Council Connect: 1 November 2024

Published on 01 November 2024

Hello, I'm Liam Ley. I was recently elected as Ward A Councillor. Obviously, once we're in Council, we represent the whole shire. So please, if anyone's out there, feel free to get in contact.

I just want to talk a bit about myself so that you know me as well as my background: what made me want to run for council, things that I really want to focus on, as well as a little bit about what's happened during the last week in the shire.

I come from a military background. I spent about a decade in the Royal Australian Navy. I worked primarily in electronic warfare. I later specialised in intelligence, and I had numerous postings all around Australia, multiple land bases, as well as a few warships, HMAS Choules, Warramunga, and a few others.  I've deployed both domestically and around the world, particularly missions focusing on anti-piracy, narcotics, as well as anti- people smuggling operations, particularly in the north end of Australia.

Me and my wife had our first child, our daughter Quinn, and that was the turning point for me to really transition out of that military lifestyle. Since moving here, we've also had another child, a son.  So, I transferred to the Active Reserves, which I am still a member of. I work at 81 Wing at the RAAF Base at Williamtown. I don't do a whole lot of reserve work nowadays, but every now and then you may see me in uniform. I work for Lockheed Martin now, which is a defense contracting company, as the Senior Strategic Mission Planner for 77 Squadron, which is based out of the RAAF Base at Williamtown as well. We work on the new advanced F35 fighter jets that Australia has just purchased.

Becoming a contractor really gave me this new lease on life and stability to make Dungog our permanent home, which has been really rewarding so far for us.

That leads to why I decided to run for Council. My wife was a primary school teacher, but since having children, she stepped back from that a bit, and she recently purchased and started a cafe here in Dungog, so you have seen my face around there. Seeing the challenges she went through firsthand, as well as all the other small businesses in the shire, opened my eyes to the potential that Dungog has. For her, it was increasing tourism. It was something that wasn't quite there yet, but you could really see the opportunity. You can see in the Shire the amazing assets we have, you can see amazing groups doing these amazing events, and this really shows that the potential and the success is very much there for Dungog to take. So that was the main thing that really started to get me thinking about it, and then hearing the same issues from people coming into the café. When you own a cafe, a lot of people come in and talk, particularly to you, and I heard a lot of the same issues over and over again. It started to get me thinking about some sensible solutions to address some of these.

Another key thing for me is I really want to represent a younger voice, particularly younger families. This is something that is an issue for Dungog, as well as most other rural towns, that is the gap in youth. So trying to attract and retain youth is a really big focus for me. I think it starts with having good representation on the Council for Youth and Youth Services. We do see problems in the Shire; recently domain released a report that shows Dungog tops the charts for rent increase in the last 12 months, which is good and bad. Dungog increased up to 20% which is pretty significant. This shows that young people and young families want to move to Dungog. That's really positive, but the negative is if you don't have the housing to combat that, you're going to see increased rent rates, which can be tricky for locals who are already living in the community. So that development of housing needs to be sensible, and it needs to keep up, and that's something that I really want to focus on.

What am I hoping to achieve? The previous Council really put in a lot of good groundwork, particularly around grants and getting tourism started, and you could really see in the last term of Council things really picking up. I really want to continue the really good work that they did.

Supporting the community is another huge thing. Council's role is to serve and support the residents and the community. This is your Council, and this is something that I think really needs to be worked on a bit, making the community part of the Council so the community really feels heard, really feels part of the decision again. That's where I come in, and where other Councils come in. We are that bridge between Council and community, so that’s a big thing I really want to keep working on. The new Mayor has already started this strong. We've already been meeting with a lot of these groups and organisations and continue to build these relationships. I encourage any groups and organisations out there, please reach out to one of the Councillors. We will sit down and have a meeting; we’ll talk about how the Council can support you in these amazing things that you are trying to achieve for Dungog, as well as trying to coordinate and work towards the one goal.

I want to highlight that these amazing groups, organisations, and volunteers are the people who are going to be developing Dungog; it’s not necessarily the Council. But the Council is here to support you, and that's something that I really want to focus on.

Over the last week, this is what has been happening in the Shire. The Mayor and General Manager recently met with Superintendent Commander Wayne Humphreys, from the Port Stephens and Hunter police district. This meeting was primarily focused on stronger relationships between Council and law enforcement. They also discussed the upcoming renovations for both Dungog and Gresford police stations. I just want to stress that both of them will continue to be manned. There was some talk that this may not be the case, but definitely they will be. Regular meetings will continue to ensure that there is a focus on key issues like emergency management.

We also had the Rolling Hills Film Festival held at the James Theatre on Monday. Mayor Raywood attended and presented awards to participating students. Local schools across the Shire took part, with students writing, directing, performing, and editing short films. It was wonderful to see the talent and enthusiasm of young people really on display there. I want to say a special thanks to the teachers who make events like these possible and all that hard work that sometimes goes unnoticed.

To roads and bridges. I want to talk a little bit about this because it is something that is a major concern for almost everyone, including myself, in the Shire. It's something that I've heard numerous times in the lead-up to the election as well as after.  I want to give some context and my beliefs and understanding of how we can move this forward. Dungog itself maintains a network of over 700 kilometres of road network, which is a massive challenge, especially for a Council like Dungog that is very rural. We also have a small population so this means less rates than some other Councils may have. We also have a higher rainfall as well, so you combine all those things and it's really tricky.

Council has done amazing work that I've briefly talked about, securing grants and prioritising roadworks. But since then, shortages of workers, rising costs, and material prices have been making it difficult. From my belief, the only long-term strategies that can really assist Dungog Shire in maintaining the roads to a standard that we all want are two things. One is either trying to lobby and hand back some of these roads to NSW state government to free up some resources. These are the main arterial roads, and this would hopefully free up resources for Council to maintain the local roads a bit better. The other one is to continue to push for grants, but unfortunately, grants aren't always guaranteed, so it is a huge issue. Council is doing a lot for what they have, but it's always going to be really hard for Dungog Shire Council to really maintain roads to a standard we all want.

If you want to check out what's going on, particularly now with roadworks, bridgeworks, or any other infrastructure, head over to the Dungog Shire Council Facebook page. They post all their updates weekly there. It's a really good resource for you to look at.

That's it for me. Again, if you do want to reach out, please do, I'm always around town. Otherwise, send me an email. I'm always up for a chat.

Thanks very much. Enjoy the rest of your week.