Ryde Connector – July 2019

Ryde Connector A Community Newsletter from Victor Dominello MP

July 2019

It’s here ...

and it’s Great!

May 26th saw thousands of Sydneysiders visit our part of this great State to ride the new Metro North. Since then, thousands more are enjoying the comfort and convenience that this new “turn up and go” rail service brings to their daily commute.

Sydney Metro is the first fully automated driverless metro rail system in Australia.

The Sydney Metro Northwest Line features 13 metro stations operating between Tallawong Station at Rouse Hill and Chatswood via Macquarie Park.

A Customer Journey Co-ordinator is available at all times at each station, and for general or emergency assistance,

each Metro station has up to 12 video help points. Whilst on the metro, there are 30 audio help points connecting you to the Central Control Centre staff.

There is continuous mobile network coverage throughout the system, allowing phone calls and use of the internet on smart devices. ...continued on page 2

It’s here ... and it’s Great!

Map reproduced with kind permission from Transport for NSW

...continued from front page.

The Sydney Metro is also fully accessible. There are no stairs on Metro trains and seamless, level access between platforms and trains makes it easy for everyone, especially so for people in wheelchairs and parents with prams.

Every Metro Station has lifts and wider Opal gates, accessible toilets, tactile flooring with braille on help points and accessible kiss and ride drop-off /pickup points. Anyone needing assistance to interchange to Sydney Trains at Epping or Chatswood need only make themselves known to the Metro staff when you arrive at these stations or press the blue button on any of the video help points to speak with the Operations Control Centre staff.

The difference the Sydney Metro is making here in Ryde is remarkable.

There is already noticeably less traffic at peak times as workers in Macquarie Park discover the advantages of train travel and enhanced bus timetables.

Students are having less and less excuses to be late to lectures at Macquarie Uni and residents are benefitting from our westerly neighbours not having to drive to get to Sydney City and beyond.

If you haven’t already, please, you must take a ride yourself soon! Even if you don’t reflect on the engineering feat of such a train, I hope you wonder at the experience of such quiet travel with very little movement, seeing through the train from one end to the other ... and how good is the quality of the air!

Perhaps I will see you aboard? I love the Metro and look for any excuse to take a journey. Look out for me ... at the front or back wide windows, and anywhere in between, just enjoying the ride!

Justin Li (Humans of Eastwood) chatting with Victor on the new Metro

@Ryde Lakshman Ramesh

Hugh Lee

Lakshman is one of this year’s finalists for the Young Archibald Prize and is a Year 11 student at my former high school, Marist College Eastwood.

Meet Hugh Lee – an icon in the Ryde community!

The artwork he submitted is an incredible self portrait. As he explains, it symbolizes his youth with the black and white representing that he is yet to experience life to the fullest. The red, orange and yellow gradient symbolises his future experiences, opportunities and life that will soon fill him with colour.

Lakshman first came to realize his potential in art when his year 7 art teacher, Dennis Lee, took notice of his drawings. From there he continued to explore his natural skill for art.

However, the Young Archibald prize is not the only thing in Lakshman’s sights.

Currently he is working on a project with Max Potential group under the guidance of his coach Jono Perlino, with an aim to help refugees through art. It is amazing to see how Lakshman is able to use his own skills in art to raise awareness of the issues that matter most to him.

I wish Lakshman all the best going forward with his studies and art, and I know I will be interested to see where he goes next. Laksham is a great attribute to our community and is an example of how we can foster the talent of our future generations.

More @Ryde personalities in the next Ryde Connector

This photo was taken last year at Eastwood’s Lunar New Year Festival.

From its inception in 2018, this event was organised by Hugh and has been growing every year, attracting thousands of people. This year’s event was so large that it was moved to Eastwood Oval to accommodate the crowds that flooded in.

Hugh was born in Macau and lived in Hong Kong for most of his childhood.

After the Tiananmen Square incident, Hugh came to Australia, seeking a better life for his children. Once settled, he immediately became involved, leading the Eastwood Chinese Senior Citizens Group, creating an important space for older Chinese people to be included and have consistent social interactions in their new home country.

Hugh truly loves Australia. He loves the way the community gets along with each other, with neighbours lending a

helping hand and people reaching out to strangers to help. Since his move to Australia, Hugh’s children have had opportunities he believes would not have been possible elsewhere, working in law, IT and business fields.

Hugh lives by the motto “often wrong, but never hesitate”. You must always keep on trying and never hesitate or doubt yourself in life.

Hugh lives by this; when he made the decission to move to Australia and when he took the opportunity to create one of the greatest multicultural events and lead a group that brings so much joy to people who are so often overlooked.

