I express my sincere condolences and sympathies to the families of the firefighters who have so tragically been killed overnight.
They were bravely defending their communities with an unmatched spirit and a dedication that will forever set them apart amongst our most courageous Australians.
Their sacrifice and service saving lives and saving properties will be forever remembered. I wish those injured all the best in their recovery.
Our hearts go out to their families, friends and colleagues who have been working tirelessly beside them, particularly during this Christmas period.
These fires and heat conditions are horrendous, and there are still difficult days ahead, with Saturday predicted to be the most severe day, with extreme temperatures and wind making conditions very difficult for fire crews.
We wish all of those putting themselves in harm’s way for all of us, all the best. Stay safe, stay together.
Know that Australians are deeply grateful. To Australians living in fire-ravaged regions, please heed the warnings of the authorities, and stay safe.
Given these most recent tragic events, I will be returning to Sydney from leave as soon as can be arranged.
The Federal Government stands ready to deploy whatever further assistance State and Territory authorities request to manage this disaster.
Author: admin
The Drop Festival 2020
Proposed Location: Empire Park, Bar Beach
This event site has been reviewed by all applicable event stakeholders through the Interagency Events Consultative Group, including NSW Police and NSW Ambulance Services, and events of this type have been approved in principle for this location.
A review on the use of the park has been conducted following the public notification period for The Drop Music Festival. The proposed event is a one-day all age music festival on 7 March 2020, that coincides with the final day of Surfest 2020.
Standard events consultation and notification was completed through the Public Lands Notice, with the period held between 28 October and 24 November 2019. In addition, a public information session was conducted on 18 November by the event organiser to assist with the provision of accurate information to residents from the area. City of Newcastle (CN) received 53 submissions in response to the notice. Based on assessment of the submissions received, all raised issues have been addressed through the planning controls proposed for the event.
Key items raised in the submissions includes the noise impacts, public safety, restrictions to access, potential antisocial behaviour, safety as a coastal location, and traffic and transport. All items have been addressed through a comprehensive executive summary prepared by the event organiser.
The assessment of the event will continue as proposed at Empire Park Bar Beach. Final approval will be dependant on the event organisers meeting all requirements of their licence, as per standard CN event licencing process.
- View the Frequently Asked Questions (pdf) regarding the location of the Drop Music Festival in 2020.
- View the Drop – Empire Park Resident Frequently Asked Questions (pdf)
Please note, these documents are a work in progress and will be updated periodically as the event planning progresses.
Newcastle 500 delivers return for city’s investment
Following a third successful Newcastle 500, City of Newcastle has outlined its costs and the event’s benefits for the region.
City of Newcastle has a $1.6 million annual events budget for the Newcastle 500.
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The figure includes the license fee and all operational costs including traffic and waste management, communications, all event works specific to the event, and staff resources. It also includes a program of events, activations, and promotions to encourage patronage to businesses outside the race precinct. There are no ongoing costs for City of Newcastle for storage of event delivery infrastructure for the Newcastle 500 after a lease with UGL ended earlier this year.
The Hunter Research Foundation Centre (HRFC) concluded that the benefit of the 2017 three-day event to the local economy was $30.1 million, confirming the decision of the elected Council in 2016 to secure the event on behalf of the region.
The $30.1 million benefit of the event would be far higher if the direct economic benefit in neighbouring areas including Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Cessnock were included.
The $1.6 million figure represents just 5.3 per cent of the $30.1 million economic injection into the city as calculated by the HRFC’s independent research.
The Hunter Research Foundation Centre’s independent analysis also estimated that up to 124 full-time equivalent jobs have been generated from direct and flow-on impacts of the 2017 Newcastle 500.
Costs associated with the City’s multi-million-dollar East End civil works program were excluded from the economists’ analysis as these were scheduled works brought forward by several years to enable the inaugural Newcastle 500. There have been no requests from Supercars Australia for infrastructure works since the initial civil project.
City of Newcastle is still reviewing the actual cost of vandalism and malicious damage in protest to the event, but the cost is substantial and in the tens of thousands of dollars. This includes poisoning of turf, graffiti on fencing and other infrastructure, and the use of potentially damaging materials such as oil and diesel dumped around the suburb and parks.
City of Newcastle is continuing to complete general maintenance and upgrade works in the domain in line with its ongoing infrastructure management program.
According to Destination NSW’s analysis of the 2017 event, visitors spent $12.5 million during their visit, with about 85 per cent spent in Newcastle and the wider Hunter region.
The results confirm the event is on track to reach the projected visitation and economic impact targets of 81,000 overnight visitors and $57 million in visitor spend over five years.
