By Cr Colleen Fuller
What a week it has been. Our shire is inundated with floodwater, locals have been evacuated, Carroll has been on watch, and emergency services and council staff have been working long hours to keep our community safe.
The evacuation centre is open at PCYC Gunnedah at 44 View Street and people, including the Gunnedah Salvos, are on hand to help displaced locals with what they need. The PCYC has also been offering free child care to working families with children who can’t attend school because of closures.
The stables at the Gunnedah Showground are open for anyone who needs to house horses temporarily due to flooding. For more information, contact Amanda Brown on 0419 699 163.
A big thank you to the PCYC and Gunnedah Show Society for supporting our community in this way.
We cannot understate the role of NSW SES and local emergency services in times like these. Volunteers from Gunnedah and the greater region have been working around the clock to help those whose homes have been affected by the rising waters.
Our council staff have also been out at all hours, assessing roads and closing them when necessary. I cannot stress enough – do not drive through flood waters. You cannot see what is underneath, and the ripples vehicles create in the water means the houses in flooded areas are further affected. It also puts a strain on the already stretched resources of the SES if they need to rescue drivers from their vehicles. Obey all road signs and remember, if it’s flooded, forget it.
It’s the ideal time to talk about our council staff because it’s Local Government Week. As I’ve just shared, staff play a vital role in flood events to keep everyone safe. Staff have also been disseminating important information to the community from NSW SES, Bureau of Meteorology and Live Traffic to help locals stay informed about road closures and changes, river heights, emergency warnings, and relevant support avenues including the evacuation centre.
Council staff are part of the fabric of our community, and you will encounter them when you drive into the waste facilities, visit the library, the cinema or the pool complex, submit a DA, need a pool fencing inspection, travel our roads, or want to register a pet, buy or sell cattle at the saleyards, build on your property, book a council facility, or access community care.
We are sharing stories of our staff on our Facebook page over the course of the week to introduce locals to some familiar faces behind council, so I encourage you to take a look – you might see someone you recognise like Jenny Furner from the cultural precinct, Peter Reeves from Gunnedah Waste Management Facility, or Fiona Sills from our library.
Local government offers a myriad of opportunities for people of all ages, and I’m excited to share that council launched its 2025/2026 Apprenticeships and Traineeships this week.
You can:
• be paid while you learn from experienced mentors;
• gain hands-on experience;
• experience a diverse range of tasks and projects;
• earn a nationally recognised qualification that’s valued in the job market; and
• make a positive difference in your community.
There are so many opportunities in local government, so I encourage locals to head to council’s website and take a look at the jobs on offer including aquatics, community support and finance. Applications close at 5pm on Monday, September 1.
