Macquarie Newsletter
From Susan's Desk 

As we enter week three of the Greater Sydney and Blue Mountains lockdown, the reality of a tougher week at home is sinking in. I especially want to acknowledge the teachers, students, and parents who will now face learning from home again. Those of us without school aged children recognise the extra challenge you’ll now face.
 
In the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury, we are very fortunate that COVID has not taken hold in our region, but clearly it has the ability to spread fast.
 
This newsletter, as always, tries to provide practical links to the issues people are facing. Details of the latest tightening of restrictions are below, with a clear "do not leave your home” message.

But I want to make a comment on two key issues.
 
The first is the spectacular failure of the pace of the vaccine roll out – both the supply of the vaccines and the communication around the vaccines. We need confidence, certainty and efficiency in the vaccine roll out – and the Prime Minister hasn't achieved any of these things so far. This lock down, and the fact that Australia is at the bottom of the list of OECD countries when it comes to the number of people vaccinated, are the evidence.
 
But there is an enormous pool of people willing and keen to have the vaccine, and I congratulate the local GP's who have added Pfizer to their vaccine capability – but please understand that the supply the GP's have been being given, is restricted. In response to the suggestion by the Prime Minister of additional doses, Pfizer has confirmed today that the total number of 40 million doses they have been contracted to deliver to Australia over 2021 has not changed. To those who are desperate to get the vaccine, but facing a long wait for Pfizer, the links to where you can find out who is administering it locally are below.

The second thing that has stood out to me is the impact on our local small businesses. We’ve been hit by fires, floods and now a lock down we could have avoided. Small businesses often feel things fast. I've heard your frustrations about the cut offs for pandemic-related payments, the lack of any assistance for businesses with less than $75,000 turnover, and the inconsistency around what an essential business is. I know how many of you were counting on the school holidays to make up some ground. And I know that you are essential to the well being of our local economy, our workers, and families across the electorate. I will continue to highlight the gaps,
as I did on 2GB radio this week. It was disappointing to hear Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this week rule out a request by the NSW Treasurer for a reinstatement of JobKeeper, and while there is talk of additional State support, it is not yet forthcoming. I know small businesses and their staff need certainty now, not sometime down the track. As soon as I am advised of any announcements, I will share on social media and directly with small businesses.

Links to the available COVID business and worker assistance are below - check out both State and Federal arrangements as some small business owners will qualify for the Federal worker payment. If you’re finding it tough, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at
susan.templeman.mp@aph.gov.au

Remember that regular mental health checks with your loved ones (and yourself!) are essential during this time. If you need help, you can reach Lifeline on 13 11 14, or https://www.lifeline.org.au/. Young people can reach out at https://headspace.org.au/
Around (pre-lockdown) Macquarie
From top left, clockwise: Beginning the petition to include an emergency department at Rouse Hill Hospital with Michelle Rowland MP, with the Mountains Youth Services Team who received a $20 000 grant to continue to support the Blue Mountains, at the Magpie Markets with the Mountains Labor team, listening to the Richmond community and their desires for the North Richmond Bridge. 

COVID Information

Restrictions

The extension of restrictions goes until 11.59pm Friday 16 July. The stay at home direction applies to people who live in, usually work in, or usually attend a university or other tertiary education facility in Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour local government areas. Hawkesbury local government area is part of Greater Sydney.

From 5pm Friday 9 July the following restrictions will be in place: 
  • Outdoor public gatherings restricted to two people (excluding members of the same household); 
  • People must stay in their Local Government Area or within 10kms of home for exercise and outdoor recreation, with no carpooling between non-household members;
  • Browsing in shops is prohibited, plus one person per household, per day may leave the home for shopping;
  • Funerals limited to ten people in total (this will take effect from Sunday, 22 July). 
The four reasons to leave your home remain in place: 
  • Shopping for food or other essential goods and services (one person only);
  • Medical care or compassionate needs (only one visitor can enter another residence to fulfil carers' responsibilities or provide care or assistance, or for compassionate reasons); 
  • Exercise with no more than 2 (unless members of the same households);
  • Essential work, or education, where you cannot work or study from home. 
For more detail, click here.

Keep up to date on the latest case locations hotspots here.

Vaccinations 

The AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine can be used for adults aged 60 years and over, and, for those under 60 years of age where the Pfizer vaccine is not available, and the benefits clearly outweigh the risk for that individual. If you are unsure of what vaccine is right for you, you must speak to your GP.

The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is the preferred vaccine for people aged 16 to 59 years of age.


