Lee has made a huge contribution to art in our region with his intricate, very beautiful paintings, all of which take months to complete. They represent a continuation of the line tradition of the South East and are to be treasured. He has also contributed substantially to the Balawan Elective which provides field studies to students from the Australian National University.

He has had considerable involvement with the wonderful Bundian Way project too and has exhibited at the prestigious Ivy Hill Gallery at Wapengo as well as at the Bega Art Prize 50th anniversary exhibition alongside his grandmother Beryl Cruse.

The audience at the 2015 Scultpure on the Edge symposium was privileged to hear Lee in an inspiring panel discussion with John Blay and Darren Mongta.

I personally have great admiration and respect for Lee’s achievements in the face of difficult odds.

The Bega Valley Shire Residents and Ratepayers Association understands that the Bega Valley is the only local government area in NSW that does not have filtration treatment systems in-place on its drinking water supplies.

While council is presently planning to spend $2m of ratepayers’ funds on the construction of a filtration treatment system for its most at-risk water supply in Bemboka, it has no plans to address the installation of such systems on the Tantawanglo-Kiah, Brogo-Bermagui and Bega-Tathra water supplies this side of 2025, due to the substantial costs. When Cr Kristy McBain was asked about council’s plans to address the shire’s water quality issues, she indicated that our water was safe to drink but that, “at this point, it’s not something we’re pursuing”.

BVSRRA would like to know how council can vigorously and successfully pursue the NSW government for significant funding to develop the Eden Port and to upgrade Merimbula Airport, both projects directly benefiting tourism interests, but show little or no interest when it comes to addressing our critical basic infrastructure?

While council takes every opportunity to promote the wonders of tourism and the nirvana that its tourism-related projects will allegedly deliver to our community, it routinely ignores the complaints of visitors who are just as appalled by the distasteful third world appearance of our drinking water as they are by the stone-age standard of our telecommunications infrastructure.

Council’s application to the NSW government for funding to underwrite the expansion of Merimbula Airport was supported by a report written by Webber Quantitative Consulting, which stated that the anticipated benefits of expanding the airport would simply not arise if steps were not taken to ensure that the necessary support infrastructure is in place to support the increase in tourist visitation.

The Webber report highlights constraints such as local transport to and from the airport and transport on arrival in the Bega Valley; the quantity and quality of accommodation that is available; the availability of public amenities such as toilets and showers, drinking water, garbage bins, parks, payphones and post offices; and, the availability of public services.

The BVSRRA would argue that if visitors to the region are confronted with third world infrastructure, including “dirty drinking water”, then council’s grand plans will be doomed to failure. It is high time that council and the state government got their priorities and planning in order and stepped up to the plate by funding the provision of this basic infrastructure rather than pursuing expensive fantasies.