Laurie O'Connor

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-109901

Hansard session: Fifty-Seventh Parliament, First Session (57-1)

Laurie O'Connor

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (17:16):

:40 I acknowledge Laurie O'Connor, who has recently retired from his role as the Director of Assets and Infrastructure, a position he has held at Georges River Council since its inception in 2016. Laurie is an exceptionally talented engineer who commenced his engineering career in 1986 with the former Botany Bay City Council. He was employed as a junior engineer before moving to other councils such as Waverley and Canterbury. In 1995 Laurie joined the former Hurstville Council as the manager of engineering administration. He later progressed to director and ultimately to Acting General Manager of Hurstville Council. Since the formation of Georges River Council, Laurie was appointed as director of Assets and Infrastructure, a role he has undoubtedly excelled in during his time with the council.

While Laurie has worked on and delivered countless projects, it is fitting to outline some of the projects he has delivered that have reshaped not only Georges River Council but also St George as a whole. The Penshurst Park Sporting Hub project commenced in 1995 and is continuing to the present day. The project was launched with the opening of the Hurstville Aquatic Centre. The next stage of those works will provide upgrades to Penshurst Park, including a canteen, a massive new grandstand, as well as upgrades to the car park and lighting. This significant and long-running project has been pioneered by Laurie and is transforming Penshurst Park and surrounding facilities into a first-class sporting hub that is used widely by the community.

Another project that has reshaped my electorate of Oatley that would not have happened without Laurie's efforts is the widening of the Lily Street Bridge in Allawah. For those in this House that may not be familiar with this location, the bridge connects two sides of the St George area. It also provides a thoroughfare over the railway line at Allawah, but its two-lane bridge capacity led to traffic jams and gridlock as the area's population grew. Laurie was instrumental in lobbying our State Government for $13 million to go towards widening this bridge and Transport for NSW overseeing the project in its entirety. The four-lane upgrade has no doubt been a tremendous benefit to the traffic flow in our local community.

A recent achievement of Laurie's has been the Oatley Park Adventure Playground, which is a fantastic space in Oatley Park that has been sensitively designed to cater to all ages and abilities as well as complement its bushland setting through the use of natural materials and nature-based play elements. Despite opening in late 2019, the playground has been overwhelmingly well received by those across my electorate. It also received support through State Government and council funding. This project would not have been possible without Laurie's leadership and community-focused approach. The adventure playground has quickly become a much‑loved pocket of my electorate. From Gannons Park to Oatley Park, to Peakhurst Park to Evatt Park, to Kemp Field and the work now at Hurstville Oval, Laurie and his department have led by example to have many of those projects completed on time and under budget.

Finally, no discussion of Laurie would be complete without mentioning the millions of dollars of works that he has delivered to help the local area be a better place to live. From footpaths to road resurfacing, Laurie has overseen countless projects, improving the safety and efficiency of our area. Laurie's impressive run of 25 years in the council has sadly come to an end as he retires and moves into the next chapter of his life. Laurie has been at the receiving end of a number of letters and phone calls from my office over the past nine years and I thank him for always treating all requests with fairness. I thank Laurie for always working with me in ensuring that we can deliver together the best results for our community. His time in council may be over but the results he has achieved will have lasting benefits for our community. He may follow the wrong football team—South Sydney—but I thank him for all his hard work and wish him and his family the very best for the future.