This information has been sourced from the NSW Government. You can read more detailed information here and here

Pfizer is being rolled out to participating general practices in July. The first four GP clinics in our electorate are:
  • Glossodia Medical Practice
  • Advance Medical Practice Windsor
  • Lower Mountains Family Practice
  • Blackheath Family Medical Centre
You can book through this link. More GP clinics will come online to deliver Pfizer in the coming weeks. Locations will be updated here. Keep your eye on the NSW Health Website for more information.

Small business support 

The NSW Government has announced some support for NSW businesses that have been affected by the latest lockdown. Grants between $5,000 and $10,000 may be available to you if you meet the relevant criteria, which you can check
here.

We know that some businesses are falling through the cracks, as I mentioned above. As the Government plans for economic recovery post lockdown, we need them to exercise some common sense and support our local small businesses and families. They are the lifeblood of our community and need to reopen when restrictions are eased.

Assistance for individuals 

The payments that individuals can access through the Commonwealth Government have changed as of 8 July 2021. The liquid assets test and the existing support payments requirements have both been waived. This means that your accessible savings and other government payments that you already receive are no longer relevant to whether or not you can receive Commonwealth support. Please click
here to see what support you can access. 

There are also local community-based supports available.

In addition to regular food assistance organisations in the Blue Mountains, seniors or people with disabilities have access to Emergency Food Boxes. These boxes contain a variety of non-perishable, long-life food that can be delivered to the doors of self-isolating households that meet the relevant criteria. If you need help, or know someone who is need of help, please contact Council at goodneighbour@bmcc.nsw.gov.au or call 4723 5000 (Lower Mountains) or 4780 5000 (Upper Mountains).

In the Hawkesbury, the regular food support services that have been activated since the floods are still operating to provide support. You can find a compiled list of these service
s here.

Cancellation chaos 

My inbox has been flooded with your emails about the ‘cancellation chaos’ that has come with the lockdown. Whether you’re a travel provider or a vacationer, there has been clear confusion about your rights and obligations during COVID-19.

Consumer group CHOICE has presented findings that 53% of travellers waited three months for a resolution after cancelling their travel, whilst nearly a quarter waited over six months.

I agree that Governments should provide clear and practical advice on their rights – particularly as we navigate how ‘living with COVID’ will impact the various stakeholders in the tourism sector. 

You can read more abut the CHOICE findings
here

Beware of scammers

Lockdown periods often see an uptick in the number of scams. Stay up to date by visiting
Scamwatch, and lodge any suspicious behaviour here.

Council services

During the lockdown, council services and facilities may be closed. For the latest news on these closures, please visit the Hawkesbury City Council or Blue Mountains City Council websites. 


Covid-19 contacts 
  • The Australian Government - here
  • The Department of Health - here
  • The NSW Government - here
  • Nepean Blue Mountains Health District - here
  • Blue Mountains City Council - here
  • Hawkesbury City Council - here
  • Domestic travel - here
 

Community News 

Flood recovery 

Recovery Centres 

During the lockdown, the face to face recovery centres are not in operation. Instead, Hawkesbury council has advised that the services you can regularly access should be contacted on the following numbers:
  • Hawkesbury City Council Community Recovery - Liz 0437 144 475 and Jo 0448 991 154
  • Step by Step Recovery Services – Nicole 0409 670 682
  • Baptist Community Care & Emergency Relief - Stephen 0468 320 340
  • Salvos – Karen 0429 549 494
  • Rural Counsellor – Sharon 0428 342 866
  • Flood Trauma Recovery – 0429 011 134 or 1800 011 511
  • Winmalee Neighbourhood Centre - Morna 4754 4050
For further information about flood support, please click here.

North Richmond Bridge Duplication Project

There have been some important date changes because of the lockdown. Consultation for the Richmond Bridge project has been extended again until 31 August 2021. This included some online community sessions via Facebook Live in the last week. If you were unable to make this, you can still have your say over the phone, or via email. Please reach out
here; it’s important that the community has their say on this project before it moves ahead. 

Enrol to vote 

With Local and Federal elections on the horizon, it is important that you either enrol to vote, or check that the AEC has your most up to date details. You can click
here to find information on both.  

Its Tax Time

Its that time again – and with JobKeeper, Seeker and all the other additions to last years financial year, putting together your return could be a little different this year. Click
here for useful tips for small businesses from the Commonwealth business hub and here for individuals from the ATO. 
 

Parliamentary News 

In Parliament 

Since our last e-news, I’ve spent three weeks down in Canberra. As always, I wanted to make sure that several of our community’s issues were on the agenda before the winter break. My speeches are posted on my Facebook, and my website. In particular, I wanted to highlight the Government’s continual failure to take responsibility for the Aged Care crisis, only made worse by their failure to get vaccinations to workers. You can read more about it here.

