News

Teamwork makes the dream work! 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 to our newly elected Georges Riverkeeper Executive Group who have been appointed to the following positions: 

•    Georges Riverkeeper Chairperson, Cr. George Barcha (Fairfield City Council) 
•    Georges Riverkeeper Vice Chairperson, Cr. Paul Sedrak (Bayside Council)
•    Georges Riverkeeper Second Vice Chairperson, Cr. Stephen Nikolovski (Sutherland Shire Council)
•    Georges Riverkeeper Treasurer, Cr. Peter Mahoney (Georges River Council).

Fairfield City Council Mayor Frank Carbone and Cr Kevin Lam met with students from Bossley Park Public School to look at their colourful new artworks painted on footpaths near local stormwater drains.

The awesome designs were inspired by the students’ work for the ‘Zero Litter to Georges River’ program.

They encourage you to stop, think and avoid litter and pollution going down the drain and ending up in our waterways and then the river.

Following the AGM at Campbelltown City Council, the Georges Riverkeeper Committee continued to meet, to be presented with and discuss the delivery of the Georges Riverkeeper Programs, Treasurers update on the Georges Riverkeeper financial position, and the 2023/2024 membership and program fees. Mixed within the formalities of the meeting, the committee received two presentations on the night about the following:

The Georges Riverkeeper Committee met in November 2022 for the scheduled Annual General Meeting. There was much to discuss as the Member Councils decided and voted on the new Executive Group for 2022/2023.

As typical for an AGM, the evening commenced with the adoption of the previous AGM minutes from March 2022, followed by the Nominations & Elections for new office-bearer roles for the Georges Riverkeeper Executive Group. The new Executive Group that was elected, is as follows:

Georges Riverkeeper has partnered with Campbelltown City Council to help stop litter pollution from being washed into the Georges River from stormwater runoff, thanks to the installation of a new pollution trap and an innovative partnership with students from Sarah Redfern Public School in Minto, as part of a project funded by the Australian Government.

The Georges Riverkeeper Executive Group met on the 10 November 2022. At this meeting, the following was discussed:

The Program Manager, advised that the financial audit is now complete. Georges Riverkeeper and Sutherland Shire Council have received the final copy of the Financial Audit report and Governance Letter in early November 2022.

Georges Riverkeeper reports that floods and frequent rainfall have had a profound effect on water quality in the Georges River catchment, reducing river health grades in bushland areas and improving grades in urban areas, in the recently released Georges River Report Card 2021-2022 which assesses the health of waterways in the Georges River catchment.

In the last financial year (from July 2021 to June 2022), over 47,000 kilograms of litter have been removed from the catchment during 1,364 clean ups, by people putting in over 9,657 hours in total as part of Georges Riverkeeper’s Catchment Actions Program partnership with NSW Department of Justice Corrective Services which removes litter from the catchment before it enters the river.

The Georges Riverkeeper aspirational goal, which incorporates our vision and mission, is: ‘Best practice environmental management for a liveable urban river’. The recently published Georges Riverkeeper Strategic Plan 2022-2026 offers a roadmap towards achieving this goal.

Five focus areas were identified through a stakeholder engagement process undertaken in the development of the strategy and are represented by the five Programs, which are: