.JPG?timestamp=1650430642026)
The Mona Vale Road East upgrade will be completed within the next 12 months - Mona Vale Road West upgrade is going ahead.
Member for Pittwater Rob Stokes announced more than $400 million has been secured in the NSW Budget to progress Pittwater’s major infrastructure projects on June 21 2022.
The 2022/23 budget allocation represents a record investment in local education, road, transport and health initiatives and confirms the completion of Pittwater’s largest and most significant infrastructure projects.
Local funding highlights for 2022/23 include:
- $340 million over the next 4 years to upgrade Mona Vale Road West. Work on the $250 million Mona Vale Road East project is expected to be completed within the next 12 months.
- $11 million to continue upgrading Mona Vale Public School (total project cost $52.8 million).
- $15.5 million to commence the upgrade of the Narrabeen Education Campus (total cost subject to tender).
- $40 million for safety and capacity improvements on Wakehurst Parkway (total project cost $150 million over next 3 years).
- $2.4 million for the construction of a dedicated pedestrian/cycling link between Newport Beach and Bilgola Beach.
- $1.09 million for ongoing campus configuration improvements at Mona Vale Hospital.
“This is a record investment in Pittwater and enables our community’s largest infrastructure projects to be completed,” Rob Stokes said.
“We’ve had great momentum over recent years and it’s exciting to build upon the major works already underway throughout our community.
“The Mona Vale Road Upgrade is the largest ever infrastructure investment in our community and this budget confirms the project will be completed in its entirety
“By supporting key infrastructure projects and local services we can grow our economy, create jobs and help boost our local businesses.
“This is a great budget for Pittwater and ensures the major funding that’s been flowing towards our community will continue,” Rob Stokes said.
Details are:
Mona Vale Road, McCarrs Creek Road to Powder Works Road; Upgrading and widening about 3.4 kilometres of Mona Vale Road between McCarrs Creek Road, Terrey Hills, and Powder Works Road, Ingleside, from a two-lane undivided road to a four lane (two lanes in each direction) divided road. $340.0 million (over next four years) $25.0 million (2022-23)
The Wakehurst Parkway Funding for safety and capacity improvements to Wakehurst Parkway (NSW and Commonwealth Government funded). $150.0 million (over next three years) $40.0 million (2022-23) Project will include:
- Widening approximately 500m of Wakehurst Parkway to 2 lanes in each direction.
- Upgrading of the intersection of Wakehurst Parkway and Aquatic Drive.
- New pedestrian and cycle bridge, connecting Aquatic Drive and Fitzpatrick Avenue East.
- New fauna rope crossings.
The Project will provide for improved performance at the intersection of Wakehurst Parkway and Warringah Road, safety for northbound vehicles, and active transport by providing a new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the Wakehurst Parkway. This Project is in the Planning stage at present and is expected to commence construction in early 2023 and is expected to be completed by mid-2025.
While on roads, the Western Harbour Tunnel Upgrade and Beaches Link Planning - Commencing a major construction activity for the Western Harbour Tunnel to deliver the first stage of tunnelling works for a new crossing of the Sydney Harbour. The first package will include construction of around 1.7 kilometres of mainline tunnels from Rozelle to Birchgrove. $4.1 billion (over next four years) has had $558.5 million (2022-23) allocated although the Sydney Motorways Beaches Link (Planning) has had just over a million allocated, compared to that spent already: 116,433 (2021-22) 1.050 million (2022-23), while the Warringah Freeway Upgrade Various has had 445.492 million allocated: 370,926(2021-22) 445,492 (2022-23) - the continuing upgrades of the Warringah Freeway for surface roads, bridges and interchanges along about four kilometres of the freeway corridor, which started in early 2022. $1.7 billion (over next four years) $445.5 million (2022-23).
In May 2022 Infrastructure NSW's 2022 State Infrastructure Strategy recommended the Beaches Link project be re-sequenced to avoid delivery risks caused by complexity and a shortage of skilled labour. The NSW Government will assess the strategy's recommendations before making a decision on their implementation.
Mona Vale Public School is not the only education facility allocated funding in this Budget, the Forest High School (Relocation) Frenchs Forest also has had funds directed 1,795(2021-22) 16.193 million(2022-23). In Issue 524: Forest High School Relocation: Drawings - Project Scope Made Available
Manly's Public School (Village School) is also a winner from this budget, with 5 million allocated to integrate the old Community Centre. This is great news for the students, teachers and families as it will provide more space for the school community. Manly MP James Griffin has been working to ensure this went ahead.
While in Manly, this 2022-23 Budget allocates 4.3 million in funding to demolish the old Aquarium site and create new open space on Sydney Harbour. Readers may have seen the designs which create a new area for relaxing and recreation right on the Harbour. This will also activate and open up the beautiful heritage listed Manly Pavilion behind, with the design allowing people to enter and exit the water and enjoy this beautiful part of Manly.
The Strategic Open Spaces Program across Greater Sydney allocations for new and upgraded parks also includes local funding for Frenchs Forest and Belrose along with works for Penrith, Ermington, Appin, Leppington, Carramar, Beaumont Hills, Hurstville, and Thompsons Creek to support healthy and active communities. $140.0 million (ETC).
The NSW Government has also allocated 11.5 million towards mental health services for residents.
In a statement the NSW Government said: "Children and young people on the Northern Beaches will benefit from significantly enhanced mental health services with a $11.4 million investment under the 2022-23 NSW Budget.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the funding will be used to expand hospital and community services, including establishing acute paediatric specialist mental health beds at Northern Beaches Hospital and supporting local community mental health and drug and alcohol treatment services.
“This significant additional funding for child and youth mental health services on the Beaches will help ensure the appropriate treatment and support is available to young people and their families in a more timely manner,” Mr Hazzard said.
“This will significantly increase capacity and reduce wait times by enabling a comprehensive child and youth mental health service to operate on the Beaches seven days a week as well as the establishment of a new youth drug and alcohol treatment service.”
Careel Multi-Layered Coastal Assessment (CMCA) First Study
There was a great turn out for the community on Tuesday morning, June 21st, for Living Ocean’s Careel Multi-Layered Coastal Assessment (CMCA) first study survey of Careel Creek and Bay.
This is the starting point for our one-year study by a multi scientific panel of the entire system.
For each level of attention and study Living Ocean teams volunteers with a scientist using a strict citizen science protocol.
This first survey was to understand how ocean bound waste enters the system. Living Ocean use AUSMAP and Tangaroa Blue transects to collect micro and macro waste.
Volunteers collected these along the very high tide mark north of Etival St, Avalon. The different types of plastic are sorted and recorded, according to standardised protocols.
.JPG?timestamp=1656138706379)
a very high tide at Careel Bay leaves a line where water has washed to
Quadrats were set out to search for microplastics along a 50m section of the shoreline. The marine debris and about 5cm depth of sand within each quadrat are sifted and washed to collect microplastics. The finest sieve from each quadrat is placed in a bowl of water so that any microplastics can float and become visible. They are then sorted into different types for analysis.
The volunteers were joined by Jordan Gacutan, a marine debris and ocean governance researcher at UNSW, Sydney. Working at the interface of science and policy, Jordan assists governments (from local to national levels) in ‘making nature count’ to understand the value of our ecosystems and how we impact them. His PhD explores the role of Citizen Science in marine debris monitoring, and the transformation the data towards policy and management interventions. He has experience working with government and sectoral stakeholders on spatial planning, spatial data infrastructure, and environmental management projects within the Baltic Sea, Spain, Maldives, India, Fiji, and Australia.
The team of volunteers will study this area or transect, once a month for 12 months to assess trends as revealed by the data.
.JPG?timestamp=1656138331843)
Robbi Newman, President of Living Ocean measuring out the area to be studied
Thanks to Jordan Gacutan from UNSW for your protocols.
Thanks also to these amazing volunteers:
Margi Coote, Gwen MacDonald, John Smidmore, Katherine Smidmore, Manu Fuchs, Glenn Woodward, Claudia Newman, Alessandra Metzler, Mick Colmer, James George,Robyn Jones, and of course Bill Fulton and Robbi Newman.
.JPG?timestamp=1656138586808)
Claudia Newman, Jordan Gacutan and Robbi Newman, President of Living Ocean, arrived first to greet volunteers
Welcome To Country For Migrating Whales
Environmental organisation Living Ocean then hosted a traditional indigenous Whale Welcome to Ocean Country on Friday 24 June at the Avalon Surf Club, Avalon Beach. Despite the early hour and snow winds blowing there was a large turn out for this event.
