ADJOURNMENT NOTES- 8 JULY 2020

Welcome to Adjournment Notes.

We have finished the first half Parliamentary term and are into the winter recess in July. We started the year with catastrophic bushfires and now dealing with the impact of COVID-19 and being ever vigilant against a second wave of the deadly disease.

In the last 24 hours the Premier has announced the closure of the border with Victoria in response to alarming levels of community transmission in that State. I like everyone else share the concern for our Victorian friends and hope that this is brought under control rapidly.

I hear nothing but praise for our Premier and her leadership through both the fires and the pandemic. Our state is truly blessed to have such a great leader and a good, strong, stable Liberal National Coalition Government.

Some 'normality' of Parliament returned for the final weeks and we are now attending to various Upper House inquires. I continue my work on various committees including the Inquiry into Koala Populations, Inquiry into the Proposal to raise the Warragamba Dam Wall, Inquiry into the Operation of the Point to Point Transport (Taxis and Hire Vehicles) Act 2016, Inquiry into the State Records Act and Inquiry into Gay and Transgender Hate Crimes the last two of which I Chair.

In this edition of Adjournment notes, the highlight for me is the visit by Minister Kean to the Blue Mountains National Park.

As always, if I can ever be of any assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

NSW TO CLOSE ITS BORDER WITH VICTORIA

The closure will be effective from 12.01am Wednesday, 8 July and follows the concerning spread of COVID-19 in Melbourne.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian stated that: “The people of NSW have done an incredible job to help stop the spread of COVID-19, allowing us to open up our economy. The outbreak of cases we are seeing in Victoria is putting these gains at risk. I do not take this step lightly, but have always said we will do what we must to protect the health and jobs of NSW residents.”

There will be provisions in place for residents of border regions, such as Albury-Wodonga.

Special conditions will be in place for freight operations and other critical services.

For further information, please visit the NSW Government website.

VISIT TO THE BLUE MOUNTAINS WITH ENVIRONMENT MINISTER KEAN

Some days are pretty special in this job. Last week was a good one, spending the day with my mate Minister for the Environment and Energy Matt Kean in the Blue Mountains.

It was very special to attend the naming ceremony of the Ngula Bulgarabang Regional Park formerly known as the Radiata Plateau. Ngula Bulgarabang translates to "a very large forest" and covers 300 hectares near Katoomba and includes some of the last undeveloped ship-shaped rocky headlands in that area of the western escarpment.

We were also delighted to visit the National Parks teams rebuilding the cliff top walk at Wentworth Falls. This will become a major tourist attraction. The funding of this rebuild was an election commitment last year and is already being delivered. The enthusiasm and skills of the NPWS teams are inspiring.

I was honoured to meet the team who saved the world-famous Wollemi Pines from destruction during the record-breaking bushfires in NSW earlier this year. I took this time to thank them for their bravery and hard work.

While most of the Wollemi National Park had been burnt by the huge Gospers Mountain Fire north-west of Sydney, specialist remote-area fire crews managed to ensure the so-called "dinosaur trees" survived. You can read more about their mission here.

Speaking with Minister Kean about Ngula Bulgarabang Regional Park formerly known as the Radiata Plateau.

PRIVATE MEMBERS STATEMENT- GREAT WESTERN HIGHWAY UPGRADE- BLACKHEATH

Speaking in Parliament on the Great Western Highway Upgrade in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains.

I was pleased to continue to inform the House on progress on the Great Western Highway in the Blue Mountains and took the opportunity to call on Labor to stop playing politics when I spoke in Parliament.

I outlined to the Chamber that Blackheath is being treated as a separate strategic study area where Transport for NSW wants to work with the community to co-design route options.

The Design Committee is not a decision-making or regulatory body and that it performs an advisory and consultative role only. The final decision will be made by the State Government, with recommendations from this Committee contributing to the decision-making process.

The Design Committee is a consultative mechanism developed by professionals to take the political heat and game playing out of this process.

I find it disappointing that local Labor is not showing leadership and is instead politicising this upgrade and the co-design committee.

Calling the Design Committee a ‘puppet of Transport NSW’ and a ‘sham’ and a ‘farce’ is a truly disappointing lack of leadership from Labor.

It is typical Labor. Opposing billion dollar infrastructure projects that will provide not only safety upgrades for the people of the Blue Mountains but also jobs and investment amidst a global pandemic.

The Berejiklian government is committed to the Great Western Highway upgrade and will deliver it for the people of the Blue Mountains and Central West.

SCHOOL CURRICULUM OVERHAUL

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister Sarah Mitchell MLC launched the NSW Government plan to overhaul the NSW school curriculum to improve standards this week.

It is the biggest shake up to the NSW curriculum in more than 30 years.

Changes to the curriculum will start from next year and by 2022, new and strong foundations in literacy and numeracy for Kindergarten to Year 2 will be implemented.

By 2024, the new curriculum for all years will be ready with a less cluttered syllabuses for middle years and strong paths into further education and careers for senior years.

Further information is at the curriculum review homepage:
www.nswcurriculumreview.nesa.nsw.edu.au/

Authorised by Shayne Mallard, Liberal Party of Australia NSW Division, 100 William Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Copyright © 2020 Hon. Shayne Mallard MLC , All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:

Hon. Shayne Mallard MLC
Parliament House
6 Macquarie Street, Sydney
NSW 2000

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