Newcastle 500 has continued to provide widespread exposure for the city. This year’s event weekend recorded 344 media stories from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 November, reaching a combined domestic audience of more than 14 million people, with an estimated value of over $2 million. According to Supercars Australia the TV audience for Newcastle 500 peaked at more than 1.8 million viewers with an average of 1.3 million people tuning in to the three-day event.
“Three years in, the annual investment for the City to host the Newcastle 500 demonstrates the benefits to Newcastle and the region,” Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
“The Newcastle 500 is the biggest event on the local calendar with significant benefit to the region.”
City of Newcastle has a $1.6 million annual events budget for the Newcastle 500.
The figure includes the license fee and all operational costs including traffic and waste management, communications, all event works specific to the event, and staff resources. It also includes a program of events, activations, and promotions to encourage patronage to businesses outside the race precinct. There are no ongoing costs for City of Newcastle for storage of event delivery infrastructure for the Newcastle 500 after a lease with UGL ended earlier this year.The Hunter Research Foundation Centre (HRFC) concluded that the benefit of the 2017 three-day event to the local economy was $30.1 million, confirming the decision of the elected Council in 2016 to secure the event on behalf of the region.
The $30.1 million benefit of the event would be far higher if the direct economic benefit in neighbouring areas including Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Cessnock were included.
The $1.6 million figure represents just 5.3 per cent of the $30.1 million economic injection into the city as calculated by the HRFC’s independent research.
The Hunter Research Foundation Centre’s independent analysis also estimated that up to 124 full-time equivalent jobs have been generated from direct and flow-on impacts of the 2017 Newcastle 500.
Costs associated with the City’s multi-million-dollar East End civil works program were excluded from the economists’ analysis as these were scheduled works brought forward by several years to enable the inaugural Newcastle 500. There have been no requests from Supercars Australia for infrastructure works since the initial civil project.
City of Newcastle is still reviewing the actual cost of vandalism and malicious damage in protest to the event, but the cost is substantial and in the tens of thousands of dollars. This includes poisoning of turf, graffiti on fencing and other infrastructure, and the use of potentially damaging materials such as oil and diesel dumped around the suburb and parks.
City of Newcastle is continuing to complete general maintenance and upgrade works in the domain in line with its ongoing infrastructure management program.
According to Destination NSW’s analysis of the 2017 event, visitors spent $12.5 million during their visit, with about 85 per cent spent in Newcastle and the wider Hunter region.
The results confirm the event is on track to reach the projected visitation and economic impact targets of 81,000 overnight visitors and $57 million in visitor spend over five years.
Newcastle 500 has continued to provide widespread exposure for the city. This year’s event weekend recorded 344 media stories from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 November, reaching a combined domestic audience of more than 14 million people, with an estimated value of over $2 million. According to Supercars Australia the TV audience for Newcastle 500 peaked at more than 1.8 million viewers with an average of 1.3 million people tuning in to the three-day event.
“Three years in, the annual investment for the City to host the Newcastle 500 demonstrates the benefits to Newcastle and the region,” Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
“The Newcastle 500 is the biggest event on the local calendar with significant benefit to the region.”
Signs signal start of holiday road safety
But with the festive and new year cheer that this time of year brings, comes an added responsibility of maintaining vigilance around roads, cycleways, footpaths and parks.
City of Newcastle has joined forces once again with the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation to spread the importance of child pedestrian road safety leading into the school holiday period.
School captains Alice Bradley, 12 (Left) and Bella Lewis, 12, with Peta Winney-Baartz
The It’s Holiday Time campaign is the brainchild of Michelle and David McLaughlin, who tragically lost their son Tom at age four to a roadside accident near Macmasters Beach on the Central Coast. Mrs McLaughlin now spends her days proactively partnering with organisations like City of Newcastle to prevent further tragedies from occurring on NSW roads.
“The campaign incorporates brightly coloured signage with simple messaging to instruct and remind drivers to slow down, and for children and families to remain alert and attentive,” Mrs McLaughlin said.
“The signs are positioned in highly visible public spaces, such as beaches and parks, so that we can best maximise our road safety message.”
“Holiday destinations are most often a new and unfamiliar environment for children and their families, and it’s important that parents have a conversation with their children and go through how they’re expected to behave when they’re in this new environment.”
These conversations are already well and truly being had around the family dinner table and in the school classroom of 12-year-old Alice Bradley, a year six student at Mayfield West Demonstration School.
As part of her school’s PDHPE curriculum, students at Mayfield West Demonstration School learn necessary skills, attitudes and behaviours needed to stay safe as pedestrians, passengers and wheelchair users.
