Novocastrian Aaren Russell Speechless after Newcastle 500

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Aaren Russell was absolutely speechless after the final race at the Newcastle 500.

The Novocastrian driver came across the line in 19th position in the final race yesterday after a weekend of ups and downs.

At 26-years-old, Russell said he just wanted to make Newcastle proud after he crashed out in Saturday's race and failed to finish.

"I actually shed a couple of tears in the car. I just felt like the weight of Newcastle was on me and I felt like I just let everyone down so to be able to do this today in this car with this team, they've got such a small budget so to race up there with some of  the big boys today is just, I don't know I can't describe it!"

"I'm buggered. I'm absolutely shattered."

Russell had a couple of close calls during the 250km race between other drivers on the track, but he had other problems as well with his cool suit not working properly through much of the race.The suit is meant to keep drivers cool at 2 degrees celcius, but Russell's suit was only getting down to around 12 to 15 degrees celsius.

"I was bloody hot all race. The drink bottle failed a little bit towards the middle stint so it was all going on."

Image Supplied.

Drivers appeared to use Saturday's race to try figure out what they would and wouldn't be able to do on the new street circuit. Russell said that made yesterday's race much easier.

"I think yesterday was a bit of a great unknown so today we all knew kind of where the spots were where you could pass and what wasn't on. I had a few bloody hairy moments with some other cars that I thought were going to shove me into a wall so maybe I drove a little conservative."

"I'm really happy with the times. We were so consistent in the first part of the race and we even got the lead in that first stint so that's pretty cool."

"Everyone has been so supportive and it just means the absolute world to me so I'm kind of on top of the moon. I tried to cross the track at the end there to jump in the harbour but they wouldn't let me cross the track so that'll have to wait for another day."

"I'm just really happy to finish the event. I'm pumped."

Thousands Race Through the Gates for Day One of the Newcastle 500

BY JESSICA ROUSE

It's only day one and it looks like the Newcastle 500 is going to be a big hit with racegoers.

Thousands poured through the gates today to watch the V8 Supercars hit the track for their first practice runs ahead of the Supercars Championship decider on the weekend.

The first 40 minute practice got underway at midday with 2017 Championship contender and six-time champion Jamie Whincup bringing home the fastest lap time at just over 1 minute 10.15 seconds.

Not far behind him was Scott Pye, Shane Van Gisbergen, Michael Caruso and in fifth place Tim Slade.

The other big contender for the 2017 Championship title Scott McLaughlin came in at 7th with a time of 1 minute 11.06 seconds.

McLaughlin fought back in Practice 2 though, he came out on top with the fastest time of 1 minute 09.59 seconds just ahead of Whincup who finished the practice in second place with a time of 1 minute 10.02 seconds.

Todd Kelly came along in third, followed by Scott Pye, Fabian Coulthard, Tim Slade and David Reynolds in sixth.

There was only one small incident during the first practice with Mark Winterbottom locking up on the first turn heading down onto the escape road, he made a turn left to rejoin the track.

The Toyota 86 series cars, Aussie Race Cars, V8 Utes and Dunlop Super2 Series also hit the track today.

The Toyota 86's are out in practice once again! #Newcastle500 pic.twitter.com/KgbTNX0zos

— 2NURFM News (@2NURFMNews) November 24, 2017

Meanwhile, it's all hands on deck from Newcastle City Council's perspective for this weekend.

Council has rostered on 120 extra staff to cover the weekend with extra staff including rangers, food inspectors, waste collection crews, parks crews, lifeguards, parking officers and communication officers.

Speaking of waste collection, an extra 600 waste bins have been placed throughout the surrounding areas of the race precinct which will be emptied twice a daily from today until Sunday to cater for the extra people moving in and around the city. Supercars Australia will be looking after waste collection within the precinct.

Road crews will be on deck to respond to any issues with council-managed roads and lifeguards will be stationed at all of the beaches including Newcastle Beach and Nobbys Beach.

