Wentworth Shire Council Australia Day Awards 2022

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Wentworth Shire Citizen Of The Year 2022 Jeanette Stephens with Mayor Tim Elstone.

Jeanette Stephens has been announced as Wentworth Shire’s 2022 Citizen Of The Year at Tuesday night’s awards ceremony at the Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club.

Jeanette has been heavily involved in the Anglican Parish of Wentworth Dareton as Parish Secretary and was Sunday school teacher for 45 years, also furthering her studies in an effort to improve the Parish.

She has always displayed a strong support of school communities through involvement with P & C associations, tuck shop duties and voluntary reading with students.

Jeanette has been local her entire life and during this time has fostered 16 children of varying backgrounds, whilst having three daughters of her own.

Also nominated for the award were Dianne Pitt, Daryl Edwards, Margaret Morrison and Andrew Lamb.

Young Citizen Of The Year was awarded to Jess Doidge.

Jess was a member of the Wentworth Area Skate Park committee, raising money for the Wentworth Skate Park and was a helper at all of their fundraising events.

She has been a karate student for five years, earning her brown belt and therefore the responsibility of assisting junior karate students in learning stances, positions and Carta as well as
respect for themselves, the community and Renshi.

She has also been involved in several sporting clubs such as the Cobras Basketball Club and Coomealla Wentworth Cricket Club.

Through school she has volunteered at Murray House by assisting staff, spending quality time with residents and performing for residents as part of the school band.

In 2021 Jess was the Wentworth Public School Vice-Captain and assisted the schools P & C at a number of fundraising events.

Also nominated for this award were Kayla Hayes and Pippa Heeps.

Nicholas Witte was announced the Young Sportsperson Of The Year.

Nicholas is a junior member at Wentworth District Tennis Club where he assists with clubhouse and ground maintenance, plays in the B1 & B2 Pennant Teams and was runner up in singles and doubles for the Junior Boys Club Championships.

He is also a dedicated member of the Coomealla Wentworth Cricket Club in the Under 14s side and trains with the Curlwaa Islanders senior men’s team where he is always willing to be a substitute fielder for their team or the opposition if required.

Nicholas competes in school-based sports, was part of the school representative soccer team and is always encouraging other students to participate.

Also nominated were Isabelle Newton and Brock Lyall.

Wentworth Shire Mayor Tim Elstone congratulated all award winners and nominees.

“Our great communities rely on the efforts of people such as Jeanette, Jess and Nicholas, as well as the respective nominees in each category, to make them tick,” Cr Elstone said.

“Without these people, and others like them, Wentworth Shire would not be such a wonderful place to live and we hope they will continue their terrific efforts to improve our communities.”

Eight new Australian citizens were conferred as part of the ceremony on Tuesday night.

These new citizens are Riyalyn Ortega, Aaliyah Ortega Santos, Charles Ortega Santos, Angel Cano, Salina Chirozva, Lisa Hutchinson, Zaihasra Imandin and Yi Chun Liao.

Wentworth Shire Council also presented awards of recognition to previous serving Councillors Jane MacAllister and Bill Wheeldon.

Former Councillor Peter Nunan received an Order of Merit for his service on Council between 1991-1998 and 2012-2021.Current sitting Councillor Susan Nichols received an Order of Merit for 16 years’ service to Council, including recently as Mayor.

Former Councillor Donald McKinnon was awarded the prestigious Emeritus Mayor, for 31 years of service to Council including as Shire President in 1991 and 1992 and Mayor between 1993-2001 and 2012-14.

In total Mr McKinnon spent 14 years as Mayor and eight as a Councillor.

Energy Efficient Communities Food and Beverage Manufacturing Business Grant program

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The Australian Government is supporting small and medium food and beverage manufacturers to be more energy efficient, while cutting their electricity bills and emissions. 

Australia’s manufacturing sector employs over 800,000 Australians. Food and beverage manufacturing is one of six national priority areas targeted under the Morrison Government’s Modern Manufacturing Strategy.

The food and beverage manufacturing industry employs 1 in 4 manufacturing workers and contributes around $22.4 billion to the economy. 

Guidelines have been released today for the $19.9 million Energy Efficient Communities Program. It will provide grants of up to $25,000 for eligible food and beverage manufacturing businesses to help them adopt energy efficient technologies. 

Grants will be split between states and territories based on the proportion of food and beverage manufacturing businesses in each jurisdiction to ensure equitable distribution across Australia.

Assistant Minister to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Tim Wilson said the program will cut power bills for businesses and create jobs directly in the sector as well as for local tradespeople. 

