By ROY BUTLER

G’day Folks,

Well here it is nearly the end of the year, with only one more sitting week (at time of writing, but there are rumours that the reserve week will be activated - it remains to be seen). It has been a busy couple of weeks, doing what I can to help people in flood affected areas, in between attending awards ceremonies in Sydney one night and Broken Hill the next, before a hectic week in Parliament. But that is the life of the MP for Barwon.

Broken Hill Business Awards

I was honoured to be invited to present awards at the Regional Development Australia Far West NSW Excellence in Business Awards last weekend in Broken Hill. I shared the presentation honours with some of the local businesses that sponsored the awards and with the Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton MP. I was also asked to say a few words, so I talked about how business is booming in Broken Hill, but that there are some bottlenecks that need to be worked on - including housing, health, roads, education, childcare and other critical infrastructure - to make sure that business continues to thrive.

Congratulations to all the winners including Lee Checchin and her business The Old SaltBush Restaurant & Catering, which took out several awards, including Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality. It was a great night, with a bit of entertainment from local Diva Shelita Buffet and a talk by Lifesaver Anthony Harries Carroll, star of reality series Bondi Rescue. 

It felt great just to be in a room with people who are passionate about this vibrant, growing outback community, especially after the event was forced to take a break during the worst of the pandemic. Congratulations to the organisers, Regional Development Australia Far West NSW for such a successful and enjoyable evening, recognising the achievements of local businesses. It is great to see such pride in the city and such a mood of optimism for, and confidence in, Broken Hill’s bright future.

Floods

On my way to Broken Hill last weekend I met a bunch of great people from the Northern Territory’s SES and from the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service. They were headed for Menindee to help out with flood preparations. They came a long way from home to help out, but it was good to see that Menindee was getting some extra boots on the ground to shore up local emergency service crews. I wished them all the best of luck in their efforts to save homes and make people safe. The continuing flood crisis across the state has seen crews coming from all over Australia to help out at places like Menindee and the government has even had offers of help from other countries, including New Zealand.

Elsewhere, including Lightning Ridge, Bourke, Walgett and Coonamble the floodwaters have already hit, with more rain predicted. I have heard stories about people desperate for fuel, food and other essential supplies, and I have worked with the SES and the government to try to sort out some of the supply issues. I urge everyone to follow the NSW SES flood bulletins online or call 132 500 if they are having difficulties.

Yarrie Lake

The newly appointed Yarrie Lake Flora & Fauna Trust are kicking goals with news last week that they have been approved for funding from the Crown Reserves Improvement Fund for the supply, installation and upgrade of the electricity transformer and incoming mains power supply at Yarrie Lake Reserve. Yarrie Lake is an important recreational location for locals and tourists, popular for swimming and boating. It is thought to have been formed by a falling meteor many millennia ago.

This upgrade will ensure the safe supply of power to Yarrie Lake visitors, bringing it up to date to meet Australian Standards.

Police Awards

The week before last I was invited to attend the Rotary Clubs of NSW Police Officer of the Year Awards 2022. This is a great event that recognises the brilliant work of some of the people in law enforcement across the state. I want to congratulate some of the winners including Detective Senior Constable Nathan Gabriel, who won Police Officer of the Year, primarily for the part he played in Strike Force Heighway, an investigation into the manufacture and supply of prohibited drugs. For ten years I worked with the NSW Police Force, Western Region, so it was great to catch up with friends and former colleagues on the night, to help them celebrate their achievements. Good on all of you for the work you do in keeping the community safe.

Roads

One of the biggest issues facing country areas coming up to the next election will be fixing the state's roads. I have been bringing the matter before Parliament, with a Notice of Motion and a Question Without Notice and raising it more directly with ministers and the Premier. The disruption of supply chains to people isolated by floods, the inability for primary producers to transport their produce, makes this a matter of national urgency. It is a huge task facing councils and they can’t do it alone. It requires a bipartisan response at all levels of government.

I have written to the Federal Defence Minister to ask him if he can work with local councils to deploy defence forces with equipment such as graders, rollers and trucks to help keep roads open and in good repair. I have also asked the Federal Minister for Local Government to support this request and spoken to the relevant state minister’s team, urging her to make the request for military help. But the roads need more than repair, they need to be built to better withstand future floods and to keep supply chains open.

Last week in parliament I also introduced a notice of motion about road repair, asking about getting help for councils, building more flood resistant roads and ensuring communities are not isolated and supply chains cut the way they have been. I also put a question to the Premier on the same issue. We need a plan, involving all levels of government, that involves getting the roads open as soon as possible, but that also looks at making our infrastructure more flood proof.

Dining at NSW Parliament House

Being an MP often makes it hard to find time to grab a feed, fortunately there are some good dining options at Macquarie St. The NSW Parliament has a strong history of catering to the palates of both parliamentarians and guests. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love good food. I don't get in the kitchen often, but it's my happy place. I always take an interest in chefs and their menus anywhere. At parliament I have enjoyed talking food with Executive Chef Vanessa Harcourt who has become a friend over this parliamentary term.

I was meant to meet Vanessa and her husband out at Louth Races this year - she has family ties to the area, but rain put a stop to that. Vanessa is also the 2022 NSW Chef of the Year (pretty lucky to be able to chat with her when I am there). Vanessa oversees the restaurants and catering at Parliament. Last night I was at the launch of her book “Dining at New South Wales Parliament House", which looks at the history of food at the house, up to the present day, with some recipes of some of the dishes that have been put before people at parliament. Although Vanessa is leaving parliament, her legacy of good food will live on through the book and the standards she set for food at Parliament.

