November 14, 2024

July-August 2024 e-Newsletter

Hi Wakehurst!

It’s time for a catch up on what’s been happening in Wakehurst, and there's a lot I'm excited to share with you.

I'm pleased so many people have been writing into the office about issues important to them, my team and I are always here to help you.

In this newsletter…

Big win: Final Science lab upgrades at Killarney Heights High School were approved, supporting local STEM students
Possible changes to school zoning: What's actually happening, and make sure you have your say!
Parliament updates: What's up for Wakehurst in Parliament House
Transport improvements: Bus reliability set to improve on the Northern Beaches, plus, the new city metro line opens this Monday
Better land zoning on the Northern Beaches: The Northern Beaches Council endorsed the proposed Northern Beaches Local Environment Plan
Concern for our wildlife: NSW Forestry is logging in Great Koala National Park
Green thumbs: Local early childhood learning centre to build garden after grant.

Cheers,

A big win for Killarney Heights High School, with The NSW Department of Education confirming that a science lab at Killarney Heights High School will receive a much-needed upgrade.

The High School has 6 functional labs, 5 of which were recently upgrading- leaving the remaining lab- which was built in 1967- to be refurbished as part of the $1.5 billion committed in the 2024-25 Budget toward the maintenance and minor upgrades of public schools. Planning is underway to ensure the upgrade is completed as soon as a possible.

The upgrade's announcement follows serious concerns raised by the school community, as well as the Sydney Morning Herald. Advocating against state funding intended for public school maintenance being withdrawn as part of state-wide funding model changes.

We need to do everything we can to support science education. First and foremost, this means providing the basic infrastructure for practical exercises and experiments which get students excited and engaged about STEM subjects.

It's great to see these wins here in Wakehurst, and I thank the Killarney Heights High School P&C for raising awareness of this issue to both myself and the media. With all the challenges and opportunities the world faces, we to encourage as many students as possible to pursue STEM in their higher education and beyond.

I share the frustration of principals about discretionary funding withdrawals. Improving local public school infrastructure is a top priority for me, and I aim to secure more wins like this for Wakehurst schools, as highlighted by the Wakehurst Schools' Facilities Survey in addition to specific issues as they arise around Wakehurst.

Recently, the NSW Government has suggested several proposals to promote co-educational schooling options here in the Northern Beaches.

The following proposals outline potential changes to be made to NBSC Freshwater Senior Campus, NBSC Manly Campus, The Forest High School, NBSC Mackellar Girls Campus, and NBSC Balgowlah Boys Campus.

Proposal A: NBSC Freshwater Senior Campus would move from a Year 11-12 Senior campus to a Year 7-12 Campus.
Proposal B: NBSC Manly Campus would offer non-selective enrolment in Years 7-9 for students from a new local intake area, with the current arrangement that adds additional selective students in older grades to cease. Non-selective students would move to NBSC Freshwater Senior Campus for Years 10-12.
Proposal C: Intake area adjustments for NBSC Cromer Campus and The Forest High School, to expand their intake areas to all homes without a guaranteed co-educational option.
Proposal D: NBSC Mackellar Girls Campus and NBSC Balgowlah Boys Campus would become co-educational Year 7-12 campuses.

These are some pretty big changes, which has already prompted robust discussions.

The NSW Department of Education is holding consultations to understand what changes would best suit the Northern Beaches. They ran a first round of consultations with P&C members and parents of the affected schools at the end of Term 2. But, the second round is about to take off.

I strongly encourage those who wish to contribute or comment on these changes to attend a public consultation workshop, available both face-to-face, and online, until the 16th of September.

Alternatively, complete the survey listed here.

You can also write to me at [email protected]

It's really important that any proposed changes don't negatively impact staff and students, so please share your valuable insights now.

It’s been great to be back in parliament after the July Winter break.

Here are some of the key issues I’ve been representing you on:

Scope Announced for Hospital Performance Audit

This week, I spoke in parliament following the NSW Audit Office announcing the scope for their independent investigation into the private/public Northern Beaches Hospital. Crucially, this audit will examine whether the hospital provides quality care that is consistent with equivalent public health facilities.

This is a significant step forward, and I’m proud to have advocated for this extensive audit to ensure our community gets the answers it deserves. You can contribute to the audit process by making a submission on the Audit Office webpage.

Submissions close September 30th.

Let’s continue to work together to ensure our community receives the healthcare it deserves.

Saying "NO" to Two Way Harbour Tolling

Did you know the Sydney Harbour Bridge was paid off 36 years ago? Yet, there's talk of introducing two-way tolling, which would unfairly impact Northern Sydney commuters including so many Wakehurst drivers—especially during a cost of living crisis.

I stood up in Parliament and called on the government to reject any proposal that would add further financial strain on our community. Our focus should be on easing, not increasing, the burden on our community.

Protecting our Native Forests

During Question Time, I questioned the Premier on a critical issue: Is it acceptable for the NSW Forestry Corporation to break state laws? The NSW Forestry Corporation has been in hot water, and has been fines $360,000 for breaching logging rules. Our native forests are one of our most valuable assets, and it is our duty to protect them.

I am committed to holding those responsible, accountable to ensure these precious environments are safeguarded for future generations.

New Transport Options - Metro Opening

In parliament, I met with Transport for NSW to discuss the persisting issues with long queues for some city bus services, especially from Frenchs Forest and surrounding suburbs. I’m hearing from frustrated commuters who are struggling to get to work on time because of bus queues and cancellations, especially in Forest.

There is much happening to address the issues, but it takes time sadly. I will send a separate bulletin on this soon.

