16 News

NSW Labor is urging the Government to fast-track additional school counsellors in NSW schools to combat the highest levels of youth suicide in 15 years.
It follows media reports that half (50) of the 100 additional school counsellors promised by the Government will not be available until next year.
Shadow Minister for Education Prue Car said: “This is is an enormously stressful time for the community. Young people are crying out for help and they shouldn’t have to wait for it.
“Schools across NSW reopened months ago but the Government hasn’t delivered the mental health services they need.”
Shadow Minister for Mental Health Tara Moriarty used questions on notice to reveal that no additional school counsellors have been placed in schools to assist students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Communities across NSW are facing the worst incidence of youth suicide in fifteen years. The Government needs to move much faster to deliver frontline mental health services to save lives” Ms Moriarty said.

Labor is demanding the Government urgently implement the NSW Modern Slavery Act, which remains in limbo despite being passed by Parliament more than two years ago.
Representatives from more than 100 non-government organisations, faith groups, business and community members have united online for a virtual rally organised by NSW Labor, Unions NSW and Be Slavery Free. The groups and organisations are also supporting a petition to bring the issue to a debate in the NSW Parliament.
NSW Labor Leader Jodi McKay said the failure to bring this law into force is unacceptable and cannot continue.
“The Modern Slavery Act is a significant piece of legislation that brought Parliament together. It tackled modern slavery in the supply chain here in NSW and established an Anti-Slavery Commissioner and new offences on slavery,” Ms McKay said.
“All it takes is the stroke of a pen by the Premier to proclaim this bill but two years on we are still waiting. We could have been a leader in modern slavery protection in the world, instead we’re left without a state law.
“Every day this law sits idle is a day the most vulnerable in our society are at risk. This goes against the will of the Parliament and goes against the expectations of the community.”
Secretary of Unions NSW Mark Morey said:  “Many people who were already economically insecure have been made even more vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NSW Liberals must pass this legislation to address exploitation and stop modern slavery in the supply chains of the goods we purchase.”
The Co-Director of Be Slavery Free Carolyn Kitto said: “We have tried to have a conversation with the Government. We have sent a letter to the Premier with 117 signatures and have had no response.
“This act is urgently needed for people in slavery. The people who are forced to harvest cotton to make our clothes; the girls forced into early marriage; the children forced to perform unspeakable acts to be downloaded on internet; people who have their organs removed and sold. These are the people this Act protects. We need urgent action.”
Modern slavery refers to a range of exploitative practices including forced labour, debt bondage and human trafficking.  The NSW Modern Slavery Act requires companies with a turnover of more than $50 million to publicly report modern slavery statements, including details of the steps taken to eliminate slavery from their supply chains.

