Reject corporate greed and keep local government local
Greens NSW MP David Shoebridge has rejected calls by the Sydney Business Chamber for a business-driven plebiscite at this year's local government elections on forced local council amalgamations across Sydney.
"It is up to local councils and communities to decide whether and how they want their councils to amalgamate, not business lobby groups," Mr Shoebridge said.
How many more school bus crashes before NSW Government acts on seat belts?
Responding to news of yet another school bus crash, this time involving a collision with a car near Taree resulting in a 12 year old boy receiving minor head injuries, Greens MP and transport spokesperson Cate Faehrmann has asked how many crashes need to occur before the NSW Government takes urgent and serious action on seat belts.
Premier helps guarantee CBD gridlock
Greens MP and transport spokesperson Cate Faehrmann says the Premier has caved in to misguided campaign against Sydney's new cycle infrastructure, with reports a new NSW Government committee will remove the City's transport and traffic planning powers (see today's Daily
Telegraph p2).
"By preventing the City of Sydney from implementing its visionary transport policy, the Premier will be helping guarantee CBD gridlock," said Ms Faehrmann.
Police Minister must come clean with planned cuts
Internal police documents produced to the NSW Upper House show that there are advanced plans by the O'Farrell government to amalgamate between 20 and 30 local area commands and cut up to 150 senior police from the NSW police force.
See story:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/police-secretly-considered-cuts-to-their-senior-ranks-20120301-1u5zr.html
O'Farrell's failure to heed Auditor-General's financial warnings puts state services at risk
Despite repeated warnings of massive errors in financial reporting by NSW agencies, the O'Farrell government has failed to act, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Greens MPs thank Ray Goodlass for his selfless, innovative work
Senator Lee Rhiannon and NSW MP David Shoebridge joined forces today to thank former Wagga Wagga City Deputy Mayor Ray Goodlass for his ground breaking work as a councillor and as a community activist and to wish him all the best in his retirement.
Greens introduce Save Gosford PS Bill into NSW Upper House
This morning in the NSW Legislative Council Greens NSW MP John Kaye tabled his private member's bill to stop the proposed co-location of Gosford Public School onto the grounds of Henry Kendall High School.
Outdoor dining smoking ban delay delivers for Clubs NSW
By delaying the ban on smoking in dining areas until 2015 the O'Farrell government is keeping its Memorandum of Understanding with Clubs NSW intact while condemning tens of thousands of people to unnecessary death and disease, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Sydney drenching highlights desal folly
A continuation of the current weather patterns could see Sydney's dams
overflowing by mid May and households paying for $82 million for water from
the desalination plant that runs out to sea, according to Greens NSW MP
John Kaye.
('Desalination test may waste millions,' Sun Herald, 19 February 2012, page
5, http://j.mp/sh120219)
Government gets an F on planning report card
The 2010-11 Local Government Performance Monitoring report released today shows that government intervention in the state planning laws, particularly removing powers from local councils, has done little or nothing to speed up development assessment times. The largest deterioration in assessment times has come from the State government's increased time to determined referrals to it from local council.
See SMH:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/councils-named-and-shamed-over-da-approvals-20...
