Month: May 2024

As part of the Albanese Labor Government’s commitment to improving regional road networks across Central West NSW, $116 million will be invested in the Coxs River Road Upgrade at Little Hartley, through the 2024-25 Federal Budget.

The $232 million project, jointly funded by the Federal and NSW Government, involves widening and realigning 2.4 kilometres of the Great Western Highway from east of Mid Hartley Road to east of Coxs River Road into two lanes in each direction, providing a safer and more efficient road.

It will also include a grade-separated interchange at Coxs River Road.

Construction, which is supporting at least 530 jobs, commenced in early 2023 and is expected to be completed by late 2025.

The funding is part of over $3.1 billion towards vital land transport infrastructure projects in NSW in the recent Federal Budget.

This includes over $2.5 billion to upgrade important road and rail infrastructure and support planning for future projects, as well as nearly $580 million to help ensure the delivery of existing projects.

The Government’s total infrastructure commitment to NSW over the next 10 years is $20.8 billion, including $17.7 billion in major road and rail projects and $3 billion for smaller projects through programs such as the Roads to Recovery and Black Spot programs.

Find out more about Federal Budget 2024-25 announcements

Federal Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister, Catherine King said:

“We are working to deliver significant infrastructure that connects communities, stimulates jobs and builds the future of our nation.

“The Coxs River Road upgrade will ensure people in the Central West will get home quicker and, most importantly, travel safer.

“We’re getting on with the job of delivering a better future for all Australians, made in Australia.”

Federal Regional Development and Local Government Minister, Kristy McBain said:

“Good road networks unlock economic opportunities in our regions, they make it easier for locals and tourists to get around, and they keep our freight vehicles moving efficiently.

“The Central West is a fast-growing part of NSW, which is why we continue to partner with the Minns Government to progress high-priority road safety projects across the state.”

NSW Regional Transport and Roads Minister, Jenny Aitchison said:

“The Albanese and Minns governments’ partnership to invest in this critical project for the Central West demonstrates our shared commitment to significantly improving regional roads.

“We understand the Great Western Highway is a busy and vital route for visitors to the region, locals, businesses and the freight industry, which is why we are getting on with the job of building a road network for the future.”

Households and businesses face more expensive and less reliable energy due to Labor’s inaction and mismanagement of our state’s energy transitions.
 
Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change James Griffin said today’s Electricity Statement of Opportunities report from AEMO reinforces what is at stake if the Minns Labor Government doesn’t urgently get the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap back on track.
 
Mr Griffin also said that the Government’s shambolic handling of the Eraring power station extension is undermining confidence and slowing investment in the Roadmap.  
 
“Over a year ago Chris Minns’ Government called for a review of the Roadmap, and has been missing in action ever since. They haven’t finalised the energy planning guidelines, and as a result the energy industry and communities have been left in limbo,” Mr Griffin said.
 
“In addition, the Government’s own report warned that extending aging coal power stations risked private sector investment in renewable energy sources. This is a Government that announces reviews and then either ignores the findings or forgets that they even exist.”
 
“This Government has only itself to blame when it comes to energy reliability. Chris Minns needs to take responsibility for his Government’s failed energy policy and take urgent action to restore confidence, ensure the construction of transmission infrastructure and new sources of energy generation.”
 
“How much longer will industry and communities have to wait for the energy planning guidelines. These guidelines are meant to ensure communities benefit from renewable energy development and have more transparency and clarity about where and how development occurs. That’s what I am calling on the Government to urgently deliver.”
 
The NSW Opposition also called for the Minns Labor Government to urgently clarify the role of their state-owned energy corporation.
 
“In last year’s Budget the Government allocated $1 billion towards their back-of-the-envelope state-owned energy corporation. But we are still in the dark as to how it will function, the role it will play in delivering affordable, reliable and clean energy and how it will drive down household power bills,” Mr Griffin said.

“There are serious questions to be asked about how committed this government is to implementing the NSW Energy Roadmap and providing clean, cheap, reliable energy to NSW citizens, enough blaming everyone else, just get on with doing your job.”

Mark Speakman

Leader of the NSW Opposition

Introduction
 
I thank Dr Jodie Edwards for welcoming us to country, and I acknowledge the Dharawal people, the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, and pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.
 
The NSW Police Force has faced a challenging 12 months.
 
