Bilpin District Community News Page

It is rumored that Hawkesbury rate payers need to brace for a turd tax!

Yes, apparently Council is considering a so-called turd tax after Council Administration have failed to repair a broken sewage pipe at Windsor. The pipe is busted about 3 kilometers from the McGraths Hill sewage treatment works. The cost of repair at the time was estimated to be $400,000.

For a year, sewage trucks have been hired 24/7 to cart the waste from the broken pipe behind the Jolly Frog Inn to the treatment works at a cost of $36million and growing. Hawkesbury Council only has reserves of $45 million, but recently borrowed another $30million at an unknown interest rate to keep the poo moving.

Meanwhile Council is trying to have these costs caused by a flood of incompetence not water, paid by the State Government. Liberal Mayor Sarah McMahon wrote before the election asking the State Government to pay the bill as it was caused by flood disasters. But all bets are off now we have a Labor Government.

Hawkesbury Council has built and successfully operated sewage treatment works through fire and floods for many decades. The recent appointment of two Sydney based General Managers with no experience in managing regional communities’ is speculated to be a problem. The first one left after a no confidence vote by Councilor’s, while this one is literally in the shit!

At the moment whether everyone will be slugged with the turd tax or if it will be limited to the makers of the poo is anyone’s guess. 

Mountain of Joy our local food bank has
moved from a garage at Kurrajong Heights
to the veranda Kurrajong Baptist Church,
after its founder Karen Suttle moved to
regional NSW.
Mountain of Joy is a food bank where you
can deposit surplus food stuffs and or
make a withdrawal of anything you need.
The great thing about Mountain of Joy is
that it helps decrease the amount of food
wastage.
According to Food Bank Australia about
7.5 billion tons of food is lost or wasted
each year. Yet one in six Australian adults
haven’t had enough to eat and 1.2 million
children have gone hungry in the last year.
Food wastage is a much bigger problem
than just feeding the hungry in our district.
We need to avoid waste and when we
can’t, we need to share our surplus by
trading it at Mountain of Joy for produce
we need.
“Mountain of Joy is a food swop and trading
service. I have shopped at
Mountain of Joy, cooked
the produce recently into
zucchini frittata, fed my
family and packaged the
excess into 6 meal size
containers and returned
these to Mountain of Joy
freezer for residents who
are looking for a nutritious
home cooked meal”.
Said a resident who did
not want to be named
because of the stigma associated with not
having enough money to buy food for your
family. “I do this from time to time when I
don’t have enough money to make ends
meet.”

The NSW Coronial Inquiry into the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) escaped Mt Wilson backburn has set down hearing dates from 16 to 25 May 2023. A coronial inquiry uses an inquisitorial process, actively investigating and gathering evidence to ensure a thorough and complete review of the matter and make recommendations for improvement.
The escaped RFS Mt Wilson Backburn on 14 December 2019 started a bushfire that burnt for 53 days before being extinguished. It impacted the settlements of Mt Wilson, Mt Tomah, Berambing, Bilpin, Kurrajong Heights, Bell, Dargan, Mt Victoria, and Blackheath. This fire burnt 63,700 hectares, destroying 70 structures and threatening thousands of homes in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury Local Government Areas, causing stress and anxiety for tens of thousands of people.
The Coroner has decided to use this escaped backburn fire as a case study on RFS backburning practices in its General Inquiry into the NSW Bushfires.
The Mt Wilson backburn survivor group is represented at this Hearing by Honorable Adam Searle Barrister at Law, a resident of the Blue Mountains and former Member of the Legislative Council of NSW Parliament.
The group made a public submission to the Coroner in May 2022 that can be viewed at www.mtwilsonbackburn.com. This submission uses RFS documentation to detail a chronology of events starting with the lighting of the backburn on 14 December 2019 at 9:58am at corner of Bells Line and Mt Wilson roads and the fire escaping containment lines 5 hours later; to a request from the fire ground the next day Sunday 15 December 2019 at 12:49pm for an upgrade of the warning level to Emergency which was denied; then the impact of this fire two and half hours later on residents and property owners at Berambing then Mt Tomah; to finally at 4:17pm when am Emergency Warning was issued while people were fighting to save their lives and property.
If Residents have experiences they would like to share and or have suggestions on how to improve things so the future bushfires can be better managed contact Mt Wilson Backburn Survivors Group via their website www.mtwilsonbackburn.com You can also stay up to date with the progress on the Inquiry through the website.

Know this man? Is he an escapee from the popular TV show Married at First Sight gone feral? We would like to know more about Dargan man. If you have any information, please contact us at bilpindistrictnewsletter@gmail.com or Bilpin District Community Facebook page.

Bells Line of Road Business Council Inc (BLOR Business) held an inaugural networking luncheon on Tuesday 21 February 2023 hosted by Archibald Hotel Kurrajong Heights.
Over 50 people representing 40 businesses along, or off, Bells Line of Road attended the event welcoming the chance to share concerns about common problems and opportunities for mutual benefit.
BLOR Business vision is to build a thriving and diverse regional corridor to live, work and enjoy for residents, visitors, and travelers alike.
The Council was formed in 2022 and aims to improve existing networks and channels of cooperation between small and micro local businesses and all tiers of government.
The Council provides information, advice, and support on matters of concern to its membership and lobbies government with suggestions for improvements to policies and procedures that will help small, and micro businesses survive in this difficult economic time.
Recently the Council made representations to the Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts regarding regulation of Agritourism and Farm Gate visitation.
BLOR Business President Marg Tadrosse owner of the Bilpin Fruit Bowl said: “We visited the Minister in NSW Parliament and then he came to Bilpin so he could better gauge the impact of what the Government was proposing. Our exchange was positive, and we obtained changes that will help local micro and small businesses.”
“The Council executive meets monthly and its proposed to hold quarterly networking meetings to provide information, discuss matters of mutual interest and give support to businesses in these tough times.”
You can contact the BLOR Business Council via the website to find out when the next meeting is. Go to www.bellslineroad.com.au or by email blorbusinesscouncil@gmail.com