“Holidays are always the best time of the year, but when they come around we need to take extra care when crossing roads and watching for cars,” 12-year-old Alice said.
“These lessons teach us to be extra cautious and careful.”
Newcastle Councillor and Local Traffic Committee member Peta Winney-Baartz knows too well the importance of road safety management across the LGA. Cr Winney-Baartz provides input and advice on several traffic matters that present to the committee once a month.
“In co-operation with local police and state agencies, it is my role on behalf of the City to advocate the best outcomes for the community when it comes to a range of traffic and transport matters.
“These matters are often brought to us by the community. It’s then our duty to review them and ascertain whether there’s a need to implement suitable improvements.
“Any initiative that propagates better outcomes for children and families on our roads is a worthy one, so it’s great to see Michelle and her team at Little Blue Dinosaur championing such a strong cause.”
To read more about Michelle and David’s story, or the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation, visit http://www.littlebluedinosaur.org
City of Newcastle has joined forces once again with the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation to spread the importance of child pedestrian road safety leading into the school holiday period.
School captains Alice Bradley, 12 (Left) and Bella Lewis, 12, with Peta Winney-BaartzThe It’s Holiday Time campaign is the brainchild of Michelle and David McLaughlin, who tragically lost their son Tom at age four to a roadside accident near Macmasters Beach on the Central Coast. Mrs McLaughlin now spends her days proactively partnering with organisations like City of Newcastle to prevent further tragedies from occurring on NSW roads.
“The campaign incorporates brightly coloured signage with simple messaging to instruct and remind drivers to slow down, and for children and families to remain alert and attentive,” Mrs McLaughlin said.
“The signs are positioned in highly visible public spaces, such as beaches and parks, so that we can best maximise our road safety message.”
“Holiday destinations are most often a new and unfamiliar environment for children and their families, and it’s important that parents have a conversation with their children and go through how they’re expected to behave when they’re in this new environment.”
These conversations are already well and truly being had around the family dinner table and in the school classroom of 12-year-old Alice Bradley, a year six student at Mayfield West Demonstration School.
As part of her school’s PDHPE curriculum, students at Mayfield West Demonstration School learn necessary skills, attitudes and behaviours needed to stay safe as pedestrians, passengers and wheelchair users.
“Holidays are always the best time of the year, but when they come around we need to take extra care when crossing roads and watching for cars,” 12-year-old Alice said.
“These lessons teach us to be extra cautious and careful.”
Newcastle Councillor and Local Traffic Committee member Peta Winney-Baartz knows too well the importance of road safety management across the LGA. Cr Winney-Baartz provides input and advice on several traffic matters that present to the committee once a month.
“In co-operation with local police and state agencies, it is my role on behalf of the City to advocate the best outcomes for the community when it comes to a range of traffic and transport matters.
“These matters are often brought to us by the community. It’s then our duty to review them and ascertain whether there’s a need to implement suitable improvements.
“Any initiative that propagates better outcomes for children and families on our roads is a worthy one, so it’s great to see Michelle and her team at Little Blue Dinosaur championing such a strong cause.”
To read more about Michelle and David’s story, or the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation, visit http://www.littlebluedinosaur.org
Festive season a time to celebrate 2019’s achievements
City of Newcastle is praising its staff and thanking the local community for a hugely successful year that has seen town centres revitalised, environmental milestones achieved, and millions of dollars invested in the city.
Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said 2019 was a year marked by investment in the city’s outer suburbs, sustainability initiatives and unprecedented community engagement.
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“With the festive season upon us and most locals including our hard-working employees looking forward to a well-earned break, it’s important to celebrate our collective achievements over 2019.”
“We continued delivering improved public spaces for our community, including the $2 million Stockton Active Hub, new playgrounds at Wallsend, Adamstown and Rankin Park, and the City’s first fenced dog park in North Lambton.
“We added new parkland in the City centre. Reinvigorated town centres were opened in Beresfield and Carrington, with the multi-million projects including new roads, footpaths, drainage and landscaping.
“City staff moved to new offices in the West End where they’re now under one roof for the first time. The modern space and new way of working has fostered greater communication and collaboration within our large team and paved the way for the start of construction of the City’s first 5-Star hotel in the former ‘Roundhouse’ building.
“Our investment in sustainability means from 1 January 2020 we will be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy, including power sourced from wind in addition to our five-megawatt solar farm on former landfill at Summerhill.
“Our efforts to become a smart, liveable and sustainable global city were recognised with three prestigious smart city awards that saw us eclipse Singapore and other major international cities.
“Meanwhile, we continued to grow our reputation as one of the country’s leading event destinations with the Newcastle 500 attracting more than 154,000 attendees and our beautiful city beamed to a national TV audience of 1.8 million people.
