Category: NSW News

Work on the pilot initiative to deliver new specialist VET facilities at two NSW public high schools is progressing with the first artist’s impressions released to the community last week.
Seven Hills High School and Tweed River High School will benefit from the construction of specialist learning spaces, supporting students who want to further their studies in vocational education.
Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell said the new facilities will be an opportunity for students to gain practical skills while gaining qualifications for their future careers.
“We want our students to be inspired when they come to school and be excited to engage in learning that is relevant to them and where they want to go in their post school lives. The schools will be a place for these students to get hands on experience,” Ms Mitchell said.
Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Geoff Lee said the future focused learning spaces will support pathways to apprenticeships, traineeships and trade qualifications, as well as pathways to higher education.
“Integrating vocational training into schools is a game changer for students who are looking to take advantage of the pipeline of skills-related jobs created from major projects like the Western Sydney Aerotropolis and other industries this will attract,” Mr Lee said.
Member for Seven Hills Mark Taylor said he was looking forward to seeing students benefit from the new facilities, focusing on the industries of construction, logistics and health services.
“It is very exciting to see the concept designs finalised for the upgrade at Seven Hills High School and that we can provide the best for our teachers and students,” Mr Taylor said.
Member for Tweed, Geoff Provest said he was pleased the NSW Government is delivering this important upgrade for the Tweed Heads community.
“Tweed Heads is a growing regional centre, and investments in educational facilities that build skills in the areas of construction, hospitality, primary industries and business will further build the capability and strength of this region while supporting economic growth,” Mr Provest said.
The NSW Government is investing $7 billion over four years, continuing its program to deliver more than 200 new and upgraded schools to support communities across NSW. This is the largest investment in public education infrastructure in the history of NSW.

The NSW Government’s Defence Innovation Network (NSW DIN) is funding a world leading technology project for civilian and military intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance (ISR) applications.
The $850,000 initiative is being funded by the NSW Government, through Investment NSW, and the Commonwealth’s Next Generation Technology Fund.
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said the project was an example of critical cyber infrastructure that will lead to job creation opportunities.
“This will lead to greater collaboration between the NSW defence industry and industry experts to commercialise the next generation of cyber technologies for Defence,” Mr Ayres said.
“The project has a variety of software applications to deliver highly reliable data analysis for defence, government, business, emergency and health services.”
NSW DIN Director Professor Bradley Williams said the initiative exemplified the DIN’s drive to accelerate the commercialisation of new technologies by connecting NSW industry and academics within high-priority projects.
“This ground-breaking project will have significant implications for both technical and economic sustainability of cyber infrastructure across Australia.”
NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer, Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte, said the DIN was facilitating collaboration to provide world-class solutions for tomorrow’s problems.
“This innovative project will leverage untrusted and partially compromised distributed systems to provide timely and robust ISR solutions across civilian and military networks without propagating risks and vulnerabilities that would normally occur.”
NSW Defence Advocate Air Marshal (Ret) John Harvey AM PhD said the NSW DIN Strategic Investment Initiative is an excellent opportunity to connect defence and industry with the vast capabilities of NSW universities.
Further details about Investment NSW are available at www.investment.nsw.gov.au, and for Defence NSW at www.defence.nsw.gov.au.

The Service NSW app is the latest tool to be used in the NSW Government’s push to rollout the COVID-19 vaccine as quickly and as safely as possible.
From today people aged 40-49 will be able to register their interest for the vaccine directly on the Service NSW app, with other age groups to follow when it is their turn.
People who register will be contacted to book via email when appointments become available.
These invitations can be targeted by location depending on booking availability and supply of the vaccine in their local area.
Those aged 50 and over should visit nsw.gov.au to book their AstraZeneca vaccine now.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the Service NSW app is used by five million people across NSW.
“The Service NSW app has been a game changer during the pandemic and will now play an important part in our vaccine rollout,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“It will now be even easier to register your interest for the COVID-19 vaccine.”
Minister for Digital and Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said this is another example of the NSW Government using technology to strengthen our state’s response to the pandemic.
“In a pandemic you need to respond with speed and accuracy and the Service NSW technology will bring millions of customers a step closer to receiving the vaccine,” Mr Dominello said.

