Category: NSW News

The NSW Government is committing $50 million for planning and development works of Stage 2 of the Parramatta Light Rail in the upcoming 2021-22 NSW Budget.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the funding will ensure we have the right transport links between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney Olympic Peninsula.
“This continues our record investment in public transport infrastructure, which is continuing to support thousands of jobs in our economy while also making Sydney and NSW a better place to live,” Mr Perrottet said.
“This money will go towards planning, utilities and geotechnical investigations. It will also progress the development of the project’s Environmental Impact Statement.”
Minister for Transport Andrew Constance said this funding would ensure the project is ‘shovel ready’.
“This area is growing at an exponential rate and requires infrastructure that is smart, futureproof and will offer the community a variety of transport choices,” Mr Constance said.
“It is important we get the next steps right so this project complements city-shaping projects like Sydney Metro West.”
The NSW Government previously announced a preferred route for the second stage of the Parramatta Light Rail that would connect Stage 1 and Parramatta CBD to Ermington, Melrose Park, Wentworth Point and Sydney Olympic Park.
Member for Parramatta Geoff Lee said it was exciting to see the planning funding committed for the next stage of this transport link.
“Locals have seen the great progress on Stage 1, with 50 per cent of tracks expected to be laid by the end of the month. Now, they can see the NSW Government is getting on with the job by laying the groundwork for the next stage of this project,” Mr Lee said.
The Parramatta Light Rail Stage 1 and 2 will provide links with Sydney Metro West at Parramatta, Westmead and Sydney Olympic Park and the existing rail network at Parramatta and Sydney Olympic Park as well as ferries at Parramatta, Rydalmere and Wentworth Point.

The NSW Government has committed $1.15 billion to kick start work on the Bradfield City Centre, supporting thousands of jobs on the doorstep of the new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the funding paves the way for work on the project to begin this year, starting the creation of a world class city precinct that will support up to 17,600 highly skilled jobs.
“This is another exciting step forward in realising the Government’s vision for this city-building project,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We have named the new Aerotropolis city, Bradfield, and now work is set to begin to turn what is essentially a paddock today into a thriving global city centre.”
This commitment from the NSW Government includes $975.5 million in enabling works to establish, remediate and allow site access to about 100 hectares of land, driving the COVID-19 economic recovery not only in NSW, but across the nation.
The funding will also help to create a key Indo-Pacific economic hub, unleashing international investment in advanced manufacturing, aerospace and defence, agri-business, pharma, freight and logistics, health and education.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said this vital investment would lay the foundations for Bradfield to be transformed into a world-class precinct that will drive jobs now and into the future.
“Bradfield City will be the next jewel in Sydney’s crown and we’re putting in the groundwork to deliver an iconic city that will unlock new economic opportunities, particularly for the people of Western Sydney,” Mr Perrottet said.
“The pandemic has shown us the importance of investing in our own backyard and this investment will create a precinct that will be home to businesses and industries that will create jobs not just today, but into the future as well.”
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said there is also funding to establish the First Building in the Bradfield City Centre and for a four-year pilot of the New Education and Training Model (NETM).
“The government has committed $138.2 million for the First Building which includes a $24.9 million high-tech facility which will house $22.9 million worth of shared-use equipment for research institutions and industry to collaborate,” Mr Ayres said.
“The NETM is a new model of tertiary education aimed at helping advanced industries access skilled labour. We are dedicating $37.4 million to the program over five years to provide more than 7,000 courses for almost 3,000 students.”
The funding commitment will deliver the first stage of Australia’s first 22^nd century city, attracting global competitive advanced industries and driving the creation of 200,000 new jobs across the Western Parkland City.

The NSW Government will invest $7.7 million to trial a new model of care and management for children with behavioural issues including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in regional NSW.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the funding would be included in the upcoming 2021-22 NSW Budget to provide greater support for families in the bush.
“This is about ensuring kids and young people across our State are able to get the help they need when challenges arise. We don’t want families to just survive, we want them to thrive and meeting health needs plays a vital part in that,” Mr Perrottet said.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the pilot program will give people greater access to vital services closer to home.
“We are pleased to invest in a trial that will help children and young people with behavioural issues including ADHD and their families seek the care they need in their local community,” Mr Hazzard said.
“Medical and allied health staff will be employed in regional areas to work directly with the families to help children and young people transition from school to tertiary education or work while managing their behavioural issues.”
The mixed model service will connect children and young people with behavioural management and support needs to a range of state-wide services including:

• existing diagnostic services;
• paediatric psychiatry support;
• tertiary children’s services;
• transition care and management; and
• telehealth and outreach clinics.

