I have raised on several occasions the waste of about 50 car parks across the road from Maitland Town Hall. Sun Street car park that is close enough for students to park, council staff to park - and is   convenient for Art Gallery visitors, overflow parking from Maitland Sportsground, and could also be used by PCYC - all within 100 metres.

May I suggest Cr Meskauskas and Graham Dark inspect Sun Street car park which has been neglected by council and take their concerns to the new Mayor Loretta Baker for some action.

I would also suggest that council make contact with the nearby school and point out that parking is available in Sun Street.

Seniors should not have to return home because they can not get a car park at their Seniors Centre.

I write in response to Mr Bob Geoghegan’s letter to the editor (October 13). Mr Geoghegan cannot understand my views on our new hospital, because he hasn’t listened.

I recently had a long meeting with the Chief Executive of Hunter New England Health, Michael Di Rienzo, in relation to this issue. Mr Di Rienzo confirmed what I have been told by countless workers from the health care system: the Mater Hospital is a legacy model.

The Mater model is not what this Government is proposing for Maitland. A not-for-profit public private partnership will place pressure on existing health facilities.

The Maitland area has one of the lowest rates of private health insurance coverage in the State, with less than 25% of residents using private health insurance when they visit the hospital.

Unfortunately, Mr Geoghegan is scaremongering about Labor’s position on the new hospital. Any responsible incoming Government would review contracts signed by the previous Government.

Labor has the same position as the Maitland community. We want our new hospital to be built publically and we want it built now.

Instead of being a keyboard warrior, Mr Geoghegan should ensure his party delivers our new hospital before March 2019.

Whether we agree with The Levee concept or not, the project designer (McGregor Coxall) and  Maitland City Council deserve to be congratulated for winning both State and National best Civic Landscape Award. I'm not qualified in architectural designs, so I accept their judgment even though The Levee does not appeal to the average person's eye.

The question I cannot answer for my self is: was the concept of The Levee intended to win awards or to revitalise the CBD? The experts are giving it the thumbs up, so I hold back my negative assessment and allow time to give us the fairest judgment of all.

With Victoria becoming the latest state to ban single use plastic bags, it is very disappointing that the NSW Liberal/National Government is now the lone state in Australia still refusing to address this type of pollution.

Plastic contributes to 70% of the pollution in our oceans, rivers and beaches. Millions of seabirds,  turtles, dolphins, seals and other sea mammals die every year as a result of ingesting plastic. Over 90% of marine life now have plastic in their systems. In NSW 61 million plastic bags are littered every year. 

If Labor is elected in 2019, we will take action to free our rivers, oceans, beaches, parks and wildlife from the pollution caused by plastic bags.