Nambucca Heads Motor Registry Office to transition to Service NSW Centre

The loss of another on-site service – in addition to dwindling staff numbers at the Seascape Centre office – has caused concern amongst some in the community who fear this is the death knell of another Nambucca-based government service.

But Service NSW has responded to the apprehension by assuring that the “Motor Registry at Nambucca Heads is scheduled to transition to a Service Centre late this year”.

“It is part of Service NSW’s $20 million expansion of the network into rural and regional areas and, when open, will provide access to more than 1000 government transactions,” a spokesperson from Service NSW said.

With the recent decommissioning, anyone now applying for new photo licences or renewing old ones will have to wait around 10 working days for their licences to be mailed out to them from a central printing site.

Currently the Registry issues:

“The photo licence printers in Motor Registries are unreliable and breakdown regularly. As a result, Service NSW last week decommissioned the printer at Nambucca Heads,” the spokesperson from Service NSW said.

“Customers across NSW, including at Nambucca Heads, will be given an interim paper licence. Licences are posted to customers and received in around 10 working days.” 

But there are some instances, like in the case of security licences, where an interim paper licence does not cut the mustard, meaning locals will have to wait nearly two weeks to get on with their business.

The Service NSW website cites increased efficiency of in-person transactions as a rationale for the introduction of centralised printing sites.

”Cost savings earned through centralised printing will enable Roads and Maritime and Service NSW to introduce a range of initiatives in the future that will make dealing with the NSW Government easier and faster, including an increased focus on online transactions and new models of delivering face to face services,” the website said.