“These achievements only scratch the surface of what was delivered this year and is testament to our employees who have put in a mammoth effort to deliver a record amount of work in improving the city.”
City of Newcastle’s offices and Customer Contact Centre will be closed from noon Friday 20 December 2019 and will re-open 8.30am Thursday 2 January 2020. Emergency calls will be answered by our after-hours service provider. More information about City of Newcastle services is available at our website www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au.
Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said 2019 was a year marked by investment in the city’s outer suburbs, sustainability initiatives and unprecedented community engagement.
“With the festive season upon us and most locals including our hard-working employees looking forward to a well-earned break, it’s important to celebrate our collective achievements over 2019.”
“We continued delivering improved public spaces for our community, including the $2 million Stockton Active Hub, new playgrounds at Wallsend, Adamstown and Rankin Park, and the City’s first fenced dog park in North Lambton.
“We added new parkland in the City centre. Reinvigorated town centres were opened in Beresfield and Carrington, with the multi-million projects including new roads, footpaths, drainage and landscaping.
“City staff moved to new offices in the West End where they’re now under one roof for the first time. The modern space and new way of working has fostered greater communication and collaboration within our large team and paved the way for the start of construction of the City’s first 5-Star hotel in the former ‘Roundhouse’ building.
“Our investment in sustainability means from 1 January 2020 we will be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy, including power sourced from wind in addition to our five-megawatt solar farm on former landfill at Summerhill.
“Our efforts to become a smart, liveable and sustainable global city were recognised with three prestigious smart city awards that saw us eclipse Singapore and other major international cities.
“Meanwhile, we continued to grow our reputation as one of the country’s leading event destinations with the Newcastle 500 attracting more than 154,000 attendees and our beautiful city beamed to a national TV audience of 1.8 million people.
“These achievements only scratch the surface of what was delivered this year and is testament to our employees who have put in a mammoth effort to deliver a record amount of work in improving the city.”
City of Newcastle’s offices and Customer Contact Centre will be closed from noon Friday 20 December 2019 and will re-open 8.30am Thursday 2 January 2020. Emergency calls will be answered by our after-hours service provider. More information about City of Newcastle services is available at our website www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au.
Man charged in connection to murder of Danielle Easey
Homicide Squad detectives have charged a man following ongoing investigations into the murder of Danielle Easey, after her body was discovered in a creek near Newcastle earlier this year.
About 10.30am on Saturday 31 August 2019, police were called to Cockle Creek, near Wakefield Road, Killingworth, after members of the public saw an item wrapped in plastic floating in the water.
The plastic, containing a woman’s body, was removed from the water by officers.
The woman was formally identified as 29-year-old, Danielle Easey, who lived in Booragul with family, but had more recently been staying at multiple locations around the area.
A post mortem examination revealed Danielle had been seriously assaulted and stabbed.
Detectives from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad and Lake Macquarie Police District established Strike Force Furzer to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death.
Inquiries have revealed Danielle was murdered at a home at Narara on or around Saturday 17 August 2019, before being transported and dumped at Cockle Creek.
As part of ongoing investigations, strike force detectives charged a 33-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman in September. They remain before the courts.
Following further inquiries, detectives arrested a 37-year-old man at a home on Mereweather Street, Cardiff, about 7am today (Friday 20 December 2019).
He was taken to Belmont Police Station and charged with conceal serious indictable offence of other.
The man was granted strict conditional bail to appear at Belmont Local Court on Wednesday 8 January 2019.
Morrison government missing-in-action while climate emergency plunges profits of Australian farms
Greens Senator Janet Rice has slammed the government’s failure to act as farmers suffer the effects of the climate emergency, following a damning report released today from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.
The report found that the climate crisis has sunk Australian farms’ average annual profits by 22% and that crop farmers have been hit the hardest, losing $1.1bn in revenue a year since 2000.
Senator Janet Rice, Greens spokesperson for Agriculture and Regional Affairs said:
“This is the cost of our climate crisis. It’s unacceptable that Australian farmers are losing around $18,600 per farm and yet the government is still failing to act on the climate emergency that’s causing this loss.
“Farmers and rural Australians are on the frontline of the climate crisis and this drought is devastating families and leaving communities to perish.
“Instead of helping regional communities and farmers, the coal-hugging Liberal-National Coalition have lifted pollution and done everything in their power to make global heating worse.
“The LNP seem more interested in cosying up to their coal, oil and gas lobby mates than they are in supporting farmers.
“The Bureau of Meteorology predicts that drier than average weather will continue, so we must ensure farmers have what they need to adapt.
