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The Minns Labor Government has established a new Expert Taskforce to oversee and help address silica related health risks for workers in tunnelling projects.

The Taskforce, made up of government, medical, industry and union representatives, will provide expert guidance to prevent and manage silica and other dust related disease associated with tunnelling projects in NSW.

Major tunnelling projects present heightened risks for silica-related lung disease.

Tunnelling is vital to the transformation of the States civil infrastructure, which includes road and rail networks, to ensure New South Wales is a modern and globally competitive place to live, work and do business.

Four broad areas of action have been identified to help focus and guide the work of the Taskforce including:

Better use of data with more transparent access

Under the program, project persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must ensure worker access to workplace air monitoring data with SafeWork NSW to make exceedance notification date publicly available and use the data to guide regulatory reform. SafeWork NSW will also partner with the Dust Diseases Board to establish data-driven research.

Improved health monitoring

Improved health monitoring will help to protect worker’s long-term health and safety. It will also play a key role in informing a continual improvement process for businesses and regulators in dealing with silica dust work health and safety risks. The Government’s commitment to the silica worker register is a key initiative to support improved health monitoring for workers.

Best practice Work Health and Safety controls

SafeWork NSW will review and revise the Tunnels Under Construction Code of Practice to guide industry and workers on best practice control measures. Major tunnelling PCBU will regularly meet to share information and experience, and to establish a consistent best practice benchmark across the industry.

Enhanced compliance

SafeWork NSW will maintain and reinforce dedicated resources to monitor tunnelling and silica respirable crystalline silica dust results to enable optimal work health and safety.

It will also develop a tunnelling project silica compliance assessment to establish a clear set of criteria on which to assess the safety performance of projects to assist strengthened application of suitable controls to manage risk.

SafeWork NSW has surged additional staff into the Silica Task Force (STF) team, which is undertaking compliance activities in all tunnels under construction in NSW. Eight inspectors from the STF are undertaking these regular visits.

On January 1, 2025, the Minns Labor government welcomed the ban on the importation of engineered stone products to protect the future health and safety of workers.

The national import ban covers engineered stone benchtops, slabs and panels with silica content of more than one percent.

This follows the world-first domestic ban on the use, supply and manufacture of engineered stone products in Australia that started on 1 July last year.

The ban prohibits the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs containing at least 1% silica.

The Minns Labor Government led the campaign for the national ban, vowing it was prepared to act unilaterally, ahead of an agreement being reached across the Commonwealth.

The NSW government is funding a team of dedicated silica safety inspectors to ensure businesses are complying with the strengthened laws. 

Since September, the $2.5 million investment has seen a Silica Compliance Team conduct 140 inspections, handing out three fines totalling almost $10,000 for non-compliance. More than 125 improvement notices have been issued and seven prohibition notices in workplaces.

The moves aim to safeguard workers from silicosis, a lung disease caused by respirable crystalline silica, which tragically has led to several deaths.

Silicosis is caused by items with a high silica content such as engineered stone. Engineered stone is a common item used in kitchen benchtops.

The Minns Labor government has pledged $5 million in critical funding for silicosis research and a patient support program for individuals and their families navigating the health risks associated with exposure to silica dust.

The grant funding, administered collaboratively by icare and the Dust Diseases Board, will be provided over three years to the Asbestos and Dust Diseases Research Institute (ADDRI).

In addition, the icare Lung mobile lung clinic provides specialised lung health assessments to current and retired workers who are at risk of developing a workplace dust disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis or silicosis.

In 2025, the Lung Bus will travel right around the state, including stops in Taree, Tuncurry, Lake Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Tweed Heads, Wollongong, Shellharbour, Nowra, Bathurst, Dubbo, Griffith, Newcastle and Tamworth.

