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LOCAL EO VISITS
I would like the opportunity to meet residents of the southern area of the electorate and to hear of any State issues with which I may be able to assist. Recognising the significant distances and difficulties that would be imposed by travel to Toronto, my staff and I will visit the southern-most areas of the electorate including those below, on the following dates:
If you live in or near any of these areas and wish to arrange an appointment, please ring my office on 4959 3200 as soon as possible.
 If you need to be appointed as a JP, either within your local community or in your employment, click here to download an application form. 
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Posted 16 June 2009
MY COMMENTS ON THE 2009-10 BUDGET
The budget has delivered some major capital projects for the Lake Macquarie electorate and confirmed funding for projects that have already been announced or commenced. It has also failed to deliver some important infrastructure. EDUCATION ROADS A total of $14.3m including: TRANSPORT HOUSING DISABILITIES ENERGY and WATER The important things that are missing from the budget are: The electorate will benefit from many state-wide and regional programs, including health services at John Hunter and Wyong hospitals. It is disappointing that the Government has not yet acknowledged the importance of the proposed Lake Macquarie Transport Interchange and Pennant St Bridge at Glendale. An investment of $80m would have a significant multiplier effect, generating huge economic returns and providing an estimated 4,600 new jobs. If you would like to borrow the full set of budget documents please phone my office at 4959 3200, or you can find them online at www.treasury.nsw.gov.au/bpapers Posted 12 June 2009 RTA PENALTY CHANGES NOT ENOUGH Greg Piper, Member for Lake Macquarie, welcomes today's announcement that the Government reduced penalties for minor speeding offences, but says that Roads Minister Michael Daley has still missed an important point in fair treatment of minor offences. According to Mr Piper, a court can dismiss traffic infringements and waive fines for minor offences, but the RTA will still count the points and this can lead to a driver's licence being cancelled. Mr Piper questioned Premier Rees about this anomaly in Parliament in November last year and Mr Rees promised a review of the situation. The Premier even cited an example of a driver moving into a bus lane to avoid a speeding ambulance and said that in such cases there should be no points and no penalty. This may be true, but it relies on the offence being technically disproved. A more common outcome is that the offence is waived but the RTA still imposes penalty points, which can lead to disqualification from driving. "If a court decides there should be no penalty the RTA should be bound by this," Mr Piper said. "Mr Rees has said that judicial discretion will be reviewed, but this hasn't happened," Mr Piper added. "This announcement doesn't deliver the flexibility that the judiciary should have." Posted 29 May 2009 Road Safety Measures for Schools Greg Piper, Member for Lake Macquarie has welcomed the "dragon's teeth" road marking to be installed at school entrances in Lake Macquarie. According to Mr Piper the new road markings will be installed over the next two and a half years. "The new road markings will be a boost for safety and a great addition to flashing signs in school zones," Mr Piper said. "The 'dragon's teeth' will clearly indicate where drivers need to slow down, just as the flashing lights indicate when they should." "Introducing 40 km/h speed zones at schools has improved safety," Mr Piper said. "I encourage the Government to maintain the roll-out of flashing signs to all schools as a high priority." "The 'dragon's teeth' will be a quicker option to indicate school zones but in most cases should only be seen as an interim measure while waiting for flashing lights." "The combination of 'dragon's teeth' and flashing signs must be treated as a priority, because nothing is more important than the safety of our children," Mr Piper said. "Children can be unpredictable, so it's important the Government does absolutely everything it can to make sure they are safe on our local streets." Mr Piper said the dragon's teeth program would involve painting triangular markings on each side of the road lane for 35 metres at the start of each school zone. AUGER MINE PROPOSED FOR LAKE MACQUARIE Centennial Coal's proposed Olstan project near Blackalls Park would extract coal by auger mining, which is a process of drilling into coal seams often associated with open cut mining. The current proposal is based on a possible interpretation of underground mining operations allowable under the State Environmental Planning Policy prohibiting open cut mining in the city of Lake Macquarie. There has been a strong reaction from the local community over issues such as dust, noise, loss of bushland and damage to creeks. Information on the proposed auger mine is here. An example of an auger mining operation is at http://www.coalaugering.com/fassifern.pdf |
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