NSW Labor is demanding the Premier sack the Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, who today admitted the many failures of his workers compensation agency iCare.
In an extraordinary 25 minute interview on ABC Radio Sydney, Mr Perrottet was repeatedly asked if he would resign after the agency’s ‘complete, systemic failure’.
The Treasurer said he would not stand down, but said “the buck stops with me.”
NSW Labor Leader Jodi McKay said the Premier must make her Treasurer accountable and remove him immediately: “After five weeks of denials and obfuscation, this morning the Treasurer finally admitted to his catastrophic failures of iCare.  It’s the first time he’s admitted that he got it wrong and is to blame for the failures of his agency – the largest in NSW.
“Mr Perrottet said that ‘in public life you make mistakes. You’ve got to accept them, apologise and move on.’ That’s not good enough.  Dominic Perrottet has let down hundreds of thousands of businesses and more than 3 million workers.
“Our system of Government requires ministerial accountability.  The Treasurer said the buck stops with him.  He’s right. He should be sacked.  If this was a private business he wouldn’t remain in the role.
“Dominic Perrottet’s colleagues don’t trust him and neither does the community.  If the Treasurer can’t be trusted to restore integrity at iCare, how can he be trusted to manage the economic recovery?”
The Shadow Minister for Finance and Small Business Daniel Mookhey said Dominic Perrottet should be sacked for his incompetent management of iCare.
“Nothing is going to change at iCare if the Treasurer is left in charge.  If the Premier is serious about restoring confidence, it starts by removing the Treasurer and removing the Board of this organisation that has tanked the NSW workers compensation scheme.
Under Dominic Perrottet’s stewardship:
• iCare underpaid 52,000 workers up to $80 million
• iCare overpaid dodgy doctors hundreds of millions of dollars in duplicate and fraudulent payments
• iCare paid for two secret political advisors in Dominic Perotett’s personal office
• iCare in February tried to eject 17,500 workers from the workers compensation system to offset the scheme’s mounting losses
• iCare sought to hike employer premiums by 4% and introduce a ‘gap fee’ for injured workers needing to see a doctor
• iCare is under investigation for paying $22 million to insurance brokers in breach of the law
• iCare’s CEO resigned after it emerged that iCare awarded his wife a lucrative contract
• iCare’s CEO and another top executive took an undisclosed sponsored trip to Las Vegas paid for by a multi-million contractor to the agency
• iCare’s top executives took a 36 foreign trips in four years – 10 times more than SIRA, their regulator
• iCare faced an ICAC referral for handing an $11 million marketing contract to a company secretly owned by a top executive at the agency
• Treasury in September 2019 secretly cancelled an external investigation into probity and governance at iCare after the former CEO complained
• The State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) made referrals about iCare to the Independent Commission Against Corruption for further investigation
• A damning independent review found that in 46 percent of claims handled, iCare failed to follow the relevant law
• iCare organised with the Treasury a secret $4 billion bailout of the workers compensation fund for police, nurses, prison guards and teachers to stop it from collapsing
• The Treasurer was warned in May that iCare was set to lose another $850 million before COVID-19 hit the scheme even harder
• iCare racked up underwriting losses totalling $4.54 billion in the past three years
• iCare’s $3.9 billion surplus effectively disappeared, before COVID-19 affected investment returns
Despite this record Mr Perrotett told Parliament that iCare did a ‘superb’ job.
Ms McKay and Mr Mookhey said the Premier can no longer ignore the Treasurer’s massive failings and must remove him.

Labor’s Deputy Leader, Yasmin Catley MP, slammed the Premier for her comments yesterday that New South Wales and Australian manufacturing workers can’t build quality ferries, trains, buses and light rail and issued a demand for the Premier to apologise for her unforgivable public attack on local workers and businesses.
“Gladys Berejiklian is addicted to offshoring big government projects and screwing local workers and businesses out of a chance to show us what they can do,” Ms Catley said.
Under pressure for the woeful track record of botched transport projects being procured from overseas by her Government, the Premier said at a press conference on Wednesday, “Australia and New South Wales are not good at building trains, that’s why we have to purchase them”.
“This just shows how utterly ignorant and out of touch Gladys Berejiklian is when it comes to jobs and manufacturing in our state. She and her colleagues have spent the last nine years offshoring jobs and sending taxpayers’ money overseas and now she has the gall to blame our workers,” Ms Catley said.
The NSW Liberals have spent $2.7Bn on South Korean trains that don’t fit the tracks and tunnels, $1.5Bn on Indonesian ferries that don’t fit under bridges, as well as trams from Spain and France, and buses from Malaysia.
“In the middle of an economic crisis, Gladys Berejiklian’s comments are a kick in the guts to local workers. Instead of running down our local industries at press conferences, Gladys Berejiklian should be giving them the opportunity to build our new ferries and trains,” Ms Catley said.

