Government

What’s On:

Lane Cove

JUNE

SATURDAY SOUNDS - LANE COVE PLAZA

Jazz Mondo: PJ, Saturday 3 June, 10:00am – 12:00pm. Enjoy a laid-back morning of Jazz & Latin standards, with the occasional pop classic thrown in for good measure.

Mimosa Duo: Saturday 17 June, 10:00am – 12:00pm. Sit back and take in the exquisite sounds of Mimosa Duo. This guitar and violin duo will charm the Plaza with a repertoire that spans from classical to Gypsy Jazz.

LANE COVE LIBRARY

All events are free. Call 9911 3634 to book.

BookChat @ Lane Cove Library – Luck of the Irish:

Tuesday 13 June, 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Our next BookChat is Luck of the Irish – books and authors that reflect Irish settings, issues and culture. To join the group you need to register with the Library, select your book and start reading!

Short Story Writing Workshop @ Lane Cove Library:

Wednesday 21 June, 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Keith Whelan has a Degree in Journalism and Media Studies from Griffith College, Dublin and has worked for several national and local newspapers. Movies @ Lane Cove Library – Lion (2016): Tuesday 27 June, 2.00pm – 4.30pm. The film Lion is a 2016 biographical movie directed by Garth Davis and written by Luke Davies and based on the book A Long way home by Saroo Brierley. The film stars Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham and Nicole Kidman.

Digital Discoveries @ Lane Cove Library: Wednesday 28 June, 10:00am – 12:00pm. Book a 30-minute one-on-one session with a staff member who can help with downloading eBooks and eMagazines, the Library online catalogue, online supermarket shopping or trouble-shooting your tablet or other device. Specify your preferred topic when making your booking.

Thursday Tunes @ Lane Cove Library – Verdi & Puccini:

Thursday 29 June, 10:30am – 12:00pm. Local musician Graham Ball presents this talk on the music and lives of the last romantic, operatic composers.

BUSHCARE

Bookings essential, book online at www. lanecove.nsw.gov.au/bushcareevents or call 9911 3583.

Living Shorelines - Restoring Oyster

Habitat: Thursday 8 June, 6:30pm - 8:30pm. Celebrate World Oceans Day and discover the amazing role of oysters in keeping our estuaries and harbour clean and filled with marine life. Hear about the latest research on oysters and how seawalls and the Oysterbag project in Lane Cove will help restore oyster beds and estuarine habitat in Sydney Harbour.

Walking Country: Saturday 24 June, 10:00am- 1:30pm. Discover the rich heritage of the Lane Cove area. Not only did this Saltwater Country provide everything the Wallamedegal & Cameraygal needed but these waterways provided trade opportunities across the Sydney basin. Join the Aboriginal Heritage Office’s Education Guide Karen Smith. After the walk, share a bush tucker lunch and conversation.

SENIORS

Making a Will Seminar: Wednesday 14 June, 10:30am - 11:30am, Living and Learning Centre, 180 Longueville Road. All you need to know about making a valid legal Will, including how to change your current Will, what happens if you die without a Will and the responsibility of the lawyer preparing the Will. To make a booking call 9911 3591 or email agrant@lanecove.nsw.gov.au

SAVE THE DATE!

Memoir Writing Workshop @ Lane Cove Library: Thursday 6 July, 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Dr Sarah Klenbort has a Masters of Fine Arts (Fiction) from Columbia University, New York. With extensive experience in teaching creative writing, Sarah has also published short fiction in literary journals in Britain, Australia, and the US. She has published a memoir piece in the US literary journal Ninth Letter.

For more details on these events visit www.lanecove.nsw.gov.au or call Lane Cove Council on 9911 3555.

A Message from the Mayor of Lane Cove Councillor Deborah Hutchens

There is always something on in Lane Cove – exciting events, community group activities, sporting matches and presentation nights to name a few. Tucked in and amongst the offerings this past month was an information session on Elder Abuse. This is a topic that requires careful thought and consideration in our community and one that we all should be aware of and talk about. Caring for our elderly citizens is a huge responsibility which should be shared amongst us all, including those who are trained and work in Aged Care.