Image @HunterHappenings Twitter

It's a Resounding YES to Same Sex Marriage

BY JESSICA ROUSE AND SARAH JAMES

Across the country the result of the same sex marriage postal survey is a resounding Yes.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics announced the results this morning which saw 61 per cent of voters vote Yes and 38 per cent vote No.

The Australian Capital Territory returned the highest majority of Yes votes with 74 percent, and New South Wales returned the least with 57.8 per cent.

133 electorates voted yes, 95 of those electorates had a majority of 60 per cent; of the 17 electorates who voted No, 6 of those electorates had a 60 percent majority of No votes.

YES Campaigners with Tiernan Brady in Newcastle earlier this year.

The statistics become more interesting the more you break them down, females were more likely to respond to the survey and those voters aged between 25 - 29 years old had the lowest participation rate compared to the 70 - 74 age group being the most likely to respond to the survey.

Now it's expected two private member's bills will be put before parliament. Both are from Liberal members including one from West Australian senator Dean Smith.

Some Conservatives want strong religious protections, but other MPs say the bill can't threaten anti-discrimination laws. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has endorsed a bill co-signed by Labor and the Greens which will leave religious protections to the mercy of the Senate.

How did Novocastrians vote?

The Newcastle electorate responded overwhelmingly in favour of same-sex marriage, with 74.8% of people voting Yes.

This meant Newcastle had the fifth-largest majority of Yes voters in the country.

Paterson, Shortland and Hunter returned similar results, with 65.5%, 67.7% and 64.4% voting yes respectively.

"What an exceptional result. It certainly demonstrates just how strongly the public believes in equality for all, and particularly here in Newcastle, how supportive our community is of the diversity of our region," said Deputy Lord Mayor Declan Clausen.

Declan Clausen thanked the work of volunteers who campaigned for the Yes vote, ensuring people were enrolled and got their vote in.

"I was extremely pleased to see the huge number of volunteers that were out every day of the week and on weekends in the leadup to the closing of the survey, making sure people had the opportunity to return their vote and have a say," he said.

Novocastrians Ready to Carry the Baton for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

BY JESSICA ROUSE

More than 20 Novocastrians have been named as participants in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay.

Among the 3,800 Australians carrying the baton are Newcastle and Hunter athletes Kurt Fearnley, Maddison Elliott, Alex McKinnon and Christie Dawes.

The Queen's baton will undertake a 100 day journey across Australia in the lead up to the games in APRIL next year.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the list of names this morning which had been selected through a community nomination program.

'The batonbearers recognise the achievements and aspirations of Australians from all walks of life, from ambitious 10-year-olds to humble volunteers and well-known Australians from a variety of fields," said the Premier.

For the full list of batonbearers head to: https://www.gc2018.com/qbr/batonbearers 

It's a Who, not a What: Marriage Equality Campaigner Visits Newcastle

BY JESSICA ROUSE

The Bureau of Statistics has revealed the response to the same sex marriage survey has been huge, particularly here in Newcastle.

The man leading the Yes Campaign believes almost 60 per of voters have returned their survey form so far.

Meeting today outside an Islington home proudly boasting a rainbow fence, Australians For Equality Executive Director, Tiernan Brady met with Novocastrian Yes campaigners. He says from door knocking and phone calls alone, there's been a resounding majority of people saying they have voted, and they've voted yes.

Yes campaigners gathering in Islington today. 

"This is not a normal political campaign. It's not about taxes or defence policy or schools, it's about real people's lives and their dignity and people who live in Newcastle who love their community every little bit as everybody else in Newcastle and they just want to be treated the same," said Tiernan.

One of those real people was John, one of the Yes campaigners who lost his partner to pancreatic cancer. On his death certificate, John is identified as an "informant of death" which he says would be a different situation if his marriage was to be legalised.

"Marriage equality isn't some strange 'what', it's a 'who', it's somebody who lives on the same street as us. I think when people understand that they understand that marriage equality doesn't take anything from anybody."

