A love affair with Narooma
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
I’ve had a love affair with Narooma for my entire life. I first camped here in the 50’s and early 60’s with my parents and brother Glenn and later in the family holiday home in Kianga.
Finally in 1975 I moved here as a new graduate at the urging of my old mate Graham Macdonald and worked in his new branch practices in Moruya and Narooma.
Soon afterwards I purchased the Narooma branch, met and married my beautiful wife Kim, bought our first very old house, produced two great kids, Kane and Corey and 40 years later it’s time to put down the handpiece and pass on the dental practice to the next generation of “Team Narooma Dental”.
I wish to express my gratitude to all of my loyal patients who over the past 40 years have made my career stimulating, challenging and rewarding. I still enjoy my profession, although I must admit that for various reasons, the daily grind has worn me out.
I am really looking forward to the changes in life direction that retirement will afford Kim and I.
I’ve been blessed with great staff throughout my 40 years and nearly all of them have been local kids who have been trained by us and using outside agencies like OTEN; many of these employees have come back for repeat periods of employment with us and special mention is needed for Julie Davis our current practice manager who has been with NDS for almost all of the 40 years of its existence.
NDS has been a huge part of my life, and I leave with the knowledge that it is in very capable hands, to provide optimal care to existing and prospective patients.
Kim and I will of course, continue to live in our beautiful Narooma and as I pass by on my various missions and journeys, I will look at the NDS with great affection and with fond memories. Thank you for the opportunity.
Paul Mood
Narooma
Let’s get the record straight!
I have been approached by a number of distressed residents concerned that I supported the 26 per cent Special Rate Variation (SRV) being sought by Council.
Let me make it very clear that I have opposed this proposal since its inception.
When our Administration first raised the idea, I asked to see comparative rates information between the Eurobodalla and other NSW councils, particularly the Great Lakes Council which I understand is very similar to ours in many ways.
I expressed concern that our shire consists mainly of retirees and pensioners on fixed incomes or government assistance programs. We have significant unemployment and high levels homelessness.
We have too many vacant shops and empty factories along with the associated bankruptcies. I added that many people in our community are struggling to pay high electricity bills, phone accounts and exorbitant petrol prices. I pointed out that council has already increased water rates by 22 per cent and raised all other fees and charges that are outside of the general rate structure.
I have been quite vocal about the devastating effect some Council policies are having on the value of people’s homes, and intimated that this is not the way to gain popular support for any council initiatives, let alone a rate rise.
I summarised the above and expressed the view that we as Council are perceived as being far too fat and wasteful.
Unless we live within our means and take our community with us, we will never regain their trust and we will be tarred and feathered.
I concluded that until I was satisfied that steps are being taken to correct these short comings, I would not support an SRV proposal.
It is my opinion that the questions in the Micromex survey were loaded to produce a positive response to a rate rise. Still the overall majority of people said no.
Why won’t this council listen to their community?
With the support of some loyal friends I have distributed a petition that opposes the proposed rate hike. But we need more people to speak up and defend their rights. I cannot do it alone.
Clr Milton Leslight
Batemans Bay
Give Turnbull the job
We have to acknowledge that the economic climate is not good at the moment: this was said by the Prime minister on Monday, February 2 at the meeting with the press club.
I think we agree on this point with him, but he has not convinced me that he is the only one who can fix it.
He told us that his government is responsible for petrol prices coming down? They have come down worldwide because crude oil prices have fallen. This has nothing to do with the government’s doing.
The flat economy in Australia is making the dollar fall. A lower Dollar may improve our export market, but prices for the mining sector being at rock bottom is not so good.
Third world countries with low wages are using this strategy, but we are not a third world country. Australia needs to develop better and new technologies and market those ourselves. This would be more clever.
We have created a problem in the real estate market in major cities where very low interest rates and foreign investors are spoiling it for families wanting to raise children. Is this government intending to help those home buyers?
When we were living in good times we had a surplus. The Howard government was able to save that. Fine, but now we need to spend and hope for better times .This is better than strangling an economy with a savings program.
Selling government assets is selling our children's future. It is only a short time fix, nothing else. It is making things worse, as we will have less and less to fall back on, especially when the assets are bought by foreigners - what's gone is gone.
That is what the Queensland voters were trying to tell you Mister Abbott. This is their message. You may be listening but still fail to get it, and this is scaring us.
They are open for business, for the ones who can afford to buy and they are assisted by the government through negative gearing. Costs will go up for education, health, rent, childcare, yet we are told there is no inflationary factor?
Mr Abbott claims that they created many new jobs. That does not match with the job figures we lost. Again a lot of the new jobs are not full time jobs. Banks are shying away from giving part timers a housing loan and he should try to pay rent with an income from a part time job.
