MAYOR CR ROD FYFFE’S INAUGURAL SPEECH
November 11, 2015
Firstly, I would like to thank my fellow Councillors for their support.
It is always a great honour to be elected as Mayor by your colleagues
and I hope that I can meet their expectations.
I look forward to working with them over the next 12 months, as I look
forward to working with our wonderful community and the dedicated staff
at the City of Greater Bendigo.
Greater Bendigo is the best place to live in Australia and our role as
Councillors is to ensure it continues to be so as we deal with the
challenges that come with population growth.
Our top priority as Council must be to deliver the projects and strategies
we identified as priorities three years ago when we first sat down
together to develop the Council Plan.
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This includes having construction underway on the Greater Bendigo
Indoor Aquatic Leisure and Wellbeing Centre, the Bendigo Airport
redevelopment and the Bendigo Stadium expansion.
It also includes investing in our city’s health and wellbeing by expanding
our network of shared pathways for walkers and cyclists, and continuing
to invest in maintaining the city’s existing infrastructure.
And it means continuing to implement Council’s big strategies – the
Connecting Greater Bendigo - Integrated Transport and Land Use
Strategy and the Residential Development Strategy, the Hospital
Precinct Structure Plan and the Rosalind Park Master Plan.
Work must also progress on the Rural Development Strategy and the
Greater Bendigo Public Space Plan – an 18-month project that will set
out the big picture future for Bendigo’s public space.
As Mayor, I will continue the excellent work of my predecessors in
building strong links with state and federal governments.
Doing so has reaped significant benefits for our city with funding for the
indoor aquatic centre, the Ulumbarra Theatre, expansion of the Bendigo
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Art Gallery, the Bendigo Airport project and the Bendigo Library
redevelopment.
But this does not mean that Council is compelled to agree with
everything the state and federal governments do.
One of the enormous challenges Council faces this year, and in coming
years is the State Government’s decision to cap rates.
Rate capping strips councils of one of their key responsibilities –
determining the amount of revenue required to fund projects for local
communities.
Each municipality faces its own unique set of circumstances.
It is local communities, through their elected councillors, that are best
placed to know and determine how much money is needed.
And if councillors make the wrong call, they’ll soon know about it at
election time. That’s democracy.
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The Government’s one-size-fits-all approach hasn’t been very
successful in NSW with local councils there struggling to maintain their
community assets.
Rate capping means we will have to review all the services we provide can they be run more efficiently or, in some cases, should we be
providing them at all?
As Mayor, I will be particularly keen to promote cultural diversity and to
ensure that Bendigo retains its reputation for being a welcoming and
tolerant community.
I am very much looking forward to the delivery of the Cultural Diversity
and Inclusion Plan so we can maximise the benefits to the community
that flow from cultural diversity.
I now look forward to Council working together in a cooperative way so
we can make good decisions for our community.
As Councillors, we may not always agree on everything, but we should
always be respectful of one another.
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If we can achieve this, then our meetings will be productive and we will
achieve our objectives.
Can I thank my fellow Councillors once again for their show of support in
electing me as Mayor.
Thank you too to my family and the many people who have supported
me over the years and who continue to do so.
You have made it possible for me to remain in public life for 30 years
and I am just so grateful for that.
Thank you.
ENDS
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