Bruce McLachlan Former Independent Central Coast

27/02/2025

The NSW and National Housing target approvals continue to fall short, and an overhaul of red tape and DA processes is urgently required if we are ever seriously going to tackle the housing issue. Every builder has a storey of frustration and delay in getting approvals.

The Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) has called on the NSW government to follow its Victorian counterpart and to take a firm stance on councils that don’t meet housing targets.

12/11/2024

First we had the Voice trying to change our constitution, now we have Government Censorship by stealth. Time to push back.

13/09/2024

Voting. Dont make the same mistake twice !

12/09/2024

PEOPLE ARE ASKING ME WHO AM I VOTING FOR.
I AM SAYING DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE
I’m getting a lot of messages from people asking who to vote for in the Council elections.

From my firsthand experience as Clr, finishing up being appointed official whistleblower by the NSW government, after requesting the Council be sacked and a Financial Controller be put in place, I don’t believe Labor or their anti everything green leaning independents that Labor requires to regain their majority control, deserve the public’s vote this time around.

In my opinion the past Labor dominate Council set out to deliberately trash the Council merger, making no attempt to progress the Region on behalf of residents, refused to seek any merger savings, and ultimately delivered the community the largest losses in local government history.

Instead of merger savings other Councils achieved, Central Coast residents got rate rises and forced asset sales. The Adminstrators 30 day report on the Council collapse pulled no punches, and was scathing towards the Labor dominate Clrs and their supporting New Independants that formed the majority in the parliament, and just brushed off suggestions from the other side.

Nor do I believe any Clr in the immediate past Council should stand for re election, myself included, (with possible exception of Greg Best who did repeatedly call out the Financial disaster looming, and was also granted whistleblower status by the Minister of Local Governent)

It is my belief the Central Coast as a Region would be better served by a team of independents that have no political ties and are not governed by their party, and can act purely in the communities interest.

For that reason I am supporting Skaie Hull - Central Coast Independent Candidate and Sharon Brownlee for focus on The Entrance Ward, and supporting TEAM CENTRAL COAST across the 5 wards.

As the Admistrator Dick Perssons said, it was ultimately the Central Coast residents fault the Council went broke, because it was you, the residents who elected the Labor / New Independents as majority Clrs.

I would urge you NOT to make the same mistake twice, and to back sensible, businesslike residents that make up TEAM CENTRAL COAST, and give the Council a fresh start in the new Council term, without the damaging political infighting of the major parties, or crusading eco warriors independants that will side with Labor to regain majority control, and continue the tradition of holding back the Coast back for decades.

Exactly back where you were with the last Council.

PLEASE SHARE IF YOU AGREE THE COAST NEEDS A FRESH START - comments / arguments welcomed.

10/09/2024

There is no doubt Council has a role to play in creating affordability and processing DAs in a timely manner. Something the new Clrs need to focus on so that our children can afford to live locally.

Action Needed to Reduce Central Coast Housing Stress

03/05/2024

When I was an elected Councillor I was unsuccessful in getting fellow majority Clrs to support this concept from leading Coastal engineer Angus Jackson, who built the Gold Coast seaway, Currumbin Creek, and numerous ocean structures worldwide.

Instead the Clrs voted to wait for the latest NSW report. The NSW expert panel report on Tuggerah Lakes finally came back, with notes that a southern training wall may have merit.

My personal view is the Lakes issues are man made, and will require man made solutions. We saw what happened in the last major floods if left without early intervention.

This geo bag trial was costed at 300k at the time. I would hate to be paying the machine hours that is currently underway in the Channel. (Well actually we all are )

Have a listen to Angus Jackson and see if it makes sense, especially in light of the costly exercise of the current machinery in progress.
SHARE if you agree we have had enough reports, and maybe time for an alternate action.

15/10/2023

HYPOCRISY OF OUR POLITICS NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE.

At a local level as a former Clr I was supportive of our local Land Council in their right as stakeholders to have their cultural design input into the Winney Bay Walk project, that begun as a gesture of reconciliation by the 5 Lands Walk Committee.