With the lower dollar we pay more for manufactured goods from overseas. Even the windfall of the lower petrol price is dwindling with the falling dollar. Is the government acknowledging this in the inflation rate? No.
They keep telling us again and again the same stupid story that they are looking after us better than anyone else, but are they?
The Howard government was lucky being in power in a recovering world economy. That is way he did so well.
Stop scaring us, stop blaming the other parties that the surplus has gone. The previous and present governments had and have world economic problems, we understand this. When is this government understanding it?
Most governments in the world are telling us creating the world market is a very good thing. Are they getting lost somewhere? If not, then we have to get used to it, that when there is a problem somewhere else we get that problem too.
Give the job to Mr Turnbull: we hope that he has more common sense.
K .Kruger
Central Tilba
Supporting the Special Rates Variation
I write to support the Special Rates Variation requested by Eurobodalla Shire Council.
This LGA and its residents urgently needs the works and services the SRV will fund. Opponents of the SRV will argue that ratepayers are unable to afford the increases but if ABS Census data is correct then 37 per cent of ratepayers do not even live in the shire.
I can only assume those properties must be their 2nd, 3rd or 4th properties so to argue that those ratepayers can't afford a small rate increase is disingenuous to say the least.
It may well be that poor practices in the past meant council assets and infrastructure were not as well maintained as they should have been but the current Council should be given the necessary funds to bring our assets up to scratch within a reasonable timeframe. As a community representative on Council's Disability Advisory I think Council must be congratulated for seeking to use part of the SRV to improve accessibility throughout the Shire.
In the 21st century it is scandalous that a child with disability cannot use play equipment or mix with non-disabled peers in an inclusive environment. Why should a taxpayer (or former taxpayer) not be able to use a community hall because they can't get through the front door because the building is inaccessible? Why are there parts of our beautiful Shire that a family with a son or daughter with a disability can't visit because there is no accessible toilet? I urge community members to support Eurobodalla Shire's request for a Special Rate Variation by contacting the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal and making your views known.
Gail Stevens
Malua Bay
Ratepayers and residents crucified
“They know not what they do.”
“Should we forgive them for dividing up the community by casting lots?”
By retaining sea level rise and coastal erosion policies councillors have condemned this community to the cross.
Shoalhaven councillors’ decision to reduce sea level rise to a responsible level has left the Eurobodalla like a “shag on a rock”.
Already some 6000 property owners have been told to “retreat” and will soon be joined by owners from most elevated coastal fronting properties.
The other hand has been nailed with a compounding “average” 21 per cent land tax increase plus undisclosed other water, sewerage and environmental charges - increases designed to maintain some of the upper hierarchy and bureaucracy of fast cars, conferences, allowances, bloated incomes and below average working hours.
Not one cent for an accessible disabled toilet to cater for partially mobile residents at Dalmeny.
The mayor and deputy mayor with their side-kicks have nailed both feet of all people of this cherished shire to the cross.
Stupidly they have disclosed their own unsustainability and fallen into the trap of amalgamation.
With a megalomaniacal attitude they have destined the closest form of government to an unknown grave.
Our paradise is on the path of division and consolidation to suit the political ideologies of both major NSW and Federal political parties. This is democracy at its worst - heading towards anarchy.
The process will be cunningly referred to as realignment of boundaries and being “Fit for the Future”.
The Eurobodalla divided north of the Moruya River to the Shoalhaven and those in the forgotten areas surrounding Narooma to a renamed Bega Shire.
On the eve of a State Election we will be forced to decide.
Labor with hidden agendas such as privatising water utilities - the “cash cow” of many types of council.
Liberals with similar unblistered hands have maintained most Labor policies adding sale of wires and poles.
Liberal members talk with a “forked tongue “and want sea level policies scrapped” even after transferring those responsibilities to councils.
Who next! The Greens - heavens above.
They won’t allow you to cut down a tree for a coffin or mine gas, coal or oil to burn you and the coffin.
You will be left immodestly on the cross, above the ground, without a gown!
Peter Bernard
Dalmeny
Stop cutting local services
A stroll down the shopping streets of our local towns and villages provides a very good indication of the state of our local economy, of the bleak employment prospects for our local people and their children.
Our commercial zones are gap-toothed with long vacant premises, displaying drifts of dead flies and fading 'for lease' and 'for sale' notices.
What many do not appreciate is the extent to which this depression of our local economy is due to the deliberate decisions of the NSW government.
Regional offices of government agencies such as State Forests, National Parks, Crown Lands, the local Catchment Management Authority have been drastically culled or closed completely.
