told the meeting Wardell had been one of the worst-affected by the 2022 floods, and had since lost their recreation grounds and clubhouse to make way for emergency housing (for the residents who had been forcibly evacuated from Cabbage Tree Island).
‘I just think it’s unfair, it’s unjust, and we really have to fight for the Wardell community rights,’ said Mayor Cadwallader. ‘So that’s why I brought it to to the attention of the Council to see what we can do, what we need to do to make sure that equity plays out here.’
She called for her fellow councillors to make representations to the government to ensure there would be no permanent transfer of the Wardell Recreation Grounds without compensation.
Cr Phil Meehan responded by saying, ‘I have sympathy and have some understanding of the principles at hand here and all the concerns of community. However, I cannot support this mayoral minute or the recommendation, and there are two reasons that I will explain for that.
‘The first is that what we are prepared to base a decision upon is hearsay, and we’ve heard it today… Now that’s not good enough for me, I’m afraid.’
Cr Meehan went on to say, ‘We are discussing and being prepared, potentially, to make a decision on a matter which has a close relationship to our Aboriginal community, JALI Land Council, and they are not here. We are not talking to them. We haven’t learnt from them. We haven’t discussed this matter with them.
‘We are not in a position to make a decision that affects those people as well as the local community, without having done that first… we are ill-informed, and procedurally, in terms of cultural connection, we’re doing it all wrong.’
Cr Meehan’s call for an amendment to engage with the people concerned ‘in a meaningful way’, supported by Cr Kiri Dicker, failed to find majority support. The mayoral minute ultimately passed, with only those two councillors opposed.
Other issues
After some argy-bargy and the counting of ballots, delegates to go to the Local Government NSW Conference and vote on Ballina’s behalf were confirmed as Crs Cadwallader, Crollick and Dicker.
Council resolved to allocate $59,432 of subsides to offset costs associated with the temporary relocation of the Astonville Library during the expansion and refurbishment of the Alstonville Cultural Centre (an amendment to preserve 30 percent of this for Ballina Library failed).
Council also agreed to implement a small grants program for the restoration of private land, in rural areas, under the Healthy Waterways Program.
Next up was the ongoing saga of 26 Endeavour Close, Ballina, with Council resolving unanimously to not renew the lease currently held by TS Lismore Inc and the Rainbow Region Boat Club, with the property now likely to be leased at commercial rates or sold, with compensation to be paid to TS Lismore for their improvements.
Council accepted the tender from Quickway Constructions to duplicate the Ballina Bridges, at a cost of almost $70m, with additional funding to be sought from the state and federal governments.
A discussion about the future of Ballina-Byron Gateway airport, which is owned by Ballina Council, led to a call from Crs Therese Crollick and Kiri Dicker to receive a $40,000 report on the benefits and costs of pursuing a revised business structure for the airport (privatisation, in some shape or form).
Cr Phil Meehan said, ‘I don’t think it’s viable that Ballina Council continue on the path that we’ve been on. We are not going to have the funding going forward to do the major improvements that are needed. There’s virtually no other council in Australia that owns an airport and operates the way we do, and I think that we need to look towards not selling the airport.
‘I certainly don’t recommend selling an appreciating asset. You would never do that unless you were a bit desperate. But I certainly do support further investigations into going into some sort of corporatisation, or going into partnership with a commercial entity that would run the airport and pay us a lease fee.’
General Manager Paul Hickey said ‘We took a dividend of $100,000 about eight years ago, but it’s never been financially sound enough to take further dividends.’
Cr Damian Loone asked if the GM could see any benefit for the airport to be privatised. Would it be profitable for us? Mr Hickey said it would be a struggle for Ballina Council to continue funding the airport’s necessary upgrades. As for privatisation, ‘I think at some point in time we’ll have to do it. Whether it’s now or not, it’s difficult to tell.’
Cr Meehan said, ‘When the Greens are telling you to privatise stuff, then it’s probably about time to listen, because it’s not something that we do very often…
‘The airport is operating as lean as it possibly can. There’s just no way to reduce the expenses. The biggest barrier to increasing the revenue is that we can’t afford the capital expenditure for the improvements necessary.
‘I think that increasingly the federal government is not going to be interested in giving large infrastructure grants to councils to run airports, because what they’re going to say is that almost every other council, every other airport in Australia, is privatised… It’s time to move forward and explore different business models,’ he said.
Cr Damian Loone spoke against spending money on a report to investigate further, and that amendment ultimately failed.
Late in the meeting, councillors formally thanked Ballina’s Director of Civil Services, John Truman (the guy responsible for actually getting things built that locals use every day), for 25 years of service to Council, on the occasion of his retirement.
‘It’s been quite a journey, and I know you’re going to be missed, Mr Truman,’ said Cr Cadwallader.’ And you will miss us, I know!’
The Echo has sought an interview from John Truman.
Mayor wades into international affairs
There was confirmation in the mayoral meetings document that Ballina Mayor Sharon Cadwallader attended the controversial anti-semitism/pro-Israel conference on the Gold Coast recently, with her food and accommodation costs being covered by the organisers, along with those of 80 other local government figures from across the country, who attended under heavy police security.
No other mayors from the Northern Rivers accepted this invitation, which has been described as a ‘far right junket’ and reportedly offered a one-sided view of the Palestinian conflict.
Mayor Cadwallader told the ABC she chose to attend due to her ‘insatiable appetite for learning’.
Bart Shteinman from the Jewish Council of Australia has noted that the group behind the conference is funded by a US billionaire who is also a significant supporter of Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
As he put it, ‘You can’t fight racism with racism… Our feeling is that the fight against anti-semitism is really important, but the moment it becomes politicised, the moment it becomes separated from the fight against other forms of racism is the moment it’s weaponised in favour of a foreign government.
‘That’s the moment it fails here in Australia,’ he said.
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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