Port Macquarie-Hastings Council is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

in the

Mid North Coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgoolg ...

region of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The area is located adjacent to the

Hastings River Hastings River ( Birpai: ''Doongang''), an open and trained intermediate wave dominated barrier estuary, is located in the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast districts of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Hastings River rise ...

, the Pacific Highway, the

Oxley Highway Oxley Highway is a rural highway in New South Wales, Australia, linking Nevertire, Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, Tamworth, New South Wales, Tamworth, and Walcha, New South Wales, Walcha to Port Macquarie, on the coast of the Tasman Sea. It was name ...

and the North Coast railway line. Major population centres in the local government area are

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

Camden Haven Camden Haven is a parish in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, approximately 30 km south of the major regional centre of Port Macquarie. The harbour is located where the Camden Haven River empties into the Tasman ...

, Wauchope,

Lake Cathie Lake Cathie is a town in New South Wales, Australia about 15 minutes drive south of Port Macquarie. At the , it had a population of 4,296. The Birpai (also known as Birrbay) people have lived in this area for more than 40,000 years. Commerc ...

and Kendall. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council since 4 August 2017 is Cr. Peta Pinson, an

independent politician An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

Port Macquarie suburbs

* Blackmans Point * Port Macquarie CBD (not a suburb) * Fernbank Creek * Flynns Beach * Innes View *

Lake Innes Lake Innes is a lake in the South Island of New Zealand. The lake is part of the Aan River The Aan River is a short river in the South Island of New Zealand. The river flows out of Lake Innes and into the sea on the southern coast of the South ...

* Limeburners Creek * North Shore *

* Port Macquarie West * Sancrox * Sovereign Hills * Tacking Point * The Hatch * Thrumster

Towns and localities

Towns and localities (including Port Macquarie suburbs) in the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council are:

Demographics

At the 2011 Census, there were people in the Port Macquarie-Hastings local government area, of these 48.1% were male and 51.9% were female.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

made up 3.3% of the population, slightly higher than the national average. The

median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...

age of people in the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council area was 47 years; some ten years higher than the national median. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 17.8% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 24.7% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 52.4% were married and 14.7% were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council area between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 6.68%; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census was 6.23%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in the Port Macquarie-Hastings local government area was generally on par with the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council area was slightly below the national average. At the 2011 Census, the proportion of residents in the Port Macquarie-Hastings local government area who stated their

ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

Anglo-Celtic Anglo-Celtic people are descended primarily from British and Irish people. The concept is mainly relevant outside of Great Britain and Ireland, particularly in Australia, but is also used in Canada, the United States, New Zealand and South Africa, ...

exceeded 83% of all residents (national average was 65.2%). In excess of 64% of all residents in the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council area nominated a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

affiliation with

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

at the 2011 Census, which was higher than the national average of 50.2%. Meanwhile, as at the Census date, compared to the national average, households in the Port Macquarie-Hastings local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion (3.6%) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 20.4%); and a significantly higher proportion (93.7%) where

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

only was spoken at home (national average was 76.8%).

Council

Current composition and election methods

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council is composed of nine

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s, including the

, for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is directly elected while the eight other councillors are elected proportionally as one entire

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

. The most recent election was held on 10 September 2016, and the makeup of the council is as follows: On 8 May 2017, the elected mayor since 2012,

Peter Besseling Peter Edward Besseling (born 8 March 1970) is an Australian politician. Besseling was the Mayor of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, from 8 September 2012 to 8 May 2017, as an independent. Besseling served as Member for Port Macquarie between 20 ...

, resigned effective immediately to take up an executive business position. Deputy Mayor Lisa Intemann served as acting mayor until a by-election was held for the mayoral position on 29 July 2017. On 4 August 2017, the final results were declared and Peta Pinson became mayor. Australia Port_Macquarie-Hastings Council 2016

Australia Port_Macquarie-Hastings Council 2016

The current council, elected in 2016, in order of election, is:

History

Local government in the Hastings region started with the passage of the District Councils Act 1842, which allowed for limited local government in the form of a warden and between 3 and 12 councillors to be appointed by the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. Between July and September 1843, 28 such entities had been proclaimed by Governor

George Gipps Sir George Gipps (23 December 1790 – 28 February 1847) was the Governor of New South Wales, Governor of the British colony of New South Wales for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship oversaw a tumultuous period where the rights ...

. The Macquarie District Council, the 8th to be declared, was proclaimed on 12 August 1843, with a population of 2,409 and an area of . See also ''

Historical Records of Australia The ''Historical Records of Australia'' (''HRA'') were collected and published by the Library Committee of the Commonwealth Parliament, to create a series of accurate publications on the history of Australia. The records begin shortly before 1788, ...

'', Series I, volume xvii, Introduction, p.12. Due to various factors, the district councils were ineffective, and most had ceased to operate by the end of the decade. After the enactment of the Municipalities Act of 1858, which gave the councils more authority and which allowed for residents to petition for incorporation of areas and also to elect councillors, the town of Port Macquarie, population 984, petitioned to be incorporated as a municipality twice: in 1859 and again in 1867; but on both occasions, counter-petitions from other residents prevented it from being incorporated. Finally, on 15 March 1887, the Port Macquarie Municipal District was proclaimed, with the first elections on 25 May 1887 electing James McInherney as the first mayor. The ''Local Government (Shires) Act 1905'' enabled the Shire of Hastings, based in the town of Wauchope, to come into being in June 1906, in time for elections in November 1906. The first Shire President was James O'Neill. In 1981, the two councils were amalgamated to form the Municipality of Hastings, with Norm Matesich becoming the council's inaugural mayor. In 1991, the council moved into its present premises in Burrawan Street, Port Macquarie. With the enactment of the , which changed the responsibilities of the mayor and councillors, the Hastings Council was created. In 2005, the name was changed to Port Macquarie-Hastings following a community survey, showing that many people thought that the new name would better reflect the area.

Glasshouse controversy

On 27 February 2008 the Minister for Local Government, Paul Lynch, dismissed the council and appointed an administrator,

Dick Persson Richard Mark Persson (born 1950) is a former senior New South Wales and Queensland public servant and local government administrator. Early career Richard Mark Persson was originally from Randwick, New South Wales, where he graduated from the U ...

. The dismissal of council was made after alleged mishandling of a project initiated in 2001 to build a cultural and entertainment centre, known to locals as the Glasshouse. The project, initially a joint venture with the management of the neighbouring shopping centre, Port Central, was initially expected to cost the Council A$7.3 million, but by late 2007, despite the centre not yet having opened, the costs had blown out to over A$41.7 million, with interest repayments likely to extend the council's liability to A$66 million. On 27 July 2007, a full public inquiry was announced by the Minister for Local Government, which reported back in February 2008. The inquiry report found that the council had failed to provide appropriate financial and project management and had lost control of the costs, that the project costs had harmed the council's ability to provide services and amenities to the community, and that the council's "communications management strategies" had resulted in inadequate consultation with the public or appropriate regard to their concerns. The outgoing mayor, Rob Drew, was critical of the process throughout, maintaining that errors had been made and misinformation had been accepted as fact; however, the New South Wales Urban Task Force, a property development lobby group, believed the dismissal served as a warning to other councils to stick to "core responsibilities". In 2009 it was revealed that the Glasshouse would cost ratepayers around A$6 million a year to run.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Local government areas of New South Wales Mid North Coast