State politics

FRDC. An historic, Traditional Fishing Agreement has been signed between the Narungga Nation in South Australia and the South Australian Government.

Jessie Hayward is thrilled with her new home. She is the first tenant to move into one of ten brand new homes being built in Tennant Creek. GK Builders and Asbuild were awarded NT Government tenders to construct six three-bedroom homes and four four-bed-room homes across town camps including Village, Marla Marla, Munji Marla, Tingkarli, Karguru and Mulga.

The town is divided over the NT Government’s new measures to tackle youth crime which will see young people who breach bail locked up. The automatic revocation of bail will apply to young people who reoffend while on bail, breach curfew or fail to attend court, for example. Police will have extended powers to use electronic monitoring on young people and powers to breath test youth who are behind the wheel of a car.

Reinforcing the need for some long term planning rather than short term solutions for the alternative crossing over the Blue Mountains ...

Unequipped and unsafe health facilities in the Murrumbidgee region, lack of funding and available services and minimal staffing leading to burnout have all been the focus of regional submissions to a NSW Upper House inquiry ... “The reality is however, throughout rural NSW hospital operating theatres stand unused, no babies are being delivered and regularly there is no doctor available to attend emergency wards” : Narrandera Shire general manager, George Cowan.

Sam Farraway MLC NSW: “The Southern Feeder Road upgrades are vital for the Orange community and with some stages already completed we are seeing the benefits, not only in road safety but in time efficiency and connectivity.” Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes said the funding for new and upgraded infrastructure was the result of upfront strategic planning and the investment of developer contributions.

The Bells Line of Road, which provides the alternative route over the Blue Mountains to the Central West from Sydney, will be closed indefinitely due to landslides caused by the recent heavy rains. This is a timely reminder of the many years of inaction on building the long overdue Bells Line Expressway ... One of the last roles held by the the recently departed former Leader of the National Party in NSW, Ian Armstrong, was as Chairman of the Bells Line Expressway Action Group. As Mr. Armstrong said in 2010 - "the road was built for a previous age".

Despite years of warnings, public protests, approaches to Ministers and Members of Parliament, and, in particular, the vocal opposition of the very active Community Action for Windsor Bridge (CAWB) group, Roads & Maritime Services in NSW insisted on building the new Windsor Bridge across the Hawkesbury River in exactly the wrong location.

Barkly MLA Steve Edgington met with the team from Sun Cable this week – the company which has signed a milestone agreement to advance the $22 billion Australia-AASEAN Power Link). Mr Edgington said the project will see up to $8 billion invested in the Barkly which will host the largest solar farm and renewable energy system in the world.

“The damage to residents is they don’t feel safe in their own homes and there’s nothing the police can do because the courts just let them go" ... "We have had many break-ins and a lot of public assets damaged and it just goes on and on. Just months ago there was about $80,000 of damage to the Bowls Club and now it’s not available for public use and we can’t afford to fix it. We have spent tens of thousands of dollars fortifying buildings to keep the vandals out. They are not just stealing but destroying everything – it’s ridiculous”: local resident and Barkly Regional Council CEO, Steve Moore.

The NSW Government has provided another $50 million in relief to the State’s farmers who are still feeling the effects of drought by waiving Local Land Services (LLS) rates for the third year, Minister for Agriculture Adam Marshall announced today.

Last week Kyogle mayor Danielle Mulholland said she couldn’t hold onto the news any longer or she would burst when the announcement was made that Kyogle Council would receive $40.3 million in state funding to replace 84 bridges.

Narrandera’s century old police station has been branded as outdated and the community’s plea for a new station will be on the NSW Police Minister’s desk this week. Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke has heeded the call from Narrandera Shire Council and is due to speak with Minster for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott.

NSW Farmers and the Country Women’s Association of NSW (CWA of NSW) are alarmed by a proposal that would stifle community consultation on the Inland Rail project. It comes as the NSW Minister for Planning the Hon Rob Stokes MP has issued an order declaring the construction of the Inland Rail in NSW as a critical state significant infrastructure project.

The NSW State Government announced on 10 March 2021 that The Minister for Planning will issue a new section 9.1 direction (to the Koala SEPP) to ensure that only the Minister, and not councils, will be empowered to rezone land used for primary production to an environmental zone (E zone), or to rezone land currently in rural zones 1, 2 and 3 to other rural zones.

Mayor Greg Christensen said a survey will open next Wednesday 17 March and encouraged the Scenic Rim community to have their say on Council's first-ever region-wide growth management strategy.

Nicholas Rapulo. Yanco Agricultural High School students have blasted the NSW Department of Education, saying they are feeling unheard, unvalued and un-nurtured over their run-down dormitories. The girl’s dormitories have been unfit for the students for the better part of 20 years, and their promised repair has been delayed once again.

In yet another blow to the state’s intensifying harvest labour crisis, NSW has missed an opportunity to be part of a DFAT-run program that enables seasonal workers from Fiji and Vanuatu to work on local farms. National fruit and vegetable crop losses resulting from the workforce conundrum now exceed $50 million, and the outcomes of today’s National Cabinet meeting confirm NSW is lagging behind other states and territories in developing a short-term solution.

Member for Cook Cynthia Lui says last week’s trip to Weipa was a “positive experience” and that she left with a better grasp of issues facing the Western Cape. It was the MP’s first trip to the area after more than 550 days and constituents were happy to have face time with the elected member.