More information on the full list of Lung Bus destinations can be found here.

https://www.icare.nsw.gov.au/injured-or-ill-people/work-related-dust-disease/services-and-support/lung-screening-service/workers-mobile-clinic-lung-bus-bookings-for-workers

More information on crystalline silica and the new safety requirements can be found here:

www.safework.nsw.gov.au/hazards-a-z/hazardous-chemical/priority-chemicals/crystalline-silica#new-safety-requirements

Minister for Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis said:

“The Minns Labor Government is committed to addressing silica dust work health and safety risks to protect workers. The Taskforce will give the community confidence that we have the right experience and expertise in the same room to guide the response to this risk.

“I welcome the important work of the expert taskforce to protect the health and safety of workers. We have identified areas which will be addressed in a co-ordinated, transparent process which will help create safer workplaces.”

SafeWork NSW Acting Deputy Secretary Trent Curtin said:

“SafeWork NSW is committed to maintaining leading practices to protect the workers of this State and is looking forward to working together with experts across Government, industry, unions and health to address this issue.

“SafeWork NSW will continue to work with industry to ensure compliance with existing safety standards and that workers are being protected against any potential exposure to silica dust.”

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey will host global superannuation leaders in Sydney in the second half of this year, following the success of an inaugural gathering of the Australian sector in the US last week.

The Sydney Superannuation Summit will build on the NSW capital’s steadily growing position as the financial hub of the Asia Pacific.

Last week’s landmark Australian Superannuation International Summit, hosted by US Ambassador Kevin Rudd in Washington and New York, brought together Australia’s biggest funds to showcase their potential on the world stage.

Together the Australian funds invest $631.6 billion into the US economy.

Financial leaders addressing the summit included US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

NSW Treasury Corp chief executive David Deverall told the gathering how Sydney’s status as the financial services hub of the Asia Pacific had evolved.

Mr Deverall said Sydney’s economic strength was underpinned by a strong investment pipeline, a large skilled workforce and advanced digital infrastructure.

He said that Sydney is home to the country’s biggest banks, and that it dominates Australia’s venture capital and private equity activity in Australia.

Nearly 60 per cent of Australian venture capital is in NSW. Mr Deverall told the summit Sydney’s advanced digital infrastructure and willingness to embrace innovation had made it an attractive place for businesses to start and grow.

Sydney produces half of Australia’s business “unicorns”, or those valued above USD$1 billion, and almost three quarters of those on the way to reaching that threshold. 

It is a world leader in research output per capita, a strength which plays into its financial and tech workforce and is reflected in a steady supply of qualified graduates from its universities.

It is ranked fourth in the world as the most popular investment destination for foreign investors, after Dubai, London and Singapore, according to Investment Monitor.

Australian superannuation funds manage a total $4 trillion in assets.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said:

“The Sydney Superannuation Summit will leverage our strength as the financial hub of the Asia Pacific.

“Half of Australia’s businesses unicorns were born right here in NSW.  They’ve been able to grow because of the high value we place on innovation and technological development.

“Sydney ranks in the top five of the most popular investment destinations around the world.  Our Summit is an opportunity to harness that momentum.”

Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) constructing the mega Sydney Metro West tunnels have made a smashing entrance 24-metres below the surface at the Clyde Metro junction caverns.

This latest milestone means that over 80 per cent of the 24-kilometre twin metro railway tunnels for this city-shaping project that the Minns Labor Government is using to drive housing uplift has been completed.

TBM Dorothy broke through the solid rock walls to arrive at the giant junction caverns last month, after spending three months tunnelling 1.1 kilometres from Clyde.

TBM Betty was tracking slightly ahead, arriving at Clyde junction caverns in December last year. TBM Betty spent seven weeks traversing the cavern is now tunnelling towards Parramatta.

This junction cavern at Clyde will play a critical role in the Sydney Metro network as it connects the metro tunnels with the above ground stabling and maintenance facility, where the network’s new fleet of trains will be housed when not in service.

Since starting their westward tunnelling journey in September 2024, TBMs Betty and Dorothy have been working around the clock to excavate about 200 metres of tunnel each week.

So far, the TBMs have carved out 5.7-kilometres of twin tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and Clyde, removing more than 1.1 million tonnes of material, equivalent to about 180 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Along the way, the TBMs have installed more than 41,000 precast concrete segments to line the new tunnel walls. Each precast segment weighs about 3.8 tonnes, with six segments pieced together to form one ring around the tunnel.

