Welcome to the July edition of Wentworth News

Since our Budget newsletter it has been a very busy time both in Canberra and locally here in Wentworth.

Water remains the top environmental priority and despite the recent heavy rains, Southern and Eastern Australia in general and Sydney in particular remains short of water. The NSW Government remains determined not to recycle the 450 billion litres of waste water we pump into the ocean every year; a case of environmental recklessness as difficult to understand as the volatility of the weather itself.

Recycling was top of the agenda at our recent Water Forum.

Other items in this newsletter include:

Reforms to Australia's immigration system;
Workplace relations reform;
A win for whales;
How we can all help Double Bay Public School, and
How the NSW Labor Government is ripping off Rose Bay Secondary College;
A million dollars to help kids with cancer
Federal funding for Roads in Wentworth
A new Work for the Dole program in Wentworth
Wentworth companies benefit from export grants
A funding boost for Wentworth migrant services 
Our official office opening in Bondi Junction with Peter Costello
My recent speeches in Parliament, and
A new community notice board on our website.

Wentworth Water Forum

On Monday 27 June the Wentworth Liberals held a forum at Easts Leagues Club in Bondi Junction to discuss Sydney 's water supply and what needs to be done to make it sustainable. Over 100 members of the Wentworth Liberal Party Federal Electoral Conference attended. 

Two of the leading figures in the water debate delivered presentations.

Dr John Marsden, Australia 's leading water economist and a Principal of Marsden Jacob Associates, a financial and economic consultancy, explained what Sydney must do to make its water supply sustainable.

John van der Merwe, the managing director of Services Sydney, which is the proponent of the private sector scheme to build a large water reclamation plant in Sydney, talked about his effort to compete with Sydney Water in processing Sydney's sewage.

Their presentation can be found in the downloads section of my website in the Wentworth Water Forum folder. It is a particularly informative document (although a bulky file..best if you have broadband). Among other things, it shows graphically how climate change has resulted in very substantial reductions in the sustainable yield available from Sydney's dams (as well as those of other Australian cities).

The Prime Minister sent a message of support to the meeting.  

“Water is the great conservation challenge of our age.

"The Australian Government has taken the lead on water reform....

" I am very aware of the important debate about water recycling in Sydney in which your Federal MP, Malcolm Turnbull, has taken a leading and constructive role.

"I wish you well for the evening's discussion and look forward to receiving an account of the debate from Malcolm when Parliament resumes,” 

The full text of his message can be found in the downloads section of my website.

The Water Forum provoked a story in the Sydney Morning Herald here and I wrote a follow up op-ed on Monday 4 July "Top option stagnates in pipeline while Carr rides the wrong flow." which is here.

I recently talked with Alan Jones about the water crisis in Sydney. The transcript can be found here

Greg Hunt MP, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Environment Minister is a keen supporter of recycling and he and I recently wrote an op-ed piece titled Water fix down the drain which appeared in the Australian Financial Review.

A more compassionate and efficient immigration system

On June 17, the Prime Minister announced major changes to the immigration system. I was and remain delighted by these reforms as I outlined in a speech to Parliament here.  

For a full text of the Prime Minister's announcement and details of the changes click here.  

Building better workplace relations

This week has seen industrial action as part of the union movement's political campaign against the Howard Government's workplace relations reforms. This action is disruptive, costly and futile. The Union campaign misrepresents the reforms proposed.

The reality is that all Australians have a vested interest in a more efficient and productive economy. Labor critics of the Howard Government's reforms forget that average weekly earnings during the Howard years have increased in real terms by more than four times as much as they did under Labor's thirteen years. The strongest growth in disposable incomes over the Howard years has been in the lowest two income deciles. 1.6 million new jobs have been created in the Howard years and unemployment is at its lowest level in almost 30 years. I discussed these revealing contrasts on May 25 in a speech in the House of Representatives here.

The Prime Minister announced the most significant changes to Australia 's workplace relations system since 1904.

The Government's reforms will:
• Secure minimum wages and skills based award classifications
• Encourage agreement making
• Increase workplace productivity
• Create a new simple, fair and flexible workplace relations system
• Not cut award wages
• Not abolish awards
• Not remove the right to join a union
• Not take away the right to strike
• Not outlaw union agreements

Australia needs a more flexible labour market to maximise economic growth and employment opportunities and to maintain and improve our standard of living in an increasingly globalised economy. For more details on the announcement click here

A win for whales at the IWC

Australian and pro-conservation nations won an historic vote at the 57th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Ulsan , South Korea. The vote for commercial whaling was supported by 23 pro-whaling nations and opposed by 29 pro-conservation nations, including Australia. 

