“Today is a day that will be recorded and highlighted in the history books about Dubbo.”
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That was the beginning of a speech made by former Dubbo deputy mayor Ben Shields in the Dubbo Regional Council chambers on Monday night, before he blamed administrator Michael Kneipp for not following the “sacred ideals” born from war and compared council to North Korea.
Mr Kneipp made the official decision to introduce a three-bin system to Dubbo and Wellington during the July council meeting.
The bin will be introduced mid-2018.
However before the decision was made, Mr Shields called on the administrator to delay the decision for three months, until it could be made by elected officials.
“The people who are pushing you to sign a document that attempts to bind a new democratically elected council to years of policy are without a doubt this city’s faceless men,” Mr Shields said.
“These men will be recorded in the local pages of history as those who succeeded in breaking the democratic ideals that this nation and city has held for generations.
“How on Earth can we pass down to the next generation these sacred ideals that were born from sacrifice and blood on the battlefield when this current local government has such little regard to our wise, democratically-minded forefathers that went in generations before us.”
Mr Shields also trashed a poll of the residents who completed a bin trial last year. The survey found 76 per cent of trial participants supported, or at least did not oppose, the introduction of an organics collection service.
“Where do you get results like that from? Seems a little like a North Korean Poll where ‘dear leader beloved by all’ always wins the election,” Mr Shields said.
However, Mr Kneipp defended his position saying it simply came down to economics.
"There is one argument that stands up - this is the lowest cost option for the ratepayers of Dubbo Regional Council," Mr Kneipp said.
Mr Shields said it would be pensioners and large families who would be hit the hardest by the general waste collection reducing to one week.
However, Dubbo ratepayer and pensioner Shirley Colless didn’t agree.
The amount Ms Colless said she was currently paying to deal with her green waste, including hiring two skip bins in the past year to dispose of it, were far higher than what the pensioner said she would pay for a new bin.
It would also prevent her from filling up her general waste bin with prunings from the garden, Ms Colless said.
The organics bin will be collected weekly, recycling will be collected fortnightly, and general mixed waste will be collected fortnightly. The new bin would increase council’s waste collection fees by $70 to $378.
However, for an additional $40 per year, there will be an option for residents to have their mixed waste bin collected every week.
There will also be a $50 annual rebate for pensioners.
The three bin system will be rolled out in Dubbo, Wellington, Geurie, Brocklehurt and Wongarbon. People in rural areas and those in multiple dwelling apartments, such as retirement villages, gated estates and apartment blocks, will continue to use the two-bin system.