I would like to think that Lane Cove is a safe place for everyone, not just in their streets but in their homes. If you are concerned, I would encourage you to contact the NSW Elder Abuse Helpline & Resource Unit on 1800 628 221.

Official openings – Lane Cove & North Side Community Services and Lane Cove Music and Cultural Centre

Congratulations to the teams involved with organising two wonderful official opening events last month. Lane Cove & North Side Community Services and the Music and Cultural Centre both officially marked their new residences in the Lane Cove Community Hub with opening events last month. It was a great pleasure to see these groups utilising these wonderful Council facilities and most importantly, to see the spaces filled with volunteers, students and staff who are all benefitting directly from the investment in these facilities.

12ft Skiff Club and Swim Club

I continue to be amazed by the sporting talent of our local community and the commitment of local volunteers who keep these clubs running year in, year out. The 12ft Skiff Club recently held their annual presentation evening and I was astounded to hear that in 2018, the Club will be celebrating their 100th Anniversary – what an achievement! As Patron of the Lane Cove Swim Club, I attended their Trophy Presentation evening with the theme "Beach Party". It was a colourful, fun event, where swimmers of all ages were recognised for their achievements and success over the past year.

Opening of Lane Cove Literary Awards

Lane Cove Library once again hosted a terrific evening to mark the launch of the Lane Cove Literary Awards, as well as two new publications. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to Lane Cove Literary Awards 2016: An Anthology and Celebrating Lane Cove: 2017 Anthology. Both publications reflect the commitment of Lane Cove to quality literacy, creative and cultural programs. The 2017 Literary Awards are now open with three categories: Short Story, Memoir and Poetry. For details,

entry forms and terms and conditions, visit www.lanecove.nsw.gov.au/library.

Children’s Voices for Reconciliation

Council is fortunate to have a strong 21-year history with local schools and childcare centres who perform in the annual Children’s Voices for Reconciliation event. This is a terrific morning of performance, dance and song that showcases what reconciliation means to the young people of Lane Cove. I enjoyed the opportunity to attend the event during National Reconciliation Week and watch the proud students and teachers. A big thank you to the teachers who worked so hard to put together such memorable performances – each item helped to reflect Australia’s Reconciliation journey. Thank you also to Karen Smith from the Aboriginal Heritage Office who hosted the day. M: 0422 174 730 E: dhutchens@lanecove.nsw.gov.au

Fire & Emergency Services Levy

From July, the NSW Government’s Fire and Emergency Services Levy (FESL) levy will be collected by Council through your rates notice and then passed on to the NSW Government. The NSW Government has now released the details of the levy rate for each classification of property. Visit www.fesl.nsw.gov.au to use their online calculator in conjunction with the classification received in the April rate notice. Further detail is

available by calling 1300 78 78 72.

Support for local businesses

Local small-to-medium businesses are encouraged to take advantage of a free opportunity for one-on-one business advice through the State Government’s Business Connect program. It aims to support small businesses to startup, become more sustainable and increase business confidence. More information

is available via www.industry.nsw.gov.au/ businessconnect or 1300 134 359.

Online police reporting

The new NSW Police Force Community Portal is an online reporting system that means Lane Cove residents and businesses can create non-emergency police reports online. This includes Lost Property, Intentional Damage or Graffiti and Theft. If you have something non-urgent to report, then consider visiting the website and reporting the issue online: www.police.

nsw.gov.au/community_portal/home.

Captured Photography evening

I encourage everyone to join me for the Opening Night of the Captured Photography exhibition at Gallery Lane Cove on Wednesday 14 June. This is a fantastic annual event that brings together budding photographers of all ages. The winners of this year’s theme ‘Love Where You Play’ will be announced on the night. Gallery Lane Cove is located on the Upper Level of 164 Longueville Road. For details, visit www.

gallerylanecove.com.au.

Mayor of Hunters Hill P: 9817 7599 E: richardquinn@huntershill.nsw.gov.au

For a long time, local councils have been compulsorily collecting taxes and levies on behalf of the NSW Government through your quarterly council rates notice.

