Teen To Face Children's Court Over Gun Theft From Lake Macquarie Home

BY IAN CROUCH

A 17-year-old boy is due to front Children's Court today (Wednesday 7 February, 2018) over the alleged theft of firearms from a Lake Macquarie home.

Police say five shotguns were stolen during a break-in at a home at Hillsborough on December 27 last year.

A 16-year-old boy was arrested the following day and is still in custody.

Further inquiries led officers to a home at Windale yesterday where a 17-year-old boy was arrested and three firearms were recovered.

He's been charged with aggravated break and enter and has been refused bail ahead of his court appearance today.

Petition going to parliament for notorious Hillsborough Road

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Residents of Hillsborough and politicians alike, are continuing the fight for the government to address safety concerns on Hillsborough Road.

The notoriously dangerous stretch of road claimed the life of Jade Frith in April last year, one life too many, and Shadow Minister for Roads Jodi McKay says it shouldn't take the loss of a life for the government to stand up and listen.

The Shadow Minister for Roads joined Charlestown MP Jodie Harrison and local residents to inspect the road this morning when they were handed an 1,800 signature petition from locals.

Charlestown MP Jodie Harrison, Shadow Minister for Road, local
residents and Michael Nolan.

The petition will now be tabled in parliament by MP Jodie Harrison and it's urging the government to address the ongoing hazardous traffic concerns along Hillsborough Road and also expedite the release of the report on the roads condition which has now been four years in the making by the Roads and Maritime Service.

Local resident and organiser of the petition Michael Nolan has lived in Hillsborough for more than 20 years and says the community is acting on the issue and it's not a moment too soon.

"So the community of Hillsborough have been working tirelessly to raise awareness, hounding friends and family and anyone that will listen and anyone who can help try and raise awareness of the cause," said Michael Nolan.

"The suburb of Hillsborough consists of 600 plus residents who from about 7:15 in the morning until 9:15 in the morning are held hostage by traffic flow that is just constant."

With the state government budget right around the corner, everyone is hoping the government will do something to fix the notorious Hillsborough Road.

"The minister has indicated that there will be some sort of funding. Now the question is what that is and whether that is actually serious money that will fix all the issues on this road. We welcome that funding but it remains to be seen what that funding will actually contain," said Shadow Minister Jodi McKay.

Calls to fix Hillsborough Road

BY ARIANA GATTI and JESSICA ROUSE

Charlestown MP Jodie Harrison is again calling on the state government to address the ongoing dangerous traffic conditions along Hillsborough Road.

The Hillsborough suburb has two streets to enter or exit which both lead onto congested Hillsborough Road making it increasingly difficult for residents to find a safe gap in traffic to get onto Hillsborough road.

Jodie Harrison presented a motion in state parliament describing these issues residents are facing, saying it's causing an immense amount of stress to residents.

She says it is sometimes taking residents up to 20 minutes just to get out of Hillsborough onto the road and it's resulting in dangerous driving practices.

"It doesn't just affect the people that are coming out of Hillsborough the suburb, but it affects people who are using Hillsborough road and that could be people right across the Hunter."

"I've been calling for the release of the Hillsborough road traffic study which was funded by the government back in 2014. There is also a Hillsborough Road/Charlestown road traffic corridor study that's being developed now."

Since the end of 2014, Jodie Harrison has been pushing the government to do something and she says "the government should be pushing for those traffic studies to be released" and it is about time they did so funding can be allocated to the road to fix the problem.

"I really think it's time that the traffic studies are released and the government finally commit to funding the capital works that are actually recommended in those traffic studies."