Today Deb and I headed down to the South Coast with Shelley Hancock, Member for South Coast, and our candidate for Kiama Ann Sudmalis.

We kicked off the day meeting with Lyn DeSoto and other Shoalhaven River Oyster growers at Greenwell Point. It seems like every day I’m mentioning water, but everywhere I go around NSW people are being hurt by Labor’s failure to manage our water resources and drought-proof NSW.

In a last ditch effort to keep Sydney’s dams above 30%, Labor has been pumping water out of the Shoalhaven with no concern for the consequences. The heavy pumping of water has caused the river level to drop and substantially increased salinity levels. Labor’s plan of taking water from the Shoalhaven has reduced the viability of oyster farming and threatened the businesses of these farmers. In addition, Labor’s bureaucracy has refused to sign leases necessary for these businesses and have rapidly escalated Government charges. I reassured these farmers that we would rein in the Sydney bureaucracy and also assured them that we will support their business ventures.

While at Greenwell Point we joined the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol, Shoalhaven Marine Rescue and the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard and rode through the head of the river down the Shoalhaven to Grey’s Beach. Today we announced a $7.6 million funding package for marine rescue groups to train volunteers and upgrade their vessels. Legislation requires these groups to upgrade their vessels, but Labor have left these community groups stranded, failing to support them with extra funding.

After twelve years it’s the same story all over NSW. Labor continues to pass the buck and expects community groups to pay for their shortfalls. (If you need any further proof just ask CareFlight!) Our package will work hand in hand with community groups to deliver services for the people of NSW. We are committed to providing the support volunteers and community groups need, unlike Labor who just keep coming back cap in hand and asking for more.

From Grey’s Beach we had lunch in Nowra with the Federal Member for Gilmore Jo Gash. Jo is a great Federal Liberal Member of Parliament and is highly respected in her community. Together with Shelley Hancock, they have made a great local Liberal team for the South Coast. I know that if Ann Sudmalis is elected in Kiama, this will make the representation even stronger – Jo, Shelley and Ann will make a pretty awesome team!

We then visited Shoalhaven Ethanol Fuel. The Shoalhaven is the heart of ethanol production in Australia and I wanted to call in to thank Bryan Hanley and the team at Manildra for all the good work they’re doing in producing ethanol to reduce emissions and clean our air. While we were down here it was also a good chance to fill the cars up with E85 for the drive back up the coast.

Our last stop of the day was in Kiama where I announced with Ann Sudmalis that we would make Kiama Police Station a fully-operational, 24 hour a day station.  It is appalling that since 2003 the people of the Kiama electorate have lost 19 Police officers. Ann and I called into the Police Station to say G’day, but unfortunately the station was unmanned. The Police here just don’t have the numbers to man the station.

Disappointingly it’s the same story across the State. Every election year Labor inflate Police numbers only to drastically cut them a few months after the polls. Police in Kiama are doing a great job, but they’re overstretched because Labor aren’t giving them the support they need. That’s why we’re committed to redirecting resources from Labor’s bloated Sydney bureaucracy to frontline services.

Once again in Kiama it’s clear that after twelve years of Labor we’re paying more and getting less. Labor is too concerned with resourcing fat cats and spin-doctors in the Sydney bureaucracy and not the frontline. I’m committed to directing resources to our nurses, teachers and police, so they can deliver better services at higher standards for our community. It’s what we need to get NSW back in front.

Peter Debnam

BILL CARTER

The three volunteer marine rescue organisations in New South Wales work closely together to provide the boating community with a safety net when things go wrong on the water. In the northern part of the Shoalhaven we have over a hundred volunteers providing this coverage. Marine Rescue groups have to comply with ever spiralling demands with significant increases in training, compliance with workplace safety requirements, survey requirements for vessels, reporting to and attending various committees and maintaining a mountain of records and documents relating to our business.

The fact that we are running businesses, albeit ones that do not pay wages to any employees, is not lost on our volunteers, who have to find time to raise funds through raffles, bucket collections and other forms of donation just to keep the doors open so that we can assist the community. Throw in the fact that volunteers have to pay for their own uniforms and work clothing, their fuel to travel to and from duty and to run errands necessary to run the business, in some cases their own training as well as providing their time means that it takes a significant commitment to be a volunteer.

The volunteers doing the paperwork, doing the training and maintaining the training records, raising the funds, maintaining vessels and equipment are also the same ones who man the vessels and work the radios. Spiralling costs to comply with Government Regulations, rising fuel costs, having to travel further to rescue vessels in distress that have to fish further offshore to avoid marine parks are factors reducing the available funds to run.

Throw in the fact that increased time spent on training and administration means much less time to raise funds and it becomes obvious that this is putting huge pressure on the viability of some marine rescue groups. We currently receive around 11% of our running costs in Government funding, the other 89% has to be found elsewhere to stay viable. Mr Debnam's proposed increase in funding of $7.6 million state-wide will relieve a lot of this pressure and ensure the viability of volunteer marine rescue in New South Wales.

Bill Carter
Shoalhaven VRA