22 April 2017 – NSW Parliament Wrap Up

It was certainly quieter than usual on Macquarie Street this week. Whether it was Monday's public holiday or the fact Parliament wasn't in session, it seemed like both sides of politics were making the most of their downtime ahead of May's rather more hectic sitting calendar. Opposition Leader Luke Foley even managed to take a trip up north! Admittedly, he was touring flood affected areas around Lismore, not on holiday. His reason for not visiting sooner? He "didn't want to be tripping over emergency services workers."

Here's how the week panned out...

New medical research facility opened in Randwick
Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Health Brad Hazzard started the working week by opening a new clinical research centre at the Prince of Wales Hospital. The $114 million Bright Building will integrate medical research and clinical care functions under the same roof, enabling research breakthroughs to proceed to the patient trial stage more quickly. The centre, which was jointly funded by the NSW and Australian governments, the University of NSW, and Prince of Wales and Sydney Children’s Hospitals, will house a laboratory, product manufacturing facility and 30 inpatient rooms.

Newcastle light rail project to be wire free
Minister for Transport Andrew Constance announced on Tuesday that the Newcastle light rail will rely on on-board energy sources instead of overhead wires, in an effort to reduce the impact of the project on the existing cityscape. Parliamentary Secretary for Planning, the Central Coast and the Hunter Scot Macdonald welcomed the use of alternative power sources, arguing an absence of wires would better preserve Newcastle’s heritage.

Most popular baby names 2016
Fun fact: the Attorney General is technically responsible for overseeing the naming of newborns in NSW because the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages falls within the Justice portfolio. This meant that it fell on him to announce a list of the most popular baby names in 2016 on Tuesday. Apparently, Harper cracked the top-20 for girls because of “celebrities like Victoria and David Beckham, Dave Grohl and Lisa Marie Presley choosing the name for their daughters.”

Government announces consultation on Airbnb-style services
Minister for Innovation & Better Regulation Matt Kean was joined by Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts on Wednesday to announce a call for ideas about how to better regulate the private holiday letting industry. The Finance and Planning departments will receive community and industry feedback over the coming months to help the Government form an opinion about future regulation. Following the consultation period, the Government will prepare an options paper considering the land use and planning, strata management and safety dimensions of services such as Airbnb. Minister Kean said, “We must find a balance between providing options for accommodation and residents being able to go about their daily lives.” Wednesday was the Government’s final day to announce how it would respond to a parliamentary inquiry into the adequacy of the regulation of short-term holiday letting in NSW, which ran between September 2015 and October 2016.

ICAC commissioner appointed
On Thursday, the Premier nominated former Supreme Court judge Peter Hall QC as the first of three new commissioners of the state’s revamped ICAC, following Cabinet approval earlier in the day. Mr Hall will replace former Commissioner Megan Latham, who stepped down from the role in November last year following the passage of new laws restructuring the agency. One aspect of those reforms was to replace Ms Latham’s position with three Commissioners. Mr Hall’s new role must now be approved by the NSW Parliament’s Committee on the ICAC before finalisation. The Premier said that two other commissioners will be nominated in due course, after which time ICAC will be reinstated.

$1 million extra funding for emergency volunteers
Minister for Police & Emergency Services Troy Grant teamed up with federal Minister for Justice Micheal Keenan to end the week with an announcement of the warm and fuzzy kind. The NSW and Australian governments will jointly provide an additional $1 million to eight emergency service organisations, as part of a formal National Partnership Agreement on National Disaster Relief. Organisations that will share in the funding include the: Adventist Development and Relief Agency, Australian Red Cross, Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue Squad, Nambucca District Rescue Association, NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW State Emergency Service, NSW Volunteer Rescue Association, and Marine Rescue NSW.

NSW leads regional employment figures
Another day, another announcement about NSW leading the nation. Treasurer Dominic Perrottet was joined by Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro on Friday to reveal data showing a 1.1 per cent drop in regional unemployment rates in the year to March 2017. This drop equates to 51,000 jobs. If only the state performed as well at sport as it does at economic performance indicators…