The trial builds on the recommendations of the Henry Review which examined the current model of care for the assessment and management of children and young people with behavioural issues including ADHD in NSW.
“We have taken on board the three recommendations of the Henry Review, and the new model of care will be informed by input from medical and allied health staff across NSW,” Mr Hazzard said.
In 2021-22, the NSW Government will contribute $1.8 million funding for the ADHD pilot program, with a total investment of $7.7 million over four years.

Regional communities will benefit from the NSW Government announcing it will invest $107.7 million as part of its Legacy Mines program in the 2021-22 Budget to remediate historic and abandoned mine sites across the state.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Member for the Upper Hunter Dave Layzell today visited a recently rehabilitated mine site at the Mount Thorley/Warkworth Mine in Singleton where they made the announcement.
Mr Barilaro said mining continues to drive prosperity in NSW and remedying legacy mine projects of the past while developing the mining projects of tomorrow will accelerate economic growth, support jobs and ensure mining communities remain great places to live and work.
“Regional communities were built on the back of mining projects, but these legacy mines were operating at a different time, well before the procedures and requirements we have today for managing chemical use and rehabilitation were put in place,” Mr Barilaro said.
“This significant funding boost will allow major remediation works to be completed across ten years at abandoned mine sites, primarily in locations where production ceased between 50 and 100 years ago – in places like Captains Flat and sites in the Central West and Northern Tablelands.
“Intensive remediation at these locations will increase safety, reduce impacts to the environment, and reinvigorate land for other possible uses, such as for community parklands, to create tourist attractions, or accommodate select business operations.”
Mr Layzell said while remediation works have been completed at many sites over the years through the Legacy Mines program, the additional funding will make a real difference to communities in proximity to higher risk legacy mines.
“As someone who comes from an electorate built on mining at a time when we’re fortunate to have safeguards in place to protect people and the environment, I know this will help people feel more confident about living and working around legacy mines,” Mr Layzell said.
“Many people who live in these communities will know about the long and proud local mining history in their town, but I know confirmation of further work to rehabilitate land will provide greater certainty about their wellbeing, the value of their land, and the future of the region they love.”
For further information about the NSW Government’s Legacy Mines program, visit: https://www.resourcesandgeoscience.nsw.gov.au/landholders-and-community/minerals-and-coal/legacy-mines-program.

Vulnerable children in out-of-home care will be provided permanent and loving homes sooner and with more support, as part of a plan to turbocharge the open adoption and guardianship process.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the 2021-22 NSW Budget would include $12 million to scale up initiatives aimed at increasing the number of adoptions and guardianships, including through the establishment of a Permanency Taskforce.
“A permanent and loving home is the foundation for a happy and healthy life and this investment will help make open adoption or guardianship a reality for more kids,” Mr Perrottet said.
“The NSW Government has made providing permanency for vulnerable kids a priority, and this funding will enable a significant increase in promotion of open adoption and guardianship, raising awareness of the life-changing benefits of a permanent home.”
NSW is leading the nation in providing permanency for children in out-of-home care, accounting for almost 99 per cent of all open adoptions from care in Australia in 2019-20. NSW is also providing permanency through guardianship, with 3,267 children currently on guardianship orders.
Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services Alister Henskens said the dedicated Permanency Taskforce will change lives for the better, cementing NSW as the leading light when it comes to providing permanency for kids in care.
“The Taskforce aims to fast-track the number of matters progressing through the open adoption and guardianship pipeline and in doing so, boosting the number of children exiting out-of-home care into permanent homes,” Mr Henskens said.
“The NSW Government will also enhance support for prospective adoptive parents and guardians by establishing a new information hotline, providing free online courses, face-to-face training and counselling services.”
The investment aligns with the Premier’s Priority of increasing permanency for children in out-of-home care.

The 2021 HART Senior State Titles concluded at the Liverpool City and Bankstown City Netball Associations yesterday with State Champions crowned.
The Senior State Titles is the principal state competition for athletes across NSW aged from 15 years. Talented athletes, coaches, umpires and officials come together and enjoy the challenge of intra-state competition.
Liverpool City hosted players from the Opens Championship Division, the 17/U and 15/U Championships and Division 2, while Bankstown hosted Opens Division 2 and the 17U and 15U Divisions 3 & 4.
Winners of the Championship Division in each age group were State Champions with Manly Warringah (Opens), Liverpool City (17U) and Penrith District (15U) the winners after three days of action.
Netball NSW would like to thank HART Sport, naming rights partner of the Senior State Titles, for their support of the competition and the game across the state.
Below is a list of the winners and runners-up from each division. For full fixtures and results please visit the MyNetball Page and use the navigation menu at the top to select Divisions.
Opens Championship
Winners: Manly Warringah*
Runners-up: Newcastle
Opens Division 2
Winners: Bellingen
Runners-up: Singleton
17U Championship
Winners: Liverpool City*
Runners-up: Baulkham Hills Shire
17U Division 2
Winners: Wagga Wagga
Runners-up: Bathurst
17U Division 3
Winners: Southern Highlands
Runners-up: Lismore & District
17U Division 4
Winners: Leeton
Runners-up: Brunswick & Byron
15U Championship
Winners: Penrith District*
Runners-up: Liverpool City
15U Division 2
Winners: Wagga Wagga
Runners-up: Eastwood Ryde
15U Division 3
Winners: Coffs Harbour
Runners-up: Cessnock
15U Division 4
Winners: Casino
Runners-up: Quirindi
*denotes State Champions

