Balranald Shire Mayor Louie Zaffina recently sat down with The Riverine Grazier’s cadet journalist, Kimberly Grabham, to talk about recent issues arising in the shire.

This is proposed to be a monthly chat.

A giant line in the sand keeps on being drawn, and a giant clean-up from almost 20 years is well underway.

Six months into the dynamic new Local Government being voted in, I think it is safe to say the general consensus would be this; the Louie Zaffina-led Balranald Shire Council is a strikingly positive juggernaut striding towards a bright new future.

“We have a lot of things we are trying to get done; and we are concentrating on getting things done right,” Mayor Zaffina said.

“We want to get our house in order, and make proactive changes for a good foundation, one we can build upon to cement a strong future for Balranald Shire in its entirety.”

The history of Balranald Shire and associated issues are known by all. Balranald Shire Council was placed under administration by the NSW government in January 2020, following the recommendations of a public inquiry report that revealed significant dysfunction and a failure to serve the community's interests.

The council's elected members were dismissed, and an administrator, Michael Colreavy, was appointed to oversee operations.

The administration period was intended to be a temporary measure, with the aim of restoring good governance and resolving long-standing issues before the next local government elections.

The administration period lasted from January 29, 2020, until the local government elections in October 2024.

So, it is a safe statement to make; things were not right and had not been right for a while. But the futures’ looking so bright, we’re all going to need shades.

“There are many various projects in the pipeline, and the prospect of more being discussed and investigated,” Mayor Zaffina said.

BIDGEE HAVEN

Bidgee Haven Hostel has just recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.

Largely built off the back of over $700,000 worth of local people fundraising and donating money, it is owned and run by Council. It has run for many years at a deficit.

There has been around $6 million dollars in grant funding which had been given to the former Council to expand and improve the hostel, and this money has been sitting there for years. Mayor Zaffina, the elected council members and the executive team decided it is high time this money was used for the good of the hostel, and to keep its resources at peak.

Under the current grant, the council will accomplish many valuable implementations and upgrades which will further maintain and enrich Bidgee Haven Hostel.

These include the construction of a new six-bedroom extension, which consists of the expansion by five high-dependency rooms plus a room to replace one lost to the internal modifications of the existing facility.

There will be new kitchen works to the existing building and new dining room extension to the existing building.

Also included are landscaping, fire protection upgrade (pump house and tanks), power upgrade, loose furniture fittings and equipment and an activity room extension.

There will also be laundry and pan room refurbishment and external works and infrastructure including fencing.

Additionally, in May Council will be applying for two grants to continue the Bidgee Haven enhancement project.

With grant funding, there will be a rework of store and consulting rooms, as well as a refurbishment of existing resident rooms.

The second amount of grant funding will allow the Bidgee Haven staff accommodation project to commence, with building of two, two-bedroom units, and three studio-like rooms.

“Interestingly, at the moment there are rooms at Bidgee Haven which are unoccupied, and not bringing in revenue,” Mayor Zaffina said.

“So, while we are definitely thinking towards the future in regards to making sure there is enough room for residents, we are also thinking about the whole picture, and the bottom line is you cannot have residents there without qualified staff also having somewhere to live in order to work there as well.

“It is vital to be proactive about things and accomplish things now and into the future; the longer things remain the same, the more work needs to be done in the future. A lot needs to be done in the shire, in a lot of areas.

And Council has hit the ground running.”

ZONING RESTRICTIONS

A recent community consultation drop-in session attracted spirited and varied discussion on various town issues.

Balranald has the benefit of a brand new, proactive council and Mayor, and I was fortunate enough to sit down with Balranald Shire Mayor Louie Zaffina to have a chat about the many projects Council has in the works, and already has underway.

The recent community consultation drop-in session was to discuss the housing strategy for the shire.

One of the issues raised was to change the zoning restrictions on allocations of land around the area, and the size restrictions of lots.

“We are certainly looking towards changing the restrictions on blocks,” Mayor Zaffina said.

“At the present time, there is a restriction on blocks to the tune of about 40 hectares, and we are looking to change it so people can have five acre lots for hobby farms and various other purposes, and rezoning land next to town.

“The change has already been made in Euston, and has been in the processes for four years or more.

“Euston is an intensive agricultural area, and the move has been to great benefit for many.”

THE CENSUS

Mayor Zaffina said he and Council have been urging agencies such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics to find alternate solutions to reporting population in the area.

