State Government Urged to Fund Park and Ride as Council Grants Reprieve

BY MADELAINE MCNEILL

Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery is calling on the state government to continue funding Newcastle's Park and Ride bus service.

Last Thursday, council CEO Jeremy Bath was shocked to read in an article from The Newcastle Herald that state funding for the service would likely finish at the end of March despite positive talks between council and the government.

The NSW government was expected to formally advise council of its decision by last Friday but is yet to do so, leading to a decision from council to step in and cover the costs until the end of April.

City of Newcastle has agreed to underwrite the service for the month of April while it undertakes a detailed cost analysis of the operation, but Sonia Hornery says the burden shouldn't fall on local government.

"Really it's a state government responsibility and it should be funded by the state government for the people who live in the western suburbs," said Ms Hornery.

"I urge them to have some courage, consider the needs of the people of the western suburbs of Newcastle and continue to fund the popular Park and Ride system."

The service won't run on Friday, March 29th due to the Super Rugby match at McDonald Jones Stadium but will operate as usual from Monday.

Image: The Herald

 

Calls For Increased Police Resources Following Maryland Robbery

BY MADELAINE MCNEILL

Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery will write to Police Minister Troy Grant to request more resources for local police services following an armed robbery at Maryland Tavern last night.

The latest in a string of robberies saw four armed men enter the venue just after 10:30pm, threatening staff before making off with a sum of cash. They were arrested a short time later.

Extra patrols in Wallsend have had a positive impact on the community in recent months, but Sonia Hornery says local police are struggling with a lack of staff and resources.

The MP says last night's work was down to the quick work of police officers but suggested the result could have been different had the officers not been nearby.

"You can imagine if the police are responding to a crime in Stockton and they need to respond to a major assault in the Maryland area, that's a long way for them to travel."

This is not the first time Ms Hornery has contacted the Police Minister about this issue, which she believes isn't being taken seriously.

"Over the last several rounds of allocations, the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie commands have been granted negligible staff increases while the area continues to grow in population," Ms Hornery said.

"I call on the Minister for Police to take a long, hard look at the Government's police staffing and resource allocation priorities."

The four men involved in last night's robbery were scheduled to appear at Newcastle Local Court today.

Image source: abc.net.au

Wallsend crime back in parliament

BY JARROD MELMETH

Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery will today move a Notice of Motion in the State Parliament calling on the Police Minister to properly resource local Police Districts, following a reported increase in crime.

The notice of motion comes off the back of the latest Productivity Commission Report which shows police spending per person across NSW has been slashed by over $50 million since 2012/13.

In January, Ms Hornery held a meeting with local businesses after business owners reported an increase in criminal activity in the area and a number of shops were targeted by criminals.

Ms Hornery said the local Police Force is continually being asked to do more with less, as local Police Districts experience chronic staff shortages.

"The Wallsend electorate sits on the fringe of three different local Police Districts and has been neglected when it comes to having resources allocated.

"The Minister must explain why the NSW Government is failing to deliver on the promised increase in officer numbers and why it is failing to invest in the future of our Police Force," Ms Hornery said.

Police Minister Troy Grant told Macquarie Radio the decrease in funding is due to a decrease in crime.

However, Shadow Police Minister Guy Zangari said the government needs to fund for the future.

"If the government falls asleep at the wheel, there will be an increase in crime. It is as simple as that.

"What we are asking is a commitment for more funding, and more frontline police officers so that NSW does not see a spike in crime in the near future. This is about future-proofing our community," Mr Zangari said.

Police Plan for Strike as Government Ignores Complaints

BY TYLER FARDELL


In a move which the local police force had been waiting for, the State Government announced plans for a re-engineering of the Hunter's police management.

They've proposed moving Maitland's upper police management across to Port Stephens and Cessnock's into the Hunter Valley.

However, the Government did not appoint any new police officers to the Hunter Valley, something which they've been calling for a long time.

In response to this, Police from the Hunter unanimously supported taking industrial action at a meeting on Thursday if they don't hear back from the Government within seven days.