The NSW Government today launched a new initiative for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), which will receive $24 million in funding over its first two years.
The establishment of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program was the first Priority Action recommended in the Turning Ideas into Jobs – Accelerating Research & Development in NSW Action Plan, launched by Premier Gladys Berejiklian on 25 January 2021.
“The Action Plan stressed the increasing need to be proactive in supporting and attracting new businesses, especially in future industries that will sustain economic growth, productivity and employment,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“The SBIR program will provide competitive grants for SMEs to find and commercialise innovative solutions to NSW Government agencies for five well-defined problems”.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier Gabrielle Upton MP encouraged business to get involved.
“The program will tackle important challenges including assisting vision-impaired customers navigate the public transport network, increasing the resilience of regional and remote communications networks, quantify the number and extent of koalas in NSW, reduce contamination in wastewater and reducing PPE waste in the health system,” Ms Upton said.
“The SBIR program will not only support NSW SMEs to develop innovative solutions to government challenges, but the challenges have been specifically chosen to ensure that the successful SMEs can also sell their solutions to other customers in local and international markets.”
David Gonski AC, Chair of the Advisory Council of eminent leaders who guided the NSW Action Plan, welcomed the SBIR program launch.
“The impact of COVID-19 on economic growth and job creation makes the task to commercialise more R&D an urgent one,” Mr Gonski said.
“Rapidly translating ideas into new products and services will be integral to our recovery from the pandemic.”
The NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte said research and development was the key to delivering problem solving solutions.
“Like the Medical Devices Fund and Physical Sciences Fund, the SBIR program is an excellent example of the NSW Government’s commitment to leverage the capacity of SMEs’ NSW-based R&D to address the state’s most pressing problems and provide solutions which deliver a social, environmental, health or economic benefit,” Professor Durrant-Whyte said.
Further information including the guidelines and how to apply can be found here.

Construction on the new Sydney International Speedway has passed the half way point and is on track to be operational by the start of the 2021 racing season.
Minister for Sport Natalie Ward and Minister for Transport Andrew Constance today inspected construction at the Eastern Creek site.
“This is an exciting and revolutionary addition to motorsport in Sydney which will bring in interstate and overseas competitors, crews and spectators, delivering a boost to our economy,” Mrs Ward said.
“Motorsport fans can look forward to more world-class motor racing in Western Sydney with the new speedway on track to be operational for the 2021 racing season.”
Mr Constance said the project was a win for the sport and for the local economy.
“The project is boosting investment with more than 325 workers onsite, 60 per cent of who are local to Greater Western Sydney. The project is also using the services of 58 local small to medium businesses, further spreading the benefits.”
Construction began in December last year and has included:

• Excavating 1 million tonnes of soil and rock at the site to support construction
• Constructing a 500m long reinforced retaining wall using almost a 1000 precast concrete panels and 40,000 tonnes of recycled sandstone from the WestConnex project
• Work on the construction of a 1,200,000 litre storm water retention tank. The tank’s capacity is the equivalent of 60 per cent of a standard Olympic-size swimming pool and is one of two water retention tanks being built for the project
• Construction of new dedicated car park for speedway competitors and an additional car park for dragway events also under construction.