“The Morrison government can’t just throw money at the problem as a bandaid during times of crisis. This is an ongoing crisis, made worse by the government’s failure to address the root cause of drought, fund long-term drought resilience programs, and take urgent climate action.
“It is only by cutting pollution that we can reduce the impact of droughts and alleviate the effect on farmers.”
Fossil Fuel Companies Should Pay Pollution Levy: Greens
It’s time that the fossil fuel companies whose products are responsible for the climate crisis start footing some of the bill for cleaning it up. A $1 levy per tonne of carbon pollution from the country’s biggest polluters, proposed today by the Australia Institute, is the very least that these companies can do, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
“Fossil fuels like coal are the biggest cause of climate change, and yet despite raking in billions of dollars in super profits each year, the companies that dig up and sell them aren’t paying enough towards cleaning up the mess their products help to cause. That needs to stop” said Di Natale.
”Houses in Australia are on fire today. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of bush land is on fire today. Temperature records are being broken across the country today. It’s not too much to ask that fossil fuel companies contribute some of the money we will need to clean up the mess.”
“Coal will kill us. The producers of disaster inducing coal, oil and gas cannot get off scot free while their product contributes to deadly fires and oppressive heatwaves,” said Greens Climate Change spokesperson Adam Bandt, MP.
“The costs of these climate induced extreme weather events are skyrocketing. If this government was serious about protecting the Australian economy and saving Australian lives, they’d introduce a pollution levy to properly equip our emergency services and prepare our cities and towns.
“The Liberals just sabotaged global climate talks for the sake of dodgy credits they now say they don’t need. The government has been shamed by the rest of the world and is now trying to crabwalk out of its unlawful carryover credit debacle. If the Liberals say they don’t need their dodgy carryover credits then they should rule out using them and apologise to the rest of the world for scuppering the Madrid climate summit.”
Morrison needs to show leadership on climate now more than ever
Australia is in the midst of an unprecedented heatwave and bushfire emergency, but the Prime Minister has been missing in action. Scott Morrison must show some leadership and immediately convene emergency meetings with fire chiefs, peak medical bodies and cross-party political leadership to craft a response to this crisis, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
”The country is in crisis and the Australian people are crying out for leadership, but Scott Morrison has been missing in action,” said Di Natale.
”We are seeing the climate crisis play out right now across Australia, and it is only going to get worse. That’s why we need the Prime Minister to lead an emergency response that is above politics, that brings the community together and not only responds to these fires but prepares for the fires that are yet to come.
“The decision today by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to declare a State of Emergency in New South Wales highlights just how serious this situation is not just in New South Wales but across the country, and how missing leadership has been at the national level.
“That’s why the Greens are calling on the Prime Minister to immediately :
- Commit to convening an emergency Summit with the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action to discuss improving how we prepare for and resource bushfire emergencies in a changed climate.
- Meet with the Presidents of medical colleges who have called the current crisis a public health emergency to discuss critical responses to protect human health.
- Take a page out of John Howard‘s response to the Port Arthur tragedy, convene an urgent cross party forum with the leaders of our main political parties to find a way forward on our paralysed and wholly insufficient climate policy.
PREMIER DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY
The NSW Government has declared a State of Emergency from this morning, lasting for a period of seven days, ahead of worsening fire conditions predicted for this week.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has accepted the advice of Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons to declare a State of Emergency under Section 33 of the State of Emergency and Rescue Management Act.
The declaration enables the RFS Commissioner to exercise extraordinary powers to protect life and property.
“Declaring this State of Emergency is vital to the safety of communities in NSW as we face the most devastating bushfire season in living memory having lost six lives and almost 800 homes destroyed,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“These declarations are not taken lightly. This is the second State of Emergency this season following the declaration made on 11 November, also for a period of seven days.”
“It will ensure once again that our State is best placed to respond to the predicted fire conditions.”
A State of Emergency declaration enables extraordinary powers to be exercised by the RFS Commissioner. These include the power to:
- Direct any Government agency to conduct or refrain from conducting its functions;
- Control and coordinate the allocation of Government resources;
- Evacuate people from property within the declared area;
- Close roads and thoroughfares to traffic;
- Pull down or shore up infrastructure at risk of collapse;
- Order the shutdown of essential utilities in the declared area including electricity, gas, oil, water; and
- Enter or take possession of property in the course of the emergency response.
Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said the efforts of our hard working firefighters are to be commended as they face these challenging conditions after many have been fighting fires for months.
“The entire State has a huge level of gratitude for the thousands of firefighters on the frontline who have risked their own safety to protect life and property,” Mr Elliott said.
“The work they are so committed to right now will never be forgotten.”