Month: November 2023

The 11th annual NSW Health Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards were held in Sydney yesterday, to celebrate some of the outstanding nurses and midwives across the state. 

For the first time since 2019, the awards were held as a live ceremony at Parliament House.

Health Minister Ryan Park extended his sincere congratulations to the 29 winners and finalists.

“The professional achievements, compassion and dedication on display yesterday were nothing short of remarkable,” Mr Park said.

“I also want to thank all of our nurses and midwives across the state for the skill, professionalism, and heartfelt care they provide each and every day to the people of NSW.”

NSW Health Secretary Susan Pearce congratulated the winners and finalists in this year’s Excellence Awards, acknowledging the many nurses and midwives among them who were nominated from across rural and regional NSW. 

“The opportunity to celebrate the excellence and achievements of NSW Health nurses and midwives, many of whom travelled long distances to attend last night in-person, is a real highlight and I am so pleased for all the winners,” Ms Pearce said. 

NSW Health Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Jacqui Cross, said it is a wonderful opportunity to recognise the outstanding work nurses and midwives do every day, and extended her gratitude and congratulations to all the winners and finalists.

“These awards celebrate all nurses and midwives across the continuum of their career,” Ms Cross said.

“One of many highlights was the Judith Meppem Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognises the contribution of an outstanding nurse or midwife who, throughout their career, has had a positive and sustained influence on patients, the health system and their profession.”

This year the Judith Meppem Lifetime Achievement Award went to Executive Director of Nursing Anna Thornton from St Vincent’s Hospital Network.

“The Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards represent a significant opportunity to take a moment to stop, reflect and recognise the commitment, compassion, innovation and exceptional care being provided to the people of NSW by our nurses and midwives,” Ms Cross said. 
 
The winners in each of the 9 categories are:     

• Nurse of the Year (joint winners): John McAllister, Nurse Practitioner, HIV and Sexual Unit, St Vincent’s Hospital Network and Trent Williams, Clinical Nurse Consultant, John Hunter Hospital, Hunter New England LHD
• Midwife of the Year: Tracey Codner, Clinical Midwife Consultant, Nepean Hospital, Nepean Blue Mountains LHD
• New to Practice Nurse/Midwife of the Year: Garima Nepal, Registered Nurse, Coonabarabran Health Service, Western NSW LHD
• Nursing/Midwifery Team of the Year: Dorrigo Nursing Unit, Dorrigo Multipurpose Service, Mid North Coast LHD
• Nursing and Midwifery Leadership Award: Jane Jackson, Nurse Manager, The Forensic Hospital, Justice Health & Forensic Mental Health Network
• Judith Meppem Lifetime Achievement Award: Anna Thornton, Executive Director of Nursing, St Vincent’s Hospital Network
• Aboriginal Nurse/Midwife of the Year: Sharelle Anderson, Registered Midwife, Aboriginal Maternal Infant Health Service, Southern NSW LHD
• Healing Heart Award (colleague nominated): Gillian Prott, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Royal North Shore Hospital, Northern Sydney LHD
• Healing Heart Award (consumer nominated): Angela Kiss, Clinical Nurse Consultant, St Vincent’s Hospital, St Vincent’s Hospital Network.

For more information, including a full list of finalists, visit 2023 Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awardslaunch.

Communities, councils and event organisers will have a much easier and cost-effective path to hosting festivals, parties and events on their local streets and outdoor areas under landmark changes to the application process.

The NSW Government is also making outdoor dining permanent across NSW, with a law change to cement temporary arrangements introduced during COVID-19. 

Reducing costs and red tape to utilise our shared streets and outdoor spaces is part of the Government’s focus on finding all ways possible to ease the cost-of-living and help families.

Drawing from the successful approach developed by Wollongong Council a ‘global approvals’ approach will be rolled out to 127 councils across the state.

A pilot will also be delivered which will aim to reduce the costs associated with street closures and traffic planning. Events on streets can require a development application and can incur traffic management costs of over $100,000 for a single day. The pilot will involve finding potential savings, by planning for multiple events in the same location in advance, making it easier and more affordable to put on local events over a period of time.

This will substantially reduce the costs associated with street closures and traffic planning for events to close a local street for an event.

Guidelines will be issued that help councils, event organisers and businesses use public lands and close streets in a more cost-effective and simpler way, without the need to keep going through the same process for the same location every time.