Hugh acts as a cultural bridge, connecting two worlds, fostering a better understanding and enjoyment between cultures. This is essential to the Australian experience.

Joey Chan This is Joey Chan, recently recognised as the Ryde 2019 Volunteer of the Year.

Growing up in Hong Kong, Joey persisted with her ambition to move to London where she became a jewellery designer, leading to her move to Sydney in 2002.

Joey often volunteers her time at the Eastwood Chinese Seniors Citizens Club and has also contributed to several events such as Ryde Lunar New Year, the Chinese Citizens Club Australia Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival concert. Joey was inspired by her Grandma whom she loved and cared for greatly and believes that every person in these groups is someone’s grandma or grandpa and that they deserve to be loved and cared for like her own family.

Joey says giving and helping people is the secret to staying young and energetic. She encourages people to give any spare time they have to help provide for their local community.

Joey is an outstanding lady with a contagious energy and I am in awe of all the work she has done for the Ryde community.

Delivering

WHAT WE PROMISED The NSW Liberal Government is getting the job done by funding its election commitments in the 2019 State Budget.

Supporting the future of Ryde

Connecting our Community

Our Community is seeing unprecedented investment into our local schools and development of our education systems, aiming to bring learning into the future while keeping the experience of students and family as our primary consideration.

The State Government is working to bring our world a bit closer with the extensions, upgrades and revisions laid out for roads in Ryde, in addition to state-wide projects like the Metro running on our doorstep.

In our latest budget for education Ryde is already seeing the start of our education renaissance with upcoming work: ­­ Meadowbank Education Precinct is the exciting new project reframing education facilities towards a tightly integrated, futurefocused institution, currently in the design phase. ­­ Smalls Road Primary School, Ryde’s new Colosseum of learning is a world-leading facility that prepares us for the future of education, with completely new and modern facilities featuring 43 new flexible learning spaces, a double storey library, canteens, outdoor learning areas, multipurpose sports courts and more, providing our students with the very cutting edge of education infrastructure. All of this just around the corner, coming early 2020. ­­ Kent Road Public School is being almost totally rebuilt (95%) introducing 34 permanent futurefocused teaching spaces with a new modern canteen, library, hall and more open, multipurpose play and sports areas coming late 2020.

Upgrades in the budget It’s also paramount that we look to maintaining and upgrading our longstanding community schools to the new world-leading standard we are setting: ­­ Denistone Eastwood Public School receives major refurbishment of the existing administration building and a new building with flexible learning space and special programs allotments, to be completed early 2020. ­­ West Ryde Public School will be heralding new flexible learning spaces, vastly improved play and core facilities for the community arriving in mid-2020. ­­ Eastwood Public School is currently in the planning phase of development for necessary school upgrades, and future updates will be available as the project commences.

The all-important Start The State Government has extended Quality Learning Environments and Community Grants to encompass more pre-school and kindergarten services, to improve availability and quality of these services in Ryde.

Getting to Go The Metro and train upgrades are becoming easier to access with bike lock facilities being installed at train stations.

Walk the Road Upgrades to pedestrian signals and kerb ramps at intersections of Midson and Terry Road in Eastwood will bring in new safe walking routes in the area and ensure the safety of Marist College Eastwood students, Saint Kevin’s Catholic Primary as well as the community wanting to access Eastwood Oval.

Interchange of the Age State and Federal governments are working together to deliver our community a new safer transport facility at Macquarie Centre, to improve connections for the current and extending Metro line as well as integrate the surrounding area with greater accessibility and less traffic.

The project is currently in planning and pre-construction phases.

NSW BUDGET 2019

Victor takes a selfie with Minister Mitchell and students from a local pre-school Roads in a Pinch Victoria Road is one of our key connections throughout Ryde and elsewhere – to this extent we’re investing to widen Victoria Road’s key pinch point at West Ryde. We’re lengthening the rail bridge and bringing the road to a consistent three lanes in either direction between West Parade and Hermitage Road. The project also comes with better pedestrian access across Victoria Road to better utilise the station and ensure safe access.

The project is in its preliminary planning stages and will improve the flow and traffic and take some pressure off the congested segment.

As part of the Government’s 3 Point Pinch Program, Blaxland Road will be receiving modernisation upgrades to help improve the connections in

Victor takes on the challenge of widening Victoria Road at West Ryde

our community at both First Avenue and Balaclava Road, taking some pressure off those trying to reach the station, with the project to be completed late-

2019. Further projects in this program at planning phases are for Devlin Street and Blaxland Road, and at Victoria Road and Bowden Street intersections.

