Doug Eaton Mayor Wyong Shire Council 2 Hely St, Wyong, 2259, NSW Dear Mayor Eaton, At the

Council Meeting on the 12/6/2013 Councillor Taylor made a number of defamatory accusations in regard to a not-for-profit community based youth organization - youthconnections.com.au. On the 4/7/2013 I wrote to Councillor Taylor addressing the falsity of the allegations and expressing my concerns as to the reckless nature of his actions and the damage it had done to the reputation and future commercial viability of youthconnections.com.au I understand you have legal qualifications and many years experience as a councillor. I would be surprised if you did not understand what constitutes defamation. As Mayor and effectively the Chair of Council meetings why did you allow these comments to pass without comment? Has your action of omission and what appears a failure in your Duty of Care to the Council and the ratepayers now opened the Council to future legal proceedings separate to any action taken individually against Councillor Taylor? I have also expressed my concerns about the perceived lack of transparency in the Councils dealings with Central Coast Group Training of which Councillor Best is General Manager and you were the former Chair of the Board. This year Central Coast Group Training was awarded the tender to provide Group Training services to Council. As there was no feedback to the unsuccessful organizations tendering, I would be interested to know on what grounds the decision to award the contract to Central Coast Group Training was taken? What policies and procedures are in place to insure impartiality in the decision making process as regards tenders? What policies and procedures are in place to keep councillors at arms length from the decision making process? At the conclusion of the tendering process were councillors briefed on the reasons for the decision in favour of Central Coast Group Training and whether ratepayers will receive value for money? I note that Wyong Council, in partnership with Central Coast Group Training, has been was awarded Community and Infrastructure Funds to build the Wyong Skills Centre. This partnership excluded all other organizations that may have been seeking Councils support for their tenders. When dealing with issues of probity and governance it is important not only to be doing the right thing but, to be seen to be doing the right thing. Whether it is correct or not there is a perception in the community that Wyong Council and Central Coast Group Training are immutably linked. This does a disservice to the council and the reputation of the councillors as a group. I have already forwarded you a copy of my letter sent to Councillor Taylor on 4/7/13 in which I gave an overview of the work youthconnections.com.au performs on the
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Central Coast. To give yourself and other Councillors - in particular those who have not seen youthconnections.com.au web site www.youthconnections.com.au, or followed the daily events on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/youthconnections.com.au?fref=ts I have included a list of the activities carried out specifically in the Wyong shire for young people and their families. You will see the youthconnections.com.au approach to youth transitions is a holistic approach that targets young people with programs that meet their individual needs. Group Training is part of the answer. To focus wholly on this as the answer to the myriad problems facing many young people is limited, lacks innovation and is not a solution. This is the reason that I was so disappointed with the Councils decision to lend their support to only Central Coast Group Training rather than partnering with other organisations which demonstrate more innovative and diverse approaches and which have shown to be successful in achieving sustainable social and economic outcomes for young people.
Programs and Services of youthconnections.com.au operating from Wyong LGA or supporting young residents of the Shire: yG Driving School offering discount rates for identified residents of the shire and competitive rates for others. Work Placement: Operating in all high schools in the shire placing over 2000 young people with employers annually so they fulfil mandatory requirements of their HSC. Independent Employment Advisors work in every DEC high school in the shire placing young people in apprenticeships and traineeships or supporting them to continue through to a Year 12. Partnership Brokers work with all schools in the shire, community groups and industry to build sustainable partnerships to improve school retention rates. Some of the partnerships operating in the shire include:- Wyong Young Parents Program; Central Coast Alternative Education Alliance; The Better Futures Hub; VH-UC1 Central Coast Aero Project; KBT Community Garden; Lake Munmorah High School Mental Health Project; Youth2Youth Forums encouraging Aboriginal youth to enrol to vote and the establishment of the Central Coast Aboriginal Youth Reference Group. Youth Connections Program case managers work with early school leavers and youth at risk of non-school completion in every high school in the shire. Connectors a Board of Studies Endorsed Alternative year 10 support participants from the shire to complete their Year 10. Students are picked up daily from Lake Haven shopping centre and transported to Green Central. Transitions Students in years 7 9 enrolled in high schools in the shire work 1 day per week at Green Central on vocational learning and life skills. All students have behaviour and learning problems. Skools Out is an after school peer support program for young people with disabilities and operates from Gravity Youth Centre. T Team is an after school care facility for higher needs young people with a disability and operates from Gravity Youth Centre. Transition Support is a person centred program for young people with a disability at risk of early school leaving. It provides support into mainstream activities and employment. This program operates in Wyong shire, Hunter Valley and Newcastle.

Pathway Advocate is a program that coordinates the mandatory work placements of young people with a disability who are undertaking VET subjects for their HSC. Koori Connect programs target Aboriginal youth at risk of early school leaving. The emphasis is on cultural affirmation and cultural connectedness through cultural activities such as land conservation, maintenance of significant sites and performance. Koori Connect Sport involves Aboriginal youth from the shire in a range of team sports and competitions across the state. Freedom Ride 2011 involved 26 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal young people, Elders and teachers retracing the steps of Charles Perkins 1965 Freedom Ride through 22 communities in NSW and Queensland. The young Freedom Riders carried the message of constitutional change to incorporate Australias First Peoples in the Australian Constitution. Messages and advice from these 22 communities were recorded and handed to the Expert Panel at a ceremony at Sydney University. Two months later the young Freedom Riders were invited by the Prime Minister of Australia to attend the handing over of the recommendations of the Expert Panel to the Prime Minister in Canberra. They were recognised for the part they had played in this historic event. Youthconnections.com.au was the only youth organisation in Australia which funded a trip to Canberra for local Aboriginal youth to witness the Prime Ministers historic apology to the stolen generations. This experience has changed many of their young lives forever as it gave them a reference point for where they had come from, an answer to the dislocation in the young lives and an opportunity to reconnect to their culture in the spirit of reconciliation. yDrive funds driving lessons for young people with limited family/carer support so they can access labor market opportunities. It matches the young person with a driver mentor. YC Industry Link P/L is the group training arm supporting apprentices and trainees who would not be competitive in the open labor market. This social enterprise provides these young people with intensive mentoring and support. yG enterprise P/L is a social enterprise that offers young people a soft entry point to training and employment in construction, engineering, automotive, horticulture, hospitality, communications and graphic design and media.

I would expect your reply on the matters I have raised will be addressed promptly and in the spirit of fairness a public apology to youthconnections.com.au will be forthcoming as a matter of great urgency. Yours sincerely Bruce McDowall