This issue is of particular importance to residents of Wentworth as we are often hosts to visiting whales who come into the bays of Sydney Harbour and we have all enjoyed watching their majestic progress up the coast from the headlands of Wentworth.

Pro-whaling nations are on the wrong side of history. This is a critical step in our ongoing fight to see commercial whaling relegated to the history books – a fight the Howard Government will not give up.

For more information see the Department of Environment and Heritage website here

Double Bay Public School P&C Association raffle

As part of Public Education Week, I visited Double Bay Public School and launched their P&C Association Raffle. I encourage you to buy tickets. The proceeds from the raffle will go towards improving the quality of education at the school and to improve the environment of the school.

There are 15,000 raffle tickets available for purchase at $5 each from the school (contact the School's P&C Association on 9363 3456 and ask for Jo Johns).

The first prize is two return economy airfares to San Francisco courtesy of Air New Zealand plus $500 spending money courtesy of St George Bank Double Bay Branch, valued at $3,500.

The raffle will be open until Friday 21 October. All winners will be notified in writing and all results will be published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 26 October. For more details on the raffle click here.

Labor rips off Eastern Suburbs again

Rose Bay Secondary College is the only State High School in Wentworth. Some years ago the NSW Labor Government promised that it would build a new campus on the site of what had been Dover Heights High. The works were to consist of new buildings and the renovation of the existing, and very old, school buildings.

The NSW Labor Government has now announced that it will not spend the money to renovate the old premises at the Dover Heights campus. This is a breach of promise to the students, teachers and parents of Rose Bay Secondary College.

Bob Carr's Labor State Government's neglect of public education in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney is scandalous as I described in a speech to the House of Representatives on June 15.  

Howard Government makes $1 million grant to Camp Quality

On Friday 1 July I presented former Australian cricket captain, Steve Waugh, with a $1,000,000 cheque for Australia's leading children's cancer organisation, Camp Quality, on behalf of the Howard Government at a ceremony at the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick.  Steve Waugh is Camp Quality's Patron.  See photos here.

The Grant will help Camp Quality hold their next camp for 1500 kids with cancer as well as building a further six high tech radio controlled robotic puppets which will visit children's oncology wards throughout Australia to deliver the best medicine for sick kids: laughter.

Howard Government funds improved roads in Wentworth

Local councils in Wentworth will receive $2,960,363 over the next four years under the Howard Government's AusLink Roads to Recovery Programme. Randwick City Council will receive $1,550,476, Waverley Council will receive $714,354 and Woollahra Municipal Council will receive $695,533.

The AusLink Roads to Recovery programme cuts red tape and delivers vital road funding right where it's needed - directly to councils. For more information on the programme click here

Other Wentworth News

An innovative work for the dole project was established at Bondi Beach. Wentworth businesses were prominent in the list of new Export Market Development Grants and Wentworth migrant services ECHO Bondi Junction Neighbourhood Centre and Friends of Refugees from Eastern Europe received funding from the Howard Government's Community Settlement Services Scheme (CSSS). For more information on the CSSS click here.

Office opening with Peter Costello

Over 70 supporters joined me and the Treasurer, Peter Costello, as we officially opened the new Wentworth Electorate Office in Bondi Junction on 19 May.  See photos and a report of the Treasurer's remarks here

Speeches in Parliament
In the last session of Parliament I gave speeches on:

Tax Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Reduction) Bill 2005 (tax reform)
Reserve Bank report by the House Economics Committee (current account deficit) 
Migration Amendment (Detention Arrangements) Bill 2005 (Immigration Reform)
Foreign Debt 
Rose Bay Secondary College
Appropriation Bills
Water Recycling 
Transport Security

Community Notice Board

We have a community notice board on our website here. If you have a community event or a fundraising drive (such as the one for Double Bay Public mentioned above), please let us know and we will give it a plug on the website. Who knows? It might drum up a few more attendees or even dollars! 

Yours sincerely,

Malcolm Turnbull MP
Member for Wentworth