Talking reconciliation, disasters and development with Kempsey's Mayor Leo Hauville

My first interview was with Kempsey Shire Mayor Leo Hauville at Sirens Cafe well before the end-of-year crunch. It was also before the delay of the Stuart's Point sewerage scheme was announced.

He shared what made him proud, but also the issues that worry him most. The interview was structured as a simple Q & A, with responses edited for brevity only.

Q: In the year since the mayoral election, what achievements have made you proud?

Reconciliation Plan - Kempsey Shire Council has taken on a Reconciliation Action Plan and that's been a real success. It is just the first step of a council initiative to see how we can best work with the local Dunghutti people. They have a storytelling background to their world. And that's valued.

South Kempsey sewer - I'm very proud of council staff and the work they've done bringing the sewer to South Kempsey. The service centre there (and homes and businesses) were having to get a truck once a day to take the septic tank waste away. Now that's not necessary. It all just gets pumped away into the South Kempsey sewage treatment plant.

Better Together Network - I attended the Local Government Conference in Canberra and heard that 97 per cent of emergency funding is spent reacting to disasters and only three per cent is spent on preparation. We (Kempsey Shire Council) are doing a lot more preparation. Councillors are working on a Better Together Network. We've had initial meetings with all different communities to identify local expertise that can be called upon in most situations. It brings back decisions to local people. For instance, we have gauges that tell us the height of the Macleay River all the way up to George's Creek [but] they belong to three different organisations. So quite apart from the pre-empting of a disaster is that division of responsibility and locals were largely not involved. That should happen from here on.

Q: What have been your greatest challenges?

Toose Road landslip - We've been working flat out coping with the disastrous Toose Road landslip (near Bellbrook). We've [now opened] the emergency access road over the top, which was delayed by about two months because the people building the road came up against solid granite that had to be blasted out. Five families are in that area. They can now get in and out using four wheel drives. But the problem is they can't get their cattle in and out. We're now working with landowners up there to build a new road, bypassing this landscape, and a new bridge across the Macleay River. That's looking at costing between $15m to $20m and we have to negotiate with personal landowners to go through their property in some places. But you can't build brand new infrastructure, like a bridge across a river, in less than two years.

Council by-election - It was the most extremely difficult thing to have a byelection because of the [Electoral Commission's] iVote fiasco. The Supreme Court of NSW found that the election was flawed and we had to go again. It costs money to have an election, but it didn't fall on council to pay. There was however, $130,000 in council staff time going through the induction of the counsellors initially elected last December, and that all had to be done again.

Q: What has been your response to being censured for bullying?

I think in this current council there have been fewer points of order. it's all of us together, not the big stick at the front, running the show.

Q: How do you view the current regulations around coastal development?

There's a big push on by the state government to have a lot more people living in regional NSW. And for that to happen, we're going to have to allow a lot more developments. To me, it's quite offensive that a country council area like ours has to operate under the planning rules that were designed for places like Sydney, where building block sizes are going down and the heights are going up. Now, I would rather keep the characters of each of the villages special on the coasts. But there is the issue that people coming from the city are selling their houses for $2m to $3m and they are prepared to spend a lot of money to get that particular house [here].

There is another issue that council is dealing with and that is "zombie development", where 20 or 30 years ago, people applied for and got a development application - all legal - and they let it sit there. Then all of a sudden, they have finances, and they go ahead and develop it. But based on the consents from way back when. They don't have to follow the present planning rules. We want there to be a time limit; that within the first five years, there has to be substantial commencement. There should be state government legislation that stops this system of letting developer applications sit there until they find finance.

Q: What are some of council's future challenges?

There's been a kind of a secular move where people stay home and don't take part in community activities. So, council is giving out grants to try and enable lots of different organisations to get more people to join. We need young people to engage with all the sporting organisations. The Kempsey Swimming Club is desperate to get people to take part and to help in running it. We need people to get out of their houses and get back to where they were before COVID-19 That's the issue. We're used to being locked down.

We can't do much more than put the idea in people's minds. We're doing that by enabling more outdoor activities. The new netball courts and walking track with exercise stations are part of the $10m grant we got for the Verge Street sporting fields. People are walking the track all the time; taking their dog, riding or jogging. It's working, because it's being fully utilised.

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