Many ratepayers are probably unaware of the significant cost-shifting burden placed on councils by the NSW Government and ultimately charged to ratepayers. These taxes and levies include property valuation fees levied by the Land and Property Management Authority (1.37% increase in 2016/17); and contributions to Fire and Emergency Services (2.7% increase in 2016/17), which assists in funding the State Emergency Service and the Fire Services. This is additional to the new Fire and Emergency Services Levy (FESL) which will be charged from 1st July 2017.

Councils are also required to contribute to repayment of the principal of loans to the Sydney Regional Development Fund (2.75% increase in 2016/17).

Annual council financial audits are now required to be conducted by the NSW Auditor General, where previously tenders could be called for audit services. For Hunters Hill Council alone, this mandatory requirement has incurred a 49% increase in our external audit costs.

Council employee salaries are independently determined, with an increase of 2.2% expected for 2017/18. Similarly, waste charges will increase by 2.2% in 2017/18.

Many of council’s fees and charges, particularly in relation to development applications, are externally set by NSW legislation. Council rates are charged as a percentage of the property valuation determined by the NSW Government.

For example, on a residential property with land valuation of $1m, the following rates apply: Hunters Hill Council $1585, City of Ryde $1659, Lane Cove Council $1616, Northern Beaches Council (Manly) $2264 and City of Parramatta $3132. Note, this information has been collated from the various council websites.

The NSW Government also determines any overall increases in council rates, through ‘rate pegging’, which sets the maximum increase to the total rate revenue councils can charge. For 2017/18, rate pegging has been set at 1.5%. With almost all of the compulsory taxes, fees and levies passed on the councils by the NSW Government increasing by well over the 1.5% rate pegging limit, it is no surprise that councils across NSW struggle with maintaining a balanced budget position.

Hunters Hill Art Exhibition

The recent Hunters Hill Art Exhibition was an outstanding event and drew large crowds to the various exhibition activities, including the Festival of Art Weekend with HHH Pop Up Bar, live music, free art classes, art and history tours, food and wine and more.

Congratulations to the prize winners and thanks to our generous sponsors: Tracey Dixon McGrath Real Estate, Hunters Hill Hotel, United Resource Management (URM), Hunters Hill Private Hospital, See The Dentist, the Swain Family and Nora Heysen Foundation, and Deckhouse Woolwich.

To all of those who have dedicated much time and effort to make this event such a success, I thank you on behalf of the Council and our community. P: 9817 4757 E: lanecove@parliament.nsw.gov.au

400 extra bus services for Lane Cove

For far too long, public transport facilities have been a bone of contention in the Lane Cove electorate.

Overcrowded buses in peak times and not enough services was the justified complaint of many constituents.

Now things have changed for the better following representations I have made to my colleague, Minister for Transport, Andrew Constance.

Thanks to his assistance, I have been able to announce more than 400 extra weekly bus services in the Lane Cove area in response to increased demand.

The new services, which will begin on 4th June, have been made possible by the NSW Government’s Growth Services Program, which delivers more buses for customers when and where they’re needed.

As Sydney continues to grow, we need to make sure that we are delivering enough services to meet the needs of the community.

For that reason, we’ve created new services on routes that service Lane Cove linking the City, Lane Cove West, Marsfield, Macquarie Park, and Macquarie University.

The biggest news is the introduction of the new route 530, which will provide direct access between the Inner West and Lower North Shore. It will operate every 20 minutes during weekday morning and afternoon peak times, and every 30 minutes at other times, seven days a week. Key destinations served include Burwood, Five Dock, Russell Lea, Drummoyne, Hunters Hill, Linley Point, Lane Cove and Chatswood.

In direct response to increased demand, we will be adding 10 extra services a week to route 285 between the city and Mars Road.

Other additional services that will enhance journeys for Lane Cove include: ● More than 60 additional weekly services on route 252 between Lane Cove West and the city, which will be extended to deliver new links between Gladesville, Hunters

Hill, Linley Point and the lower North Shore, including

Artarmon, Gore Hill, Royal North Shore Hospital, St

Leonards and North Sydney. ● An extra 10 weekly services on route 292 between the city and Marsfield via Lane Cove and Macquarie Park ● More than 30 services on route 506 between the city and

East Ryde now extended to and from Macquarie University. ● More than 50 extra weekly services on route 518 from

Macquarie University to the city via Gladesville.

