The emergency was a Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) situation. A Naval phosphorus flare had been found on Racecourse Beach by some holidaymakers staying at the caravan park. Rather than reporting the find straight away, the holidaymakers brought the flare back to the caravan park to their cabin and later noticed the warning symbols on the flare. It was then that they decided to report their find. Sometimes these cylindrical canisters do wash ashore on local beaches and while they might look like a cool souvenir, they can still be extremely dangerous. Please don't touch them! 

The situation was quickly controlled and the flare was safely removed by the appropriate authorities. But the message is, please, if you find anything like this, anything that you cannot identify and are uncertain of its safety, please report it straight away by dialling 000 and remain at a safe distance until the appropriate authorities arrive to take control of the situation.

It seems to me Ulladulla is now a fair sized regional town, with a rapidly growing population, and big enough to be serviced by four supermarkets and all five banks. It also has the reputation of being a retirement area.

Yet NRMA insurance seems to believe we are still such a tinpot town that it is not worth their while to come to an agreement with, or license, a smash repairer in the area, despite the fact there are several who do excellent work. Instead, they want us to drive to either Batemans Bay or Nowra, to one of their ‘approved’ repairers. Once to get a quote, again to drop the vehicle off, and a third time to collect it. Bear in mind that we have an older population, mostly single lane highways in both directions, with high accident rates, and high speed journeys. This in itself might contribute to even more accidents.

The Labor candidate for South Coast should know that a facility can’t suddenly be reopened. Level 2 services went from Milton-Ulladulla Hospital when  a doctor removed his services from the hospital. Maternity could not function without the required, safe number of medical staff. Illawarra Health therefore closed the maternity unit. Shelley Hancock has been working to return to Level 2 for the benefit of our local community. Congratulations and thanks to Shelley for signing off on a midwifery group practice to be run from Milton-Ulladulla Hospital.

As babies come at all hours of the day and night, we need a number of qualified personnel to run a birthing service. Until qualified doctors are willing to work in this beautiful South Coast area, Illawarra Health can’t simply reopen the maternity section. Continue your great work, Shelley, towards this goal.

I believe schools, hospitals and TAFE should come before splurging $2.2 billion on Sydney stadiums.

Our schools require additional funding to improve educational standards. Too many schools in NSW are overcrowded. There are 77,955 people on NSW hospital waiting lists – a record high. There are many instances of where improvements are needed in our health and education systems.  

But whether you agree or disagree, I believe that the people of NSW deserve a say. It is your money. It should be your decision.  

That’s why I am calling on the Berejiklian government to halt the demolition of the Sydney Allianz Stadium and make the state election in four months a referendum on their Sydney stadiums policy.