14 minute read
Orders of the day
Tweed Valley Weekly Locals Supporting Locals Two Tweed Shire residents make Queen’s Birthday Honours List
By Jonathon Howard YOU HAVE a Friend director John Lee said he felt honoured to receive a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his many years of service to those in need.
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He’s also highlighted the need to help those most vulnerable in the community, especially as a record housing crisis grips the Tweed.
In 2008, Mr Lee registered the charity ‘You Have A Friend Inc’ with the goal of helping those who need it most.
“It is a charity in its purest form, meaning that it is 100 per cent not for profi t and we are all volunteers donating our time to support those in need,” he said.
Mr Lee’s service has been previously recognised with the Tweed Shire Volunteer of the Year Award (2011), The Pride of Australia Medal (2012), and he was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International (2010).
Mr Lee is a Lifeline accredited telephone counsellor and following six years of part-time study, in 2015 he graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Community Studies, Social Welfare.
Apart from providing material support, Mr Lee’s endless advocacy protects homeless from both legal and social challenges that invoke human rights issues, and, even in the face of adversity, his principles of legal justice and social justice have never wavered.
The OAM recognises and acknowledges Mr Lee’s compassion, dedication and unconditional love to those less fortunate, and the honour bestowed upon him is truly deserved.
The investiture ceremony will take place at Government House Sydney in September/ October.
The stories of Mr Lee’s encounters with homeless people are heartbreaking, with many forced to sleep in their cars, or in one case an elderly woman was found sleeping in a drain at Tweed Heads.
Speaking with The Weekly, Mr Lee said he felt honoured to receive the OAM, and he hopes the recognition will draw attention to the plight of so many sleeping rough on the North Coast.
“The situation for many homeless people is even more dire than when I originally started the charity,” he said.
“It is a terrible situation for many local residents of the Tweed Shire and more needs to be done to address the housing crisis.
Mr Lee said he recently assisted an elderly woman who had lived in a Murwillumbah rental for the past 21 years, but lost the property due to a price increase.
“The rental prices have skyrocketed and it’s forcing some of our most vulnerable out on the streets, or sleeping in their cars,” he said.
“This one elderly lady was forced to leave her rental in Murwillumbah due to price increase, which she could not aff ord, despite being there for more than two decades.
You Have a Friend director John Lee (OAM) has dedicated much of his life to helping others
Dominic Richards OAM
Cabarita Beach’s Dominic Richards has received an OAM for his service to architecture and the community.
Mr Richards has helped a range of organisations related to architecture, education and the LGBT community.
Australian-raised and Cambridge educated, his work in urban design and on the impact of the built environment include co-founding Our Place in London to develop “sustainable communities and walkable neighbourhoods that are deeply rooted in their locality.”
Mr Richards is a Director of Architekton, which delivers sustainable urban development projects.
He is the Chairman and Co-Founder of Chinese digital education initiative Prosper Education in Sydney and the co-founder and Chair of Royal ABC, the world’s leading earlylearning programme.
He was the Deputy Chair of the Prince’s Trust Australia and Trustee and Design Director of the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community.
Mr Richards is the Former Chairman of LGBT London, the co-founder of Queercompany and of The English Teddy Bear Company (UK). Natural, drug-free headache and migraine approach Ph: 0475 75 75 10
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$1 17m m for r Crown n Lands
Tweed community groups that use Crown Land are invited to apply for a share of $17 million in grants available from the Nationals in NSW Government to upgrade and maintain reserves and community facilities on Crown Land. Applications under the Crown Reserves Improvement Fund are open until 25 June 2021.
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12 Local News Thursday, June 17, 2021 Councillor wants more smiley signs
By Jonathon Howard THE POPULAR ‘smiley face’ signs that remind motorists to stick to the speed limit are back on Tweed Shire Council’s agenda this week, following community calls for more.
Councillor James Owen will move a motion during Council’s Thursday, June 17, meeting that Council apply for funding to purchase more of the signs under federal and state government grant programs.
Council currently has two smiley face warning signs and has found the signs are effective at reducing speed, especially on residential streets.
An application will be made for the next round of the Federal Government’s Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program. However, Council was unsuccessful in obtaining grant funding in the past for the smiley signs which cost about $12,000 each.
“Speeding in our urban environment is a key issue for our community and Council to address,” Council’s report read.
“To date the small number of smiley signs which the Council own are proving to be very eff ective in the control of speed.
Cr Owen’s motion stated that speeding on local roads is a “signifi cant concern to the community” and Council regularly receives requests to address speeding issues on residential streets.
“Installation of the speed awareness devices allows Council to address the community demand for safer speeds, particularly on roads that are not suitable for traffi c calming and/ or roads where traffi c calming would be high cost,” Council’s report read.
“We currently have two ‘smiley face’ signs that are rotated about every two weeks around the shire.
“There is a long list of community requests for worthy sites for the signs to be installed.
Additional signs would allow for a broader program and the opportunity to engage with more motorists and promote road safety.”
Radar speed ‘smiley face’ signs are eff ective at reducing speeds — but the units can cost up to $12,000 each. Pictured above is an example of the signs by Voxson
Tweed Valley Weekly Locals Supporting Locals Pollies square off over light rail
By Jonathon Howard A POLITICAL fight has erupted over a proposed light rail route to the Tweed from the Gold Coast, with member for Tweed Geoff Provest calling on Federal Member for Richmond Justine Elliot to kick the Labor Party into gear on the project.
Mr Provest has backed calls for the Gold Coast light rail to be extended to Coolangatta, but he’s calling on the Queensland Labor Party and Mrs Elliot to “step up to the plate” and deliver a rail service to the border.
