Western Sydney

NSW Coalition votes to cut registered nurses from aged care

NSW Coalition MPs voted down a bill, 35 to 45, on May 11, that mandated registered nurses in residential aged care facilities. Labor, the Greens, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, as well as Independents Alex Greenwich and Greg Piper supported the bill.

The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association鈥檚 Brett Holmes said the government鈥檚 decision was 鈥渟hameful鈥 because not having skilled nurses in nursing homes would mean that the quality of care provided to some of the state鈥檚 most vulnerable would deteriorate.

Residents oppose waste-to-energy incinerator in western Sydney

The Erskine Park community hall was packed on April 13 as hundreds of local residents expressed their opposition to The Next Generation鈥檚 controversial plan to build a waste-to-energy incinerator.

The incinerator would be located only 800 metres from homes and 1.8 kilometres from three local schools. Prospect Reservoir forms part of Sydney's drinking water and is only 5 kilometres from the proposed site: this would put the drinking water of 4.5 million people under threat of contamination from toxic particulates.