My Role as Minister The new Customer Service portfolio is a world-first for any government.

Our aim is to make Government work better for you by putting the customer at the centre of everything we do.

Remember the RTA? The Perspex shields, cold plastic chairs, and hours of waiting to renew your licence? Now we have Service NSW, where more than 850 transactions can be completed online in minutes.

The NSW Government wants to expand the Service NSW experience across all agencies, from schools, to hospitals, transport and social services, so that each of these services can improve citizens’ lives at an individual level.

We are only three months into the new portfolio, and already there are lots of exciting initiatives in the pipeline. I am truly excited for what we can achieve in this space, and the opportunity to have a true customer-facing role in Government.

Read on below for an update:

Digital Driver Licence In the coming weeks NSW drivers will have the choice of a digital driver licence, as well as having their physical licence.

More than 14,000 people are already trialling the technology on the Service NSW app, with successful trials underway in Dubbo, Albury and the Eastern Suburbs. This is helping to inform a state-wide trial of the technology.

Smartphones have become defacto wallets, so it makes sense to keep your driver’s licence in one convenient location. The digital driver licence is hosted securely on the Service NSW app, locks with a pin and can be accessed without internet. It will also

provide additional levels of security and protection against identity fraud, when compared to the plastic driver license.

To participate in the regional trials and a subsequent state-wide trial, eligible licence holders will need to create a MyServiceNSW Account at www.service.nsw.gov.au, download the Service NSW mobile app on their smartphone and opt-in for the DDL.

E-planning Imagine a world where you could go online and see every development application in NSW in real time; where we can see construction hot spots around the state; where we can have a far more accurate measure of pipeline activity that could then better inform future planning.

The future is almost here.

As of now, around 10% of NSW Local Councils have opted in to E-Planning’s Online Development Application system.

There have been over 1,000 applications lodged with Council already. This is the first of its kind in Australia.

Previously it would take 6–18 months to laboriously gather all the information from the 128 councils in NSW and publish all the DAs in a consolidated view – now with E-Planning that consolidated view will be available daily.

can now take 20 minutes. We are also seeing a significant reduction in the time it takes to determine DAs through this digital platform.

With results like this, I imagine it won’t take long for other Councils to come on board. In Ryde especially, e-planning is vital in the fight against over development. Information empowers. The more aware we are of developments in the area, the better we can contribute to the planning process.

New Cost of Living Initiatives As of 1 July, an average family can now save up to $2,000 with the introduction of three new cost of living measures, including the doubling of the Active Kids vouchers, half-priced rego and the $200 Seniors Energy Rebate.

Over the next year, we expect to deliver more than $1 billion in savings back to households across NSW through more than 70 measures in the Cost of Living Program.

You work hard for your money, and we want to see more in your pocket. The best way to save is to book a Cost of Living appointment at Ryde’s Service Centre in Macquarie Park.

The data is open source and can be viewed at www.planningportal.nsw.gov. au/map

Our Service Centre has had the highest number of appointments in NSW with over 1,100 appointments generating over $430,000 in savings.

The feedback from participating Councils to date has been very positive – instead of taking around two days to complete a paper based DA – it

The average you can save is $550 – this is the equivalent of a ticket from Sydney to Fiji to escape the winter weather!

Make sure to book in now.

Excerpts from Hansard – 30 May 2019

Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea

HOW I CAN HELP YOU As your local Member of Parliament I can: ­­ Represent you in parliament. ­­ Take your concern directly to the appropriate Minister or department to get a response. ­­ Put you in touch with a service that can help you. ­­ Advise you of your rights and further action you may care to take. ­­ Lobby for more resources for your group or community.

Mr VICTOR DOMINELLO (Ryde—Minister for Customer Service) (17:10): We are faced with challenges in life that are grievous and overwhelming in every respect, and cancer is one of those great challenges.

It has damaged countless lives across the globe and continues to loom over our society, yet as a community we have found the strength to face these challenges and become stronger than any one individual. I acknowledge the perseverance and work of Cancer Council Australia. In Ryde we are proud to support all the marvellous work the Cancer Council does as a community.

A testament to this support is seen in our love for the Cancer Council’s annual Biggest Morning Tea, a now-famous charity event that brings the community together and supports the noble efforts of the Cancer Council. The drive started in 1993 and has only grown since then.

The scale of the event is enormous; it is celebrated across the nation, making it truly Australia’s biggest morning tea.

Many individuals joined with family and friends in small groups across Ryde, raising money where possible, and larger gatherings have been routinely held at libraries, schools and community groups. West Ryde Library and Ryde Library both host popular morning teas and even use the treasured occasion to showcase local music. I attended a morning tea last Thursday at the Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, where the event has become a proud tradition.