After the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in their cancellation last year Netball NSW’s HART Senior State Titles are back in 2021, taking centre stage this weekend at the Liverpool City and Bankstown City Netball Associations.
The three-day tournament showcases the strength of grassroots netball with players from all over the state coming together to play the game they love.
Liverpool City will welcome players from the Opens Championship Division, the 17/U and 15/U Championships and Division 2, while Bankstown hosts Opens Division 2 and 17U and 15U Divisions 3 & 4.
To meet the current Public Health Order requirement in NSW, capacity at the venues will be limited (more information HERE).
The games start on Saturday 14 June and continue through until Monday afternoon.
Netball NSW President Louise Sullivan said she was delighted to see the State Titles return in 2021 and was looking forward to a festival of netball in Western Sydney.
“Everyone involved with each team and Association over the next three days should be extremely proud of their efforts in getting here, and I know the very best will still be standing on Monday afternoon,” she said.
“This illustrates our grassroots are every bit as healthy as our elite game, which currently sees the Giants and Swifts at the top of the Suncorp Super Netball ladder.
“Having made the heart-breaking decision to cancel the 2020 Senior State Titles as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, how wonderful is it to be back?
“Netball, at its core, is a game founded in community. It hasn’t become Australia’s most popular team sport by accident. Across every region, across every state, across every city and town (big and small) you will find a netball court at its centre.
“The HART Senior State Titles in Liverpool and Bankstown are a coming together of those communities. I, like you, cannot wait to see the sea of colour, competitiveness, skill and passion that awaits us over the next three days.
“I would like to thank HART Sport, our naming rights partner for this event, for all of their wonderful support across all levels of the game and thank again the fantastic volunteers in Liverpool and Bankstown who have worked hand-in-hand with Netball NSW to make this weekend a reality.”

Palliative care services across the state will receive a further $82.8 million over the next four years, to improve support for people with a life-limiting or terminal illness.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the 2021-22 Budget funding boost is on top of more than $220 million that the NSW Government invests each year in palliative care services and support.
“We know in Australia only a small proportion of people die suddenly. Most people experience a prolonged period of disability, frailty and illness,” Mr Perrottet said.
“This funding will help thousands of families across the state, particularly in regional NSW and Western Sydney, to provide dignity to people at the end of life’s journey.”
As part of this investment, Western Sydney Local Health District will receive funding to enhance its hospital-based palliative care services with additional inpatient beds.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the $82.8 million funding would provide:

• a workforce boost of up to 120 full time equivalent staff including additional nurses, allied health and medical staff;
• multidisciplinary care to maintain patient wellbeing and independence at home;
• additional consumer information and support for patients, families and carers

“On top of workforce boosts, increased end-of-life support packages and enhanced bereavement services, additional virtual care services will ensure regional patients get the support they need from the comfort of their home,” Mr Hazzard said.
“The additional funding will also support dedicated inpatient beds at cancer hospital and cancer treatment centre Chris O’Brien Lifehouse.”
The funding includes $2 million (recurrent) for Manly Adolescent and Young Adult Hospice, Australia’s first dedicated hospice for young people due to open in July 2022.
The funding boost comes in addition to the NSW Government’s recent palliative care commitments including $100 million in 2017, $45 million in 2019 and $56 million in 2020, and is a clear statement of the commitment the Government has to supporting patients at the end of life.