Grants Recipients

Congratulations to the following Barwon Community Organisations who were successful in receiving funding for their projects in the 2022 Clubgrants Category 3 Infrastructure Grants,

administered by the Office of Responsible Gambling.

• Country Universities Centre Far West will receive $26,000 for the installation of new Solar Panels.

• Tibooburra Village Committee will receive $38,000 for a new generator.

• Walgett Aboriginal Medical Centre will receive $168,000 for the refurbishment of their Dental Clinic.

• Broken Hill Branch of the Australian Stock Horse Society will receive $96,000 for the installation of new Solar Panels.

If you had a submission that was unsuccessful and still require funding contact my team at [email protected] and we can add you to our Grants and Funding mailing list, to keep an eye out for any suitable funding for your projects in the future.

Barry Knight

Last week in parliament I honoured Cobar resident Barry Knight with a Community Recognition Statement. Barry’s family have been in Cobar for almost 150 years and Barry is a true local, an Iron Ringer. Barry has held positions on countless community committees and has dedicated hours of his time serving the community.

One major achievement is the Cobar Miner’s Memorial, commemorating miners who have lost their lives in Cobar mines or from mining related illness. The project took over seven years to complete. It officially opened on June 19, 2021.

Barry would say it would not have been possible without Virginia ‘Ginny’ Knight, his wife. Ginny was with him every step of the way and was an amazing community contributor in her own right.

Ginny once saw a fence full of poppies honouring war veterans. She thought Cobar needed its own version. It officially opened on August 13 this year. Ginny Knight passed away in October 2021, but her legacy lives on with the Poppy Fence and her contribution to other projects.

Barry is not done yet. He is assisting with the new War Memorial for Cobar, along with other projects. I commend and thank Barry and Ginny Knight on their tireless efforts for their community.

First term wrap-up

In my final Private Members Statement for the year in Parliament (which will also be the last one of my first term) I reflected on my time in office, so far. It has been quite a term, beginning with the worst drought in the history of European settlement in Australia, followed by a mouse plague, a one in a hundred-year pandemic, and now floods. I have worked hard to secure for my electorate drought relief, reimbursement for their fight against the mouse plague, I was able to get the government to change health orders that were patently unsuited to regional areas and I have been working hard to get the government to take action for flood relief and fixing the flood damaged roads. I was also able to rattle off a list of other things I have done for my electorate, from securing a water supply for Emmdale Roadhouse, an extension for a consulting room at Wanaaring Health Centre, and working to have two prisons that closed at Ivanhoe and Brewarrina repurposed, the former as accommodation for workers from a mineral sand mine and the latter as a rehab/cultural centre. There is plenty more to do, including rebuilding roads, fixing the rural health system, improving telecommunications and getting more housing. I stand ready to continue to work hard for Barwon, should my constituents choose to re-elect me.

School visit

One of the best parts of my job is meeting students from my electorate when they come for excursions to NSW Parliament at Macquarie St in Sydney. Today I met with students from Warren Central School, giving them a bit of an overview of what a local Member of Parliament does and how the work of a parliamentarian is mostly about building trust and relationships. I also sat in on the very entertaining and informative presentation given by parliamentary staff, which included a mock debate on a bill to extend school hours - which was, not surprisingly, voted down. It is great to see youngsters from Western New South Wales getting an idea of what goes on in Parliament. I hope some of them will be inspired to delve deeper into how Parliament works and become leaders in their own community.

Travelling Barwon

One of the questions I was asked by the students from Warren was “Do you have a private plane?” The answer is no, partly because the parliamentary budget doesn’t stretch to that, but partly because I prefer to drive. Although there are times when I have to fly to get to places on time, I like to make sure that I get to all of the small places in between the bigger towns. 

But I am often asked what it takes to be the member for an electorate the size of mine. It can be quite an exercise in logistics, persistence and endurance. With an area of 356,292 square kilometres, Barwon covers 44 percent of the state, which encompasses 13 local government areas, with multiple schools and hospitals. Given that it can take over 11 hours to drive from one part of the electorate to another (From Silverton in the far west to Maules Creek in the east it takes 11 hrs and 40 minutes), some days I have no option but to drive or fly long distances and often have to go from one event to the next with little time to stop and rest in between. 

Just recently I had a day where I drove from my home in Mendooran to Sydney to catch a plane to fly with the Premier to flood affected areas, before flying back to Sydney just in time to change into a suit to attend police awards, which went until late in the night, before having to get up early the next morning to fly to Broken Hill for business awards, which went late into the night, before getting up the next morning to swim with a local swimming club before boarding a plane back to Sydney to be ready for parliament the next day. 

Any candidate who wants to try to win the seat needs to be prepared to spend most of their time away from home, a lot of it on the road. They need to be prepared to spend long hours fielding media enquiries, taking phone calls, being up to date with the latest computer platforms and communications systems to create a virtual mobile office so that some work can still be done while you are on the move.

It is the most complex electorate in NSW, the job of representing Barwon is made harder by the long distances and long hours, long periods away from home. But it can be very rewarding when you know you are doing everything you can for the community.