The club hosted about 160 people and I was pleased to hear that the board of directors generously matched the money raised. I thank the new CEO of the club, Carl Pozzato, club president

Jim McClymont and the board for their continued support of both charity and local community. The event was organised by the tireless efforts of Nicole Hendley and Lisa Kardenian, both of whom have donated significant amounts of time in ensuring a wonderful event.

­­ Work with you to achieve positive outcomes and to make democracy work for us all.

As your State Member I also deal with: ­­ Aging and Disability

The event attendees were entertained by the outstanding and the immensely talented Lisa Boudin. I sat with Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club staff who were able to attend the event, including Sarah Steel, Penny Wilson, Leah Ryan, Suey Yin and David McGregor. They made us feel welcome and noted that the morning tea was a full house and a great event. I was welcomed to the morning tea with open arms. I was pleased to speak with Helen Boyle and Winifred Magill, both part of the national seniors group that meets every third Wednesday at the club. I met Linda Osman, who was able to help her neighbour Emmie Washer attend the event. I was pleased to see Therese Wells, who was my neighbour when I was a kid growing up in Cave Avenue, Ryde.

­­ Attorney General

It was fantastic to see that everyone carries the same warmth and sociability.

The close-knit bonds that we share as a community were there for all to see. It was truly a special morning tea.

I find myself fortunate to be part of a community so endowed with generosity.

Participating in the Biggest Morning Tea is a privilege and support for the event grows each year. We in Ryde live in an amazing community and are truly blessed to foster and keep our traditions of kindness, community and charity. I thank everyone who puts in a great effort and gives up their time in their community to support the fight against cancer.

­­ Public Works

Authorised by Victor Dominello MP, Ryde, NSW. Printed by Impress Colour, 4-6 Straits Avenue, South Granville NSW 2142 .

This newsletter was produced using parliamentary entitlements.

­­ Community Services ­­ Primary, Secondary Education and TAFE ­­ Emergency Services ­­ Fair Trading ­­ Health, Dental and Public Hospitals ­­ Industrial Relations ­­ Land and Water Management ­­ Local Government ­­ National Parks ­­ Main Roads ­­ Police ­­ Primary Industries ­­ Public Housing ­­ Transport

CONTACT VICTOR: 5-9 Devlin Street, Ryde NSW 2112 P (02) 9808 3288 F (02) 9877 6222 ryde@parliament.nsw.gov.au www.victordominello.com.au

NSW BUDGET 2019 Delivering what we promised

Premier of New South Wales

Treasurer of New South Wales

agement, our record of responsible financial man The 2019–20 NSW Budget maintains keep and ents mitm com deliver on our election securing healthy surpluses so we can t. investing in the things that matter mos police, munity, with more nurses, teachers and That means better services in your com and record ers, farm cted affe ghtdrou for ilies, support underway, more help to take the pressure off fam ady alre on state-building transport projects infrastructure funding to finish the job and get started on the next wave. economy, nity for all: We’re the nation’s leading • A strong economy with opportu ,000 free 100 and s Tax cuts, new job precinct with near-record low unemployment. it that way.

TAFE and VET Courses will help keep our children e: Focusing on better outcomes for • Making NSW the education stat million for 0 $50 and ols, and upgraded scho with 4,600 more teachers, 190 new non-government schools. nurses, d it: An historic investment in 8,300 • Quality healthcare when you nee onal NSW regi in them of half ost alm – port staff midwives, doctors, medical and sup s and time wait lth infrastructure to help reduce – and $10 billion in hospital and hea give patients better care. rt pipeline to A record $55.6 billion road and transpo • A world-class transport system: rades, and upg way high l light rail, and regiona finish major projects like WestConnex, travels.

NSW way the g min West, to keep transfor start new game-changers like Metro on Opal fares, household budget: A $50 weekly cap • Hip Pocket savings to help your for each homes, and a second $100 voucher interest free loans for solar power on rego relief ers, buy e hom first for ngs p duty savi school child as well as ongoing stam for toll users, and energy bill rebates. the worst-hit cted communities: Critical relief for • Standing with our drought-affe sport, er port for stock, fodder and wat tran communities, with $1.8 billion in sup loans and rate relief. emergency water supplies, drought kick-starts a NSW Budget keeps our promises and From the city to the bush, the 2019–20 done for NSW. job the ing straight back to work and gett new term of delivery. We are getting Yours sincerely

Gladys Berejiklian Premier of NSW

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Dominic Perrottet Treasurer of NSW