Tens of thousands of Humpback Whales are expected to migrate north along the East Coast of Australia from June to September. Traditionally the local indigenous people, the Garigal of the Guringai whose totem is the whale, have always welcomed the migration to their Ocean Coast.
David Cousins, Living Ocean Vice President, who welcomed everyone, said ‘the preservation of the marine ecosystem to boost whale populations is paramount, as the lungs of our planet actually reside in the ocean’. Mr. Cousins then asked local indigenous gentleman Neil Evers to Welcome all to Country.
Local Elder Uncle Neil Evers performed a smoking ceremony, while whale songs were on the didgeridoo by Matt James, and finally the local community met on the sands of Avalon Beach to call the whales in the traditional way by squeaking their feet in the sand.
In Welcoming all to Country Uncle Neil said:
Good morning everybody, it’s great to see so many people here. My name is Neil Evers and I’m a descendant of the Garigal clan. The Garigal people are part of the oldest continuing culture in the world.
I respect my Elders Past, Present and those to come. I also acknowledged their wisdom and their courage.
I’d also like to acknowledge Living Ocean for inviting me here today and having this celebration of the whales.
Everyone here comes from this area and it’s a beautiful area to live in. did you all see the sunrise this morning? It was absolutely magnificent, as it is every day.
I’ve lived in this area all my life, I was born at Collaroy, and to come around those (Bilgola) Bends is a beautiful experience.
To see the whales here is just fantastic.
Have you ever done any research into the statistics on whales? I did lasty night.
When we all got up this morning – what’s the first thing we did? That’s right – well, the whales do this too. Do you know how much they urinate every day? A thousand litres.
They’re a magnificent animal – they have ears – have you ever seen a whale with ears? So how do they hear? No; we think we’re smart as we have things on our cars which go ‘beep, beep’ when we come too close. The whales have had this system going for thousands of years, so we’re so far behind them it’s unbelievable. And they swim and don’t need to run.
A little later on we’re going to go down the beach and do what the old ladies did and twist our feet to make a squeaking sound. When hearing that squeak the whales and the dolphins used to come in, and they’d bring fish in.
These days it can be a bit difficult for the whales because of the incredible noise out there in the ocean. 250 years ago there were no boats out there with their huge diesel motors and the whales could hear p to 800 kilometres, so from here to Coffs Harbour.
So later on we will do as the old ones did, and help the whales.
I thank so many of you for coming today and on behalf of my elders Welcome you to this magnificent Country.
.JPG?timestamp=1656140719794)
Uncle Neil
Newport Rugby Club, the Breakers, hosted their 2022 Ladies on Saturday June 18th , with lady supporters treated to some nice food and drinks at The Newport hotel prior to heading to Porters’ Reserve Newport for a series of at home games played by the club’s grades.
As you can see by these great photos taken by Cameron Greaves there’s a LOT of ‘number 1’ signing going on – that’s because the Breakers had a clean sweep in their home ground hosted games, some grades by significant margins.
Results were:
1st Grade: Newport 31 - Old Barker 14
2nd Grade: Newport 33 - Old Barker 0
Colts: Newport 26 - Old Barker 0
3rd Grade: Newport 81 - Epping 3
4th Grade: Newport 28 - Epping 0
Breakettes 7s: Newport 62 - Petersham 0
The Breakettes - after their huge 62 - 0 Ladies Day Victory...versus Petersham
Pittwater Online News spoke this week to Jake Osborne, President of Newport Rugby Club, about the Breakers Season so far.
Event: MC38 2022 Season Act 4, June 18-19 hosted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club with racing on Pittwater
The 2021 MC38 season champion and home club team has taken their first scalp for 2022 on Pittwater by four points.
Marcus Blackmore’s Hooligan, sailing for the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, led the nine-boat fleet on day one and consolidated on day two, beating Steve Proud’s Swish and the Indy Beck skippered InfoTrack on overall points.
Act 4 start - InfoTrack and Swish. Photo: Tilly McKnight
“The racing was awesome; the level is as high as it’s ever been,” said Hooligan’s tactician Ben Lamb.
