While at a recent site announcement at Sanctuary Point, South Coast MP Shelley Hancock, when asked about police numbers and 24/7 policing, which the Police Association in 2015 stated at least 38 extra police were needed for the Shoalhaven to cover 24/7, Mrs Hancock said policing matters are up to the Police Commissioner, not the Police Minister. It was also stated the new police station and ambulance station won't be 24/7.

With the new era of policing on the South Coast, will it mean better 24/7 coverage for all areas of the Shoalhaven? If crime rates are dropping, why are more cells being built at Nowra jail?  

I am concerned by the legislative amendment called Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform Bill 2017, being introduced into Parliament next Monday. It poses a serious threat to everyday citizens like myself, to be able to independently discuss freely, and act on, without any party politics, what our future direction as a free country should look like and how we achieve that. It forces charities and grassroots organisations to follow rules which are not enforced on massive corporations and other powerful lobbying groups, thereby undermining the concerned citizens of Australia and potentially putting us further towards a totalitarian political structure where governments are only there to forward the interests of Corporations. The Bill is fundamentally flawed and needs to be rejected outright. This is an attack on citizens and the freedom to associate politically with whomever we wish to, to exercise our right of the basics of democracy. The whole Bill needs to be rejected in its entirety. 

Tony Abbott, in his latest speech, has nailed it when he listed immigration and energy costs as the major imposts on the government’s credibility meter.

Malcolm Turnbull and his dedicated band of supporters are in denial and hurtling head-on into a disaster that is called a federal election.

What will remain of the current sitting members will bear scant resemblance to the present parliamentary benches.

We will be the beneficiaries of a Labor government gifted to us by one of the most dysfunctional and incompetent coalitions in living memory.

The knifing of Abbott and the installing of Turnbull as PM will be long remembered by passionate conservatives as the most treacherous of acts against an elected Liberal leader in living memory.

The correction will come at a cost and that will be borne by those who will lose their seats and these will be many.

A new Nowra bridge is vital for the town and region. It would make journeys quicker and safer, create jobs and support our tourism industry.

All of these factors would boost the local economy.

A new bridge also offered huge opportunities to Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis, who could have shown herself to be a “can-do” politician after the great media coverage in 2014 when she first announced the project.

Even better media coverage could have followed if she had ensured the project went ahead. sadly, the project has become something of a saga.

Since 2014 she has announced the Nowra bridge initiative many times.

Lots of media conferences – but nothing meaningful.

The span across the Shoalhaven River seems to have become A Bridge Too Far for Mrs Sudmalis, who now looks more like a “can’t-do” politician.