Feelings have not apparently cooled between council and a certain Minister of the Crown, if a recent media release on a zoo development is any guide; while another garbage truck fire lights up our streets; and Cr Dickerson’s solar panel cemetery proposal is dead and buried.

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Media release absence upsets His Honour

Despite recent media reports to the contrary, Dubbo Regional Council is in fact a card-carrying, fully-paid-up member of the multi-million-dollar Serengeti Resort project being built at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, Mayor Josh Black recently told Dubbo Photo News.

Mayor Black was a touch miffed that a media release on a visit earlier this year by Regional NSW Minister, Tara Moriarty, to the part-built project, excluded an approved quote from council on the initiative, with the photo taken of councillors attending the event, also not accompanying the media release.

The Thursday, October 15, ministerial press briefing excluded any comment by council.

“Dubbo Council has played a central role in partnering with the zoo on the Serengeti Accommodation and Conference Centre, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it,” Mayor Black told Dubbo Photo News.

“Despite this fact, they did not include our quote in the official media release, and the photo of the councillors attending a recent event with the Minister was also not sent-out, something we’re none too happy about,” the Mayor opined.

Cr Black, however, did rate a 21-second video grab in the attached press kit, and council is also acknowledged in the text as one of the project partners.

Total Investment in the project is about $30 million – with $20 million from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development – paired with a $10 million co-contribution from Taronga and council.

Facilities will include a central hub with a 300-seat function/events centre, a 170-to-180-seat café restaurant, and an "infinity-edge" lagoon pool overlooking the wildlife plains.

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Batteries included, so keep them out of our tip trucks!

Apart from continuing education campaigns, there’s not a lot that council can do about the fires now occurring semi-regularly in the back of garbage trucks from battery packs in a range of discarded re-chargeable appliances.

Council is therefore urging residents not to dispose of batteries and embedded battery devices in their bins after waste in a garbage truck again caught on fire (again) last Friday.

The garbage truck was undertaking the domestic kerbside collection run along Dalton Street in South Dubbo, when the driver noticed smoke coming from the truck’s load around 11am on October 15.

The driver promptly emptied the load onto the road and emergency services were called, with NSW Fire and Rescue attending to extinguish the fire.

The discarded load of garbage was cleared away once the fire was extinguished and it is believed that batteries once again caused the fire, Director Development and Environment, Steven Jennings, said.

“Garbage trucks are high-valued assets, not just in the cost to replace them but the service they provide to our community,” he added.

"We’ve had several similar incidents happen in the past year, so people aren’t getting the message."

The fire is the third in recent times where drivers noticing smoke coming from the back of the load have had to pull over and call for help.

“Once again, the quick action of the driver has ensured the garbage truck was not damaged, however, an extensive clean-up in Dalton Street had to be undertaken,” Mr Jennings said.

Similar incidents occurred on Lonsdale Road, Minore in July 2026 and in Dubbo in August 2025. On both occasions the load was emptied onto the road.

Hazardous and prohibited items that cannot be placed in bins include lithium-ion batteries, rechargeable batteries, embedded battery devices, flammable liquids such as petrol, paint thinners and gas cylinders that are either full or empty.

“Council has a free recycling program for embedded battery devices and household batteries at Whylandra Waste and Recycling Facility or the Wellington Transfer Station.

“Household batteries can also be dropped off at the Customer Experience Centres at Dubbo and Wellington and the Dubbo Library in the designated stations so that outcomes like this can be avoided,” Mr Jennings said.

Mayor Josh Black told Dubbo Photo News that there’s not a lot council can do to stop the problem at present.

“Education campaigns on the dangers of embedded, rechargeable batteries – in everything from electric tooth-brushes to e-scooters and e-lawnmowers – are a danger,” Cr Black said.

“We’ve also got a free recycling program for items, such as lamps and old mobile phones and the like, that have embedded rechargeable batteries, at our waste recycling centres,” he concluded.

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Throwing shade on the dearly departed...

A report on a rather creative proposal from committed greenie, Cr Mathew Dickerson, to install solar panel in our cemeteries, has been presented to council.

Rather than panels on headstones, which some community members thought was proposed, Cr Dickerson’s novel idea involved construction of shade shelters over large areas of the cemetery, upon which the solar panels would be placed.

Cr Dickerson opined at the time that it was a good, practical proposal, but was unlikely to be supported by his fellow councillors.

The subsequent council meeting in July agreed for a report to be completed on the concept, with this report recently presented to council’s Culture and Community Committee, which noted its findings.