Current Issues list

Agricultural & Environmental

• Advocate for ongoing scientific research into fruit-fly management, and increased funding for the coordination of fruit fly management in regional communities.
• Advocate for:
  • An increase to the minimum-security deposit for exploration required under Section 261BB of the Mining Act 1992; 
  • An increase to the gazetted maximum of ‘reasonable costs’ for negotiation of Access Agreements required under Section 142B of the Mining Act 1992; 
  • The creation of a security deposit system to cover landholder costs in mediation and arbitration pursuant to Section 148C of the Mining Act 1992.
  • A more stringent application of Section 380A of the Mining Act 1992.2.
• Advocate for cut flowers to be included in relevant Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) laws.
• Advocate that adequate rainfall, real time water flow and river heights data be available for residents and communities along flood prone river systems and their tributaries prior to and during flood events.
• Urgently develop a gas decarbonisation roadmap for NSW, enabling business, industry and households to be resilient and sustainable in a decarbonising world.
• Advocate for amendments to the Dividing Fences Act 1991 to give the Crown, and statutory bodies representing the Crown, the same responsibility and liability for erection and maintenance of boundary fences as is required of adjoining land owners. 

Education

• Advocate for the appointment of more appropriately qualified counsellors and psychologists to all government schools.

Health & Social Security

• Advocate for the compulsory requirement to install bins for the disposal of continence aids in male public toilets..
•  Advocate for women that are suspected of suffering with endometriosis to be able to access the following:
  (i) Access to diagnostic or imaging that is required for diagnosis and ongoing management of endometriosis be accessed under Medicare
  (ii) Medication that is required to assist with maintaining and treatment of endometriosis be accessible at a reduced rate or on the PBS.
• Advocate for an increased supply of and access to more social and affordable housing, specifically for the needs of older women in the metropolitan, regional and rural areas of NSW.
• Support Transplant Australia’s programme to encourage live kidney donations.
• Advocate for increased funding to establish and operate women’s refuges, particularly within rural areas.
• Advocate for the mandatory establishment of:
  a) Specialist domestic violence operative teams in all police area command and police districts and;
  b) That all specialist domestic violence operatives receive specialist training in domestic violence and be kept fully informed about the services available in their police area command/police districts.
• Advocate for the support of the safety and well-being of residents in public housing clusters in all NSW and ACT local government areas.
• Advocate for inclusion of spectacle lenses in the Medicare Rebate Scheme for school age children with eye conditions pertaining to dyslexia.
• Advocate for improved obstetric services and care in NSW, especially rural and remote areas.
• Advocate for the establishment of a dedicated helpline to support rural and remote women in NSW to navigate available obstetric services.
• Demand the State and Federal Governments to take immediate action to address the current crisis in the provision of primary medical services as a result of the lack of General Practitioners and medical staffing in hospitals in rural NSW. CWA of NSW supports the:
  • Australian and NSW Governments and medical professional colleges to coordinate policy responses that prioritise rural primary health care workforce recruitment, training, and development.
  • continued investment in rural clinical schools; training pathways of health care workforce outside of metropolitan areas; and, that training is appropriate to meet the diversity of skillsets essential to rural and remote communities given the clear evidence that training health professionals rurally can be successful in encouraging them to choose to live and work rurally.
  
  

Transport & Telecommunications

• Advocate for a review of the education, training and licensing requirements for drivers towing caravans. 
• Urge the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) and Transport for NSW (tfNSW) to maintain railway corridors in NSW for hazard reduction.

Miscellaneous

• Advocate for the implementation of legislation to ban fossil fuel companies from making political donations.
• Advocate for collaborative government action to develop a comprehensive re-development plan, with established funding channels, for the renewal and upgrade of essential rural roads.
• Oppose any increase in the annual and ongoing financial burden on farm businesses through a new State Property Tax on farmland.
• Urge the NSW Government to rescind its decision to grant an extension to the Petroleum Exploration Licences 1. 12 and 238 located on the Liverpool Plains and calls for an overhaul of the Petroleum (Onshore) Act 1991 to remove the conditions that enable the existence of Zombie PELS.