Month: December 2018

This Christmas, it won’t be a question of which rural road in NSW police will be on, but when they will be on it.
Operation Safe Arrival, the Christmas/New Year road safety-enforcement operation, starts at 12.01am on Friday 21 December 2018 and concludes at 11.59pm on Tuesday 1 January 2019.
Double demerits will be in force throughout the period for speeding, seatbelt, mobile phone and motorcycle helmet offences.
As Friday is a designated school day, an additional demerit point on top of double demerits will also apply to all relevant school zone offences committed on that day.
During the 2017-2018 Operation Safe Arrival period, 31 lives were lost in 26 fatal crashes on NSW roads. Of the 31 lives lost, 19 were drivers, seven were passengers, two were motorcyclists and three were pedestrians.
About 42 per cent of fatal crashes during this time occurred between 11am and 5pm.
During operation Safe Arrival 2017-2018, police conducted 700,200 random breath tests and charged 1585 people with drink driving.
Traffic and Highway Patrol Command’s Assistant Commissioner, Michael Corboy, said back roads in rural areas will be a main target for police random breath testing.
“We will be travelling the same roads that you will this Christmas. Your trip is our trip.
“It will be those feeder roads that lead to our major arterial roads such as the Pacific, Newell and Princes highways,“ Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
“Generally over Christmas we have looked at major ­thoroughfares getting in and out of Sydney, where a lot of crashes occur.
“This year it won’t be a question of which road will we be on, it will be a matter of when will we be on that stretch of road?”
Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Mrs Melinda Pavey said while November had the lowest road toll recorded on record (since 1936) it’s important not to become complacent.
“If you’re on the roads this holiday season, I encourage everyone to be their best self behind the wheel, whether you’re driving in the city or travelling in the country, so you can return home to loved ones,” Mrs Pavey said
Motorists are also being reminded that from 17 September 2018, an extra demerit point was added to the penalty for illegally using a mobile phone while driving. This will add an additional two demerit points in double demerit periods resulting in a total of 10 demerit points for this offence.

The NSW ICAC raid of ALP’s headquarters in Sydney shows political donations are a main source of corruption, yet the Government’s proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission (CIC) wouldn’t even be able to investigate, Greens spokesperson for democracy Senator Larissa Waters said.
“The Government has intentionally designed a body that will ensure political parties can’t be investigated for the millions of dollars in corporate donations they take from industries like mining, banking and gambling,” Senator Waters said.
“The raid on Labor offices by NSW state ICAC shows the need for both donation reform and a federal anti-corruption body that can investigate the influence of big money on our politics.
“The millions of dollars in political donations corrupt our democracy, yet the Government is proposing a weak federal integrity commission that will not have the power to investigate donations.
“The Morrison Government’s proposed CIC lacks broad powers, teeth, sufficient funding, and the capacity to investigate allegations of corruption from public tip offs.
“The Greens have repeatedly moved for an end to corporate donations and a cap of $1000 on all donations yet hit the major party road block every time as they choose to stay in the pockets of the big corporate donors.”
“Up to $100,000 could be donated to a political party without the need for disclosure, if it is split across state and federal bodies and below the $13,800 threshold.
“It’s an absolute indictment on our democracy that anonymous donations can be made without any laws being broken. Corruption could be absolutely rife yet there is no ability for anybody to investigate.
“There must be urgent political donation reform to close this channel for corruption once and for all.”

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet today delivered the NSW Half-Yearly Budget Review which forecasts average surpluses of $1.3 billion across the next four years and a $2.5 billion increase in infrastructure investment to a record $89.7 billion.
Above average economic growth of 2¾ per cent is forecast for this financial year, with an unprecedented jobs boom powered by the infrastructure investment leading to the lowest unemployment rate in the nation of just 4.4 percent.
NSW has also recorded its fourth consecutive negative net debt position following the successful leasing of a 51 per cent share of Sydney Motorway Corporation (WestConnex) in August, forecast to be negative $7.7 billion at June 2019.
The $9.3 billion WestConnex transaction also means the value of the NSW Generations Fund has been increased to $10 billion and is forecast to top $25 billion in a decade.
“NSW is achieving the holy grail of financial management – solid surpluses and record low net debt while building more schools, hospitals, road and rail than ever before,” Mr Perrottet said.
“Despite headwinds from the drought and the softening of the housing market, the finances of NSW are rock solid and we are pleased to deliver another pipeline of surpluses across the next four years.
We are building more roads, train lines, schools and hospitals than ever before thanks to our record breaking $89.7 billion investment in infrastructure.
These projects are adding thousands of jobs.
Public investment in NSW boosted economic growth by half a percentage point in 2017-18 and is expected to do the same in 2018-19.”
Key highlights from the HYR include:

• The HYR projects a surplus of $1.1 billion in 2018-19 and average surpluses of  $1.3 billion over the forward estimates
• Growth in revenues such as GST, payroll tax from strong employment numbers and royalties of $5.4 billion has outstripped a reduction in transfer duty write-downs of $2.5 billion over the four years
• The NSW Generations Fund, established to manage debt at sustainable levels over the longer term while investing in community wellbeing today, has grown from  $3 billion to $10 billion thanks largely to the better than expected result of leasing 51 per cent of our stake in Sydney Motorway Corporation in August 2018.
• The increased infrastructure investment of $2.5 billion will be used to fund projects across NSW including upgrading hospitals, roads and schools.

Mr Perrottet said since this year’s State Budget, the NSW Government has committed to the largest single increase in the police force in more than three decades with 1,500 new police as part of a $583 million investment over four years.
The State has supported those affected by the drought by committing an additional $500 million to the Emergency Drought Relief Package while businesses will also benefit from a streamlined and modernised payroll tax system.
To ensure the principles of truly needs-based, sector-blind funding remains for all students across the State, the NSW Government has signed up to Gonski 2.0.
As part of this agreement, the State agreed to provide an additional $6.4 billion to 2027 for schools across the State from next year, bringing the State’s total investment to $148 billion for government and non-government schools.
The Government has also maintained its commitment to easing the cost of living through the following measures since the Budget:

• An expansion of the toll relief program for motorists with drivers who spend at least $15 a week on tolls will be eligible for a 50 per cent discount off their vehicle registration and continue to provide free registration for those that spend $25 a week.
• Providing a fairer deal on future property transactions by indexing transfer duty brackets annually to CPI from 1 July 2019. The current system has been largely unchanged since 1986.

Mr Perrottet said the greatest threat to the strong financial position of NSW was Labor.
“It’s a week until Christmas and Michael Daley doesn’t have a sack full of presents, he has a hit list of projects to cancel and pledges with little detail on how they will be funded. Make no mistake he will plunge the budget into debt and despair.”