The speedway circuit is also taking shape, while the grandstand, seating and corporate boxes will all be installed in the coming months.
Mrs Ward said investment in the new speedway comes on top of a $33 million upgrade of Sydney Motorsport Precinct which will enable the site to host some of the biggest motor racing events in Australia and provide a tourism and economic shot in the arm for Western Sydney.
“This is the first time in more than 20 years a Five Star speedway has been built in Australia with the last one being Perth Motorplex, which opened in 2000,” Mrs Ward said.
Greater Sydney Parklands is finalising the tender process to appoint the operator of the new speedway to prepare for the upcoming racing season.
The new speedway is expected to be operational by the start of the Speedway season in late September following the decommissioning of the previous speedway at Clyde, which was on land required to stable new metro trains for the mega Sydney Metro West project.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) are being encouraged to harness their future defence opportunities in NSW, with the launch of Adroita’s Partnering for Success white paper today at LAND FORCES 2021, the International Land Defence Exposition in Brisbane.
Veteran-owned defence and engineering consultancy, Adroita, is one of twenty-four NSW companies showcasing their products and services at the NSW stand. The launch of their Partnering for Success paper reinforces the need for companies to embrace change, leverage global markets and secure Defence opportunities for growth in NSW.
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, Stuart Ayres, said the expo was an excellent opportunity for SMEs to connect with Government and senior partners in the defence industry.
“We want to bring together the Australian Defence Primes, SMEs and researchers to grow and strengthen our defence industry at every level and in doing so generate jobs for NSW,” Mr Ayres said.
Partnering for Success outlines the need for businesses to secure opportunities in Defence’s priority areas, such as shipbuilding, radar capability, information warfare, surveillance and intelligence, small arms, aerospace maintenance and complex systems integration.
Adroita CEO Sarah Pavillard said their core purpose was engineering success for sovereign capability.
“SMEs are the engine room of the Australian and the NSW economy, and there is much latent potential sitting in industry right now that is applicable to Defence – it just needs to be unlocked, and that can only occur through the right partnerships.”
Mr Ayres said the Government, through Investment NSW, was also providing $1 million to the Defence Innovation Network to seed collaborative projects between Defence Innovation Network universities and NSW SMEs that will lead to greater commercialisation.
LAND FORCES 2021 co-exhibitor DroneShield has previously received seed funding that supported their development of optical drone detection using deep learning and convolutional neural networks with the University of Technology Sydney.
DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik said the project used recent improvements in computer vision, image processing and deep learning to develop an artificial intelligence based real-time optical drone detection system.
“The developed technology has been integrated into DroneShield’s counter-drone solutions and deployed at several high-profile customer sites around the world to detect, identify and track drones up to several kilometres away with the optical/thermal sensors.”
Further details about Investment NSW are available at www.investment.nsw.gov.au, and for Defence NSW at www.defence.nsw.gov.au.

Veterans and their partners will have access to free training to broaden their career opportunities and help transition to civilian life after service.
As part of the landmark Veterans Skills Program, eligible learners can study any course offered under the Government’s Smart and Skilled program from a Certificate II to Advanced Diplomas, including all apprenticeships and selected traineeships.
Veterans and their partners can choose between more than 450 Registered Training Organisations including NSW TAFE.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the free training was part of the NSW Government’s Veterans Strategy to support more than 200,000 former Australian Defence Force personnel across the State.
“The NSW Government understands it can be hard for some former Defence Force Personnel to navigate life and find work after their service,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We want to ensure our veterans enjoy a smooth transition from military service to civilian life, with opportunities to continue developing their skills and participate fully in society.”
Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Geoff Lee said Skills NSW was working with employers, industry and veterans groups to provide targeted training to assist veterans into jobs.
“A key area of the Veterans Strategy is Education and Employment, which aims to ensure our veterans find the right job or training post-service.
“In addition to our fee-free training for veterans, our NSW Veterans Employment Program has helped 1,094 veterans find new and meaningful roles in the public sector 18 months ahead of our target date.
“With fee-free training, we can now help even more veterans reskill in order to take advantage of jobs available in the market including in industries experiencing skills shortages.”
For more information on Veteran Skills, visit: https://education.nsw.gov.au/skills-nsw/veterans

MASS VACCINATION CENTRE NOW ADMINISTERING ASTRAZENECA VACCINE

• The mass vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park has started to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine, providing a major boost to the vaccine rollout in NSW as the state surges past a million people protected.
• The mass vaccination centre joins the other 26 NSW Health hubs that are giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to over 50s, including 17 in regional and rural NSW.
• There are also more than 100 outreach locations that NSW Health vaccination clinics visit, primarily in rural and regional communities, to ensure people in these locations have access to a COVID-19 vaccination.
• To book a vaccine and for more information go to: nsw.gov.au/

RELIGIOUS AND MULTICULTURAL LEADERS RECEIVE COVID-19 VACCINE

• More than 30 NSW religious and community leaders have come together to encourage all eligible individuals from diverse faith and cultural communities to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
• The leaders met with Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Minister for Health Brad Hazzard and Minister for Multiculturalism Geoff Lee at the mass vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park.
• More than 1.1 million COVID-19 vaccines have now been administered across the state, including more than 360,000 by NSW Health and more than 760,000 by GPs and related providers.