NSW Labor will bring a Bill to Parliament to overhaul the State’s purchasing and procurement powers to support NSW jobs, industry and supply chains, help workers develop skills and grow the NSW economy out of the COVID-19 recession.
The Labor Leader Jodi McKay said: “I grew up in a rural community and had to leave to get a job. 30 years later that’s still happening. The Government must intervene, because only when rural and regional NSW is strong can the entire state thrive.”
As part of Labor’s NSW Made campaign, The NSW Jobs First Bill will bring NSW in line with other states, including Victoria and South Australia and provide a much-needed boost to economies across regional NSW.
Ms McKay said: “Government money should be spent in NSW to help kick-start the economy. This plan will bolster employment and support NSW businesses during the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression.”
“The Premier talks about economic recovery, but she doesn’t have a plan to create jobs. The NSW Government spends more than $30 billion on goods and services each year.  Every single cent of that should be helping create jobs in NSW. Every single cent should create and support industry across NSW – especially in regional NSW.”
Part of NSW Labor’s Bill is the establishment of a NSW Jobs First Advocate to advocate for businesses and industry in Government purchasing decisions, and hold suppliers to account for the NSW jobs and supply chain commitments they make.
“Just this week we discovered Indonesian-made ferries destined for Sydney Harbour are riddled with asbestos and are too tall to fit under bridges. The Government should be building these ferries in NSW.  Local manufacturing supports local jobs, which is critical to the recovery of our state. If the Premier is serious about economic recovery she will support this Bill.”
As part of this Bill, suppliers looking to win government contracts would have to submit an Industry Development Plan to outline how they’ll support NSW jobs and industries.
A proportion of jobs on major State Government projects would also go to apprentices and trainees, Indigenous Australians, disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and the long-term unemployed.
“If you spend taxpayer money responsibly, you can create jobs across the State. You can support businesses. And you can make sure there are opportunities for everyone in the workforce.”
While at Cooma where the historic Snowy 2.0 will be built, Ms McKay said the NSW Premier should be using her position at National Cabinet to make sure NSW steel and NSW jobs are at the centre of this nation-building project.
“It makes sense to buy a NSW-made product instead of using foreign steel, particularly during a recession. Every local steel industry worker employed supports another six workers in related industries.”
Since 2011, successive NSW Liberal governments have sent local jobs offshore, awarding contracts worth billions of dollars to overseas manufacturers.
These include:

• Imported steel for the International Convention Centre and Sydney Metro
• Ferries from Indonesia and China
• Buses from Germany and Malaysia
• Trains from South Korea and China
• Metros from India
• Light rail vehicles from France and Spain

“People would be shocked to know major NSW Government projects, along with most of the wind turbines and solar panels that generate energy here are mostly made from imported steel.”
“Buying local supports jobs and supports industry in NSW,” Ms McKay said. “Nowhere is this more important than across regional NSW. Labor’s plan will back NSW businesses, overhaul procurement practices, boost manufacturing capacity and strengthen the economy.
“The money Government spends is your taxpayer money. It should be spent to create jobs in NSW, not overseas.

Organisations keen to kick-start programs promoting youth engagement can now apply for up to $50,000 as part of the NSW Government’s Youth Opportunities Grants.
Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services Gareth Ward said a share of $1.5 million is available for not-for-profits, community groups and councils.
“The last 12 months have been tough for communities across our state, and these grants are an opportunity to support programs that engage young people during this critical time,” Mr Ward said.
“We want to hear about projects that encourage young people to learn new skills, meet new people and create stronger, more cohesive communities.”
The program provides one-off, time-limited grants between $10,000 and $50,000 for projects that remove barriers preventing youth from taking up new opportunities. Since the program began in 2012, Youth Opportunities has provided almost $12 million in funding to 247 projects across the state.
Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women Bronnie Taylor said more than half of last year’s grant recipients involved programs in regional and rural NSW.
“This is a fantastic way of getting projects off the ground which empower young people and encourage them to participate in their community,” Mrs Taylor said.
“Last year’s recipients included programs promoting positive mental health, job-readiness and leadership skills for Aboriginal young people.”
Not-for-profit Hear For You received funding last year for a project supporting young people who are deaf or hard of hearing to improve their communication skills.
Hear For You CEO David Brady said participants are using their new skills to raise awareness about hearing health and deafness in their local schools and communities.
“They have been working together to create content, design materials, practice their public speaking skills and deliver presentations to their peers, educational institutions and community groups,” Mr Brady said.
For more information, or to apply, visit www.youth.nsw.gov.au/youth-opportunities/.