We’ve seen an increase in crime in many parts of our state.
 
We’ve seen social cohesion degraded, fuelled by international events, and the rise of antisemitism – meaning Australians feel less safe in their schools, workplaces, places of worship, the streets, and even homes.
 
We’ve seen continued gang warfare.
 
We’ve seen the escalation of youth crime in our regions.
 
We’ve seen much publicised and debated cases of domestic and family violence.
 
We’ve seen major incidents that have tested our state’s resolve, and in particular, the NSW Police Force in ways we don’t often experience.
 
The Bondi Junction tragedy – where the actions of NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott, who offered our community a brief glimpse of the heroism and professionalism exercised by our force day in and day out. Her actions ensured that many more lives weren’t lost – and will forever be remembered as shining example of the actions undertaken by the men and women of the NSW Police.
 
The Wakefield terrorism incident – where police and paramedics confronted unthinkable challenges while simply trying to do their work.
 
Regular protests about events in the Middle East.
 
Throughout all these incidents the NSW Police have carried themselves with distinction utmost professionalism.
 
I acknowledge your tireless work and dedication – the men and women of our force on the front line – confronting the horrors most of us only see or read about in the news.
 
Our entire state owes you a debt of gratitude.
 
These challenges require a timely and proportionate response from Government.
 
I’m pleased to lead a team that’s led the debate and put forward the ideas to ensure that you’re supported.
 
I want to make sure that you have the tools and powers you need to succeed in your jobs.
 
I lead a strong Coalition between the Liberals and Nationals – and I acknowledge my Parliamentary colleague Paul Toole, the Shadow Minister for Police and former Minister for Police.
 
In Government we delivered what remains record investment in real terms for Police – but I’m not here today to talk about our record.
 
I want to look at the constructive role the Opposition has played since the last election.
 
And our efforts to ensure that this Government builds on the many achievements of the Coalition in Government.
 
That’s the role of a good, strong Opposition.
 
Regional crime
 
Both the Liberals and Nationals are proud to represent the regions across our state.
 
We know that in the past 12 months we’ve seen an escalation of crime in the regions – in particular, youth crime.
 
When the Government initially refused to address the issue, we did. We never gave up calling for the next 6 months for an inquiry into regional and rural crime, backing in our communities, the Country Mayors Association and most importantly the calls from the Police Association. 
 
That’s why many of my colleagues wrote to the Premier, demanding action to address youth crime in the regions.
 
We’d seen and heard enough of the constant stories that were filling the front page of newspapers, how violent crimes were being committed with weapons like knives and machetes, how the offenders could be as young as 10. We knew that something had to be done.
 
We’ve launched a website where people can submit their stories. To date we’ve received nearly 250 submissions – each a story that shouldn’t be, and can’t be, tolerated in our state.
 
Knife crime
 
The NSW Opposition will support reforms to reduce knife crime and improve community safety.
 
That’s why we were the first to propose new wanding powers to be used by police anywhere at any time.
 
This backs in the call from the Police Association, along with the Retail Association, that these powers need to be broad.
 
I recently met with Brett and Belinda Beasley, the parents of Jack Beasley – who supported the need for these laws to be introduced as quickly as possible, and for them to be wide ranging as possible.
 
I know that people right across our community will support these actions – because at the end of the day people want our streets safe. They want these knives and weapons off our streets. Just like random breath testing reduced drink driving and so the road toll, random wanding can reduce the carrying of knives and therefore knife crime.
 
We welcome the first step taken by the Government, but we’re disappointed that the proposed laws don’t go further as we have called for. We’ll be pursuing this further, to back in our police and keep our communities safe.
 
The NSW Opposition will seek to have these new laws reviewed in the future to determine if they’re sufficient and strong enough to keep our streets safe.
 
Bail reform
 
Like Jack’s Law, the Opposition has also led on the need for commonsense bail reform here in NSW.
 
We know that the Government’s response to violence against women and children needs to be holistic and far broader than just bail reform, but bail reform now is an important start – and the time to act is now.
 
Reform is needed to keep the most serious of domestic and family violence offenders off our streets – or under strict electronic monitoring.
 
We know electronic monitoring works. In 2016 we started the Domestic Violence Electronic Monitoring Program for convicted offenders on parole or intensive corrections orders. After we left government, last year BOCSAR published its analysis of around 1,000 offenders and found that electronic monitoring was associated with a 33% reduction in domestic violence reoffending. It now makes sense to extend it to bail – and it’s critical that we act now.
 
