PHYSICAL education teachers from across NSW will converge on Bathurst in October for a two-day state conference.
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Bathurst High School sports co-ordinator Darren Hamilton will be the convenor of the PDHPE Teachers Association conference on October 17-18, which is expected to attract 200 delegates to town.
And to welcome them, Bathurst Regional Council has agreed to waive almost $2700 in hire fees for the Bathurst Memorial Entertain-ment Centre and throw in $800 towards refreshments.
But council’s support for the event came under close scrutiny on Wednesday night as councillors Jess Jennings and Monica Morse both questioned the need to put ratepayers’ money towards a “state-oriented” event.
Cr Jennings said the 40 per cent fee waiver for BMEC would only be appropriate if there was a risk the conference would go elsewhere without council’s support, while Cr Morse did not agree council should be paying for refreshments.
“In my experience, when you go to a conference like this you pay your fee and that includes your refreshments,” she said.
But they were in the minority as councillors Ian North, Bobby Bourke, Greg Westman and Graeme Hanger also offered their support for the funding.
Cr North said delegates would pay around $200 each for accommodation in town, pumping around $40,000 into the local economy, and would also spend money at hotels, restaurants and service stations.
And Cr Westman said bringing PE teachers to town could have longer term benefits, too.
“Everybody has touched on the bums in beds aspect of this, but one of the things you have missed is the fact that education is one of the biggest employers in this region,” he said. “If we can bring 200 young, active professionals here, then maybe we could attract some of them to move to Bathurst for work – along with their partners.”
The fee waiver and refreshments will be funded from the BMEC community use subsidy vote, which has a balance of around $19,000.