The hosts of the Bodalla Fair; Bodalla P&C Association wish to express a huge thank you to all our fantastic school and local community members, school staff, community groups and local businesses who generously gave us their time and effort in one way or another to help make this year’s Bodalla Fair the great success it was.

It really was our biggest and best yet and we couldn't have done it without you all!

We especially would like to thank the Bodalla Rural Fire Brigade, Eurobodalla RFS Community Education Committee, Narooma Surf Club, Animal Welfare League, Moruya Antique Tractor and Machinery, Eurobodalla Model Aero Club, Bodalla Playgroup, Bodalla Soccer Club, Matildas Service Station and Bodalla Post Office for all their help and/or participation either leading up to, or on the day.

Our Monster Raffle was again a huge success and a great money maker.

We are extremely appreciative of the supportive businesses who donated all the wonderful raffle prizes and find your generous spirit and support second to none!!! The very lucky winners are listed below and we are sure that they will love their prizes.

(See the results on Page 34) 

A big thank you to Bodalla Bowling Club who donated the fantastic cash prizes, Planet TX Music Store Moruya who donated musical instruments, Narooma Kinema who donated movie tickets, Surf The Bay who donated surf lessons and to Michelle Garcia who donated goodie packs to ensure everyone got a prize.

We'd also like to extend a big thank you to all the friendly stallholders that came along on the day with their various wares, you all help to make a fantastic fair atmosphere.

A special mention to Dalmeny's Ice Creams A Plenty for your very generous donation at the end of the day. Hope to see you all again next year.

We had some great music on the day and we would like to thank the Alleycats who consist of Alison Clapson, Bill Herringe and Julie Brooking, The Tuross Head Drumming Group and Megan Gannon.  Thank you for filling the ears of our fair attendees with your lovely tunes!

Lastly but not least thanks to Narooma News’ very own Jeanne Medicott who comes along to the fair every year to enjoy and to take photos and help share this great community day out with all Narooma News’ readers.

We really appreciate the one page advertisement you do for us prior to the event and the rap up afterwards, it really helps let everyone know about this great community day out!

How lucky are we; every dollar made on the day of the fair goes back into our fabulous little school; which helps enhance the opportunities for the children and that's got to make you smile.

Bodalla P&C Association

A natural compromise

Not everyone regarded the HuntFest as a great success, and many, just wish the controversy would go away...

It has been suggested in fact that a happy outcome would be “to celebrate our diversity, rather than letting it divide us”!

SAFE is advocating that the opinion poll, cost/benefit analysis which should have been conducted when this controversial event was first considered, be held now, in order to determine the wishes of the majority of the residents.

However, should council not act immediately, maybe a compromise is called for...

HuntFest without a display of guns, promotion of African safaris or any politics would undoubtedly be acceptable to the majority of Narooma citizens, if not to visiting hunters.

Locals who oppose hunting for fun, and the growth of a gun culture, don’t feel that the region’s reputation, the welfare of its children, or the future of their national parks would be threatened by a display of boats, camping equipment, fishing lines and knapsacks, so let’s change HuntFest to NatureFest and all go out to enjoy the wonders and beauty of this unique environment…

Susan Cruttenden

Dalmeny  

Resounding HuntFest success

After the resounding success of HuntFest 2014 the South Coast Hunters Club would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported our event and made it all come together.

HuntFest attracted over 2300 paying adults in only its second year, this does not include children under the age of 16 which would easily account for a further 30 per cent.

Over 80 per cent of event goers were from out of area and most made a special point of indicating that Narooma was now definitely on their holiday destination list.

Our exhibitors came from all over Australia with one safari outfitter coming from Africa especially for the event.

All exhibitors commented on the professionalism of the event and most have rebooked for next year.

The skills workshops and demonstrations were extremely popular with around 100 people attending the skinning and butchering demonstrations alone.

Thank you to Paul White and Jeff Garrad for their professionalism and skills.

The archery range drew a great response with over 300 enthusiasts trying their hand. The ‘on hand’ coaches were delighted with the range of attendees who varied from small children to grandparents.

We give a special big thank you to Brian Coxon and his team for the donation of 12 dozen oysters on each day of the event which were handed out to event goers and exhibitors.

What a great way to introduce our visitors to the culinary delights of our district.

Special mention goes to the ESC staff, who tirelessly assisted with the administration of the event and ground works around the venue site.

We look forward to the completed landscaping work for next year’s event.

HuntFest will definitely be back next year with several improvements already in the pipeline including a much larger outdoor exhibiting area. As they say in the classics “watch this space”.

Onno de Smeth

HuntFest coordinator

Shocked, disillusioned

Today I received a letter from you which left me shocked and disillusioned.

All members of Dalmeny Bowling Club received the same letter and no-one knew about its contents before it was delivered in the post, including our presidents and executives.

As the consequences of closing our second green and especially doing away with our championship green were discussed, it became clear that this decision will mean the end of the Dalmeny Bowling Club, for a club that cannot run championships or play pennant bowls will not cater for bowlers who play their sport seriously.

Social bowls will fail because aspiring pennant bowlers must play socially elsewhere to be considered for selection.   Of course, there are wider consequences for our small community. Without the income from the bowlers, the club may soon not be viable.

I started to think of the consequences for me personally. For me it is more than the loss of my sport.  I really liked the sense of community that came from being a member of my neighbourhood club.

I liked going to the local shop or taking the dog for a walk on the bike path and being greeted by people I had met through bowls.  The club was the hub.

It won’t be the same if I have to travel to play bowls regularly and I don’t think I will bother.

This is not a reflection on other clubs but rather an acknowledgement of the importance of community. 

The sense of disbelief and disillusionment was heightened by the statement in the opening paragraph of the letter, which stated that these decisions were being made, “in an effort to keep bowls alive at this venue”. This is simply not credible. 

My association with the NSSC through the DWBC will soon be laid to rest, in inglorious circumstances.

Lyn Goldsmith

Dalmeny

Twisting propaganda on poles and wires

I read with interest from Daily Telegraph front page headlines" Charge of the Light Brigade" dated Tuesday June 10 2014.

The newspaper infers that our problems regards to increasing energy cost is entirely caused by energy workers’ pay scale and the alleged perks that these workers enjoy, news, article states that night shift workers are receiving 115 hours pay for a 40 hour week of actual work and company provides 65 cars for every 100 employees plus15-26 per cent superannuation contribution by the energy provider and all this is the reason and the root cause of our states ever increasing cost of  providing energy to consumers.

The newspaper did not state or made any reference of earnings or income enjoyed by the energy organisation executives only the working people, of course not, it would be too much of an embarrassment to have the comparison for the executive pay and trades published.

The news story goes on and come up some figures provided by Ernst and Young how the public energy sector overspend their allocated expenditure on operating and capital allowances, the story gives no reason why the expenditure overruns has occurred, it does not detail how entire power generation facilities around the state of NSW are outdated and in desperate need of upgrading costing in the billions of dollars these required funds will certainly not come from private corporations once the privatization of poles and wires is completed by the state Government.

It never ceases to excite me in wonderment how all the right leaning governments always attack the working people and the trade unions that legally represents the working people in wage negotiations across the sectors in an industrial situation.

It appears from reading the news article that the information for Telegraph regards to energy workers' salaries and so called perks was provided by our Local Member and the state Treasure Hon Andrew Constance member for Bega.

The reader gets the impression from the Telegraph news article that it is some kind of crime for the workers to be fairly compensated for their services and for the skills they provide in exchange for fair pay.

These trades people are highly skilled, licensed electrical tradesmen that are employed by the energy companies to maintain energy supplies across the state of NSW as part of the essential workforce.

My understanding is that these salaries and conditions of employment are negotiated between the parties every so often with outcomes agreed by both parties as per the legislated framework for settlement of industrial awards.

There is no point attacking the workers or their representatives in regard to wages or conditions of employment by the Minister, the true cost of energy and the reasons for the constant increase in energy cost beyond index is found somewhere else, and the constant increase in supply of energy to households is not the sum of workers' salaries or superannuation entitlements of those workers employed by the energy sector as there is no increase of salaries while the agreement is in place but the cost of energy is still rising regardless.

The minister needs to make it clear to his electorate if he wishes to renegotiate the salaries, superannuation entitlements downwards as it appears from reading the newspaper articles, also does the minister wish that the trades people catches a bus to travel to their work destinations several times per each day depending where repairs are required.

