Lithgow City councillors took Lithgow’s concerns to Canberra this week, meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, as well as ministers and their shadow counterparts.
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Mayor Stephen Lesslie said he was eager to take the opportunity to put Lithgow’s interests at the front of ministers’ minds.
“When decisions are made at Cabinet level, we want them to know we are there and want to be considered in our own right, not only as part of the regional area,” he said.
“We are not quite like the rest of rural and regional areas, we a major industrial town, a mining town. That makes us different.”
Councillors Stephen Lesslie, Wayne McAndrew, Ray Thompson and Darryl Goodwin met with government representatives along with Lithgow City Council general manager Graeme Faulkner and director of economic development Andrew Muir.
Councillors met with Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government Dr John McVeigh, Shadow Minister Stephen Jones and Minister for the Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberd on Monday, among three days of meetings at Parliament House.
The discussions were wide-ranging.
“We raised the need for the continued reliance on coal fired power stations to generate base power loads, and the need for employment generating industries to be established in Lithgow and other regional areas and received a good hearing from both the Minister and Shadow Minister,” Cr Ray Thompson said.
Deputy Mayor Cr Wayne McAndrew had extensive discussions on the continuing need for mental health services in the Lithgow area, particularly with Mental Health Advisor Michael Gardner. Cr McAndrew requested policy certainty from both sides of politics to assist Lithgow’s mining community.
Mayor Stephen Lesslie said he requested both the Government and Opposition support the recent decision at the NSW Local Goverment assembly to have the allocation formula for Financial Assist Grants reviewed to benefit regional NSW.
“The ensuing discussion was certainly a step in the right direction,” he said.
“Lithgow Council is grateful for the time both the Minister for Local Government Dr John McVeigh and the Shadow Minister Stephen Jones gave to our delegation, it certainly allowed us to argue Lithgow’s case.”
There was discussion on Tuesday with West Australian Senator Michaelia Cash, the Minister for Jobs and Innovation, as well as the office of Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie, who was recently in Lithgow to officially open the new Thales innovation shed.
Defence was on the agenda in council’s meeting with Defence Minister Marise Payne. Cr Lesslie said the council was eager to push Lithgow’s role in manufacture in the sector and the possibility of creating a “defence hub in Lithgow”.
Calare MP Andrew Gee was part of all the council’s meeting with ministers.
The councillors met with Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack on Wednesday.
Who our councillors met
Listed in the order in which they met:
- Senator Stephen Jones – Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government and Regional Communications.
- Marise Payne, Minister for Defence.
- Dr John McVeigh, Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government
- Mental health advisor Michael Gardner on behalf of the Minister for Health Greg Hunt.
- Josh Frydenberg, Minister for the Environment and Energy.
- Senator Michaelia Cash, Minister for Jobs and Innovation.
- Richard Marles, Shadow Minster for Defence.
- Mark Butler, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy.
- Senator Bridget McKenzie, Minister for Rural Health, Sport, Regional Communications.
- Michael McCormack, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.