Ms Faehrmann to move—

1. That this House notes that:

(a) Newcastle Port Corporation has submitted a concept plan to the Department of Planning to develop the Port Terminal Facilities at Mayfield,

(b) Newcastle Port Corporation has forecast the 2024 precinct trade at 600,000 Twenty foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) containers and 1,010 million litres of fuel and bulk liquid,

(c) Newcastle Port Corporation only aspires to a modal split of 20 per cent of the 600,000 TEU containers to be handled by rail, and all of the 1,010 millilitres of fuels and bulk

liquid are expected to be handled by road by 2024,

(d) 360,052 associated truck movements per year are predicted by 2024, resulting in 148 truck movements per daytime peak hour,

(e) Newcastle City Council passed a motion on the Newcastle Port Development, calling on the Government to publicly release its Master Port plan and to expedite an Integrated Port Planning Strategy for the port that would include proper consideration of the cumulative impacts of all the proposed port redevelopment on nearby residents, strategies to reduce this impact and proper consultation with residents, and

(f) Newcastle City Council has called on the Government to work with the Federal Government to build a Mayfield portside rail line from Sandgate junction to service the former BHP site before any proposed redevelopment occurs.

2. That this House calls on the Government to:

(a) release the Newcastle Master Port plan to the public before the Port Terminal Facilities Mayfield Concept Plan application is approved,

(b) ensure proper consideration of the cumulative impacts of all proposed port redevelopment on nearby residents,

(c) undertake a commitment to achieve at least 40 per cent modal share of all freight through Newcastle ports by rail by 2024, and

(d) install dust monitors and fine particulates (PM 2.5) in the areas that surround the port and along the truck routes associated with the port and make this monitoring data available to the public.

(Notice given 10 August 2011—expires Notice Paper No. 49)

The NSW Legislative Council has passed a motion moved by Greens MP and dental health spokesperson Cate Faehrmann, calling on the government to increase dental health spending and to address inequities in the delivery of services.

“Having bad oral health is linked with other serious diseases, ability to find employment, general well-being and mental health,” said Ms Faehrmann.

“Tooth decay is one of Australia’s most costly diseases, ahead of coronary disease, hypertension and diabetes. It has wide ranging and significant impacts in the community, and hits those from the lowest socioeconomic groups, as well as regional areas, the hardest.

“The Australian Greens have a comprehensive plan for a national ‘denticare’  scheme, but the NSW Government shouldn’t be shirking on its responsibilities in this area. NSW has the lowest public dental funding per capita of any state or territory,” said Ms Faehrmann.

The full text of the motion, passed by the NSW Legislative Council, is copied below.

Media contact: Peter Stahel 0433 005 727

42. Ms Faehrmann to move—

1. That this House notes that:

(a) oral health is one of the areas of greatest health inequity in New South Wales,

(b) people from the lowest socioeconomic groups have fewer teeth, are more likely to have

all of their teeth missing, and have poorer oral health outcomes than other groups,

(c) in rural and regional areas people are more likely to have tooth decay, more likely to

have no natural teeth, have less frequent check-ups and have fewer preventative

treatments compared to urban residents,

(d) Aboriginal people have significantly higher levels of gum disease, tooth decay and

greater numbers of missing teeth than the general population,

(e) poor oral health is linked to poor physical and mental health,

(f) tooth loss is associated with impaired eating, poor nutrition and weight loss, anaemia and

gastrointestinal conditions, and diet-related ill health,

 (g) periodontal disease and poor oral hygiene is associated with aspiration pneumonia, a

leading cause of mortality in older Australians, and increased risk of heart disease and

stroke,

(h) oral infection in adults, such as viruses, bacteria and yeasts, is associated with diabetes,

hardening and narrowing of the arteries, heart and cerebrovascular disease, preterm or

low birth weight babies, osteoporosis, pulmonary diseases and disorders, respiratory

illness, and renal disease,

(i) oral infection in children is associated with otitis media, that is, middle ear infection,

delayed growth and development, and can lead to future orthodontic needs,

(j) the effect of dental disease or tooth loss on physical appearance can lead to a loss of self

esteem, restrictions on social and community participation, and impede a person’s ability

to gain employment, further entrenching the cycle of disadvantage and social exclusion,

