BY OLIVIA WILSON-WHEELER
A new Service NSW office will be built at Toronto, following years of public demand.
More than 11,000 people have signed a petition for a new office since the Toronto and Belmont motor registries closed in 2015 and were replaced by a Wallsend full-scale service.
This new Toronto service centre will bring back the motor services, as well as 40 other agencies including Births, Deaths and Marriages.
The member for Lake Macquarie, Greg Piper MP, led the campaign and says making residents go to other service centres is unreasonable.
“At the moment, Service NSW offices are located at Warners Bay and Toukley, and that’s a long way from the many thousands of people living at Morisset, Cooranbong, Wangi, Rathmines, Coal Point and Toronto, especially if they have to rely on public transport.”
It comes in the wake of the Service NSW Nelson Bay branch celebrating 50,000 customers served since its opening in 2016.
According to Victor Dominello, Minister for Finance, Services and Property, this reflects the fact the offices are still needed, despite the transition into the digital age.
“Obviously more and more things are going to go online because people want the convenience of doing things at their own time in the comfort of their home but it’s also critical that we have a human face for transactions for people that don’t like going online.”
“The service makes it much easier for people to transact with the government.”
Service NSW is looking for possible sites for the office, and Mr Dominello expects the Toronto service to be opened by the end of the year.
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Image source: Triple M. |