Cattle show brings Mayor back to class

It was back to class for ex-teacher (and current Dubbo Mayor), Josh Black, who recently ran into a couple of familiar faces at Dubbo Showground.

“Here are a couple of my former school students in Jim White and Grace Neeves of Suntop Shorthorns, with one of their two sale bulls at the National Shorthorn Show & Sale,” he captioned the happy snap on the official mayoral Facebook page after the chance meeting.

“Dubbo is a major stud stock selling centre with the Shorthorn, Hereford, Limousin and Junior Shorthorn events being held at the Dubbo Showground,” he added.

Cr Black spent more than two-decades as a high school teacher in the region, mostly at Dubbo College, and was chuffed to run into his former charges.

“They were both there and so I got a bit of a pic with them. They’d be in their mid-twenties now, I suppose, which shows my age,” he told Dubbo Photo News.

“They’re doing really well, so it was great to run into them,” he added.

This is one of four premier national cattle events at the Dubbo Showground this year, with agricultural events comprising 40 per cent of all events held at the venue.

The 65th Annual Dubbo Poll Hereford National Show and Sale takes place on Tuesday, June 30; the 2026 National Limousin Junior Show from July 9–12; followed by the National Shorthorn Youth Expo in early October.

These events, as well as bringing top-line bloodlines to the region, also attract hundreds of visitors to the Orana region, the Mayor said.

“The Dubbo Showground has a proud history hosting national cattle shows and sales and is a hub for cattle excellence; people attending these events, stay in accommodation, buy food and fuel up in our region all of which contribute greatly to our local economy,” Cr Black said.

“The upcoming youth cattle events are (also) a great opportunity for young people passionate about cattle to develop their skills and become the next generation of leaders in the beef industry,” he concluded.

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Relief at return to video links for absent councillors

It was with some relief that Dubbo Council, on instruction from the Office of Local Government, reverted back to its former Code of Meeting Practice recently.

The councillors, on orders from above, voted unanimously at an Extraordinary Meeting in early June “to rescind the 2025 Model Code of Meeting Practice and readopt the previous code, following the vote by the NSW Legislative Council’s to disallow the new code on May 26.” All 128 councils in NSW are, or have already, undertaken the same process."

Councillors had been against some of the reforms under the new code, with a notice of motion adopted at council’s May meeting for the mayor to formally contact the NSW Minister for Local Government requesting an “urgent review” of the new mandatory provisions, including public forum rules and audio-visual restrictions.

“The changes brought in by the NSW Government late last year made it more difficult for residents to participate in the public forum and for our councillors to join meetings via audio-visual link when occasionally required due to work and family commitments,” Cr Black said in an official response.

He observed that the previous (and now, again, current), code had seemed to operate better for councils in regional areas.

“The general consensus was that we’re glad to be back to the previous code,” Cr Black told Dubbo Photo News.

“The old (new) code allowed councillors to join meetings under audio-visual links if they were away on work for other reasons, that was something that regional and rural councils were keen to hang onto,” he added.

With the relevant state minister, Ron Hoenig, jumping the gun in informing all NSW local government areas to update their policies to reflect government policy, Dubbo duly passed the new procedures before the NSW Upper House (Legislative Council) threw the whole lot out.

Cr Black said that various representative groups are now discussing ways to amend the recently-rejected “new” code to make it more practicable for bush representatives in the future.

“There’s talk in the wind that the Country Mayor’s Association and Local Government NSW are going to have discussions on amending the new (rescinded) code to make it more practical,” Cr Black said.

“I’d like to see elements of each in a new one, with good and bad points in both, we should be able to come-up with something that works for everyone,” he added.

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Where there’s fire, there’s smoke, but not too much!

A product of our wood-oven heating and cooking past as a child growing-up in Sydney’s northwest last century, Mayor Black has urged locals to practice good fire management this winter.

Council has asked residents to consider the “wider community” when turning to wood burners, chimney places, and fire pits in the weeks ahead.

The advice includes:

• Use dry, untreated wood in your wood heater or fire pit.

• Get your chimney cleaned each year

• Don’t let a fire smoulder overnight.

• When using a combustion burner wood heater, ensure the air flue is open at all times.

• Place green waste in Council’s green-lid wheelie bin, don’t burn it in an incinerator or fire.

Smoke from wood heaters and recreational fire pits can cause breathing difficulties for vulnerable residents especially people prone to respiratory conditions such as asthma, Cr Black said.

“My parents had a wood oven when I was a little kid, which I remember them using,” Cr Black said.

“It is about educating the community, so that we don’t have excess wood-smoke affecting people’s health,” he added.