Jenny Aitchison MP 

I pay tribute to Maitland Artisan Gallery owner, former restaurateur, former President of the Maitland Business Chamber and Dry July ambassador, Jenni Nichols, who bravely shared her family's painful story to help others. Jenni is happy to say that she likes a glass of red wine and I may have shared one or two with her over the years. But during Dry July she abstained to raise money for Redkite and help families as they step through their cancer journey. Jenni knows that jour

Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison has confirmed four new paramedics will be permanently based at the Rutherford Ambulance Station from July 13, 2019. Ms Aitchison has been lobbying for more ambulances in Maitland, and received the news during a recent meeting she initiated with the Hon Brad Hazzard MP, Minister for Health and representatives from NSW Ambulance. “I’m pleased Ambulance NSW planners accept that Maitland has a serious issue with paramedic and road ambulance numbers, an

Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison today proudly acknowledged the work of local school students at Thornton Public School and those at TED Mersin College in Turkey as she joined local authors and historians John Gillam and Yvonne Fletcher and illustrator Lillian Webb at the launch of their latest book, Turkish Charlie Ryan, at the ANZAC Memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park. Keynote speaker Air Vice Marshall Bob Treloar, who penned the forward to the book, addressed those gathered includin

Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison is calling upon NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard to send life-saving CPR equipment to Maitland along with the ambulances required to service the city’s booming population. Positive early indications from NSW Ambulance trials of an automatic CPR device, known as a Lucas Machine, have been welcomed by Mr Hazzard. “My expectation is that the data will show these Lucas devices work extremely well,” Mr Hazzard told 9 News Sydney. “If that’s the case, th

Labor leader Luke Foley will introduce a Bill to NSW Parliament this week, which will make every employee eligible for paid domestic violence leave each year. Labor’s Domestic Violence- Paid Leave policy will give every employee in both the public and private sectors the ability to take 10 days (non-accumulative) paid domestic leave each year. Mr Foley was today joined by Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Adam Searle and Shadow Minister for the Prevention of Domestic V

NSW Labor is today welcoming the release strategy for the Human Rights Commission’s report into sexual assault at universities. Recently Labor met with Kate Jenkins, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, to ensure that the report’s results would be released for individual universities and to confirm that recommendations would be made. Ms Jenkins has today responded positively to concerns raised about the availability of support services and the impact of the report on students

NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has joined Hunter MPs to highlight the growing overcrowding and increasing maintenance backlogs at the region’s public schools. Documents obtained under freedom of information show that 93 schools across the Hunter are at 100 per cent capacity or higher (see below). Wiripaang Public School is packed to the rafters at over double its capacity, while many schools in the region are over capacity and filled with demountable classrooms, like Maitla

The NSW Opposition welcomes the new plain English Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVOs) being rolled out across the state today (Saturday, 3 December 2016). ADVOs are powerful tools, but must be easily accessible and understood to ensure they are effective. If ADVOs are written in clear and simple language, there will be no excuse for perpetrators breaching them. Whilst this is a positive step in the right direction from the Baird Government they must commit more resou

In recent months I have spent some time with local people in towns all over regional New South Wales—towns like Broken Hill, the Central Coast, Orange, Goulburn, Wollongong, Singleton, Tuncurry and Queanbeyan. In all of these areas, just like in my own electorate of Maitland, there is a growing dissatisfaction with the lack of regard by the Government for people in regional Australia. People are sick of the privatisation of their hospitals. They are angry at seeing their Stat

I speak to the debate on the Biodiversity Conservation Bill 2016 and cognate bill. When I was in Broken Hill recently, I felt a sense of coming home as I walked on the flat ground of one of the more arid landscapes in New South Wales. It took me back to my many years as a tour operator, bushwalking and following, in a car or a tour bus, the journeys of early European explorers of this country. I often did so while reading their accounts. While traversing the very landscapes t