None other than Gladys Berejiklian, the NSW premier, will be the guest speaker at the final business breakfast forum of the year for combined Macarthur councils group, MACROC.
The acronym stands for Macarthur Region Organisation of Councils.
Its last breakfast forum should be an interesting one, at least from Campbelltown’s point of view.
While Camden has agreed to become a giant supplier of housing in the Sydney metropolitan region – and was fully rewarded with a stack of infrastructure money – Campbelltown has not been flavour of the month down in Macquarie Street.
Local leaders have expressed their dismay at the loss of services such as motor registries and iconic schools (Hurlstone Agricultural High School) among other State Government decisions.
Campbelltown was declared a “regional city’’, but locals must be wondering if it means anything because a year later nothing has happened on that front.
Hopefully someone may ask Gladys what’s going on.
The MACROC breakfast is on this Wednesday, December 20, in the Campbelltown Arts Centre from 7.15am and until 9am.
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♦ On a more positive note, Campbelltown has shown it can punch well above its weight, with five local schools receiving grants of $3,500 each under the NSW Government’s Eco Schools grant program.
Five out of 74 schools across all of NSW is a top effort and local MP Greg Warren was quick to give Ambarvale Public School, Briar Road Public School, John Therry Catholic High School, St John the Evangelist Catholic Parish Primary School and St Patrick’s College for Girls a pat on the back.
“This program is about teaching kids how to live in a kore sustainable way. These grants are an important investment in our future – research shows that learning about sustainability at a young age can create better environmental awareness later in life,” Mr Warren said.
The Eco Schools Program aims to help give kids a hands-on environmental education in their schools and the successful local projects range from Indigenous cultural gardens and yarning circles to hydroponic food gardens and waste management projects.
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♦ Tomorrow night, Tuesday, December 19, the who’s who of the Macarthur region will say thank you and goodbye to local journalistic legend Mandy Perrin.
Harrington Grove Country Club will be the venue for the formal dinner farewell to the editor of the Chronicle for almost 25 years.
We join everyone else in Campbelltown and Macarthur in saying thank you and good luck, Mandy Perrin.
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♦ Before becoming the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre director, Craig Donarski worked at the ABC’s youth network Triple J.
He joined Triple J in 1986, rose through the ranks to become executive producer, before leaving in 1998.
His next career move was joining the Sydney Opera House Producers Unit in 1999. He worked with Virginia Hyam to create the seminal Studio program among many other achievements, before leaving in 2010 to join Sydney Film Festival and its touring arm, the Travelling Film Festival.
Donarski was recruited by Liverpool City Council at the end of 2016. He was acting director at Casula Powerhouse until he was permanently appointed in mid-2017. Which means he’s back closer to his Western Sydney roots, having been born at Blacktown.
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♦ After some refurbishment work, the HJ Daley Library is now partially re-opened.
There is access to public computers, printing, adult fiction, large print, children’s picture books and DVDs. You can also visit the library to return your items, book for a school holiday activity or join the Summer Reading Club. Please note that there is still limited access to other collections.
The Liberal Government only supports Liberal voting areas so don’t hold your breath for state services in the Campbelltown electorate until we get a State Labor team in charge t
Or. Put in a liberal member