Hayek is re-elected as Mayor of Canterbury-Bankstown, with Rachel Harika as Deputy Mayor 20/11/2023 (See translation in Arabic section) Sydney - Middle East Times Int’l: Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek has been re-elected unopposed for another 12 months and will be joined by Councillor Rachelle Harika as Deputy Mayor. Cr El-Hayek also attended council's annual business event, CBEvolve, at Bankstown Airport, a precinct responsible for the employment of more than 6500 people and contributing around $1 billion to the economy. At the event, he had a chance to inspect Australia's first flying car. He also visited Little Wings at the airport to see them take delivery of the new aircraft, a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron, which will run an extra 800 flights a year, ferrying sick children from around NSW. He said council supported more than 98 organisations and provided around $500,000 in grants, and congratulated the state government on their budget commitment to spend $1.3 billion on a new Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital and $350 million to upgrade Canterbury Hospital. Cr El-Hayek also met Margaret and Joyce who celebrated 100th birthdays at Bankstown City Aged Care. He wrote to the state government to review their policies and strategies for tackling the deaths on our roads and took part in two citizenship ceremonies since September to welcome around 450 new citizens at Bankstown and Campsie. He described the My Mayor's Lights Out Sleepout as “a huge success” and met some of the people behind Mission Australia Nick Kearn’s house to present them with a cheque for $30,386. Cr El-Hayek met some very talented youth to celebrate their diverse range of achievements at the Children and Youth Awards, helped promote a new campaign targeting illegal dumping in the city, presented a mayoral certificate to local jeweller Max Garthe who decided to shut up shop after 72 years in the business; joined The Reverend Bill Crews to lend a helping hand with his volunteer work with the homeless; and met with exchange students visiting the city from Indonesia. He recently visited Greenacre and Belfiel during his Bilal’s Bus tour to meet and talk about local issues and what’s happening on council. |