The global approvals model will facilitate events like the Sydney Streets street party events happening in the City of Sydney. 

The activation of streets is part of the NSW Government’s vibrancy agenda to remove red tape, bring back live music, encourage local entertainment zones and prevent single complainants from shutting down venues.

The package of reforms will be introduced to Parliament within days.

Outdoor dining will be freed up on a permanent basis from January 1, with businesses supported to use their privately-owned land for outdoor dining and events. This will make temporary measures introduced during COVID-19 permanent.

A faster, light-touch application process will provide a cost-effective and ongoing solution that provides certainty for businesses, including cafes, restaurants, Clubs, RSLs, certainty about where outdoor dining can take place and allow them to make the most of space outside their venues.

For more information about the NSW Government’s Vibrancy Reforms

For more details of the Outdoor Dining explanation of intended effect (EIE) exhibitionlaunch

Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy John Graham said:

“As a government we want to support communities, businesses and councils to bring life and vibrancy back to our streets. Councils will be helped to streamline pathways for creatives and community groups to stage pop-up events and festivals, including street closures and global pre-approvals for event sites.

“This is giving communities the chance to have more fun outdoors but is also way in which we can assist the cost-of-living crisis by making it cheaper to arrange events.

“People want to be able to use their streets as public spaces – they own them. The proposed reforms will permanently relax rules for outdoor dining that came into force during COVID, allowing venues to make the most of space outside their venues with a quicker, light-touch application process.

“COVID-19 showed us that Sydney is a city that does alfresco well. The reforms will permanently relax the rules for outdoor dining allowing venues to make the most of their outdoor space.”

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said:

“Outdoor dining exemptions introduced during the pandemic helped build a more flexible and responsive hospitality industry.

“In meeting our election commitment to make outdoor dining permanently available across NSW, business will soon have permanent access to a faster and more cost-effective pathway instead of having to complete a detailed and costly development application.

“The outdoor dining changes are part of the Minns Government’s broader reform package to improve vibrancy in our streets and create a better environment for hospitality trading.”

Member for Parramatta Donna Davis said:

“Parramatta has such wonderful streets and outdoor spaces to be activated. This policy will help make our communities even more vibrant and lively, cementing Parramatta’s reputation as a destination.”

Related information

• 24-Hour Economy Legislation (Vibrancy Reforms) Amendment Bill 2023east
• Proposed reforms to outdoor dining on private land and live music venueslauncheast

downloadDownload as PDFprintPrint this page

The 2023 Premier’s Awards were held last night, recognising the exceptional work being done by public servants to make a meaningful difference in the lives of community members in every corner of NSW.

The eight award categories span the broad remit of the public sector including high-quality education and healthcare, the economy, and excellence in service delivery.

With over 265 nominations received, there was a strong field of high-performing finalists across all award categories.

The Public Servant of the Year Award celebrates an exceptional individual who demonstrates commitment to a world class public service.

The 2023 NSW Public Servant of the Year was awarded to Brad Fisher of NSW Public Works. Brad was recognised for his tireless commitment to delivering electrical upgrades to public schools across the state.

Each year, the Anthea Kerr Award is presented to a future public sector leader who exhibits outstanding achievement and a deep commitment to public sector values in their work. This award is given in honour of Anthea Kerr, who passed away suddenly at 38 years of age. At the time of Anthea’s death, she was an Assistant Director General at the Department of Finance and Services, a role which was the culmination of an outstanding career of more than 16 years in the NSW public sector.

The winner of the 2023 Anthea Kerr Award is Alexandra Rumore from Legal Aid NSW. Alexandra was recognised for her work supporting flood devastated communities across NSW. Working as a Senior Outreach Solicitor with the Disaster Response Legal Service, Alex travelled thousands of kilometres over several months to deliver trauma-informed help, ensuring communities had their legal needs met.

2023 Premier’s Award winners:

Category	Winner(s)	Agency
Anthea Kerr Award	Alexandra Rumore	Legal Aid NSW
NSW Public Servant of the Year	Brad Fisher	NSW Public Works
Building a resilient economy	Innovation project – podular construction	Department of Planning and Environment
Connecting communities	Assertive outreach program – Tweed Heads	Department of Communities and Justice
Driving public sector diversity	Quiet Hour	Department of Customer Service NSW
Excellence in service delivery	Digitising of vehicle inspections (RSafety App)	Transport for NSW
Highest quality healthcare	Testing donors for emerging infectious diseases	NSW Health Pathology
The Murrumbidgee Model	Murrumbidgee Local Health District
World class education and training	Going the extra mile for civil construction training	TAFE NSW
Assessment for complex learners project	Department of Education

Details on all the winners and finalists can be found at Premiers Awards 2023launch.