STATE FUNERAL FOR BOB FULTON AM

• The family of Australian rugby league immortal Bob Fulton AM will be offered a State Funeral by the NSW Government.

CONSENT LAW REFORM

• Sexual consent laws will be strengthened and simplified under NSW Government reforms designed to protect victim-survivors and educate the community.
• Attorney General Mark Speakman acknowledged the growing calls across the community for reforms to respond more effectively to the scourge of sexual violence in this country.

***A fact sheet outlining the proposed reforms in greater detail is also attached. ***
VIVID SYDNEY 2021 PROGRAM TO TRANSFORM HARBOUR CITY

• Vivid Sydney 2021 will invigorate the Harbour City this August, with an innovative floating light walk, widespread celebration of Aboriginal culture and themes of resilience and diversity throughout.
• Sydneysiders and visitors are invited to join the celebration of creativity, innovation and technology as one COVID-safe community from 6 to 28 August.
• The 2021 program features more than 50 dazzling light installations and 3D projection artworks, over 50 eclectic music events and 90+ thought-provoking ideas talks and workshops across Barangaroo, Sydney CBD, Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, Luna Park and The Rocks.
• For information about the event and to see the full program, go to vividsydney.com.

MICE PLAGUE REBATES BACKDATED

• Households and small businesses impacted by high numbers of mice across regional NSW will be able to claim rebates for purchasing mouse bait from 1 February 2021, with the NSW Government announcing the rebate program will be backdated.
• Deputy Premier John Barilaro said backdating the program will help regional families that were impacted by mice earlier this year and will ease the financial pressure farmers and small businesses are currently facing due to the mice plague.
• For further details about the mouse rebate program, including eligiblity and the claims process, go to: www.nsw.gov.au/mice

RECONCILIATION WEEK 2021

• Reconciliation Week marks a significant period of the year where we come together as a nation to learn about our shared histories and the value of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures for all Australians.
• Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Don Harwin said that Reconciliation Week 2021 marked twenty years since the 2001 Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk, and importantly recognises the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum on 27 June and Mabo Day on 3 June.

HALF OF DRIVERS USING A DIGITAL DRIVER LICENCE

• NSW Drivers have voted with their smartphones and embraced the Digital Driver Licence (DDL), with new data showing three million drivers have downloaded the technology.
• Minister for Digital and Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said the figure represents 53 per cent of all licence holders, with almost 95 per cent giving the DDL the thumbs up.

BIG BATTERY TO HELP POWER NSW SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS

• A 100-megawatt battery will help to power schools, hospitals and Government buildings across NSW under the state’s new electricity supply contract.
• As part of the $3.2 billion 10 year contract, awarded to Shell Energy and Edify, a 100-megawatt battery will be built alongside the Darlington Point Solar Farm in the Riverina, providing critical dispatchable electricity prior to the closure of the Liddell Power Station.
• The new contract will commence from July 2022, when existing contracts expire.

162 MUSIC VENUES TO RECEIVE BOOST THROUGH $24 MILLION LIVE MUSIC SUPPORT PACKAGE

• New South Wales remains the home of live music with 162 live music venues in Sydney and NSW receiving an injection of funds through the NSW Government’s $24 million Live Music Support Package.
• The program will help assist 85 Sydney venues and 77 regional NSW venues that have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 related restrictions over the past year to survive through the pandemic.
• For more information, go to www.nsw.gov.au/living-nsw/tourism-support-package.

100 DAYS TO GO UNTIL VOTERS HAVE A SAY ON THEIR LOCAL COUNCIL

• The power to change their local community will be in the hands of the state’s voters when they head to the polls in just 100 days to vote for their council representatives in the NSW Local Government Elections.
• Minister for Local Government Shelley Hancock said the council elections, held on Saturday 4 September, give both residents and candidates an opportunity to shape their local community for the next three years.

