from Leslie Williams MP

March 2012

Community NewsMember for Port Macquarie

Better Boating Facilities

Improving Local Transport Infrastructure

Leslie Williams, Member for Port Macquarieaddress Macquarie Business Centre, Suite 6, 27 Grant Street, Port Macquarie NSW 2444 phone 02 6584 0977 fax 02 6584 0978

email portmacquarie@parliament.nsw.gov.au website www.parliament.nsw.gov.au

Electorate Tour

I’ll be undertaking another local electorate tour on Tuesday 24th April to meet local residents at Kew, Dunbogan, Bonny Hills and Lake Cathie.

Meetings will be held at the following locations:

9.30am Kew Kew Corner Store

10.45am Dunbogan Dunbogan Boat Shed

12.30pm Bonny Hills In front of the Bonny Hills Surf Club

2.00pm Lake Cathie At the Foreshore Reserve picnic shelter

Authorised by Leslie Williams. Printed by Uptin Print, 16-20 Milton Circuit, Port Macquarie NSW 2444. Funded using parliamentary entitlements.

A number of local boat ramps are being upgraded following State Government Better Boating Program grants to Port Macquarie-Hastings Council.

The grants of $81,300 were awarded to Council as part of the 50/50 funding grants program. The funding included $44,500 to upgrade the North Haven Boat Ramp and install a new pontoon with the Westport Park Boat Ramp also being upgraded and a new pontoon installed with the State allocating $36,800 for the project.

The NSW Government is delivering better local transport infrastructure services with $120,000 provided to improve bus shelters through the Country Passenger Transport Infrastructure Grants Scheme.

The funding will help deliver 12 accessible weather-proof bus shelters in the Hastings area, as proposed by the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council. This is good news for local public transport passengers as these improvements will provide benefits for years to come.

These projects provide practical public transport improvements that local communities use every day. Each bus stop will include a safe, weather-proof sheltered area which accommodates wheelchair and mobility scooter users

Both existing boat ramps will be widened with new on-ramp/down the middle pontoons installed. This is great news for people who use these recreational facilities.

These grants are part of more than $4.5 million in grants to provide new and improved boating facilities across NSW. It is estimated that more than 1.5 million people go boating in NSW each year and making access to our waterways safer and more convenient is good news for the community.

when waiting to use public transport.

Bus stop locations include Bold St, Laurieton, Ocean Drive at North Haven and Lake Cathie, and Fernhill Rd, Marian Drive, Morton St, Ocean Drive, Oxley Drive and Sherwood Rd in Port Macquarie.

The opening of the new Oxley Highway in early February has greatly reduced travelling times to and from Port Macquarie. The new gateway to our area has been welcomed by the local community as well as visitors to the Hastings.

This is a project which has been a long time coming and to see it finally open to traffic is a big win for our community. The NSW Government funded the $115 million project which is a six kilometre upgrade of the Oxley Highway between Wrights Road and the Pacific Highway. When I was elected in March last year, one of the first things I requested was an inspection of the project to see how construction was taking shape. It was great to see the work in its final stages.

Our community waited many years for this upgrade to come to fruition with everyone now saying the wait was worth it. The project has delivered major benefits to the community through reduced travel times and improved road safety for motorists travelling from Wauchope and surrounding areas into Port Macquarie.

The road was jointly opened on the 7th of February by the Hon Duncan Gay Minister for Roads and Ports and Hon Andrew Stoner Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional Infrastructure and Service.

Oxley Highway Opening It is now 12 months since I was elected as the Member for Port Macquarie to represent our community and in that time I believe we have seen some very good results for our local electorate.

Westport Park is now very much in public ownership and can never be developed, a public school will be built at Lake Cathie and will open in time for first term 2015, the upgraded Oxley Highway is finally open to traffic, work has started on the redevelopment of Port Macquarie Base Hospital and we hosted the Premier and Ministers for a Community Cabinet meeting in Port Macquarie in July.

These are all significant milestones that mean so much to so many people in our community and I am very pleased with these outcomes. I am also extremely pleased with the many smaller projects my office staff and I have worked on during the past year.

Being a Local Member isn’t just about delivering big dollar projects, it’s also about representing the wishes of your community, being the conduit between people and Parliament and it’s about achieving outcomes for the community, no matter how big or small they may seem.

There is still a lot of work to be done right across the Port Macquarie electorate, but I think my staff and I have made a strong start and I will continue to work hard for this community that I am so privileged to represent.

Leslie Williams Member for Port Macquarie

“We have seen some very good results for our local electorate.”

