Page 8 - Shane Gray News Today

Regional Development Australia Wide Bay Burnett Director of Regional Development Scott Rowe will deliver his state of the region address, and will be followed by Mayor Glen Hartwig and Gympie Regional Council CEO Shane Gray. Scott Rowe, Glen Hartwig and Shane Gray will be the guest speakers at the first Gympie Chamber of COmmerce breakfast meeting of 2021, to be held in the newly renovated RSL in Mary Street. Mr Rowes presentation will cover Gympies COVID position and recovery, workforce po...

Letter to the Editor In response to the information provided by (Gympie Regional Council CEO) Shane Gray in relation to awarding of the Environment Levy grants, (15/1/2021) we note that there is no legislative requirement requiring the awarding of grants by Council to be decided by the elected Council. There were clear criteria established for assessment of grant submissions. To be successful, a submission had to respond to a priority/objective or action in Council’s adopted Environment Strat...

Adding to the oddity, the levy report has itself now become the centre of controversy. The strategy uploaded to the council’s website after it was endorsed said the environment report would not simply be investigated but actually developed. Conservation groups have called for the publication of the 2018-19 report, criticising the new council for declining requests for its release as contrary to its commitment to transparency as part of a wider attack over "unprecedented" funding delays. ...

Gympie council CEO Shane Gray has refuted criticism of "unprecedented delays" in its awarding of environmental grants, and said such funding needed to be signed off by councillors, something which had not been done in the past. The councils process came under fire this year in a letter written and signed by three of the regions environmental groups: Cooloola Coast Care Association, Gympie and District Landcare Group, and Koala Action Gympie Region. The groups slammed the council for a delay ...

ENVIRONMENTAL groups, farmers developers and business leaders who want to shape Gympie Regional Councils future biodiversity laws are being asked to throw their name into the ring for a new reference group. The council is forming the group following its controversial repeal of two temporary planning tools adopted by the pervious council. The repeal was met with significant outcry, sparking protests and an online petition which has attracted more than 27,000 signatures. Protesters outside Gy...

CEO Shane Gray says the decision to cancel the event was ultimately taken out of the council’s hands. “Ultimately the decision was out of our hands because of the state restrictions placed on events such as these due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Council worked hard to look at all options to deliver the event, however it isn’t possible with the restrictions around social distancing and contact tracing, not to mention the current situation in New South Wales,” Mr Gray sa...

A RULING that the Mary Valley Rattler was eligible to receive Jobkeeper payments has opened a can of worms, throwing into doubt years of claims of council ownership and raising questions about who actually owns its assets. The Rattler Railway Company asked the Australian Taxation Office to review its eligibility in August amid concern it was ineligible for the payments and at risk of forfeiting $141,000 it received, a bill the council may need to foot. The Jobkeeper legislation specifically ...

Tech + staffing industry veterans join up to revolutionize temp staffing space Share Article TempBuddy founder Roderick Smyth, former Uber Works Head of Expansion Janeesa Hollingshead, and staffing industry veteran Drew Golin announced the launch of their latest venture, Shiftfillers. Shiftfillers is a tech-powered staffing platform focused on disrupting the traditional temporary staffing industry for the light industrial worker. Shiftfillers has officially launched in the temporary staffing in...

Premium Content Subscriber only GYMPIE region councillors and staff have come under attack on social media over a controversial decision to repeal environment protection laws, with an inflammatory post by ex-councillor Dr Daryl Dodt going further than any other post. In the lead-up to and during debate on the laws, Facebook users fired away at those involved in the discussion with accusations of falsities and questions of integrity. A post on a Facebook page apparently run by Gympie GP and f...