POLICE MINISTER RESPONDS TO FORBES' PETITION
NSW Minister for Police, The Hon. Yasmin Catley MP, has now responded to the Forbes Neighbourhood Watch’s petition, which called for a 24-hour manned police station at Forbes, to reduce crime in the community.
I regret to inform that in the minister's response, she said, "There are currently no plans to change the manned hours."
I understand that the minister's response will be met with disappointment from the Forbes community, and that it does not meet reasonable expectations of many locals.
Given that police resourcing and deployments are driven and directed by statistics and crime data, I strongly encourage all Forbes locals to contact police where appropriate and make reports – however minor or trivial it may seem.
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If police do not respond in a reasonable timeframe, contact my office - and I will promptly follow this up.
Having said this, I am sure you all will agree that the men and women in blue on the frontline do a fantastic job, despite being overworked and under-resourced. We truly appreciate them.
GOVERNMENT’S BILL REFERRED TO INQUIRY
Why did I vote against the NSW Government's Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment Bill 2025?
My perspective is quite balanced; having parents who owned and operated a business, and having been both a private sector and public sector employee - I can see both the benefits and drawbacks of this proposed reform from both sides.
I acknowledge the need for reform to improve the care and support of injured workers, and I accept that the current workers compensation is financially unsustainable, however I could not reconcile with the Government raising the threshold for Whole Person Impairment (WPI) of psychological injuries from 15 per cent to now greater than 30 per cent to qualify for certain benefits, including continued weekly payments beyond the initial five-year period.
If passed into law, this legislation would leave a lot of psychologically injured workers insufficiently supported for their disablement, and I could not in all good conscience vote in favour of it. In the speech I delivered in the NSW Parliament on this bill, I made my position clear.
I am pleased that the bill has now been referred to a parliamentary committee for an inquiry and report, which is a prudent step to be undertaken before furthering such impacting legislation.