This situation would be unprecedented in the Hunter, with around 600 police officers undertaking industrial action for an expected six weeks.

Actions could include officers not issuing infringement notices for traffic violations but instead warnings, and not policing large events and performing administrative tasks.

Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery praised the Police force for the planned strike but says it should have never come to this.

"It's ridiculous that the government has continually ignored this issue", she said.

"The Hunter is understaffed by at least 20 officers and resources are stretched. "I'm glad the police are taking this step so the government can't ignore this issue any further".

Newcastle Transport Consultation in Wallsend

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Residents are being urged to go along to an information session with Newcastle's transport operator this morning.

The consultation started at 9:30 at the Wallsend Plaza and goes until 12:30pm.

It comes after a string of problems with Keolis Downer underpaying works and cancelling a range of services, reportedly without any notice.

Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery is very happy the operator decided to hold consultation sessions out in her electorate and is urging everyone to go along.

"Accessible and reliable public transport is a priority for many in Wallsend. Thousands of residents in the western suburbs rely on public transport to get to work and school every day,"

"It is important that Wallsend residents make sure that their voices are heard on this issue."

Triple 000 Emergency Benchmarks Not Being Met by Police

BY SARAH JAMES

A shortage of officers in the Newcastle Local Area Command has resulted in police failing to meet a benchmark response time of 12 minutes in nearly 25% of emergency calls.

Despite the number of calls for police assistance falling in recent years, the performance target of 80 per cent of calls responded to within 12 minutes has not be reached in the past three years.

State Member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery, is calling on the NSW Government to allocate more resources to the Newcastle Command to help resolve this issue.

"I have repeatedly called on the Government to provide more police to the local area. Across the state, an extra 247 officers are needed each year just to keep pace with growth," she said.

"These delays could cost lives. NSW Police do the best they can with limited resources and it doesn't help when no new officers are allocated to the Local Area Command."

Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery 

Fed up with young workers being exploited: Hornery

BY JARROD MELMETH and JESSICA ROUSE

Exploitative business practices are being called out and Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery is calling for more protections for workers both young and old who are being exploited by them.

It comes after reports last week of the Fair Work ombudsman pursuing legal action against Tokyo Sushi outlets throughout NSW, including one in Fletcher.

The business allegedly underpaid seven workers more than $22,000 between January and September 2016.

Sonia Hornery is moving a Notice of Motion in the NSW Parliament calling on the government to do more to protect vulnerable young workers who are being exploited and cheated out of the wages they are legally obligated to receive.

"I'm not sure how the government will react to this, but hopefully they'll see the sense and fact that they know that there's an award and the award is important. I'm sure they'll see the sense in the fact that it's not appropriate to allow any business to underpay staff," said Sonia Hornery.

"I think the notice of motion will prompt other people to come forward about these reports. I guess its also making businesses aware and any companies aware that young workers or older workers, it's important and not just important but mandatory that you pay them the award rate."

Calls for a summit to discuss Paramedic safety

BY JAMES WARD

State Member for Wallsend, Ms Sonia Hornery, has urged the Government to hold a summit to discuss the safety or lack of for Paramedics across the state.

Ms Hornery has spoken a number of times in Parliament about the issue dating back to 2013 with the tabling of the Notices of Motions but has again pleaded to the Government after a series of attacks on Paramedics in recent months.

Along with Ms Hornery, The Health Services Union has called for the summit after assaults on Paramedics have risen in the last year.

"There have been increasing levels of injuries to Paramedics so I'm asking the Government again to make sure they pay attention to my concerns about the lack of safety for paramedics and to host the summit," Ms Hornery said.

"Hopefully no more accidents occur before the government acts, the government need to pay more attention to the health and safety of our Paramedics and listen to them."

Paramedics have and will continue to care and attend to community matters but Ms Hornery wants more safety implementations put in place to prevent hard working Paramedics from being assaulted on duty.

"I'll continue to lobby for the Paramedics in the Hunter, they have a very important job and they don't deserve to be assaulted in line with their duty," Ms Hornery stated.

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