Innovative ideas have been brought to life following the second R&D Innovation Districts Challenge. Some of projects include optimising logistics for rapid vaccine distribution, mobile apps and games to teach STEM to students, and a business tool to support the wellbeing of customer service workforces.
Economic resilience was the focus of the second R&D Innovation Districts Challenge, which brings together universities, local businesses and Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO to accelerate new products and services to market, and equip the NSW economy to bounce back from COVID-19.
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said the second Challenge was designed to find R&D solutions that fostered economic resilience, which is vital following the economic and business disruption caused by the pandemic.
“By backing businesses and driving innovation all across NSW, we’re helping to stimulate the economy, grow industries and create jobs,” Mr Ayres said.
“It’s exciting that in addition to many female-run businesses, there are initiatives to address the needs of the most economically vulnerable in our communities, including people with a disability and those experiencing financial distress.”
“Some very interesting ideas came out of rural and regional areas, including a world-first approach to heat-free milk pasteurisation, and a data aggregation platform for farmers.”
The challenge winners sharing $500,000 in seed funding are:

• $250,000 – Adiona, nominated by CSIRO develop a fast, powerful domestic logistics optimisation and simulation engine that can also be applied to rapid vaccine distribution
• $100,000 – Arludo, collaborating with the University of NSW on a suite of mobile apps and games to teach STEM and allow students to collate science data and collaborate in real time
• $30,000 – Kleu Australia, teaming up with the University of Wollongong on a business tool to support the wellbeing and performance of large-scale customer service workforces
• $10,000 to local winners of each Innovation District: Bundlfresh, Good360 Australia, Medulla, PeepsRide, Pairtree Intelligence, Young Henrys Brewing Company, Steber International, Maxiem, New England Cheese, Studymove, HRDS Technologies, and Tribal Warrior Aboriginal Corporation.

CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall congratulated Adiona, a former resident of CSIRO’s Lindfield Collaboration Hub, where small businesses can work alongside the national science agency to accelerate their growth with tailored commercialisation and engineering support.
“CSIRO’s commitment to NSW includes working with government, research and business partners across the state to turn more world-class science into real-world solutions that create jobs and benefit for all of NSW, driving our recovery from COVID-19 and building back better for the future,” Dr Marshall said.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier Gabrielle Upton said, “Commercialising more R&D is the central priority of the NSW R&D Action Plan. The Challenge strongly supports that outcome, solving problems while helping to grow jobs and new industries.”
The NSW Government Innovation Districts Challenges program is part of a $11 million innovation scaleup commitment, designed to support business communities across NSW to develop innovations to tackle the many challenges of COVID-19.

International students are expected to be welcomed back under a NSW Government pilot plan for their safe return over the second half of the year, to help kick-start the billion-dollar industry.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said international students are a vital missing piece in the State’s economic recovery, with the sector worth $14.6 billion in 2019.
This will benefit tens of thousands of NSW residents whose jobs rely on this industry across retail, hospitality and many other fields.
The pilot plan will initially see a limited number of students from a range of countries in purpose-built student accommodation adhering to the same quarantine requirements as all incoming travellers.
“International education is our second most valuable export and we need to do what we can to help students return and revive this sector as quickly as possible,” Mr Perrottet said.
“Typically, we have more than 250,000 international students studying in NSW each year and they directly supported over 95,000 local jobs prior to the pandemic. If we don’t act fast, students will turn to other overseas destinations and it could take the sector decades to recover.
“That’s why we’ve developed a pilot plan supported by NSW Health and NSW Police that enables 250 international students to come to Sydney per fortnight from mid-year, in a gradual approach that will enable us to closely manage the process and ensure community health is not compromised.”
The international student allocation will be in addition to the current number of returning Australians allowed into NSW each week.
“This won’t come at the expense of returning Aussies. We will continue to bring back 3,000 people per week – well more than any other state,” Mr. Perrottet said.
NSW Health would triage arriving students and direct them to quarantine at specially approved student accommodation at no cost to taxpayers. The first of these sites has been chosen, with contract negotiations well advanced.
It is estimated that the combined impact of closed international borders, including on students and tourism, could be as high as $1.5 billion per month for NSW. This is a major contributing factor to the CBD’s slower economic recovery rate.
“This is a crucial sector for NSW and Australia, and we will work with the Commonwealth and education sector to achieve the best outcome,” Mr Perrottet said.
Professor Barney Glover AO, on behalf of the NSW Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, welcomed the State’s approval of the Program after working collaboratively for several months to commence the safe return of international students to NSW.
“As at May this year, there were many higher education students diligently studying offshore – many of whom expect to return to our campuses to finish their studies. This Program has carefully considered the personal, social and academic aspects of our students, to ensure they successfully resume their studies and re-join NSW’s vibrant, multicultural community as soon as possible,” Professor Glover said.
“We are excited to finally welcome back international students to experience the world-class education, training and research that makes NSW such an attractive destination for education.”
Council of International Students President, Belle Lim was extremely encouraged to learn that the NSW Plan had been submitted for review.
“We are so happy to see that international students will be welcomed back to NSW. This sends a great message to international students studying online offshore that there is hope that things will return to normal again,” Ms Lim said.
“We are pleased to see the cautious approach but are hopeful the numbers of students arriving will scale over time. CISA strongly supports the detailed planning that has been done by NSW.”
The NSW plan has been submitted to the Federal Government for final review.