Thank you to Keystone Quality Constructions, Vinnies, Salt Ministries, Nowra City Church, South Coast Register, Nowra Fresh Meat Market, Nowra Farmers Market, Bakehouse Delights at East Nowra shops, Nowra Village Bakehouse, Tuscany Italian Restaurant, Shoalhaven City Council, St Michael’s Primary School, Shoalhaven Engraving, Bomaderry Bowling Club, Southern Pathology, Bomaderry Rotary Club, Red Cross, Wesley Centre and Culburra Seniors Craft Group.

There are many more individuals and community groups who have assisted us and we also wish to sincerely thank them.

We also have a fantastic team of committed, hardworking volunteers who come in and help us in running the kitchen.

Thank you to each one of you!

The last soup kitchen for the year will be held on December 21 (see page 13 for details).

In 2017 the members of Unions Shoalhaven decided to try to improve the transport situation for residents of the Shoalhaven.

To this end they devised a petition addressed to the Minister for Transport asking for the rail line between Bomaderry and Kiama be electrified and the capacity of trains leaving Central each afternoon to be increased.

After some time we became aware that if you wanted a petition tabled in parliament you had to address it to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.

We abandoned the 1000-odd signatures we had amassed and started again.

The secretary of Unions Shoalhaven approached the Member for Kiama outlining our plans and he agreed to have the petition in his office.

The office of the Member for South Coast was visited but Mrs Hancock was not available at the time and after many attempts to contact her we proceeded.

In January 2018 we started again by travelling to Central and back on the trains, driving to Bega and visiting many villages in between and reached our target of 10,000-plus signatures by August.

The secretary of Unions Shoalhaven and I delivered the petition to the Shadow Minister of Transport.

The reason for not following protocol was because earlier in the year the Member for Kiama had gone on local radio four times accusing the ALP and Unions Shoalhaven of bullying and harassing people to get them to sign the petition and the Member for South Coast was not interested in speaking to us.

The members of Unions Shoalhaven were advised the petition was to be tabled on Wednesday, November 14.

Six members of Unions Shoalhaven and South Coast ALP candidate Annette Aldrick travelled to Sydney to witness the culmination os the efforts of so many people. 

When we entered the chamber the Member for South Coast was in the Speaker’s chair. We were then astounded to see Speaker leave the chamber when the petition was announced.

In the South Coast Register on November 28, Mrs Hancock excused her actions in the mistaken belief we had devised this as a stunt.

After 15 years in parliament you would expect the member to be aware of all the procedures you need to get to this stage.

Mrs Hancock should also be aware that a stunt in Parliament House is an offence against the Crown and therefore illegal.

I am angry and insulted by Mrs Hancock’s comments in this paper and demand no less than a public apology.