Five different winners from seven races and the victor of last month’s Act 3 placing seventh overall shows how quickly results can flip in this class.
Act 4 Full results
Sunday recap thanks to Tilly McKnight Media
On their success Lamb added: “We’ve been sailing as a team for a long time on various boats and it feels like we are a real unit. Marcus did an excellent job driving and leading us this weekend – it’s a pleasure to be on board.”
June 20, 2022 (AEST)
Two-time defending and reigning SailGP champions Australia have once again proved their prowess in the three boat winner-takes-all race, after scraping into the final and emerging triumphant winners in Chicago.
Tom Slingsby’s team picked up a 99% fly time in light wind conditions to blow competitors Great Britain and Canada away in an identical final line-up to the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix last month.
It marked a remarkable come back for the Aussies, who battled back from a mediocre first day of racing and a last place finish in the fourth fleet race to knock Peter Burling’s New Zealand out of contention by one point.
Australia began their faultless performance by executing a perfect race start and forcing Great Britain and Canada to follow from the get-go, leaving them free to finish their masterclass of racing in front of Chicago’s skyline stadium.
Speaking about the team’s victory, Driver Tom Slingsby described the second day of racing as ‘a day of two halves’.
“We came dead last in the fourth race and thought our chances of reaching the final, let alone winning it, were over. I thought mathematically it was almost impossible to make the final race. Somehow we turned it around and fortune went our way.”
Tom Slingsby has said he can ‘only imagine how frustrated’ the rest of the SailGP fleet are after Australia fought back from an uncharacteristically flat performance to snatch victory in Chicago.
The comeback saw the two time champions fight back from a last place finish in the fourth fleet to sneak into the final with a one point lead over New Zealand.
“I knew mathematically that it was possible to make the final race and sure enough the points worked our way,” Slingsby said.
Australia, who are notoriously deadly in a three boat winner-takes-all racing format, executed a perfect race start to leave competitors Canada and Great Britain trailing in their wake.
“We hit the line with a bit more speed and were able to get over Great Britain and Canada right at the mark - it was a race of inches on the first reach,” he said. From there, the team ‘pinned [their] ears back and went for the line’.
He pointed the team’s stellar record in ‘rising to pressure’ and performing seemingly impossible comebacks. Four members of the Australian team - Tom Slingsby, Kyle Langford, Kinley Fowler and Sam Newton, were part of Oracle Team USA, who battled back from being 8-1 down in the 2013 America’s Cup to win 8-9.
“I’ve always known how good they are under pressure, and it’s nice for these guys to get recognised and for everyone to see how unbelievable they are because as soon as we have a high pressure situation, I know they’re going to perform.”
Slingsby was candid that the SailGP fleet and even ‘some of the crowd’ are ‘feeling pretty frustrated at us.”
“[The crowd] want a new winner but our job is to win events,” he said. “I can only imagine how frustrated the teams are seeing us sneak into the final race and win the event.”
However, pointing to Australia’s 7-2-3-9-1 fleet racing record in Chicago, Slingsby said it was clear that the team is ‘very beatable’.
“We were so close to not being in that final today but we managed to sneak in and get the win,” he said. “The job was 95% done but [the fleet] left a little opening and no-one went for us in the last race.”
SailGP Season3 - United States Sail Grand Prix at Chicago: Team Australia on the podium. Photo: SailGP
Elsewhere, Pittwater's Jimmy Spithill’s USA team, home favourites on Lake Michigan, secured a third place finish in the final fleet race of the weekend, but it proved too little, too late, leaving the team in last place on the event leaderboard.
U.S. Driver Jimmy Spithill, stated on the team’s disastrous performance in Chicago, they have ‘no excuses’.
The team failed to perform in front of the home crowds lining Navy Pier and finished the weekend with an 8-9-7-7-3 racing record and 8th on the overall leaderboard. It comes after the team kicked off the season with an average opening performance in Bermuda last month, in which they finished 5th overall. Spithill admitted the team ‘haven’t started Season 3 as we hoped’.
“One of the best things about sport is that it humbles you, you are never safe - and at the top level, things can change at any time,” he said.
SailGP Season 3 United States Sail Grand Prix Chicago Jimmy Spithill. Photo: SailGP
Pittwater Online News is Published Every Sunday Morning