75 years ago, the NSW Division of the Liberal Party was formed by ordinary men and women from across the state, gathering at a hall in the middle of Sydney, to fight for the principles of individual freedoms, free enterprise and equality of opportunity.
The Liberal Party brought together the United Australia, Liberal Democratic, Commonwealth and Democratic Parties, to form the most successful political force in post-war Australia.
Since winning its first by-election in Ryde in 1945, the NSW Liberal Party has been responsible for the introduction of important reforms that we take for granted today, such as the introduction of consumer laws, legal aid and compensation for victims of violent crime, critical road safety measures, the Senior’s Card and the abolition of compulsory retirement, pensioner medical and free medicines service, the Disability Services Act to guarantee the rights of all disabled people as well as the establishment of the Environment Protection Authority and the Australian Council for the Arts.
Through it all, Liberal Governments have advocated responsible economic policies and successfully fought to remove restrictions on small businesses and develop policies to help them compete, as well as protect homeowners, and ensure orderly migration.
NSW Division State President, the Hon Philip Ruddock AO, said “while our office-bearers and parliamentary representatives have changed, the underlying values of the Liberal Party are rock solid.”
“Our mission is simple – to safeguard people’s rights and freedoms, protect them from unwarranted government intrusion, and maximise opportunities for individuals to better themselves through initiative and enterprise.
“Economic and social progress has always relied on the Liberal Party, and our passion for the principles of sound government has kept us strong and secure.
“Just as our state is the engine of the Australian economy, the NSW Division is the engine of the Liberal Party. After all, more than half of Australia’s Liberal Prime Ministers, including the last four, have been Members of the NSW Division.”
The Division’s 75th anniversary will be marked with the launch of a website dedicated to the history of the NSW Liberal Party, as well as social media content – nsw.liberal.org.au/75-Years.

In a further step to protect the state’s koala population, the NSW Government has listed Mount Gilead Estate with its sweeping landscape and historic homestead in Sydney’s south-west, as an item of state heritage significance to be protected in perpetuity.
Situated in the Camden and Campbelltown region, the 150-hectare property showcases both the State’s colonial history, reflecting changes in agricultural pursuits and approaches to major estate planning, while containing significant archaeological evidence of the prior Aboriginal occupation and custodianship of the land.
Minister responsible for Heritage Don Harwin said “Mount Gilead Estate is an outstanding early 19^th-century colonial estate with a spectacular sweeping landscape. Its heritage buildings have inspired celebrated artists and photographers throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and we’re excited to list this site on the State Heritage Register.”
“Features of the estate include the original dwellings of its residents and workers, such as the historic homestead, stables, outhouses and sandstone granaries, which have not changed substantially since the early 19th century,” Mr Harwin said.
“The estate’s artificial lake and sandstone mill tower (c.1836) are rare and early examples of their type in NSW and Australia,” Mr Harwin said.
The long spur of land running parallel to Appin Road as well showcases cultural plantings along its central ridgeline.
Minister for the Environment Matt Kean said Mount Gilead Estate is part of an area that is home to some of the State’s healthiest koala populations and this State Heritage Listing provides further protections for rural landscapes.
“Just as the way we treat our koalas is a reflection on how we respect the environment, the way we treat our heritage buildings reflects how we respect the past,” Mr Kean said.
“It is vital we pull out all stops to not only protect habitat but also the structures that help us define who we are as Australians.”
Mount Gilead Estate is associated with three individuals of importance in the development of NSW: Reuben Uther, Thomas Rose and Edward Woodhouse, each of whom made a lasting contribution to the colony’s agricultural development.
Listing will ensure that the estate’s significance will be protected for future generations, with any major changes now requiring the approval of the Heritage Council of NSW.