Both TBMs will now build a further 1.1-kilometre section of tunnels to reach the site of the future Parramatta Metro Station by mid-year.

This project will double rail capacity between the Sydney CBD and Parramatta CBD which is why the Minns Labor Government has modified planning controls around a number of these new stations to turbocharge the delivery of new housing.

Housing is the largest cost most people are facing and the NSW Government is getting more homes built near public transport, improving affordability, reducing building and infrastructure costs and building a better NSW.

For more information, visit sydneymetro.info/west/project-overview.

Premier of New South Wales Chris Minns said:

“This is another huge step forward as we deliver the largest new public transport project Western Sydney has seen in generations while also turbocharging the delivery of new homes.

“These fast and reliable new metro services will double rail capacity between the Sydney CBD and Parramatta and will be a gamechanger, getting more people around our city faster.

“I want to thank the thousands of workers who have gotten this project to this point and will be working around the clock until Australia’s largest public transport project is opened.”

Minister for Transport John Graham said:

“Like their standout namesakes, these huge tunnelling machines are breaking new ground, which will have a lasting impact and transform the way Sydney’s west moves for generations to come.

“The TBMs are headed for Parramatta, Sydney’s second biggest business district, as they continue to carve out this game-changing new railway line that is expected to move 30,000 passengers every hour during the morning peak when it opens in 2032.

Warrawong is ready for an additional 1,300 well-located homes following the approval of new planning controls for Warrawong Plaza.

The planning proposal at 43-65 Cowper Street, Warrawong, increases the maximum building height from eight to approximately 22 storeys which paves the way for the master planned mixed-use development to provide up to 1,300 new homes, with 15 per cent set aside as affordable housing for at least 15 years.

This project is another example of the NSW Government helping to increase supply as the housing crisis continues to be the biggest issue facing the state.

The rezoning will add a minimum of 6,500 square metres of publicly accessible open space, along with pedestrian links to Cowper Street and Northcliffe Drive, and Warrawong Plaza will continue to operate on the site.

A new bus interchange has been added to the proposal following community feedback during the project’s public exhibition in June and July 2024.

The proposal’s first homes could be built by 2028, which will help meet the Illawarra’s growing housing needs.  Trading will continue at Warrawong Plaza during construction.

The proposal comes as Illawarra residents’ ideas help shape the Master Plan for the future of the 32-hectare Warrawong Parklands and around 100 construction jobs that will flow from the NSW Government’s approval of BlueScope’s $200 million Plate Mill refurbishment at nearby Port Kembla.

Future development applications that are more than $60 million will be assessed by the Department and will be subject to design excellence requirements.

This is part of the Minns Labor Government’s plan to build a better NSW with a greater choice of homes, so young people, families and workers have somewhere to live in the communities they choose.

For more information, visit the planning proposal webpage. 

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces and Member for Wollongong Paul Scully said:

“The Warrawong Plaza and transport hub offers an ideal infill development opportunity to deliver more well-located homes and affordable housing in this changing suburb.

“This is an ideal location close to Kully Bay Park, Lake Illawarra and a short drive from Port Kembla’s Beach Pavilion.  

“Adding new homes will benefit young people, families and key local workers while also offering existing shops with increased customers and the potential for new businesses in the Warrawong CBD.”

Applications are open for the NSW Government’s 2025 Anzac Memorial Veteran Artist in Residence program offering up to $10,000 for a contemporary veteran or group of veterans to engage with the Anzac Memorial and the broader community through art.

The program gives veterans an opportunity to share their experience and stories of military service with the wider community through their chosen medium, while furthering their growth as artists.

Open to those who have served in the Australian Defence Force, Veteran Artist in Residence celebrates the Anzac Memorial’s intent as an active space for veterans and their families.

It recognises the collaboration, self-discipline, innovation and creativity that goes into being an artist along with the positive impact on health, wellbeing and connectivity. Launched in 2019, the program has produced a vast collection of trench art, paintings, music and poetry.