Tiernan is blown away by the support Newcastle City Council has thrown behind the campaign and can see residents who identify as gay or lesbian are taking great strength from the support.

"I think the support of the council has been incredible in Newcastle. Most especially for the people of Newcastle because it sends such a powerful message to everybody in the community that the council that represents that community thinks everybody should be equal."

Tiernan played a key role in the successful campaign for same sex marriage in Ireland in 2015 and says compared to Ireland, Newcastle's reaction to the campaign and the polling numbers are quite similar. He's hopeful that similarity will lead to success in Australia for marriage equality.

"The wonderful thing to know from the Irish experience that the day after marriage equality happens, all that happens is a few more people get married and people get on with their lives. No one becomes less married and no one becomes more gay," said Tiernan.

The rainbow fence in Islington.

According to polling data released this week, one in five Australians aged between 18 and 24 had filled in the form but were yet to post it.

Particularly in Newcastle, there's a lot of students living away from home to attend university who may not have even gotten hold of their survey. With just over four weeks left to cast your vote, the campaign is reminding everyone to visit the post box.

"We all know that whatever happens with this vote we all have to wake up in Australia the next day, we all have to share the same country. So winning for us isn't about beating anybody. Winning for us is about persuading people. We understand that even though the majority of Australians are for us, there are some we are yet to persuade."

On Track for a Faster Train from Newcastle to Sydney

BY JESSICA ROUSE

It might only be a trial, but Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald is confident a new fast train from Newcastle to Sydney could be permanent.

Starting in November, the trial will see Novocastrians slash 26 minutes off the train trip from Newcastle to Sydney by taking out stops at Cardiff, Fassifern and Eastwood.

Once the new Wickham Transport Interchange is finished the new service will leave at 5:03am, replacing the 4:40am service.

It'll stop at Hamilton, Broadmeadow, Morisset, Wyong, Tuggerah, Gosford, Woy Woy, Hornsby, Epping and Strathfield both ways. 

Scot MacDonald says they've been working on this one for a while and is really pleased the Transport Minister has agreed to the trial.

"The approach that I think has worked here is saying to the Minster, look we don't have to lock anything in, we don't have to have a permanent change at this stage, but at least lets have a trial and see how it goes and as I say I think they'll be a good demand for this." 

Coming back home from Sydney will be quicker as well, 11 minutes will be trimmed off the trip from Central to Newcastle on the 3:45pm train.

The government says the trial was part of the $1.5 billion More trains More Services Program to improve the network, and even better everyone likes a sleep in, no matter how small.

"I think it's terrific for people to not have to get up quite so early, it's still an early start obviously, but I think its what people in Newcastle have been calling out for," said Scot MacDonald.

Championing women in Newcastle

BY JESSICA ROUSE

The first ever Women's Strategy is being compiled for New South Wales and Novocastrian women will be playing a big part.

Minister for Women Tanya Davies hosted a workshop with more than 50 Newcastle women who had the opportunity to put their ideas for NSW's first ever Women's Strategy and discuss the challenges they face within the community.

The aim of discussions today is to help the government understand what social and economic issues are affecting Novocastrian women and see what they can do to resolve them.

"I know that growing up there there were challenges around just access for the community, public access and challenges ensuring that there were greater opportunities for women to get into and stimulating an interest in interesting and challenging careers and job opportunities," said Minister Davies.

Minister Davies was keen to open up the conversation and put forward the message that gender equality isn't only an issue for women, it's a social and economic issue which affects everyone in the community.

Research has shown that at a purely basic economic level, society does so much better when women are at the very epicentre of decision making with a business or community. The Women's Strategy will also aim to encourage and spur other sectors and industries to lead the way for women because there is so much more that can be done.

"There's already a lot of evidence out there particularly in the corporate world that where a board has a presence of women at that key decision making level that the company or business does significantly better in terms of overall staff morale but also through their financial achievements," said Minister Davies.