This simple act of recognition did not require any controversial constitutional amendment, or enshrining of a permanent unelected body, but would have saved a $5 million dollar tourism grant from being torn up, that would have been a catalyst for Aboriginal tourism and a new landmark photographic destination for the Central Coast that was disable inclusive.

To now see Labor block Clrs who sat in Council and outright refused to listen to Darkinjung leaders, such as Gavi Duncans desperate pleas to allow their input of their culturally inspired Whale Skeleton Bridge and Skywalk design to be included, to now disparage NO VOTERS for exercising their democratic decisions, can’t go without comment.

For Clrs who steadfast refused to listen to the Darkinjung pleas to not trash the project, after years of planning and successful hard fought grants funding processes, to now call voters NO hopers on social media, claiming to be insulted by the majority of Australian people who have supposedly refused to listen ? and voted democratically NO change to the constitution.

Where was their virtue signalling spirit of reconciliation, when they had the opportunity to moved forward, and give cultural recognition to our local Land Council, and at same time show respect for taxpayer monies. Especially when the majority of residents were in favour of the project, yet still tore up our largest ever tourism grant the Central Coast has ever received.

Seriously. The political hypocrisy know no bounds.

17/03/2022

WHISTLEBLOWER FORMER CR BRUCE MCLACHLAN WELCOMES FORMAL SACKING OF CENTRAL COAST COUNCIL.

It's the right decision and I'm quite relieved that the majority Clrs that contributed to the collapse, will not be allowed back, says official Whistleblower former Cr Bruce McLachlan.

I along with former Clrs Best, Pilon Gale and Marquet lost confidence in the Council, and originally wrote to the LGA requesting the government step in and appoint a financial controller.

We were then granted official whistleblower protections from the NSW government, and the government began its investigations.

The rest is history.

Whilst it had been a privilege and an honour to be elected and serve the community as a first time, independent Clr, I won’t miss the futility of trying to reason with a majority of politically indoctrinated Clrs, that put their party’s interests over and above their community.

The sacking of Clrs shouldn't come as any surprise, in fact for years we had warned the majority Labor / green leaning independent Clrs they were heading for dismissal.

We even brought a Notice of Motion to the Chamber titled. "COUNCIL TO AVOID DISMISSAL” to try and bring some sort of order and fiscal responsibility to the Chamber decisions, after Central Coast Council were the first Council in history to ever tear up a 4.6m tourism grant.

However we were ridiculed and voted down, with any suggestions of sacking just “scaremongering and being theatrical” Not so theatrical it seems today.

As the Adminstrator Dick Perrson rightly said in his Report, Labor held the numbers, they controlled the Council. Any sensible suggestion in debate was just dismissed, and batted away. See CCN press release video enclosed.

A lot of those suggestions to move forward were dismissed, with an accompaniment of snide and derogatory comments.

I guess the Minister has wiped the smirk off some of those ex Clrs faces when sacking the entire Council today.

The newly merged Council showed operating losses of some 230m during the term, and the Public Hearing received testimony of Labor Clrs deliberate agenda to impede the Council merger process.

Now residents are being asked to pick up the tab for their politics.

The Central Coast can’t afford a continuation of this style of negative, opposition politics, deliberately holding the Region back at the community’s expense.

Moving forward the Central Coast will need new Clrs that are progressive, business like, are fiscally responsible, and actually want to embrace the opportunities the new classification of the Central Coast as a stand alone Region brings. Not hold the Region back, as was the agenda of the former Clrs, that have now been rightly sacked.

12/02/2022

McLachlan Partners have been raising charity funds for our local Hospital Children Wards for many years now. Here another $60 was added to the collection at our on-site auction in Swadling St Long Jetty.

However that wasn’t the only monies raised for our Government Depts. The modest fibro cottage sold for $1.185m, and the purchaser will add a further $49,750.00 to the NSW government coffers in stamp duty taxes. Then our investor client will pay @ $200,000 towards capital gains taxes.

Add in the annual rates and land taxes, and you can see how much the State and Federal Governments are reliant on a healthy property market for their revenue streams.