The inaugural Veteran Artist in Residence, Cory Rinaldi, is an Army veteran of Malaysia, East Timor and Iraq.

During his residency, he painted a series of works exploring the Memorial’s architecture as well as his experience of military service.

His residency culminated in an exhibition of 18 paintings and the program was recognised as the winner of the 2022 Innovation & Resilience Award at Museum & Galleries NSW’s IMAGinE Awards.

2024 Veteran Artist in Residence, Domenic Bartolo’s artwork shares the stories behind local war memorials in Sydney. Visit the Anzac Memorial’s Auditorium to view this https://www.anzacmemorial.nsw.gov.au/event/veteran-artist-residence-exhibition

This is the third time the Residency has been offered. Applications close on 24 March with more information available here: https://www.anzacmemorial.nsw.gov.au/about/veteran-artist-residence

Minister for Veterans David Harris said:

“The Anzac Memorial is a physical expression of the spirit and legend of the Anzac. A special place for the veteran community to come together and reflect on service and sacrifice and to share their knowledge and experience with us.

“The Veteran Artist in Residence is a wonderful opportunity for veterans to pursue their artistic dreams and tell their story while immersing themselves in the architecture and history of the Anzac Memorial.

Inaugural Anzac Memorial Veteran Artist in Residence Cory Rinaldi said:

“The Residency at the Memorial enabled me to heal. It gave me purpose again and once more made me feel part of a team since leaving the military.

“The Residency challenged my artistic parameters and encouraged me to paint outside of my comfort zone. For someone who suffers from PTSD, that’s a big deal.”

The NSW Government today announced that the State’s Fish, the Eastern Blue groper, will continue to be protected following scientific advice and community feedback.

Consequently, the no-line fishing prohibition, implemented 12 months ago, will continue for a further three years from 1 March 2025 to enable further research and monitoring on the species.

This decision combines with the long-term existing prohibition on spearfishing and commercial fishing of the Eastern Blue Groper to continue the temporary prohibition of line fishing.

This decision has been taken after the Government considered a range of important factors including recently published scientific information that raised concerns about the potential impacts of climate change and that caution should be taken in managing the species due to their unique biological traits.

The State’s Fish holds a special place for many people and communities, and this has also contributed to the decision to continue the fishing prohibition of the iconic Eastern Blue Groper.

This decision aligns with the situation in Victoria where for a long period of time there has been a prohibition of line fishing, spear fishing and commercial fishing for the Blue Groper.

The Government is committed to the sound management of our fisheries resources while also enabling the important activity of recreational fishing to be undertaken along the coast and inland waters of NSW.

Steps were taken early last year by the Government to ensure the protection of the State’s Fish, by placing a 12 month prohibition on line fishing for the fish, so research could be done to ascertain the best way to manage the Blue Groper and to enable community consultation.

The protection afforded by a prohibition on fishing was required following a community outcry on the behaviour of persons found illegally spearing the fish along the NSW coast and a concern for the sustainability of the species.

During the 12-month period of the ban, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development undertook both community engagement, comprehensive research and stock assessment of the Blue Groper.

The stock assessment concluded that the Eastern Blue Groper is in a sustainable position, however there is a risk the species is being impacted by climate change and warming waters.

The decision to continue a ban of line fishing will afford protection for the State Fish while the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development continue scientific monitoring and research of this important species, including looking at how the community can get involved through citizen science programs.

NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty said:

“NSW’s State Fish, the Eastern Blue Groper, will continue being protected after the Government considered a range of advice, community feedback and scientific research.

“There is a strong community interest in the State’s iconic Eastern Blue Groper, and there is a community expectation that we take every step possible to understand any potential impacts that climate change may be having on the species.

“Three further years of scientific monitoring will deliver a deeper level of understanding of how this wonderful fish is coping with warming conditions and what impact those conditions are having on the population, particularly in our inshore waters where people interact with the Eastern Blue Groper.

“I know some fishers will be disappointed, but I also know there are many in the NSW community, including fishers, who want this State Fish protected and that is what the Government is doing.”