(k) the majority of oral disease and tooth loss is preventable,

(l) dental caries, or tooth decay, is the most prevalent health problem in Australia,

(m) periodontal disease, or gum disease, is the fifth most common health problem in

Australia,

(n) section B9 of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Health and

Hospitals Network Agreement asserts that the states will have continuing policy and

funding responsibility for existing public dental services,

(o) New South Wales has the lowest public dental funding per capita of any state or territory,

(p) as of September 2010, there are over 118,000 people on public dental waiting lists in

New South Wales, and over 26,000 of these are children,

(q) systemic barriers to accessing dental services are the main cause of continuing inequities

in oral health for low income and disadvantaged people in New South Wales, and

(r) good oral health is fundamental to overall health and wellbeing.

2. That this House:

(a) congratulates the NSW Oral Health Alliance for their work advocating for improved

public dental services in New South Wales, and

(b) commits to taking steps necessary to reduce oral health inequities in New South Wales.

3. That this House calls on the Government to:

(a) recognise its funding responsibility for public dental services,

(b) increase funding for public dental services in New South Wales,

(c) take appropriate steps to enhance public dental infrastructure, and

(d) commit to actions that address oral health inequities within the community.

(Notice given 5 May 2011) 

Ms Faehrmann to move—

1. That this House notes that the Federal Climate Commission’s report, The Critical Decade, released on 23 May 2011 which refers to over 185 scientific sources has found that:

(b) in the last 50 years the number of record hot days in Australia has more than doubled, increasing the risk of heatwaves and associated deaths, as well as extreme bush fire weather in South Eastern and South Western Australia,

(c) the temperature of the upper 700 m of the ocean continues to increase, with most of the excess heat generated by the growing energy imbalance at the Earth’s surface stored in this compartment of the system,

(d) recent observations confirm net loss of ice from the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets while the extent of Arctic sea ice cover continues on a long-term downward trend, and that most land-based glaciers and ice caps are in retreat,

(e) the sea level has risen by 20 cm globally since the late 1800s, impacting on many coastal communities and the plausible estimate of the amount of sea-level rise by 2100 compared to 2000 is 0.5 to 1.0 m,

(f) the biosphere is responding in a consistent way to a warming Earth, with observed changes in gene pools, species ranges, timing of biological patterns and ecosystem dynamics,

(g) there is a very large body of internally consistent observations, experiments, analyses, and physical theory that points to the increasing atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, with carbon dioxide the most important, as the ultimate cause for the observed warming,

(h) despite the dip in human emissions of greenhouse gases in 2009 due to the global financial crisis, emissions continue on a strong upward trend, on average tracking near the top of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emission scenarios,

(i) the number and magnitude of climate risks will rise as the climate warms further,

(j) the peaking year for emissions is very important for the rate of reduction thereafter, and the decade between now and 2020 is critical,

(k) to minimise this risk, we must decarbonise our economy and move to clean energy sources by 2050 which means that carbon emissions must peak within the next few years and then strongly decline, and

(l) the longer we wait to start reducing carbon emissions, the more difficult and costly those reductions become.

2. That this House calls on the Government to:

(a) reassess New South Wales targets that have been set to return greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2025 and reduce emissions by 60 per cent below 2000 levels by 2050, and

(b) set new targets in accordance with the Federal Climate Change Commission’s finding that global emissions will need to be reduced very close to zero by 2050 to stabilise carbon dioxide concentrations at a value compatible with a global temperature increase of 2 per cent.

(Notice given 27 May 2011)