Program aims to Tackle Shortage of Women in the Property Industry

The Property Council of Australia’s, 'Girls in Property Program' has kicked off in the Hunter for the first time today. 

Fifty female year nine students from Hunter River High and St Pius X High School in the Hunter, will be exploring the in’s and outs of the property industry, taking part in the program which brings together some of the biggest property companies in NSW. 

The program aims to inspire more young girls to choose property as a career, with currently only 28% of leadership roles within the industry held by women.  

The day hopes to inform young girls about the extremely diverse range of careers and roles available within the property sector. 

"We really want to open up the conversation and talk to these girls about the myriad of different roles that they can access within the property industry," Mrs. Hugo said. 

"It's not just about construction and it's not just about engineering. There are professional services, there's architecture, there's planning, there are so many different areas that they could be looking at and so many more opportunities if they just knew what was available" 

During the day the girls will hear from women leaders in the property industry, develop real-life projects to represent their schools, and learn more about university education options related to property. 

"Relative to other industries there's so much more room to grow in terms of participation in diversity and sometimes its a case of 'you don't know, what you don't know'," Mrs. Hugo said. 

"Today they'll be talking to people about their journey and experiences and they'll start work on some really exciting processes that they need to be involved in." 

                               Image Source: Property Council of Australia 

Hunter councils are stashing the cash

BY JESSICA ROUSE

It's been revealed the Hunter's "big five" councils are hoarding million of dollars of ratepayers money.

In the Property Council's latest audit of section 94 infrastructure levies, they discovered Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens and Cessnock are stashing millions of dollars earning interest and bettering their balance sheets.

The five councils collected $200 million in cash from developer contributions for infrastructure and raked in nearly $50 million worth of levies, only half of which was actually spent within the 2015-16 financial year.

Hunter Director of the Property Council Andrew Fletcher believes the council would rather make their balance sheets look good, rather than spend the money on infrastructure the community wants, needs and are calling out for.

"This is money which could be going towards things like cycleways and sporting grounds today and it's just plain wrong that councils are hoarding this cash and improving their balance sheets while they rob the community of these vital assets."

Lake Macquarie Council is sitting on top with the most unused funds, with a total of $97 million, followed a little further behind by Maitland Council who have nearly $58 million.

Newcastle Council is sitting on just over $17 million, Port Stephens have about $13.5 million and finally Cessnock Council with nearly $7 million.

"Often we hear from local government about their infrastructure backlogs and cost shifting and the like but the numbers don't lie and with over $4.4 million in interest alone earnt in the last 12 months, it really points to the fact that councils need to start spending this money and start providing some of that infrastructure the community wants, needs and are calling for," said Andrew Fletcher.

Andrew Fletcher says councils defended their position saying the funds needed to be held and used to repair ageing infrastructure, and that the money reflects the growth of the city and the significant increase in the development of new land parcels in recent years.

Newcastle Rail Corridor Top Topic At Pubic Voice Session

BY IAN CROUCH

 A Public Voice meeting is being held tonight at City Hall to discuss the future use of the land where the Newcastle inner city rail line used to run.

The meeting will allow those in favour of developing it and those against the idea to make their case to Newcastle Council.

Newcastle Concerned Citizens Convenor, David Blyth believes the cutting of the rail line has had a detrimental impact in the city.

"There's a lot of concern about what we would regard as a very hasty cutting of the railway line with no real forethought as to how that might affect the city and the access to Newcastle by people from Sydney or from Lake Macquarie, and the consequences being fewer people are coming to Newcastle," he said.

David Blyth. Photo courtesy abc.net.au

However, Hunter director of The Property Council of Australia, Andrew Fletcher believes council should back a rezoning application which would allow for new buildings.

"By demanding further reports and further briefings they're risking the jobs and growth and the $2-billion investment pipeline we're seeing in the city centre," he said.

Andrew Fletcher