These were good jobs, managing local resources, employing skilled committed people who understood local issues, who contributed substantially to the local economy and community.
Dozens of jobs and millions of dollars have been ripped out of our regional economy.
We now suffer not only the economic loss but a regional 'brain drain' as these folk, and the youngsters who might have hoped to move into their jobs, are forced to go elsewhere for employment.
The perpetual cycle of inane restructurings and job spills within the NSW Government has left those still clinging on in the skeletal local offices demoralised, bewildered, overworked and incapable of delivering the services the community expects of them.
Just try to determine who is actually responsible for anything nowadays! Expect a marked acceleration of the degradation of National Parks and other Crown Lands by weeds and feral animals.
There are neither the staff nor money to look after the vast tracts of land for which the State is responsible.
The ludicrous situation has now arisen where substantial grants awarded by one NSW Government agency to this region for natural resource management may not be able to be accepted because the local NSW Government agency that would have to administer them is so bereft of staff and so pitifully uncertain of what its 'new' role ought to be.
We are about to elect a new NSW Government, a government supposedly with responsibility for the entire State, not just greater Sydney.
It seems that having our local Member in a senior cabinet position has been of negligible value to our local community.
It is time regional NSW rejected parties whose only vision is to cut local jobs and reduce local services, and who are under the delusion that efficient cost-effective government and a healthy economy can be achieved by engineering perpetual administrative chaos. We can do much much better. We have to.
Stuart Cameron
Bermagui
Christmas whales head south
AFTER giving us all a great display over the holidays the Narooma Christmas Whales have headed south for rest and recuperation.
Feedback from visitors and locals has been strongly supportive of the whale coastal theme Narooma Christmas brand.
Businesses and individual families lease the whales from the Narooma
Men’s Shed and the money raised contributes to Men’s Shed activities including supporting others in the community.
The Men’s Shed would like to thank the VRA for installing a number of whales and a thank you to Easts Narooma Shores, Club Narooma, South Coast Lighting, Narooma Veterinary Hospital, Compleat Angler, Narooma Fishing Club, Narooma Plaza, MACS, IGA Narooma, IGA Dalmeny, Mitre 10, Two Brothers Tyres and More, Whale Motor Inn, Blue House Surgery, Horizon Apartments, David Creed Lawnmowing, Narooma Plaza Newsagency and Bruce and Narelle Davis for leasing whales.
We are now seeking early advice from those wanting to support the Whale Project in 2015.
Brian Craven
President, Narooma Men’s Shed
Secession to avoid recession
On Tuesday, February 24, council endorsed a new Interim Coastal Hazard Adaptation Code. This is a re-branded version of the old interim sea level rise (SLR) adaptation policy.
In essence, the new code mirrors most of the old interim sea level rise policy. It promotes “planned retreat”, and places all responsibility for mitigation measures onto the property owner. The planning interval has been reduced to 50 years, but the “investigation area” remains at 4 metres AHD, so most of the 6,000 previously affected properties will retain their Section 149 sea level rise warnings.
If you thought the reduced planning interval would reduce the sea level rise planning levels, you were wrong.
The 500mm taken off the projected sea level rise, has now been added on as a “freeboard allowance”.
One thing council finally admitted was that all properties within 50 metres of a high tide mark are included in the policy.
Owners of cliff top properties and other properties above 4 metres AHD, and fully or partially within the 50 metre zone, will be subject to planning restrictions.
They will have to obtain expensive coastal engineering reports before submitting a development application. They can also expect to be lumbered with the same 149 notations as sub 4 metre home owners.
The Narooma Flat remains exempt from the policy, but council has forgotten to tell the Narooma community that the NSW Environment Minister will not sign off on a coastal management plan that contains unfunded liabilities.
As a minimum, management plans must show “the proposed funding arrangements for all actions”.
How is the ESC going to come up with the millions of dollars required to defend the Flat from rising seas, when it has to apply for a huge special rate variation, just to keep its head above water?
This council has been warned a thousand times about the adverse economic effects of its ill-considered sea level rise policy, but it continues to ignore the public outcry.
Shoalhaven councillors have resisted the directions of their planning bureaucrats, and countered with a sensible SLR policy that considers the economic and social effects on their community.
Is it any wonder that there is a secession movement gaining momentum in the north of this shire?
Communities north of the Moruya River have a lot to gain from a realignment of the shire boundary to make them part of the Shoalhaven. This includes the recovery of property values, and the prospect of economic prosperity from the leadership of a caring and progressive council.
Ian Hitchcock
Dalmeny
No brief for HuntFest
I hold no brief for HuntFest, hunters or shooters, but I think Heather Irwin (News letters, Feb 18) missed the point of the concern expressed by a mother at Ms Irwin’s protest at the Streetscape community party.