The NSW local defence industry will connect with potential customers as 24 co-exhibitors prepare to shine at the 2021 LAND FORCES International Land Defence Exposition with the support of the NSW Government.
The fourth biennial international industry expo will showcase equipment, technology, and services for the defence forces of Australia and the Indo-Asia-Pacific next week, between 1 – 3 June at the Brisbane Convention Centre.
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said creating new defence industry opportunities which enhance the State’s contribution to national security was a key priority of Investment NSW.
“Our job as a government is to support the defence industry to develop and enhance its partnerships across the sector, between the Australian Defence Force, SMEs, Australian primes and research institutions,” Mr Ayres said.
“We are home to the largest number of defence bases of any state or territory in Australia. NSW also boasts the largest number of workers, with defence industry skills and world-leading universities and research institutions ready to support the development of defence technology and innovation.
“LAND FORCES is an opportunity for NSW-based defence businesses to pitch to supply chain managers, meet Commonwealth officials, partner with Austrade to create international opportunities and connect with Australian primes.”
Winslow Tam, Defence Program Manager for radio frequency communications business GME, said the business was looking forward to showcasing its manufacturing and radio frequency engineering capability.
“We’re excited to participate in LAND FORCES and take advantage of the opportunity to prove our ability to collaborate with SMEs to manufacture MANET mesh radios in-house and establish a robust Australian supply chain so we can scale our capacity to meet the requirements of the Australian Army,” Mr Tam said.
“GME is also working on developing of a narrow band portable very high frequency radio which is designed and manufactured in NSW.”
The NSW Government will showcase these defence industry innovators and demonstrate the leading edge and talent within NSW to the Australian Defence Force and primes. Growing the entirety of defence industry across NSW will enhance and build upon our already strong contribution to National security interests.
The co-exhibitors on the NSW Government stand are:

• Adroita
• Advanced Navigation
• Air Affairs Australia
• Austest
• Australian Aerospace Engineering
• Bisalloy Steels
• Burwell Technologies
• Carbonix
• Defence Innovation Network
• DroneShield Corporation
• EnerSys Australia
• Global Defence Solutions
• GME
• Hunter Defence & Hunter Net
• Invest Wollongong
• Jenkins Engineering Defence Systems
• Mellori Solutions
• Nupress Tools
• Phoenx PLM
• Rojone
• Shoalhaven Defence Industry Group
• The Whiskey Project
• Thomas Global Systems

Further details about Defence NSW are available at www.defence.nsw.gov.au

NSW Far North Coast public school students are benefitting from more new and upgraded schools than ever before.
More than $409 million is finding its way to local students, with new and upgraded classrooms, playgrounds, canteens, roofing and lights.
Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell visited the recently upgraded Byron Bay Public School, one of the latest schools to benefit from this record investment.
“Schools across this region are benefitting from an ongoing multi-million dollar investment in education by the NSW Government,” Ms Mitchell said
“Byron Bay Public School is the latest to benefit from our history-making $7 billion school building program, and I’m delighted to be officially opening the $10 million upgrade today.”
“It’s great to meet students and teachers at Byron Bay Public School, and it’s fantastic to be here to see the wonderful new two storey building.
“This is one of the 11 new or upgraded schools being delivered in the region, bringing a total investment of more than $398 million.”
The Byron Bay Public School upgrade delivered a two storey building creating ten additional learning spaces taking the total number of permanent learning spaces to 28 and accommodating up to 650 students.
North Coast based MLC Ben Franklin said it’s great to see the school community benefitting from modern facilities and additional teaching spaces.
“The new facilities and learning spaces, like these at Byron Bay Public School, are putting local students at the forefront of technology and education, as well as allowing teachers to offer more learning opportunities to students,” Mr Franklin said.
“On top of these new and upgraded schools, we are also investing in our existing schools through improvement projects nominated by the school, ranging from playgrounds to canteens, along with a roof and lights program.
“Over 100 schools in the area have benefitted from this $11 million investment which also uses local tradies, helping to stimulate the economy.
“The NSW Government is creating a safer and stronger regional NSW by investing record amounts of funding to help support local jobs, and the wonderful schools in the Far North Coast.”
The NSW Government is investing $7 billion in four years to deliver more than 200 new and upgraded schools to support communities across NSW. This is the largest investment in public education infrastructure in the history of NSW.