There will also be timetable changes to existing route 536 between Gladesville, Hunters Hill and Chatswood. This will be modified to operate during weekday morning and afternoon peak periods only, with services outside of these times replaced by routes 252 and 530.

At the same time, route 265 from Lane Cove will operate to and from North Sydney instead of McMahons Point, reducing duplication of services operating between North Sydney and McMahons Point. Travel options between McMahons Point and North Sydney will still be available on routes 254 and 291.

New timetables will be available online using the trip planner at transportnsw.info. Plan trips by downloading realtime transport apps, and customers can receive bus service updates for their area by following @BusesInfo on Twitter or by phoning the Transport Info Line on 131 500.

P: 9929 9822 E: trent.zimmerman.mp@aph.gov.au

Federal Budget 2017

The focus of the Federal parliament over the last month has been the 2017 Federal Budget, which outlines our plan to lock in Australia’s economic growth, improve services like health and education, and tackle challenges such as housing affordability and infrastructure.

One of our challenges has been to ensure Federal spending is sustainable and the government has taken further action to return the Budget to balance. We cannot keep borrowing to fund the day-to-day operations of government. Building on the $25 billion of Budget repair already delivered by the government, the Budget outlines a path back to a surplus by 2020-21.

Returning the Budget to balance has required some tough decisions – both by containing costs and also through new revenue measures such as the levy which will be applied to major banks.

Within those constraints, the government has been able to:

● Increase funding for our schools with an additional $18.6 billion over ten years to implement Gonski 2.0. ● Improve health care with more funding for public hospitals and the future of Medicare guaranteed. ● Provide support for small and medium size businesses to improve their competitiveness. ● Secure the future of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which is so important to helping those in our community with disabilities. ● Provide funding to build a second airport for Sydney and increase funding for public transport through a $10 billion rail infrastructure fund.

● Make it easier for people to buy a home through a plan to address housing affordability.

All of these decisions are about creating more opportunities for all Australians.

Gonski 2.0

A key focus in the Budget has been our reforms to school funding, which will see an extra $18.6 billion in funding flow to government and non-government schools over the coming ten years.

As part of the changes, the government is moving to a fairer, needs-based model which will replace the 27 separate deals negotiated by the former government. The absence of a nationally-consistent approach meant students were being treated differently, even if they had the same needs, based on which state or territory they lived in.

All local public schools and most non-government local schools will see their funding increased over the next ten years.

Support for our veterans

Supporting and assisting our veterans is an issue very close to my heart. In the Budget we are making sure all past and current service personnel have easier access to free mental health support and services.

Enhanced access to counselling from the Veterans Families Counselling Service will also assist partners and dependents of veterans. This includes the 586 veterans and their families living in our community. All DVA Clients - indeed, 1135 DVA clients in the electorate of North Sydney - will benefit from the investment in this year’s budget to modernise DVA's ICT system to provide easier access to DVA services and improve processing times for claims.

Delivering a boost and tax relief for small business

In this Budget we’re extending the Instant Asset Write-Off for our 28,297 small businesses operating in the North Sydney electorate. We are also delivering company tax cuts for small and medium business which will mean they can invest and employ more. We are also creating a fund to help train apprentices in key trades and skills to get more young people into work.

Securing the NDIS

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is a game changer for those living with a disability. It is described as an insurance scheme, as Australians will be able to call on it for support in the event they have an existing or new disability.

The government has made the decision to increase the Medicare levy by 0.5 per cent to ensure the scheme is properly funded in the years ahead. The levy will begin in two years’ time when the additional funds are needed.

Nominations open for the North Sydney Community Awards

To recognise the work of our local volunteers, I am organising the 2017 North Sydney Community Awards which will be held in mid-September.

Volunteers could be from community organisations helping those in need; those working to protect our local environment; support our schools and sporting organisations; or assisting with the many not-forprofit groups in our area. Nominees should live or work in the North Sydney electorate.

If you would like to nominate a local volunteer for the Awards, nomination forms can be provided by my office – just call 9929 9822 or email me.