So earlier this month the NSW Opposition introduced into Parliament our Bail Amendment (Serious Personal Violence and Electronic Monitoring) Bill 2024, to strengthen bail laws in NSW. It proposes electronic monitoring for those on bail charged with serious domestic violence offences, a stay of the grant of bail for those on bail charged with serious domestic violence offences and magistrates not registrars dealing with bail for serious personal violence changes.
 
We’re pleased that the Government’s subsequent announcement on bail reform picks up those ideas. We’re happy to have our homework copied. However we’re disappointed that the Government didn’t support our efforts last week to suspend the business of Parliament to work constructively with it to pass their new bail laws.
 
We sincerely hope that consideration of these new laws are the top priority when Parliament resumes next month.
 
We know that too much of your time is taken up responding to cases of domestic and family violence.
 
The Opposition stands ready to work constructively to get these new laws passed – both in response to knife crime and domestic violence.
 
It’s what people expect of their Parliament – and it’s the least we can do to ensure you have the tools and powers to do your job.
 
Conclusion
 
To conclude, I can say with confidence that my team backs the Police 100%.
 
We value the important job you do.
 
We’re here to work with you.
 
And we’re here to ensure you can do the job to the best of your ability.
 
In politics we often talk about priorities.
 
The first priority of the Liberals and Nationals will always be to keep our citizens safe.
 
And you’re on the front line in that objective. We know this. And we’ll continue to support the NSW Police, every day.
 
Thank you again.

Motorists in some of the most car-reliant parts of NSW, including western Sydney and the Central Coast, are benefiting most from the first year of the NSW Government’s demerit point return trial that rewards safe driving.

Data broken down by local government area (LGA) shows the Central Coast was the single biggest beneficiary, with 54,971 drivers having a demerit point removed from their licence.

Overall, more than 1.2 million drivers qualified for the demerit point reward for maintaining a spotless record during the initial 12-month period up to 16 January 2024.

Five of the top 10 LGAs were in Sydney’s west where workers and families rely heavily on their cars compared to other parts of the city served by established public transport alternatives.

The LGAs of Blacktown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Liverpool, Parramatta, The Hills, Penrith and Fairfield, have received a total of 290,287 demerit points wiped.

Western Sydney has a disproportionately higher number of people who rely on a driver’s licence for their livelihood, including taxi, rideshare and delivery drivers.

LGA	Number of drivers who received a demerit point wiped
Central Coast	54971
Blacktown	52511
Canterbury-Bankstown	49258
Northern Beaches	46529
Sutherland	36460
Cumberland	35539
Liverpool	35233
Lake Macquarie	33815
Wollongong	31937
The Hills	31526

Northern Beaches motorists have qualified for 46,529 points back, while Lake Macquarie, Wollongong and Sutherland each have more than 30,000 motorists rewarded.

Outside the larger centres, the demerit trial has been just as enthusiastically embraced, with almost 1400 people getting the reward in Bogan, Bourke, Brewarrina and Broken Hill combined.

The demerit return trial has been extended for a second year as the NSW Government continues to sharpen its focus on road safety in 2024 amid a rising road toll across Australia. Other measures include:

• removing a loophole to force all motorists driving on a foreign licence to convert to a NSW licence within six months
• the introduction of seatbelt enforcement by existing mobile phone detection cameras from July 1
• doubling roadside enforcement sites used for mobile speed cameras, with the addition of 2700 new locations where a camera can be deployed. Enforcement hours will remain the same
• hosting the state’s first Road Safety Forum of international and local experts.

The NSW Government draws on industry innovation to improve road safety, including world-first mobile phone detection cameras that from 1 July will begin enforcing the use of seatbelts.

Minister for Roads John Graham said:

“The reward of a demerit point removed is most valuable in areas where people depend on their car to get to work and to get their families around like in western Sydney, the Central Coast and our regional areas.

“If you drive for a living then the reward for safe driving could be the difference between ongoing employment and losing your livelihood.

“People are used to the stick of enforcement and double demerits but this is the carrot of reward for good behaviour.

“Every demerit point wiped from a licence under this trial is the result of a full 12 months of safe driving by a motorist on NSW roads.

