I am incredibly proud of the way Port Stephens has followed the NSW Governments guidelines and adhered to restrictions to help keep us all safe and well. Your hard work has paid off as we become more active and focus on getting back to business from next week.

The changes to regional travel coming into effect from Monday 1 June 2020 will make a huge difference for the entire tourism industry, including Council’s own Holiday Parks and the small business community here in Port Stephens.

The impacts of COVID-19 have been devastating, and I know everyone in our community has their own unique experience. Isolation has also been a rare opportunity to stop, slow down and reflect on what is important to our community wellbeing.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve been working hard at planning for how we build back better and our Restart Port Stephens Recovery Plan aims to set us on that path, identifying clear priorities for rebuilding.

Key to this plan will be hearing from you — what are your priorities for the future? What do we want to keep? How have you been impacted? — so we’ll be reaching out soon. It is important that we collect this data over the coming weeks and months as restarting is a marathon effort, not a sprint.

Many of our facilities and services will recommence or reopen form Monday, with libraries, boat ramps and our administration building some of the facilities opening. As always, the health and wellbeing of our community and staff is our highest priority, so we’ve developed a robust COVIDSafe plan to keep everyone protected from the risks of the virus.

As always, you can find updated information about all Council’s services at portstephens.nsw.gov.au/covid19.

I also encourage all of you to continue to follow the recommendations of the NSW Government and keep your distance from others, wash your hands and stay home if you’re unwell in any way.

Please contact us on 4988 0255 if you have any other questions about Council’s services or if you need support.

Wishing you safety and good health,

Ryan