When initiatives such as the community consultations crop up, it means experts looking into and analysing the needs of the town are operating on inaccurate data when they are looking to the census to tell them about facts of a town.

“The census is just not accurate for the area, including Euston,” Mayor Zaffina said.

“We have a lot of seasonal and itinerant workers, so many times of the year, populations of towns such as Euston and Robinvale can be easily doubled if not tripled.

“As fantastic as these workers are for our local economies, for the government at large to not be recognising this means we are accommodating many more people in the area but not getting the correlating government funding for essential needs such as medical and hospitals.

“This is still an ongoing issue; to figure out how to get this accurately reflected on things such as the census. The way it is at the moment is actually hurting us, we need to make government bodies understand and reflect the true number.”

The census tells us who we are and where we are going as a nation, and helps our communities determine where to build everything from schools to supermarkets, and from homes to hospitals.

It helps the government decide how to distribute funds and assistance to states and localities.

RUNWAY

Council has resolved to negotiate with the adjacent land owners of the Balranald Airport runway.

This negotiation is to try to purchase land to extend the runway at the Balranald Airport which will potentially add over 500 meters to the existing runway.

The primary goal is to upgrade the airport's capabilities and facilitate the use of larger aircraft.

The extended runway would improve the airport's ability to attract larger commercial and private aircraft, supporting regional economic development and tourism.

It will improve the airport's ability to handle larger firefighting aircraft and other emergency services, enhancing community safety.

RAMJO

In the interests of being proactive, Balranald Shire Council has been attending Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation (RAMJO) meetings for the past months, in an observer capacity and intends joining the organisation.

The Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation (RAMJO) brings together 11 regional councils to provide a united and local voice for our communities on key issues.

The RAMJO region covers an area of over 80,000 square kilometres and has a population of 152,909 people.

Joint organisations help to build stronger councils and to improve service delivery and infrastructure in key priority areas such as water security, energy, transport, digital connectivity, waste management and health, across these rural and regional communities.

The small RAMJO team works collaboratively with the General Managers and Mayors and other staff at each council to identify priority issues and then advocate for government funding and industry support to address these key projects.

CARAVAN PARK

“There is the prospect of a Master Plan for Balranald Caravan Park in the view of upgrading and modernising the council asset. This is of course all subject to grant funding.

“Long term, the prospect of whether it would be more beneficial for council to keep running the caravan park or for them to lease the park to another party to run.”

BYPASS

There has been some uncertainty in the community, with talks of a potential bypass being implemented.

During the recent community consultation meeting in regards to housing, attendees expressed they were happy with the prospect of the ever-increasing quantity and sized heavy vehicles to have another avenue to travel, but were worried the bypass would result in the town dying, such as other towns like Tooleybuc who have had a bypass.

Mayor Zaffina said this simply would never happen.

“As part of an agreement entered to by Iluka Mining Company at the start of their work in the area, there was an upgrade made by them to McCabe Street in Balranald,” he said.

“This was so mining trucks coming in off the Ivanhoe Road had somewhere to go, with the aim of reducing the strain on main roads in the town.

“Any full or future bypass would undergo heavy and specific consultation with the community.”

MUSEUM

Balranald Shire Council was recently approached to take over the highly popular and culturally significant Southern Cross Museum.

Mayor Zaffina brings up an important consideration.

“At the moment, we still need to be careful and conservative in our actions,” he said.

“Balranald Shire Council is still subject to two Performance Improvement Orders (POI), one implemented in 2019, and one implemented in 2024.

“We are making great progress with these, but are still working through them, and need to heed these and be cautious, especially in regards to budgeting.”

Mayor Zaffina said Council will certainly hold the prospect under consideration.

EXECUTIVE ROLE CHANGES

Mayor Zaffina said the Interim General Manager, Mr Peter Bascombe is also recommending and implementing changes to the organisational structure of the executive arm of Balranald Shire Council.

“The role of Director of Governance will now be split into two positions; Chief Financial Officer and Executive Manager of Community and Governance.

“Balranald Shire Council has had no Chief Financial Officer for many years, and the two more focused positions will only continue to ensure all aspects of the council’s needs and business run to peak.”

The Position of Director of Infrastructure and Planning Services will remain.

THE BOTTOM LINE

What it all boils down to is Louie Zaffina and Balranald Shire Council are putting their best foot forward every day for the benefit of the shire where they all live; their home, which they love.

Mayor Zaffina is aiming to have a monthly catch up with The Riverine Grazier.