Leslie with local fishermen at North Haven.

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council General Manager, Tony Hayward, Port Macquarie resident Betty Cleary and Leslie Williams in Morton Street.

Leslie with residents of The Haven Retirement Village on a recent electorate tour.

The opening of the Oxley Highway drew a big crowd!

Blood Donors Save Lives

Arts Funding for Lord Howe Island

The Australian Red Cross Blood Service is urging people to book in now and become a blood donor, particularly with the Easter holidays approaching when there is often a greater need for blood products.

I have been a blood donor for many years and with the extra demand for blood supplies during the holidays I will again be donating blood. Every time you give blood you are helping to save three lives. I am encouraging people in our local community to also give up an hour of their day to give the gift of life. You never know when it may be a loved one in need of a blood transfusion.

One in three Australians will need blood at some stage in their life, but only one in 30 people actually donate. The need for blood never takes a holiday. Every week more than 27,000 donations are required to help patients in need.

Without donations of blood, Australia risks running very low on platelets which are crucial to help cancer patients, so making the effort to donate is a very worthwhile way of helping other people in our local community.

For people living in Wauchope or the Camden Haven area, Busways provide a free bus pass to Port Macquarie for people from those centres on the day they give blood which is a real incentive for people. Thank you Busways!

To find out more information or to donate blood, please call 13 14 95 or visit www.donateblood.com.au

The Lord Howe Island Historical Society and Museum is benefiting from $60,000 in State Government funding for the creative development and public presentation of an interactive display on the geology and biogeography of Lord Howe Island.

The funding is part of the $1.6 million allocation to support the creation and presentation of works across NSW under the 2012 Arts Funding Program. The grant will enable the Museum to develop and present an informative, dynamic, interactive display depicting the volcanic formation of Lord Howe Island, its sedimentary geology and associated fossil records including the giant horned turtle Meiolania platyceps.

Lord Howe Island is such a unique paradise on our doorstep. Just two hours by plane, it is the perfect getaway and I encourage anyone thinking about a relaxing destination to consider exploring Lord Howe Island for their next holiday.

Local Schools Funding

Bus Services Review

Harrington Public School was the first school in the Port Macquarie electorate to receive a building upgrade under the State Government’s $40 million Public School Upgrade Program.

The school has received a total of $109,000 from the program which was an election commitment made by the Liberal & Nationals Government. I’m very pleased the Government has been able to start delivering on this promise so quickly.

Harrington Public School was allocated $106,000 for a toilet renovation project and a further $3,051 for minor repairs. Plans are now well underway for the upgrade which I inspected last month.

In line with the Government’s commitment to increase decision making at a local level, the Principal and the community were able to identify facilities for upgrading with schools also able to self-manage the projects.

Work on some projects will be carried out during school holidays so students, teachers and parents will start benefiting from these improvements in the near future.

I congratulate Principal Mike Roze and the teachers and students of Harrington Public School.

Last month the Minister for Transport, Gladys Berejiklian announced that a review of bus services in the Port Macquarie region would be conducted and that it will be thorough and will include community feedback.

The Minister said the comprehensive review of bus services for Port Macquarie, operated by Busways, will take place in May and input from the community will be integral to this process.

I highlighted the need for a review to Minister Berejiklian following a steady increase in concerns at the level of bus services being offered to our local community. This is in no way a reflection on local Busways staff, it is simply the need for a review of the current services being offered.

It is important that we get the community’s views on all aspects of bus services including all bus routes, timetabling, school pick up and drop off times as well as the school bus interchange locations.

Some local residents feel they have to walk too far to wait for a bus and with Port Macquarie’s hills I can understand that it may prove difficult for some people. So looking at which routes are being utilised and where improvements can be made is something I would like to see.

While the review would look mainly at Busways services, I am also keen to hear from people in the southern part of the electorate who are concerned with their local bus services.

We want to make sure that bus services meet the needs of the community and I encourage everyone to provide feedback. The review will look at the latest population figures, supplied from the 2011 Census, as well as current numbers to ensure buses are running frequently enough and are taking people to where they need to go.

The community will be given ample time to provide feedback during the review process.

Leslie Williams with students Harry Cassar, Jake Jackson, Abbie Davis and Principal Mike Roze

Happy Lord Howe Island residents receive funding grant.

Local Busways Manager, Tom Burton, Leslie Williams and Andrew Stoner

With the Australian Red Cross calling for more people to help bolster blood supplies, I encourage anyone in our community suitable of giving blood to become a blood donor.