Ms JENNY AITCHISON (Maitland) (14:23): I acknowledge Councillor Loretta Baker, the first female mayor of Maitland City Council. Councillor Loretta Baker was elected as the Mayor of Maitland City Council in 2017. I pay tribute to a woman who is an amazing representative of our community. I have known Loretta since 2005, when we set up the non‑party‑political Women's Network Hunter NSW. That organisation supported my predecessor in this place, former member for Maitland and Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Robyn Parker, and it also supported Councillor Lisa Tierney, who was one of the early female councillors in our electorate.

That was a completely non‑political, nonpartisan way of promoting women. When I moved to Maitland there were just two women on the council of 12 councillors and one mayor; so, two out of 13. Loretta was part of the Women's Network. She has lived and worked in Maitland for nearly 40 years. She is a local registered nurse and registered psychiatric nurse, and someone who has devoted their entire working career to helping people access high‑quality health care. She received the NSW Premier's Award for her important work with homeless people and those struggling with mental health and addiction. She did an amazing project at one of our caravan parks, where she provided incredible new opportunities for people living very transitory experiences to get education and jobs and pull their lives back together.

She has served our community as a local councillor for 13 years and was elected as mayor four years ago, in 2017, but her work for the community did not stop when she became mayor. As mayor, she led the council's $2 million COVID relief program, which supported local residents and small businesses that were struggling. As we emerge from COVID, we need the strong, stable and caring leadership that Loretta brings to our community more than ever before. The other thing I find quite impressive and inspiring about Councillor Loretta Baker is her commitment to the sustainability of our environment. Under her leadership, council launched an unprecedented neighbourhood tree‑planting program to improve our city. That has led to the planting of 15,000 native seedlings under the Maitland Greening Plan.

Maitland has a lot of new estates and new developments. I acknowledge the presence of the planning Minister in the Chamber; he would know a lot about hot cities. Doorknocking in Woodberry, where there are not a lot of trees overhead, is very different from doorknocking in Lorn. The difference is those very old, established trees. Councillor Loretta Baker's contribution to the greening of our city has been really important. She has also built more footpaths and cycleways than any other councillor in Maitland's history, and that is really important to us.

I have worked very closely with Councillor Loretta Baker on ensuring that the State Government is aware of our massive need for roads and infrastructure. Maitland is the fastest‑growing centre in New South Wales outside of Sydney. Maitland City Council has invested a record $71 million in upgrading and repairing local roads and footpaths. I have sought meetings with the Minister for Regional Transport and Roads on this issue, and we had a big community meeting. At that meeting I was a little bit worried because I know the community is so angry about the congestion they experience every day. You start to open the box and you think, "Wow, this is going to go pretty hard." But Loretta stood up, listened to the community and took it on board.

Our community has a very clear understanding about the lack of investment in critical infrastructure by the State Government over the past 10 years. Labor spent $380 million in investment when it was in government 10 years ago; in the past 10 years this Government has spent barely $100 million on investment in our roads. Even though she is a Labor mayor, Councillor Loretta Baker is very committed to working with all sides of government, and she has. She had a very good relationship with the former Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter, the Hon. Scot McDonald, as she does with the current Parliamentary Secretary, the Hon. Taylor Martin. She is working all the time to get the essential infrastructure and roads that our community needs.

Mr ROB STOKES (Pittwater—Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, and Minister for Transport and Roads) (14:28): I acknowledge the contribution of the member for Maitland and the magnanimous, bipartisan way in which she recognised not only the current contribution of Mayor Loretta Baker but also that of the former environment Minister and member for Maitland, the Hon. Robyn Parker. I acknowledge the great efforts that Loretta Baker and her council have been making in relation to tree planting and combating the heat island effect in Maitland. Maitland is a wonderful community with some wonderful architecture. I am thinking of John Choi's amazing work along the riverfront. It has some amazing heritage and amazing green places. It is great to see a council working so collaboratively with Government through things like the Public Spaces Legacy Program to ensure that we have green and cool places, particularly in the growing region of Maitland.