The pig pen agenda
IT IS incredulous that Katrina Hodgkinson and Ted Campbell (Hilltops Meats) have engaged with the NSW Environment Minister, Mark Speakman at this stage in the process of Blantyre Farms DA for a mega pig factory at Harden (The Land, November 24, 2016).
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This appears to be a thinly veiled attempt by Katrina Hodgkinson to lift the profile of the piggery development and to try and influence an early decision by Environmental and Planning authorities before sufficient time for scrutiny of the further submissions by the regulatory authorities and the general public.
Lack of pigs has not been the reason for not having a pig floor at Young. Katrina Hodgkinson was at the re-opening of the abattoir in 2014. Pigs were excluded from the abattoir then as the site was constrained by its proximity to homes, and its Halal certification which required separate kill facilities for pigs (NSW Pork Industry Overview 2015).
How and where does Ted Campbell propose to add the pig floor?
The bias of the member for Cootamundra has been blatant in her promotion of one constituent over others. Despite making requests for a meeting since early October, a spokesperson of the Cunningham Valley Action Group Inc (CVAG) was denied an opportunity to meet with Katrina Hodgkinson and was informed that Katrina Hodgkinson would meet after the council process was complete.
CVAG members are also Katrina Hodgkinson's constituents.
What is Katrina Hodgkinson's real motive for following this line?
Mandy and Mike de Mestre
Beggan Beggan
Stop the merger whinge
I WAS reading Friday’s Young Witness (December 2) where I had the opportunity to read former Harden Shire Councillor Matthew Stadtmiller’s letter to the editor.
I am sick and tired of reading about just another Harden/Murrumburrah resident complaining about council amalgamations.
To be clear, I don’t support council mergers, never had and I never will.
The NSW Government had the option of merging Harden and Cootamundra together. They chose against it because merging three councils is cheaper than two and convincing Gundagai about Harden’s economic worth was just too far a stretch.
For Mr Stadtmiller to imply former Boorowa mayor Wendy Tuckerman gets Boorowa more funding because she is the current administrator for the Hilltops Shire Council, think again.
You can see this even as you drive on any road coming into the township, they’re a disgrace. Cr Tuckerman was chosen as administrator based on well over a decade’s worth of experience as the town’s former mayor.
Mr Stadtmiller also complains about private works taking place on his block. They’re issues that you need to take up with internal management and administration within the former Harden Shire Council building that deliver the requested works to council workers. Just because you’re a former councillor doesn’t mean you’re requested works are at the top of the list. But I guess that’s why you wrote the letter right?
Complaining on behalf of your community seems like a way to progress you own agenda. In our local street, we’re still waiting for the Boorowa Shire Council to fix stormwater drainage from the street caused by flood damage. It’s a thing we like to call patience because we can kick and scream all we want but it doesn’t get us anywhere.
I read various local papers, listen to the local news on the radio and I keep thinking that a policy which was supposed to unite and join shires to cut costs has now helped battlelines being drawn and it’s every community for themselves. Most relationships end, though, when money’s involved.