GURMESH Singh gave a speech last week in Parliament outlining some of the highlights of his first term as the State Member for Coffs Harbour.

“It is the first time, post-election, I’ve had the opportunity to speak that wasn’t related to a bill or other business in the House,” he told News Of The Area.

Mr Singh began his speech by thanking the voters of Coffs Harbour for their support and trust, noting that Coffs was one of the few electorates with a swing towards the LNP.

He reeled off his many highlights which included opening the $24 million Wiigulga Sports Complex at Woolgoolga, completion of the $194 million upgrade of Coffs Harbour Hospital, the beginning of construction on the $2.2 billion Coffs Harbour bypass, the establishment of the first Indigenous language school in New South Wales, a $10 million regional sports hub, and two new ambulance stations for Sawtell and Coffs Harbour.

Mr Singh said the previous government funded three round games of the National Rugby League, with the Cronulla Sharks calling Coffs Harbour their ‘home away from home’ for three years in a row.

“I think three wins from three will get them back for a fourth,” he said.

Four games of Big Bash cricket were also funded, with the Sydney Sixers playing several teams, as was a new RFS rescue helicopter based permanently in Coffs Harbour.

Mr Singh said the previous government had made a couple of key election commitments that he hoped the new government would respect.

The Jetty Foreshore precinct development was one.

He said the project has had many iterations, including the latest one which involved a community survey of 3,600 people.

The second commitment was an allocation of $4 million as part of an $8 million project to build a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility at Moonee Beach.

It was to be matched fifty-fifty by a $4 million pledge from the Payce Foundation which is currently in partnership with the Salvation Army to run Adele House, a 40-bed, state-of-the-art drug rehabilitation facility in Bucca.

The facility currently treats 160 men every year, and helps them change their lives by putting them on a positive path.
Mr Singh said the previous government proposed to fund a 20-bed women’s facility, where children could also stay if they needed to, that would help turn around the lives of women requiring drug and alcohol treatment.

Another commitment was for an amenity wall, which, he said, would involve the $2.2 billion bypass and the half a billion dollar film studios in the Pacific Bay Resort precinct.

He said the film studio proposal, which includes a boutique hotel, a film studio and a museum as well as a film school, will create an entirely new industry for Coffs Harbour and for the North Coast and transform the economy of the Coffs Coast as well as that of all northern New South Wales.

Mr Singh said the events of the past few years provide some opportunities to deliver a bit more for the North Coast and for New South Wales as a whole and he looked forward to working with his Labor and ministerial colleagues in his new portfolios.

“Just because we’re in opposition doesn’t mean I’m not going to be working towards having a lot of new highlights to talk about in four years’ time.”

By Andrew VIVIAN