“The Morrison Government is helping food and beverage manufacturing businesses to take practical action to cut their energy bills and emissions by upgrading costly and inefficient equipment, like fridges and boilers,” he said. 

“These grants are another clear example of the Morrison Government’s technology not taxes approach to reducing emissions, which will bring down power bills and create jobs.” 

Applications for this round of the Energy Efficient Communities Program will open on 12 January 2022 and close on 18 February 2022.

More information, grant guidelines and application forms are available at https://www.business.gov.au/EECFB, or over the phone at 13 28 46. 

Councillor Tim Elstone elected Mayor of Wentworth Shire Council

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Resources for Regions funding for Wentworth Shire projects

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Wentworth Shire Council has been granted more than $2 million under the New South Wales Resources for Regions program to deliver infrastructure improvements and programs across the Shire.

Six projects received funding under the program, announced by Duty Member of the Legislative Council Wes Fang on Thursday.

This included:

300,000 to install a new toilet block and rising sewer line at the newly created Buronga Riverfront Nature Play area.

$374,000 to build an all-weather surface shared-way from the Buronga Wetlands to the newly created Buronga Riverfront Nature Play area.

$300,000 to seal a car park and road around the northern oval at the George Gordon Sporting Complex in Dareton.

$400,000 to upgrade 2 reserves comprising of a new retaining wall, upgraded stairs and paths at James King Park Gol Gol and commencement of pathway formalisation on Junction Island Wentworth.

$385,129 towards the construction of a purpose built 40 x 50m Men’s Shed.

$292,300 to install a new toilet and amenities block at the Pooncarie camping grounds.

“I am excited to see these projects in Wentworth and surrounds come to fruition as they will have a real benefit to locals as well as visitors,” Mr Fang said.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole said Resources for Regions has been highly successful with Rounds One through to Seven delivering 149 projects worth $345 million to communities since 2012.

Wentworth Shire Council eNewsletter

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Do you want to keep up to date with projects and other goings-on in Wentworth Shire?

Wentworth Shire Council is offering a quarterly eNewsletter direct to your email inbox.Keep informed about our projects, future events and more.

Email wsc_subscriptions@wentworth.nsw.gov.au to register your interest.

Mourquong Water Main Extension project update

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Council has received many requests from residents in Mourquong for the provision of filtered water.

After several proposals and feasibility studies, Council approved approximately 1.3km of a filtered water main to service 9 properties in Stage 1 of the project.

The project consists of an under road bore, under pressure tapping of the rising main, installation of pipe and property connections.

Council engaged the services of Urban H2O to undertake the work

The project is almost complete with testing and commissioning to be completed prior to Christmas.

Buronga Pump Track project update

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Works commenced last week on the construction of a new sealed Pump Track at the Buronga Riverfront, west of the George Chaffey Bridge near the Discovery Caravan Park.

The track will be around 150m in length and will create an environment for the community to enjoy, whilst challenging their varying levels of skill through rollers and berms.

The project is funded under the Local Roads & Community Infrastructure Program and will be completed in December 2021.

Staff profile – Manager Tourism and Promotion Lexi Stockman

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Meet Lexi Stockman, Wentworth Shire Council’s Manager Tourism and Promotion.

After growing up in Loxton in South Australia’s Riverland for most of her life, Lexi moved to Mildura around eight years ago after completing her university degree in Adelaide.

Since then her career has mostly been spent at Mildura Central Shopping Centre as the Retail Marketing Manager from 2016 to 2021 followed by a short stint in Event Management.

Lexi said working for many years to create Mildura Central into an ideal destination for people to meet, shop and dine has given her the skills and expertise necessary to assist in evolving the Wentworth Shire into a top destination for locals and tourists.

“My aim within my new role of Manager Tourism and Promotion is to work with the local communities to create opportunities for tourism, focus on completing our upcoming major projects and ensuring they are successfully marketed to potential tourists to increase economic growth in the region,” she said.

“I’m very passionate about tourism and travel and I’m always looking out for new ideas to put into play as a point of difference for our region. “

Lexi believes Wentworth Shire can become an ideal destination in itself, catering for all walks of life from single travellers to families to retirees.

“This will be achieved by promoting and preserving our beautiful natural attractions, hosting various events and continuing to bring new and exciting projects to life,” Lexi said.

“I’m very excited to be on board and can’t wait to see what the future holds for tourism in the Shire within the next few years and beyond.”

Council continues to recruit personnel to fill the vacancies within the approved structure adopted by Council in February 2020.