Women in Macquarie 

Whilst I was down in Parliament, I also hosted a web rally for Women in Macquarie. Joined by Tanya Plibersek, local musician Divinia Jean, local business mentor Andrea Turner-Boys, Blue Mountains Women’s Health and Resource Centre and The Women’s Cottage Richmond. We had over 150 women in attendance – and we sure sent a message to this Government that women aren’t putting up with inequality anymore. With ex-liberal MP Julia Banks revealing a continuing culture of misogyny in the Coalition and the appointment of Barnaby Joyce as Deputy PM , it’s unclear that Scott Morrison is actually committed to change. 

Royal Commission into Veteran Suicide
 
The establishment on Thursday of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran suicide is welcome news. 

Veterans, their families and Labor have been calling for this since 2019.

The Royal Commission website is
https://defenceveteransuicide.royalcommission.gov.au/ and has details of the terms of reference and how to make a submission.

 

Grants News 

Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Grants

The Stage 2 round of the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Grants (BLER) grants were announced last week
which I welcomed. See here for more information on BLER.

Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants


Keen readers of my e-news will recall that I mentioned these grants in my last two bulletins. We finally have more information on these grants, so I encourage you to look closely at this opportunity and start thinking about your projects.

Communities still recovering from the 2019-20 bushfires will soon have access to a new Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants program from the Australian Government. Applications open 21 July and will be submitted directly to business.gov.au rather than through my office. This grants program will help communities address priority work that hasn’t yet been supported under other funding programs. The grants will fund projects to support social, economic, built, and environmental recovery. A broad range of projects are permitted – from community wellbeing projects right through to projects that support the recovery of local economies and natural and built environments. Minimum grant amount is $20,000 with a maximum of $10 million. See
here for the full details.

Funding for the grants program will come directly from the Australian Government’s National Bushfire Recovery fund.

Applications open 22 July and close 5pm on 2 September. Please note that groups will be required to submit a detailed and costed application which addresses the key criteria for building resilience in either social, economic, or built environment. There is a points-based assessment criteria that will be applied to every single application.
 
So dive into those guidelines now so you have enough time to prepare a compelling case for your project to be funded. If you require a letter of support, please contact me before the deadline.

Send me an email on
susan.templeman.mp@aph.gov.au
 
Powering Communities Program
 
Thank you to all the not-for-profit groups who submitted an Expression of Interest for the Powering Communities Program. Unfortunately, yet again, the demand far exceeded the funding allocated to my electorate. I received expressions of interest from over 20 not-for-profit groups, with over $200,000 in projects. My community consultation panel was again faced with a difficult task, as we only had $67,700 available for a maximum of 12 projects to nominate. Given how many groups have again missed out, I will be writing to the Minister to advocate for greater funding for these types of projects. It is crystal clear that across my community there is strong interest in improving energy efficiency, reducing energy use, and reducing carbon emissions. Groups will also be contacted directly to advise of the outcomes.

NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards

The deadline for Volunteer of the Year nominations has been extended. Nominations now close on Friday 23 July 2021.

If you’d like to nominate an outstanding member of our community, clic
k here.

Community Wellbeing Grants

Primary Health Networks were provided with funds last year to support the mental health of people in our electorate after the bushfires.

The first phase of these Community Wellbeing Grants have been rolled out. Forty individuals have been funded to conduct small grassroots, community connection activities across the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, and Lithgow areas.

The Nepean Blue Mountains PHN is still accepting applications for grants of up to $1,000. If you would like to find out more about these, please click
here.

Grants bulletin

Would your organisation be interested in hearing about some of the latest government grants available? Sign up to my
 grants newsletter.


In the news

The seat of Macquarie in the media:

The NSW Budget has once again
failed to deliver safer roads for Blue Mountains residents – despite the Liberals promising change in successive elections.

I welcomed additional funding for headspace Katoomba after advocating for  additional resources from the day it opened. The fight continues for a fully funded Hawkesbury headspace.

The tourism sector received a medium-term boost with a $2.6 million bushfire tourism grant to promote the region. I can't emphasise how much this is needed in the wake of successive natural disasters and outbreaks. 


 

Keep in touch.

I hope this information has been useful.  If there are specific issues you’d like information on, please do not hesitate to ask.

Kind regards,


Susan Templeman
Federal Member for Macquarie
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AUTHORISED BY S. TEMPLEMAN, ALP (NSW BRANCH), 299 GEORGE STREET, WINDSOR NSW 2756