Thursday 10 June 2010

Penrith. Businesses 'sucked out' of Penrith

Businesses were being “sucked out” of Penrith to Parramatta, said a local lawyer, Stuart Cole, when commenting on the government’s earlier decision to move district courts to Parramatta and the impending relocation of 11 members from the transcription service as well. The Penrith Press reported that Mr Cole, who has been at the forefront of moves to keep the district courts in Penrith, said about 40 jobs could be lost. “We are trying to reverse the process and will support the politicians who listen to us,” said Penrith lawyer and Motor Accidents Council director, Ros Everett. Shadow Attorney-General, Greg Smith, said: “We will certainly be looking at bringing back the courts to Penrith.” He said it was causing great inconvenience to the people, especially the police, medical staff and the legal profession in Penrith.

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Penrith. 'No' to relocation

The Penrith Business Alliance (PBA) wants the NSW government's transport agency to relocate its 400 staff in the Sydney CBD to boost the future of Penrith. "There is a degree of frustration in Penrith because we are not getting the infrastructure we need out here, At the moment Penrith is out of sight and out of mind when it comes to decision- making and the best way to answer that is to move the department responsible for transport to Penrith," said PBA chairman, Paul Brennan. Transport Minister John Robertson rejected the idea saying: "At this stage there are no plans to spend taxpayers' money relocating," he said in The Daily Telegraph. He said there were more than 2200 public servants working in Penrith, including staff from the Sydney Catchment Authority, the RTA, Housing NSW and Department of Juvenile Justice, as well as public servants such as teachers and police. The PBA’s other ideas to grow Penrith include attracting a major corporation, creating a new health technology precinct and upgrading the Penrith Lakes facility.

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Region. UWS professor wins grant

Associate Professor Ian Anderson, from the University of Western Sydney's Centre for Plants and the Environment and School of Natural Sciences, has received a grant from the Australian Academy of Sciences to conduct research in Europe. The grant, awarded under the International Science Linkages - Science Academies Program, provides support to leading Australian researchers to collaborate with international partners on projects,which contribute to Australia's economic, social and environmental wellbeing.

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Castle Hill. Stevens on household spending

Households are becoming more financially conservative, with encouraging signs they are reducing debt and spending less, Reserve Bank of Australia governor, Glenn Stevens, said at a function organised by the Parramatta-based Western Sydney Business Connection, at the Castle Hill RSL Club. He said a shift to lower household spending would be “no bad thing” and could help reduce wage and inflationary pressures, allowing interest rates to remain lower.

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Region. Funds for development package

The state budget contains $47.4 million for the Regional Development Assistance Package, which incorporates funding for a number of programs including the Building the Country Program, the Western Sydney Employment Fund and the Regional NSW Employment Fund.

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Penrith. State budget funds

$31 million in ongoing funding has been allocated, in the state budget, for new or upgraded of transport interchanges including Kingswood & Werrington. $167 million has been allocated for ongoing funding towards delivering 7000 additional car park spaces across the CityRail network, including new and upgraded Commuter Car parks located at St Marys and Emu Plains.

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Parramatta. Lobbying to continue

Parramatta City Council will continue it push for the completion of the Parramatta-Chatswood rail link. “The simple matter is that Parramatta and Western Sydney commuters need a direct connection to Macquarie Park and the lower North Shore jobs market. Despite the Government failing to deliver, yet again, Council will continue to lobby, until the Epping rail-link is back on the agenda,” said Lord Mayor Paul Garrard when commenting on no plans in the state budget to re-instate the rail-link or fund other vital sustainable transport options. Council has organised a transport forum in July with Parramatta and Western Sydney business leaders to discuss the long-term transport planning that is needed to deliver future transport infrastructure needs to support the planned growth.

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Chullora. Big fine for smallgoods firm

Primo Smallgoods, at Chullora Australia's largest producer of smallgoods, has been fined $233,625 and ordered to pay $200,000 in legal costs after pleading guilty to 45 charges of misleading conduct and 18 breaches relating to its failure to keep proper records. The NSW Food Authority conducted a surprise inspection of Primo's premises in January 2008 after an anonymous complaint that Danish and Canadian bacon was being labelled as Australian meat.

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Blacktown. Noni B battles on

Women’s fashion retailer Noni B, in Blacktown. expects to break even or make a small loss for the second half of this financial year as it battles relentless discounting by its heavyweight competitors and low consumer confidence. The company said its loyal customer base and focus on the 40-plus women's market will help it lift profitability by 50 per cent for the full year. Noni B said it was navigating the tough retail conditions by avoiding some of the more aggressive discounting that had taken place this year and by keeping a tight control on costs, helping it to improve margins. It expects to report a full-year profit of between $3.4 million and $3.8 million, against a profit for 2008-09 of $2.3 million.

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Newington. In with a chance

Ainsworth Game Technology, at Newington, may be considered as a replacement for Aristocrat Leisure’s poker machines in the biggest NSW hotel customer. The chief of listed National Leisure and Gaming (NLG), Andrew Jolliffe, said he was in talks with Aristocrat to replace nearly 100 Aristocrat video poker machines that were just a year old. Mr Jolliffe said he was considering returning them to Aristocrat under their lease-style system and replacing them with machines from US-based rivals Bally or Aruze, or local rival Len Ainsworth. NLG has more than 900 poker machines across 31 NSW hotels. At least 90 per cent are Aristocrat machines.

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