Councillor Column With Councillor Mark Spina

With my contribution to the Councillor Column falling on Christmas Eve, I feel it’s appropriate to begin by wishing you all the very best Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year, to you and your families.

Well, hasn’t another year come quickly? By the time this column is printed, we would have seen another crushing season come to a close. Again, another challenging year for all in the industry, while we can’t control the weather, we remain positive that industry stakeholders can solve some ongoing issues that seem to continuously hamper the crushing season.

The New Year will come quickly, and there are many things under my Corporate, Development and Regulatory Services Advisory Portfolio that I look forward to assisting in progressing, advocating and lobbying for. One of these is the Dungeness Sea Wall and Dredging, acknowledging the years of hard work that have been put in by previous Councillors and staff. Seeing this major improvement come to fruition will no doubt not only help drive tourism in our Shire, but will also give the Coast Guard access when needed to deploy and attend to emergencies. Such things cannot happen without funding assistance from the State and Federal Governments and to strike a fair balance to not just maintain and repair critical infrastructure, but to deliver on new projects to increase liveability in our Shire.

Having such a great newspaper that is Hinchinbrook Life, this very paper that you are reading for free, has been a very welcoming platform for the community to engage with on all things happening within our Shire. To Mayor Ramon Jayo, fellow Councillors, staff and the team at Hinchinbrook Life, thank you for having the initiative and drive to get this paper on the stands in the community.