“This is what we need at a time when fatalities on our roads have been rising just as they are in all other states and territories.

Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison said:

“Many people in regional NSW depend on driving for their livelihood or just to get around and often do not have public transport options at all.

“The reward of a demerit point being removed will be meaningful to those people.

“This trial is unapologetically about encouraging safer driving and that’s exactly what we need in the regions where we have a third of the state’s population but more than two-thirds of all road fatalities.

“It’s good to see thousands of drivers from Albury to the Tweed, to Broken Hill and everywhere in between is being rewarded for their safe driving.”

The NSW Government will host a social media summit to address the increasing harm online platforms are having on children and young people.

Scheduled for October 2024, the summit will bring together senior officials, policy makers, academics, as well as representatives from other jurisdictions, leading social media platforms and digital technologies.

The summit will aim to examine the latest evidence and develop a response to growing community concern about the mental health impacts of social media, especially for young kids.

The NSW Government recognises that social media platforms provide benefits through increased access to social connection, however there is also a significant body of evidence detailing negative impacts on young people.

A study found that adolescents who spent more than 3 hours per day on social media faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, including symptoms of depression and anxiety._¹

Young people also have significant safety concerns in the online environment relating to contact from unknown people, privacy issues, cyberbullying, and security:

• 31% of 16 to 19-year-old Australians report being victims of image-based sexual abuse²
• Around 66% of young Australians expect to encounter privacy or security issues³ and 
• 85% think it’s likely they will have negative interactions with strangers.⁴ 

The summit will provide an opportunity for the NSW Government to hear from a wide range of experts and importantly, from young people to understand what can be done to support safety and wellbeing.

NSW community members will be invited to add their voice to the conversation on social media through the Have Your Say platform in the lead up to the summit.

The NSW Government will collectively use the findings to inform any regulatory and legislative changes.

The summit is one of many measures the NSW Government is putting in place to minimise the negative impacts of social media and devices on young people including:

• A mobile phone ban in all NSW public schools implemented in October 2023
• A $2.5 million research fund to investigate the impacts of excessive screen time, video games and mobile phone use on young people and their learning
• Recruiting 250 additional school counsellors as part of the NSW Labor Government’s election commitment to student wellbeing
• A review into evidenced-based practice and school policy which can address school student’s online behaviour, led by NSW Chief Behaviour Advisor Professor Donna Cross.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said:

“I know the biggest issue facing parents is kids access and exposure to devices and social media – it’s certainly a conversation happening in my own household.

“I hear from parents all the time – they are worried about their kids seeing something they can’t unsee, online bullying, online predators, and the general increase in anxiety about what other friends say, do and show on their on social media.

“I’m convinced we need more conversations and solutions for parents, schools and communities about how to manage this. This summit will bring together experts and parents alike to talk about what more we can do to protect the wellbeing of our children.”

NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said:

“Young people are accessing social media earlier and earlier, which is why it is vital we facilitate a discussion about what is the best path forward.

“Many families are concerned about the impact social media has on their children – whether that be on their schooling, or their mental health.

“Banning mobile phones in public schools has been a positive start for NSW and it’s important we also look at the broader impact of social media.”

Minister for Youth Rose Jackson said:

“It’s critical that young people are part of shaping the social media conversation in NSW – from what they love about it, to what isn’t working.

“We know young people are prolific on social media – these channels are important to platform ideas and build communities. In turn, issues such as body image, increased anxiety and bullying are common themes young people are exposed to.

“There is substantial evidence that social media harms young people’s mental health and safety. It is our job to step up to help protect young people. We will collaborate with the next generation to help strike a better balance and to ensure the views of young people are included in these important reforms.”

References:

1. Riehm, K, Feder, K and Tormohlen, K 2019, ‘Associations between time spent using social media and internalizing and externalizing problems among US youth‘, JAMA Psychiatry, vol. 76, no. 12, pp.1217-1319.
2. Australian Institute of Criminology 2019, ‘Image-based sexual abuse: Victims and perpetrators‘, Trends & issues in criminal justice, No. 572 March 2019.
3. Moody, L, Marsden, L, Nguyen, B & Third, A 2021, ‘Consultations with young people to inform the eSafety Commissioner’s Engagement Strategy for Young People‘, Young and Resilient Research Centre, Western Sydney University: Sydney.
4. Ibid