This month marks 10 years since Kiama had the privilege to open the first Service NSW Centre in the state.

The Service Centre on Shoalhaven Street was opened by then NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell and Member for Kiama Gareth Ward, now an Independent, on 5 July 2013.

Service NSW replaced the previous Roads & Maritime Services centres, bringing services from NSW Government agencies like Fair Trading NSW and Births, Deaths and Marriages together with vehicle and licence registration under one roof. Some of these services required residents to travel to Sydney just to submit paperwork.

Since then, the Kiama Service NSW branch has completed more than 316,000 customer transactions and achieved a 97 per cent customer satisfaction rate.

The most common services over the past five years were driver’s licence renewals, transferring and renewing vehicle registration, new licence applications and tests, and processing Working With Children Checks.

NSW Minister for the Illawarra and South Coast Ryan Park celebrated the milestone, saying: “Having proudly grown up in the Illawarra region and now raising my family here, I am thrilled to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Service NSW which started right here in Kiama.”

“Instead of travelling to different agencies in multiple locations, customers can complete connected transactions like changing their name and updating their licence in one convenient location.

“Service NSW has evolved over time and continues to innovate for our customers today and into the future."

Gareth Ward also celebrated the milestone, revealing that he requested former Premier Barry O’Farrell to have the first Service NSW established in the Kiama LGA.