Availability of vehicles that are provided for the trades personnel as part of their entitlement package has a purpose of allowing movement of trades from A to B with tools to carry out repairs or to maintain equipment in various locations in order to maintain supply.

If entitlements cause sleepless nights to the minister then he needs to step up and make his stand on the issue of pay and entitlements somewhere else rather than hide behind newspaper article.

It would certainly make it to make it more attractive to large companies that has an interest to procure peoples Poles and Wires if it was possible to have re negotiated third world salaries in the place prior sale of poles and wires to private enterprise. This is what is behind of all this headline banter rather than true state of our energy problems which stems back to timely upgrading of our power stations, poles and wires across the state.

It appears the organisations like Employer Federations or any other body that represents employers have somehow had their arms twisted during the industrial wage negotiations between the parties and as a result of the arm twisting and biting succumbed to pressure applied by the bad guys.

Let’s get real, once and understand that any negotiated outcomes are the sum of agreement reached and are binding without any requirement for propaganda headlines that twist the truth to suite one side of the political fence and their need at the time to publicize the proposed sale of poles and wires.

Mark Ikonen

Dalmeny

Mayor's say… Securing our vital air service

Last week, the NSW Legislative Council’s Inquiry into Regional Aviation Services held a public hearing in Bega.

I attended along with Andrew Greenway, council’s divisional manager for business development and events, to give evidence to support our written submission to the inquiry. 

The public hearing was an opportunity to reiterate the key points in our submission and I will summarise these here.

Our air service in Moruya is vital to our community for economic, social, medical and safety reasons. Visiting specialists, and staff and consultants from Medicare Local and the Southern NSW Local Health District use the service weekly and we estimate that over 600 Eurobodalla residents use the service every year to travel for medical treatments.  The airport is also an essential link for emergency services during bush fires and floods.

Local businesses also regularly use the service and in particular  the convenience of being able to fly up and back in a day for meetings, head office interactions, training, and many other important business needs. 

In Eurobodalla we also have a number of commuters who travel to Sydney for full time or part time work.

And at times business and government agencies employ staff and consultants that regularly commute from Sydney.

The commercial viability of our Moruya to Sydney route and the commercial considerations of airlines don’t reflect how important this service is to our community and we have advised that we are very keen to see the current slot availability and pricing controls for regional routes at Sydney Airport to be maintained or strengthened. 

We also flagged some future issues which could have a significant impact. One of these was that the cost of potential mandatory introduction of baggage screening that we would have to meet to be compliant could be cost prohibitive for smaller airports.

We also noted some other possible changes in compliance that would increase our costs.

We talked about the viability of small routes in the future when we consider that existing planes have a lifespan of around 20 years, and there are no similar size planes in production. 

We also noted that as this service is vital to our community, council continues to subsidise the airport at a cost of around $225,000 a year, and that as the head tax fees have remained broadly unchanged for a number of years, we expect this loss to grow as infrastructure costs increase.

This additional financial pressure is not good news for ours or any local government hoping to maintain an air service. 

Please let me know if there are any issues that Council can assist with. You can contact me at mayor@eurocoast.nsw.gov.au or phone 0418 279 215. 

Cr Lindsay Brown

Mayor of Eurobodalla Shire

Biggest tea thanks

On behalf of the Bermagui Country Club Arts Society, I just would like to thank you for mentioning our Biggest Morning Tea in your paper.

It was an enjoyable morning that was well attended, and generously supported by local businesses and the wider community.

We raised over $2800 for the Cancer Council (NSW) which was a great effort for such a small town.

Janet McCartney

President

Bermagui Country Club Arts Society

Congratulations HuntFest

Congratulations to the organisers of HuntFest 2014.

Our family of three travelled from Merimbula to stay the weekend to attend HuntFest and were overwhelmed with such a well-planned event.

The exhibits were great and all exhibitors were friendly, knowledgeable and generous.

The food was outstanding and the educational lessons very well presented. Narooma was a hive of activity and we noticed many “No vacancies” at motels, while the clubs and restaurants were as busy as we have seen it at Easter, which is great for the economy of a small town in winter.

Well done HuntFest.

Can’t wait for next year!!

Lisa and David Bedingfield and Patrick Thompson

Merimbula