Having been quietly helping the refuge for several years now, and knowing how much domestic violence there is in our community, we understand how important it is to have a safe place for terrified women fleeing their homes.

We were very concerned therefore when the Federal government handed over all the refuges to various religious bodies saying that they would now cater for both men and women.  

This would have been a calamity, as more single sex refuges are needed, not less, so we put fingers to keyboards  and wrote many letters to the people we thought could help.   So thank you Mr Grant.

We really appreciate your help and reassurance.

At our September meeting, members were also delighted to have Brooke Lees come and talk to us about her work with Northparkes Mines and her path to it.  

Brooke oozed enthusiasm and confidence as she told us how much she enjoyed her work as a communications and external relations adviser and how proud she was to go to work every day.

Brooke studied Communications at Newcastle and planned to be a journalist.  She was fortunate enough to go to the Olympics where she mingled with athletes and the quotes she reported were sent all around the world.  

After graduating she took a job in Canada with a TV station.  Here she went into the studio very early to prepare the morning news bulletins - a very interesting job, but waiting for a bus in Edmonton in winter when the temperature was about minus 52 degrees was not too good.  

So she spent a year there and then came home.

Brooke now worked with a local newspaper but found it a bit slow for her and decided to give PR in mining a go, so three years ago she moved to Parkes and has never regretted it.  She has made plenty of friends and now has a partner here as well.

Brooke and her boss deal with everything to do with communication in the business.  Internally they are responsible for seeing that all staff are kept up to date with anything happening in the mine, with newsletter, posters, meetings etc.  

They deal with neighbours and councils too, and of course with government.  She added that when Rio sold the mine to CMOC, the links that had been built up between government and management were lost and they have had to be re-established.  

The mine plays its part as a good citizen in our community.  

It gives grants, like the ones Quota recently received to put sound field systems into schools for hearing impaired students.

She said that sustainability was important in the awarding of grants – they needed to be able to go on without further support.  

She told us that NPM also have an equipment pool which includes large blow-up TVs, a PA system, marquees and huge Eskies that are available free of charge.

Even more impressive, the mine allows everyone of its workers two days off each year on full pay to do voluntary work in the community.

So you might see a group of men working in a school garden for instance, while some of their IT personnel rebuild computers and donate them to people who need them.  

Brooke then showed us with pride a beautiful blue glass trophy which NPM had just received from the NSW Mineral Council for excellence in volunteering in the community.  

It was easy to see how they had won it and we all appreciated just how lucky we are to have NPM in Parkes.