Updates

05 Dec 2024

Ward Promotes STEM Grants to Drive Innovation

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward has today promoted the 2025 STEM Student Competition Sponsorship Program, calling it an essential step toward nurturing the next generation of innovative minds. The program, funded under the Research Attraction and Acceleration Program (RAAP), offers grants of up to $10,000 per team, supporting NSW students to participate in domestic and international STEM competitions.

The sponsorship program focuses on funding research-related expenses, including lab consumables and research materials to allow students to fully engage in their projects.

04 Dec 2024

WARD CALLS FOR BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR ILLAWARRA DRUG COURT

WARD CALLS FOR BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR
ILLAWARRA DRUG COURT

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward has called for all political parties to unite and back calls from lawyers, social services, judicial officers and psychologists to establish a drug court in the Illawarra.

Mr Ward said the statistics speak for themselves with Bureau of Crime Statistics and Reporting data making the case clearer than ever.

With the NSW Drug Summit underway, Mr Ward said that a Drug Court was an important piece of the puzzle in getting people off drugs and turning lives around.

“If you have been addicted, or you know someone who has, you would know and appreciate the devastating impacts drugs can have on individuals, families, and communities. Drug Courts work, and it makes absolutely no sense that other regions have Drug Courts and the Illawarra doesn’t,” Mr Ward said. 

“BOCSR statistics show that 37% of people receiving treatment through a Drug Court program are less likely to be convicted of an offence. 65% are less likely to be convicted of an offence against a person, 35% are less likely to be convicted of a property offence and 58% are less likely to be reconvicted of a drug offence. What more does this government need than its very own data?

03 Dec 2024

MINNS TAKES ILLAWARRA FOR GRANTED

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward has slammed Premier Chris Minns’s ‘Look at me, look at me’ visit to the Illawarra, with no new funding, no new projects or no real engagement with the local community.

02 Dec 2024

WARD BACKS M1 UPGRADE PETITION

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward has joined local Illawarra residents in calling on the NSW Government to urgently address the worsening traffic congestion on the M1 Motorway by adding an extra lane in both directions between Yallah and West Wollongong.

22 Nov 2024

Ward Speaks on Hospital Helipads Legislation

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward has today delivered his Second Reading Speech on the Health Services Amendment (Hospital Helipads) Bill 2024, aimed at ensuring the inclusion of a helipad in new or redeveloped hospitals with have emergency departments.

The proposal comes in the wake of the scandal-plagued delivery of the new Shellharbour Hospital which has a cycleway strategy but no helipad to be built and operational on day one. This is in spite of the existing Shellharbour Hospital having a helipad.

14 Nov 2024

NSW Labor’s Health Hypocrisy

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward  has slammed the NSW Labor Government for voting against keeping David Berry Hospital in public hands. The David Berry Hospital Amendment (Prohibition of Sale) Bill 2024 aimed to protect David Berry Hospital from privatisation and keep it within the public health system.

Whist the NSW Labor Government had said they would support keeping David Berry Hospital in public hands, every Labor Party Member voted to do the opposite.

12 Nov 2024

WARD SLAMS LABOR FOR CLOSING COMMUNITY JUSTICE CENTRES

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward has used Question Time to call on NSW Labor to reverse its proposed closures of Community Justice Centre services across NSW including those services offered on the Illawarra and South Coast. 

Established by statute in 1983, the Community Justice Centres Act was introduced to provide alternative dispute resolution services free to the community.

12 Nov 2024

WARD DEMANDS FEDERAL TOBACCO EXCISE FUNDS AS WEAK NSW BILL OPENS DOOR TO CRIME

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward has slammed NSW Health Minister Ryan Park’s weak tobacco licensing scheme Bill, calling for a share of federal tobacco excise to help NSW law enforcement crack down on rising illicit tobacco crime.

Mr Ward’s calls come following the Victorian Labor Governments moves today to introduce the toughest regime in the country including fines of up to $355,000 and 15 years in jail for individuals.