In good news: the new city metro line will be opening this Monday after a delay. For many Wakehurst residents, this will provide a new and much needed alternative transport option into the city. The metro should be a gamechanger in alleviating overcrowding on city bus services by providing a quicker and more reliable route into the city. Some of you know that Chatswood services are run by 2 separate companies. The most frequent one (X160) starts at Dee Why and has 9 stops to Chatswood Station.

For Forest residents in particular, we are told it will be quicker and more direct to grab this bus to the metro station, where the high frequency, high speed and high-capacity metro service will get passengers from Chatswood to Barangaroo in just 9 minutes, and only 12 minutes to Martin Place.

TFNSW are saying this is the quickest way to the city from Beacon Hill stop. Most time saving though is expected from Forest Way Shops, Jamieson Square in particular. My staff and I will be doing the road test ourselves to see if they are right. We would love your feedback. And yes we will try it more than once to see if settles down, so let's all try and share feedback.

Lastly, I've been assured by Transport for NSW is also actively pursuing bus driver recruitment solutions to help enhance bus reliability. Read below for more info on this.

Recent operational challenges affecting bus services on the Northern Beaches- particularly on routes such as the 270 (Terrey Hills to City) and 271 (Belrose to City), including a recent rise in trip cancellations and overall unreliable services are due to an unprecedented amount of driver absences, caused primarily by flu and colds throughout the winter months.

To combat this issue, Bus Operator CDC has implemented a new prioritisation strategy, ensuring that school bus routes, first and last services of the day, and other high-demand routes remain operational. However, this occasionally results in the cancellation of routes with high frequency.

Since the introduction of a new timetable on March 31, 2024, aimed at improving service reliability and customer experience, there has been significant progress. Daily cancellations have reduced from over 80 trips to an average of fewer than 20 trips, with CDC continuing to train and recruit new drivers, aiming to mitigate future cancellations for critical routes and commuter times.

Despite these efforts, the ongoing high demand during morning peak services to the City poses challenges. While important services such as the B-Line have increased to support increased morning capacity, the close match to demand also increases the risk of services being cancelled.

With current driver shortages- with CDC’s workforce down 30 drivers, or 10% of its total workforce, low driver presence is primarily attributed to the high cost of living in the Northern Beaches and North Shore.

In order to really fix the poor bus reliability across the Northern Beaches, we need more bus drivers. CDC, in collaboration with Transport NSW has been optimising resource allocation and recruitment efforts for bus drivers, with expectation service reliability will return soon.

I’m disheartened to see the NSW Forestry Corporation’s accelerated logging activities in the earmarked boundaries of the Gwithin the boundaries earmarked for the Great Koala National Park in NSW’s North Coast. Operating at at a rate more than three times higher than the rest of the NSW combined, Forestry Corporation's own maps indicate that over half of active logging operations on the North Coast fall within the footprint of the proposed national park- despite the park's area only containing one fifth of the state forest in the region.

Jacqui Mumford from the NSW Nature Conservation Council emphasised, "The Government's commitment to the Great Koala National Park could be a proud legacy, but ongoing logging by the Forestry Corporation threatens to erode this promise. We urge the Government to halt logging activities within the proposed park boundaries until the establishment process is finalised."

It's sad to see such a great initiative, such as the Great Koala National Park fall victim to deforestation, with vital habitat being stripped away from our already endangered Koalas.

Like so many in Wakehurst, and across the state, I am keen to see the Great Koala National Park established as soon as possible and have made this clear to the Minns Government at every opportunity. I am very concerned that the ecological values of the park area continue to be eroded. I look forward to continuing my advocacy to protect our state’s native forests when I return to Parliament this month.

This past month the Northern Beaches Council made progress on its Government mandated 1 LEP as opposed to the 4 existing LEPs from the former Councils. Council formally submitted a new, consolidated Local Environmental Plan, ‘LEP’, to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces. The LEP’s Planning Proposal aims to harmonise existing planning rules across the Northern Beaches’ area to ensure consistency and fairness in planning.

It also strengthens its environmental credentials and a new DCP will be developed shortly to compliment that. That will require your input, so keep an eye out for it.

With the proposal heading towards Gateway Determination- an investigative checkpoint before the commitment of resources- it’s good to see years of policy development by the Council, expert advice by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, and valuable community submissions, such as Dual Occs come together as formal steps to conjoin the 4 LEPs that make up the Northern Beaches.

Aiming to consolidate the existing planning rules across the ‘Beaches, the LEP will place the entirety of the Northern Beaches under one, unified framework. Aiming to ensure consistency and fairness in land use planning decisions, and when responding to community suggestions. The new LEP will also introduce new controls to promote environmental sustainability in large-scale developments, protect urban character, and guide development through clearer zoning maps.

In addition to this LEP, a comprehensive Development Control Plan, ‘DCP’, is currently being developed to provide guidelines for future planning and development on the Northern Beaches. Once approved by both the Northern Beaches Council and the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, the draft LEP will be exhibited for public feedback, before final touch-ups and implementation. Every household will be notified.

It is expected that the Planning Proposal (1 LEP) will be ready for public exhibition in early 2025, provided all necessary Ministerial requirements are met.

For some heartwarming news, local early childhood education centre, Explore & Develop here in Brookvale was presented with the Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant, enabling the centre to create a wonderful sensory garden for the children.

With the aim to teach our next generation about the important role the environment plays in our lives, the garden will foster an understanding of, and care for the environment, adding to the centre's comprehensive social, and educational environment.

Great stuff!

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