The mum was entitled to be concerned at her child being “ambushed” on their way to get a Paddle Pop at a community celebration by a bunch of people aggressively waving placards with guns on them.
HuntFest no doubt will have the real thing, but they will be within the confines of a particular show where children are unlikely to see them unless their parents so desire it.
However, Ms Irwin did write that this protest was a “last resort”. Let us hope this was the case and, having demonstrated the depth of support for her cause by the perhaps two dozen who joined her in protest, she and her small band will now allow the vast majority of us who are unconcerned by HuntFest to get on with life without further interruption.
David Kelly
Bermagui
Not fair to relocate
Last week, I attended the information meeting regarding the NBN tower proposal for Brushgrove Lane where I live.
My questions were met with well-rehearsed answers and no apologies were made for the lack of communication prior to this meeting.
Apparently only a couple of residents in our Lane actually received notification including my new neighbour whose boundary is a mere 73 metres from their proposed site.
When I asked why they had not considered the RTA land severed by the highway they could not answer my question.
The fact that this would almost definitely include power sharing with Telstra was played down, probably because of the significant increase in electromagnetic energy and the dramatically increased health risks.
I chose to sign the petition for the Central Tilba proposal because of its proximity to dwellings and the obvious ugliness of such a structure. I appreciate that this community needs a quality internet and mobile service, but is it fair to simply locate it in someone else’s backyard?
John Ramsay
Tilba
The clock of evolution is ticking
The clock of evolution is ticking on and it includes everything on this planet, like nature, environment, animals and us human beings.
We certainly can tell how the environment is changing to extreme weather conditions so called El Nino (supposedly dry period) then to LaNina.
Animal life is noticeable changing / many of them can’t keep up with the loss of their habitat due to human expansion so we sadly seeing some of them becoming extinct.
What about our life is changing as well?
Physically hasn’t changed much the last 50 to 100 years but mentally our mind is thinking more clearly and looking for answers to many things.
“Why is it so?”
Like some hundreds years backwards barbaric tribes think they have the right to kill others who don’t think the way they do.
Admittedly many hundreds or thousands years ago we had some so-called Dark Ages when the main task was to survive!
(Just finished reading an interesting book: Mexico by J. Michener)
This type of evolution I would call “The Awakening”!
I like that word or phrase the awakening because for a thousand years or so we were told to believe in things and no questions asked it is the truth, just close your eyes and mind!
Not one of the teachers ever mentioned that “believe in yourself.”
Many people believe or have faith now days but more people want or need help from something or someone to rely on for lack of confidence in them self!
We can’t change the world’s system of belief in one or two days but it will come maybe not in the near future but maybe in the next century!
In the meantime just soldier on and try to have faith in our self!
Gus Slaninka
Kianga
What is hypocrisy?
I wonder what the average reader would call the following?
A few people take photos of fellow community members quietly going about their legal right to express their concerns about community issues.
These few people then doctor the images to misrepresent the opinions of said community members and place them on the HuntFest Facebook social network page.
The administrators of the HuntFest Facebook site then invite, no actually incite, others to make vilifying, derogatory remarks about the people in the photos.
They actually single out one random female in the group and offer a free family pass to HuntFest and HuntFest caps to whoever can make the most derogatory comments. Some of the respondents’ comments are overtly violent and sexual in nature.
Some ridicule her intelligence. Some suggest she is a feral animal and that dogs would like to attack her.
The ones of a sexual nature do not warrant repeating.
After reading your accusations of bullying by SAFE in last week’s paper, Dan Field, I wonder what you would call the above?
Surely it is bullying in its most heinous form.
I believe your explanation when asked why you had stooped to such an all-time hypocritical low was....
Well I’m sick of someone calling me and my family and making threats.
The lady you singled out for such hateful, bullying treatment is my wife and she is in no way responsible for any of the calls you may have received. Nor does she know who is responsible and in no way condones such behaviour.
Your vindictive, unjustified personal attack has left her traumatized. She is having trouble sleeping and no longer enjoys a walk along the beach or in the local community as she is afraid of being confronted by one of your misinformed thugs.
Should any of the individuals who got involved in any way in that Facebook attack, without seriously thinking about its effect or consequences, be reading this, I hope you feel some remorse for your actions and make an appropriate response. We have your names.
Cyber bullying and inciting hatred are considered serious offenses.
We have run out of patience waiting for an apology from the administrators of the HuntFest Facebook page.
Martin Thackray
Dalmeny
Thanks for taking a stand
Heather Irwin and SAFE thank you for taking a public stand against HuntFest and the selling of guns in our community.
Carolyn Watt
Narooma