You are watching Coast Community News 5@5 October 16, 2020: Council and State Government lock horns on council’s finance crisis. PEP11 Gas industry challenged in Parliament. New trains arrive at Kangy Angy. Shooting incident with police. Sport; Mariners NPL wins, Rugby Union finals, turtles returned, weather and new Arts House theatre.
Starting off this week, Central Coast Council has been under increasing pressure this week to come up with a recovery plan after the State Government stated it will not bail Council out. We spoke to Parliamentary Secretary of the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, and Mayor Lisa Matthews about their respective views.
To try and put this in perspective we asked the region’s only Council reporter Merilyn Vale about some of here observations.
PEP11 Gas Industry in Parliament
The proposed plan to build a gas industry off the Central Coast, Sydney and Newcastle coastline has reached a pivot point this week. With Federal Liberal MP for the Northern Beaches Jason Falinski foreshadowing a motion to cancel the exploration permit PEP11 in the Federal Parliament on Monday.
Local Labor Member for Dobell Emma McBride has stated under questioning from CCN that she will be supporting the motion to cancel the PEP11. Member for Robertson Lucy Wicks has not yet indicated whether she’ll support her Liberal colleague’s motion. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, has also reaffirmed the State Government’s opposition to the PEP 11.
Central Coast Council has previously unanimously passed motions to oppose PEP11.
And the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, was in Terrigal this week, let’s go to David to see what he had to say.
Treasurer in Terrigal
The Treasurer was joined by MP Lucy Wicks and local business, Terrigal Electric to talk up the recent Federal Budget, and in particular the apprenticeship and youth employment support packages in the budget, but gave little reassurance on local concerns raised about social housing shortfalls and a lack of employer incentives to hire workers aged over 35. This is some of what he had to say.
New trains arrive
And the rollout of the New Intercity Fleet on the Central Coast rail network became a little closer with the delivery of the first train in the fleet at the newly opened Kangy Angy Rail Maintenance Facility. Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, said the train’s arrival was part of the testing phase of the New Intercity Fleet, bringing the roll-out of the 55 10-car trains for the Central Coastline one step closer.
Shooting
A critical incident investigation has been launched following the death of a man during a confrontation with police on the Central Coast yesterday. Officers from Tuggerah Lakes Police District attended Minnesota Road at Hamlyn Terrace shortly after 9 am after a stolen vehicle was tracked to the location following an earlier pursuit.
Shots were fired during a confrontation and the man died at the scene. He is yet to be formally identified. An update from NSW police today at 10.50 am stated a police operation is continuing to find a second man believed to have left the scene.
And in fresh news the Warnervale Airporport Restriction Act has been rolled back in the State Legislative Assembly last night, paving the way for a renewal of the regional airport. We’ll cover that story in full next week.
Sport
The Central Coast Mariners Academy has completed a clean sweep of the NSW NPL2 Senior Competition, adding the First Grade and U/20’s Championships to the Premierships. After claiming their Premiership with a week to spare in the regular season, the Mariners U/20’s played in the grand final over the weekend against Hakoah Sydney City East, with a three goal first half paving the way for a 5-1 win. First Grade Mariners also played against the Northern Tigers, with four goals scored in extra time through braces to Matt Hatch and Harry McCarthy to seal the win.
And the Central Coast Rugby Union competition has come to an exciting conclusion over the weekend with 5 new Premiers being crowned on Grand finale day. In the Premier 1, Terrigal made it back-to-back titles after beating The Lakes, 31-28. Going almost point for point from start to finish, Central Coast Rugby Union President, Larry Thomson, said the Premier 1 grand final was a thrilling end to the season.In Premier 2, The Lakes again went down against Terrigal by a very narrow margin 23-22. But it wasn’t all bad for The Lakes with the Maroons beating Avoca Beach 23-14 claiming the Under 19’s Premiership. The Presidents Cup was won by Avoca Beach, who defeated Terrigal by 22-21, and the Women’s 10’s was won by Terrigal, defeating Avoca Beach 22-17.
Weather
It seems like it’s going to be a cloudy one this weekend with areas of fog on Saturday morning, and a 50% chance of showers in the evening. There will be a max of 27 with North to North easterly winds reaching 20 to 30km/h in the middle of the day.
And get out your umbrellas because Sunday has a very high 90% chance of rain and a chance of a thunderstorm in the morning and afternoon. Max of 23 with light southerly winds reaching 15 to 25 km/h.
Turtles
Members of Australian Seabird Rescue were jumping for joy recently as they re-released two green turtles into the sea after they had been cared for on the Central Coast for some months. Central Coast co-ordinator, Cathy Gilmore, said because of the organisation’s name, many people didn’t realise it cared not just for birds, but also for marine reptiles, including turtles and sea snakes. The two turtles, Ella and Billie, had been in care for six and four months respectively
All of these stories and thousands more are available on our news website and remember to pick up a copy of this week’s Coast Community News issue number 264 and Coast Community Chronicle 210. Be sure to subscribe to our Social’s: – Youtube, instagram, twitter and Facebook page for updates during the week.
Theatre industry
We leave you today with internationally renowned musical director, Andrew Warboys, who has used his time of covid 19 cancellations to connect with local talent and experimenting with new business models for the entertainment industry. Thanks so much for having us, see you next week.