“Labor needs to step up to the plate and help ensure our public transport needs are met,” Mr Provest said.
Mr Provest said the region has been “crying out” for light rail, with work already underway on a Multi-Modal Corridor Study to identify a suitable fi ve-kilometre corridor for a future light rail from Coolangatta to the Tweed.
“Justine Elliott needs to show she can actually deliver for our community and convince her friends in the Queensland Government, along with her federal colleagues to come to the table with funding to make this happen,” he said.
“This is Justine’s big moment to shine and move away from being another dissenting voice for progress in the Tweed.
“Extending the light rail on the Gold Coast all the way to the Gold Coast Airport would be a game-changer for our region.
But Mrs Elliot has hit back at Mr Provest’s comments, describing his eff orts for light rail to the Tweed as “disgraceful”.
“The Queensland Government is moving ahead with their plans for the light rail extension to Coolangatta,” she said.
“The comments from Geoff Provest are yet another admission that he isn’t up to the job, that he’s so ineff ectual he needs to call on other MPs to do his job.
“Let’s put this into perspective. In the time Geoff Provest has been in office the Queensland State Government has built and delivered rail services from Varsity Lakes through to Broadbeach with the next southern section planned and funded for construction.
“Disgracefully, over those same 14 years Tweed Nationals MP Geoff Provest has refused to build or return any rail services to our region.
“All we get from Geoff Provest and the Nationals is cuts, chaos and contempt.
Light rail is storming ahead on the Gold Coast
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14 Local News Thursday, June 17, 2021 Fears seniors still vulnerable to outbreak
By Jonathon Howard HEALTHY NORTH Coast says it’s ramping up the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, with Tweed Shire residents aged 40 and over now able to book their appointments at locations including The Tweed Hospital.
The announcement follows heavy criticism from Federal Member for Richmond Justine Elliot, who highlighted the Tweed Shire’s signifi cant elderly population was vulnerable to any potential outbreaks.
Mrs Elliot met with Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler along with Dr Matthew Cardone at the ‘Tweed Health for Everyone Superclinic’ recently, to discuss the “Morrison Government’s failure” to deliver a speedy and eff ective vaccine rollout on the NSW North Coast.
“Locals contact me every day concerned that they just aren’t able to get COVID-19 vaccine because Scott Morrison has failed to deliver enough vaccines to our region,” Mrs Elliot said.
“Many of our GPs are ready and able to provide vaccines for our community, but they just aren’t getting the supplies.
“Our locals urgently need this vaccine, especially as we have a large proportion of elderly in our region.
Mr Butler said Scott Morrison “promised that four million Australians would be vaccinated by the end of March”.
“After failing that target, Scott Morrison’s next target was six million Australians vaccinated by May 10,” Mr Butler said.
“With just over three million vaccinations completed, Scott Morrison has utterly failed his own target once again.
“Many frontline healthcare workers, aged care workers, disability residents, all in the Government’s Phase 1A rollout, who were supposed to be vaccinated fi rst, are still yet to receive their jabs.
Meanwhile, in a media statement, Healthy North Coast said more than 98,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have now been prescribed across the North Coast from Tweed Heads to Port Macquarie, which is an increase of around 22,500 in the past fortnight.
The previous fortnightly jump was more than 18,000, showing the vaccine eff ort is gathering pace.
Over the same period, weekly supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine to general practices has increased signifi cantly to 26,400.
The number of vaccine doses available at Commonwealth Vaccination Clinics has been boosted and NSW Health has established vaccination centres at local hospitals, as well as a number of popup clinics.
Healthy North Coast Chief Executive Julie Sturgess said the latest figures showed people were embracing the need to vaccinate against COVID-19.
“There are now more and more options to get vaccinated,” Ms Sturgess said.
“I encourage our communities to take the opportunity to safeguard themselves and others against COVID-19 by getting the jab.
About 80 per cent of North Coast residential aged care facilities have fi nished resident vaccinations, with the remainder expected to be completed by the end of this month.
Member for Richmond Justine Elliot and Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler with Dr Matthew Cardone (right)
Tweed Valley Weekly Locals Supporting Locals Murwillumbah Hospital Palliative Care upgrade
MURWILLUMBAH DISTRICT Hospital’s palliative care facilities will be given a $109,900 boost after funding was announced by the State Government recently.
Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) Chief Executive Wayne Jones said the refurbishments will help bring comfort to people at the end of life, along with their families and carers.
“At Murwillumbah, a new palliative care room will be created to accommodate patients and their family members in a homelike, tranquil environment,” he said.
These facilities are among 34 palliative care facilities across NSW to be refurbished over the next two years, at a total of $5.5 million.
Tweed Mall gets vaccination clinic
A NEW COVID vaccination clinic opened at Tweed Mall on Tuesday, June 15, with Tweed MP Geoff Provest on hand for the occasion.
Members of the public aged 40 and over, as well as other priority groups are eligible to get vaccinated at the clinic.
The clinic will be open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 4pm.
Bookings are essential and can be made by calling 1800 438 829 for people who are eligible after visiting the online COVID-19 eligibility checker at www.health.gov.au
Anyone in NSW aged 50 and over can book to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine by visiting www.health.gov.au
The new clinic is located in Shop 23, next to Aldi in Tweed Mall, Wharf Street, Tweed Heads.
Tweed MP Geoff Provest (centre) was on hand for the opening of the Tweed Mall COVID clinic
EXTENDED UNTIL 31 JULY
