Blacktown City Independent #008 November 2021 | Page 19

POLITICS

Ed Husic MP Member for Chifley

If I can be of any assistance about a Federal matter please do not hesitate to contact my office on :
Office : Shop 41 Plumpton Marketplace , Cnr Hyatts & Jersey Road , Plumpton NSW 2761 Mail : PO Box 589 , Plumpton NSW 2761 Email : contact @ edhusic . com Phone : ( 02 ) 9625 4344 / edhusic @ edhusicmp edhusic . com Ed4Chifley
Authorised by Ed Husic MP , ALP , Shop 41 Plumpton Marketplace , Cnr Hyatts & Jersey Road , Plumpton NSW 2761 .

Chifley community champions supported

with Ed Husic MP
Throughout the pandemic lockdown , many people in our area relied upon local community organisations for crucial services and support during very tough times .
In the face of these challenges , I was proud to connect major companies , looking to help communities , with local groups delivering that grassroots support .
For example , with Transurban we were able to help a number of local groups with specific grant funding that made a huge difference on the ground .
One such group that Transurban helped was the Mt Druitt Ethnic Communities Agency ( MECA ) via their ‘ Kilos of Hope ’ project . This work provides food and essential items for community members who are isolated , the elderly and people with physical disabilities who might find it difficult to travel .
Nene Brown from Kallico Catering joined forces with MECA to provide an amazing 3,000 meals a week to people in need .
I recently dropped in to say thanks to Nene , Daryll and the Kallico Catering team along with Daniel Gobena from MECA at their kitchen in Rooty Hill . Thank you to all the volunteers taking part in the program helping distribute food packages and preprepared meals .
I was also very proud to support MECA earlier this year through a special grant towards a vehicle which they are now using to help them out with deliveries .
If you live locally and are homebound due to isolation , age , disability or another reason you can call MECA on 9625 9300 to see if you can access their services .
The WASH House based in Mount Druitt has also delivered vital help , supporting girls and women in very difficult situations .
They run domestic violence support , workshops on issues affecting women and provide advocacy in addition to therapeutic counselling .
Before COVID lockdowns , people would drop in to the WASH House get help personally and quickly . The lockdowns made that very difficult to do .
By connecting Amazon Web Services to WASH House , help was provided to this local group to purchase laptops and portable devices to help their clients get online to access government services and support .
Thank you to AWS and , importantly , to
Ed Husic and Daniel from MECA visiting Kallico Catering .
Catherine White , Shannon Kendrick and the whole team at the WASH House for all their work in trying times .
Local organisations help form the backbone of our community and it is great to see them get some much-needed support for their essential work .

MESSAGE

FROM THE

MAYOR

with Tony Bleasdale OAM Mayor Blacktown City
This is the last Message from the Mayor for this term of Blacktown City Council , with Local Government Elections set for 4 December .
The elections were scheduled for September 2020 , but just like so many things in our lives , they were postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
But now with a definite date set for the elections it is time to reflect on your council ’ s achievements over the past five years and judge if the councillors representing your ward have earned your vote .
From my point of view , the last 18-months as your Mayor have been both challenging and extremely rewarding . We have seen the first students enrol at Australian Catholic University ’ s Blacktown Campus . The opening of the University in the CBD was the result of hard work by council over its entire five year term .
We have seen the opening of a redeveloped Warrick Lane precinct ,
marking the start of an exciting redevelopment of our CBD .
Construction has started on the $ 100 million International Centre for Training Excellence in the Blacktown International Sportspark and the $ 30 million Blacktown Animal Rehoming Centre at Glendenning .
During the last five years council has presided over unprecedented residential and industrial development in the northwest of our city and around Eastern Creek . Your council has among the lowest DA approval times in NSW , while at the same time we have pushed hard , and in many cases succeeded , in getting vital community infrastructure constructed in the new areas .
Your council has embarked on a massive program of developing a network of nearly 800 minor and major parks , reserves and sporting fields , that has been voted by our residents as one of the main reasons they love living in Blacktown City .
In February 2020 , council made a commitment to residents by acknowledging a climate emergency and committed to a target of 100 per
cent renewable electricity for council operations by 2025 . Council is well on the way to meeting the target and has also committed to providing refuge from extreme heat for residents and ensured that our planning controls and policies reduce urban heat .
Your council is proud of its long and determined campaign on behalf of our residents to halt the development of industrial energy-from-waste incinerators within our city , culminating in a NSW Government Policy that forbids the construction of EFW incinerators close to residential areas .
Your council has achieved many of these milestones while the whole city suffered under some of the tightest COVID restrictions in Australia . And it was due to council working with our community groups , health workers , religious organisations , NSW Health and our residents in general , that Blacktown City achieved some of the highest vaccination rates in Australia .
With a population of more than 400,000 those high Blacktown City vaccination rates contributed greatly to
ending the lockdowns . There ’ s still a lot more work to do , but your council is determined to make Blacktown City a modern exciting , go ahead place where people can work , recreate , educate and live in a safe and diverse community .
BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 08 // NOVEMBER 2021 19