PORT Stephens Council have stepped up to say thank you and welcome back to the Port Stephens community.

In the recent Council meeting on 26 October, Councillor Giacomo Arnott moved an urgency motion resolving that Council recognises the work of nurses, doctors, police, teachers, volunteers, members of the community, Council staff, frontline workers, cleaners and many other professions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“I think we’ve got a lot of resources and a lot of capability here at Council to run positive campaigns in our community thanking people for this sort of work.

“I think it’s important that we use that capability to thank the people out there who have kept this community going.

“Everyone has and is doing a really incredible job and I’m really proud of the efforts of our local community.

“Despite the hiccups in the vaccine roll out from the federal government, I think we’ve all come together.

“We’ve all gone to our GP, we’ve gone to the vaccination hub, we’ve gone to the John Hunter Hospital – we’ve done whatever we had to do to get those two shots in our arms,” Cr Arnott said.

Port Stephens is the highest vaccinated community in all of the Hunter Region with over 86% double vaccination as of 24 October 2021.

Councillor Paul Le Mottee acknowledged the lengths that some of the workers of Port Stephens have been going to keep the community safe.

“I’ve spoken to healthcare workers who go home and instead of going inside and being with their family, they’re staying in tents and caravans in the front yard so they have had that physical separation.

“You don’t realise what some of these people are going through to keep us safe.

“I’ve tried to thank people for putting themselves out there like this, but they’ve very modestly said that it’s just their job.

“Personally I think it’s a bit more than just their job; I think it’s going above and beyond,” Cr Le Mottee said.

By Tara CAMPBELL