A word from Brent, our Managing Director and CEO

From the Long Drive to Norfolk and a couple of awards – one handed out and one collected – it has been a feverish couple of months for Peak Services.

Well, it’s November, Christmas is fast approaching and the 2021 year is drawing to a close. And what a big year it has been. 

The last couple of months have been hectic on the Peak front, and the team has achieved some great things with you – after all we can’t do it without your support. 

Firstly, I would like to celebrate one of your achievements: Hon. Mayor Lawrence Springborg and Goondiwindi Regional Council for taking out this year’s Butch Lenton Award. The Butch Lenton Award is a $10,000 bursary  that is awarded to the most innovative applicant to honour the late Mayor of Winton Shire, Graham ‘Butch’ Lenton.  I was delighted to be a member of the esteemed judging panel that was unanimous in its agreement on the recipient of this year’s award. 

The clever but simple solution to a problem through the innovative use of Bluetooth ‘e-padlocks’,  allows people to carry on with their lives and businesses through COVID border closures, and was a standout. We look forward to seeing the outcomes from the bursary funds and how other councils and communities across Queensland and beyond are able to benefit from this initiative. More on this year’s award here. 

And another cause to celebrate is with Bulloo Shire Council. In partnership with Mayor John ‘Tractor’ Ferguson, CEO Lew Rojahn and the team at Bulloo, we recently took out the award for best project in the $2 million to $5 million category for Council’s $2.8 million Thargomindah Water Cooling Project at the annual IPWEAQ (Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia, Queensland) Excellence Awards in Cairns. In particular, I would like to draw attention to one of our team, lead energy guru Mike Fideli , who came up with the concept of using renewable energy to cool the town’s water supply.  This is clever use of reliable technology – in an innovative way – that will benefit the small community in a remote part of Queensland for both tourists and the town, solving a decades-old problem. 

As some will know, Norfolk Island Regional Council has joined the LGAQ as an associate member (I believe they are now dubbed number ‘78’) and we will now be providing the same range of support and services to Norfolk that we provide to Queensland councils. Our team is also excited to be providing additional support to Council around its procurement, workforce, and communications needs, and we look forward to a strong partnership with Norfolk and helping Council achieve for the island community. 

We have also stepped into the tourism space! Much of what we do at Peak is in response to the immediate and growing needs of councils,  and a phone call a few months ago from Diamantina Shire Council has seen our Peak 24/7 operation branching into tourism support for the community. More on that in Julian’s Peak 24/7 article – and make sure you watch the short video from Diamantina’s Community Sustainability Manager, Stephen Schwer, it’s a cracker!

Our Community Support Program is in full swing and last weekend we headed to Redland Bay to support Mayor Karen Williams with ‘Dîner en Rouge’, an awareness and fundraising event to help prevent domestic and family violence. We are also helping out Douglas Shire Council with their Christmas Carols. Port Douglas’s celebrated tourism sector has been hit extremely hard by COVID over the past 18 months,  so we are helping Council provide a free Christmas Carols event for the region that will really assist in boosting the spirits of the local community.

And finally, I can’t thank everyone enough for the incredible support shown for the Long Drive for Drought. The Long Drive is, without a doubt, becoming an iconic event, and is very much a Queensland council-supported initiative that does great things for your communities battling the ongoing impact of a drought that doesn’t seem to want to end. Before Annual Conference, we had reached our target of $80,000, however – thanks to the support of many Mayors, Councillors and CEOs at the conference – we managed to raise an additional couple of thousand, bringing the final total to $83,085. I am not sure if you realise the  great significance of this, and I have provided a couple of stats below that signify the impact these much-needed funds will have:

• Almost 65% of Queensland is still in drought. 

• Last year the inaugural Long Drive for Drought raised $53,000, supporting 30 families across Queensland doing it tough.

• The funds provided towards these farmers circulates around town, supporting the entire community. 

• Every dollar spent in a rural community goes around 6 or 7 times. 

• This year, the Long Drive for Drought has raised $83,085, helping at least 54 families in Queensland begin to recover.

We will be back again next year, and may even have to lift the target a little higher, go a little further north and west on our drive, and continue to support our Drought Angels’ team to support your communities. In the meantime, take a look at the video we put together from this year’s event that we launched at conference. And thanks again to everyone involved, our partners, sponsors, drivers, communities and of course those who donated. 

See you out there. 

Brent