Hawkesbury Independent IND 135 August 2021 | Page 21

with Robyn Preston MP
COVID-19 support The latest COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions have hit our community and State hard , in particular our tradies in the construction industry . One in five workers in NSW are in the construction industry - Hawkesbury territory is tradie territory and we are feeling the pain . The lockdown and restrictions have also devastated many other industries .
Financial support has been announced . JobSaver payments will now be available to businesses with an annual turnover of between $ 75,000 and $ 250 million , previously capped at $ 50 million . Businesses need to have experienced a revenue decline of 30 per cent or more .
The maximum weekly payment has also been substantially increased , with businesses that maintain their employee headcount , now able to receive
between $ 1,500 and $ 100,000 per week respectively .
The previous maximum payment was $ 10,000 per week . Payments are based on 40 per cent of their weekly NSW payroll . You can get more detail by clicking on the link www . nsw . gov . au / covid-19 / 2021-covid-19-supportpackage or call Service NSW on 13 77 88 . For information on support being provided by the Australian Government please visit www . servicesaustralia . gov . au / covid19 or call 1800 22 66 . If it all becomes overwhelming , call me on 4578 0300 . Mates in Construction COVID-19 has led to a loss of income and has also challenged our mental fitness and wellbeing . Relationships with partners and family members can be affected . Mates In Construction is providing services for construction workers and their families who have
been affected by the lockdown . There are Zoom sessions with support from Mates ’ field officers in relation to concerns and challenges resulting from the construction industry shutdown , so why not visit mates . org . au / media / documents / Sydney-Shutdown-A4-Flyerweb . pdf or call the Mates 24 / 7 hotline at 1300 642 111 . COVID-19 vaccination I had my first AstraZeneca vaccination in June and I am due for my second shot in September . I encourage you to speak to your GP and make an informed choice . Need to get tested ? Hawkesbury Showground Clarendon has a COVID-19 testing clinic operating seven days a week from 8am to 4pm . My thanks to the essential workers running this clinic and to the Hawkesbury community for working together to restrict the spread of the COVID-19 virus . Your efforts speak for themselves .
Robyn ’ s first vaccination was in June .

Reaching out in tough times

with Susan Templeman MP
Meet Steph . Steph is a caring 17-year-old Hawkesbury student who is part of a group of young people reaching out to vulnerable older people in our community , just to check in on them .
Lockdown has been extremely challenging for everyone in the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains , and for many the social isolation can affect their mental and physical health .
In fact , that ’ s why I collected a group of younger people together more than a year ago , to check in and see how they were doing .
But now Steph and the group , aged between 17 and 25 years , are the ones doing the checking .
They ’ re calling people to ask if they have the essentials , if they need anything , and sometimes just to chat about the garden .
In their first two weeks they made more than 300 calls , with some conversations lasting about 15 minutes .
Some people are busy or don ’ t particularly want to chat , and that ’ s fine , but those that do have commented how nice it was to receive a call – especially from these dedicated men and women .
These young people , and I know we need to emerge from this lockdown with our whole community intact – regardless of your age , gender or postcode .
My team and I are only a phone call away during this time if you need help , we can be contacted via the number or email on this page .
I ’ m really proud of the outreach this group are doing , and I ’ d like to congratulate each and every one of them for their hard work to ensure no one is left behind in our community .
If you ’ re a local young person who ’ d like to be involved in this type of volunteer work , please get in touch via email at susan . templeman . mp @ aph . gov . au .
We are all in this together . THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 135 // AUGUST 2021 21