Premier Chris Minns said:

“These awards celebrate people who set the standard for our public sector.

“Congratulations to all our winners and finalists for your commitment and contributing to a better future for our state.

“I’m proud of our public service and am already looking forward to what we will achieve together for the people of NSW over the coming year.”

NSW Public Service Commissioner Kathrina Lo said:

“Brad Fisher’s dedication to delivering the Cooler Classrooms Program, ability under pressure and willingness to go above and beyond, enabled the program to reach more schools than originally forecast.

“Congratulations Brad and all the other deserving winners from this special evening.”

The Minns Labor Government will help deliver more desperately needed homes for families by fast-tracking buildings that choose to use high-quality, pre-approved designs – speeding up the construction of homes for buyers and renters.

The Government is developing a pattern book of endorsed housing designs for both low-rise and mid-rise (up to six storeys) buildings.

The NSW Government Architect, Abbie Galvin, is leading a process of developing the pre-approved list of designs, alongside established private-sector architects, as well as the community, as part of a comprehensive consultation process.

As part of this process, the Government will launch an international competition, calling on Australian and international architects and architecture schools to design a best-practice Sydney terrace and mid-rise apartment for the 21st century. The winning designs will be included in the pattern book.

Details of the competition will be announced in early 2024.

Developers who choose to adopt the endorsed pattern book designs will have an accelerated approval pathway – meaning builders can get on site faster, and people can move into new homes sooner.

The Minns Government is working hard to change the trajectory on the long-term housing supply crisis it inherited.

NSW has been completing fewer new builds (on a per person basis) than Victoria or Queensland. NSW last year also recorded fewer overall completions than Victoria – despite NSW’s higher population.

The housing supply shortfall is behind Sydney unit rents increasing by 24 per cent over the year to the end of September 2023, along with house rents lifting by 11 per cent.

The development of low-rise and mid-rise terraces and apartments will support density in well-located pockets of Sydney – close to transport, green space, amenities and jobs.

The pattern book will include both low-rise housing (terraces, semis, manor houses), along with apartment buildings of up to six storeys. This signals greater role for low-rise, such as a new generation of Sydney terraces. 

These endorsed designs will be made specifically for Sydney and New South Wales and will include different styles of housing.

The modern homes will be made for NSW’s climate, allow for natural light, and look to include community spaces, allowing residents to still enjoy a barbeque and a makeshift game of cricket or footy, for example.

The Government Architect is leading the process and working with the best minds in the development and construction industry, the planning and architecture profession, and councils.

While this pathway will be attractive for some developers, it will not be compulsory; builders and their architects can still design bespoke developments that will go through the regular approval pathway.

The Government wants the community involved in this process, with the public able to view draft designs and provide feedback.

In addition to the pattern book and design competition for low-rise and medium-rise dwellings, the Government will also help developers of high-rise apartments to get building sooner.

Commencing with well-located places supported by transport infrastructure, the NSW Government will allow developers of high-rise to select a designer from a list pre-approved by the NSW Government Architect. This new process will allow developers to bypass the current requirement to run a design competition, slashing assessment times by between 6-12 months.

This will ensure speed and design excellence, and the Government will later consider this approach for high-rise developments across the state.

Premier of NSW Chris Minns said:

“The NSW Government wants to ensure the future homes and apartments of Sydney are world class.

“We want to see building designs that embrace what we love about Sydney and NSW.

“I’ve heard builders and other stakeholders explain some of the long approval times they encounter.

“What I’ve announced today is the start of addressing those delays.”

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said:

“Despite being in the top 30 cities in the world by GDP, Sydney ranks 859th in the world when it comes to density.

“We want homes and buildings fit for 21st century Sydney. And we want them fast.

“This gives developers certainty and will make sure more homes are delivered. 

“Increasing density in well-located and well-connected parts of Sydney is a key part of the NSW Government’s housing plan.

“We want to ensure density is done well, and this package will ensure that happens.”