Here we are nearly at the end of January. For many of us the holidays are over and the year is getting up to full speed again. The first few months will be dominated by news of the NSW state election.
People have asked whether there will be any substantial change in my policies as a result of me going independent in December last year, but my core values remain the same.
I will continue to support farmers, fishers and law-abiding firearms owners, fight for the best outcomes for Barwon, like record levels of funding, along with looking after the concerns of the broader population of NSW.
I will also continue to travel the electorate, listening to constituents and their concerns and taking them up with the government before and – if I am re-elected – after the election.
Firearms amnesty
Most of you know I like my shooting. When I was a little tacker (before the minimum age was 12) I spent my free time with my air rifle. I don’t get much opportunity to shoot as an MP, but I have very fond memories and lasting friendships built around shooting clubs.
Firearms are often demonised and get a bad rap, but law-abiding people use firearms every day for sport, primary production, managing invasive pests and sourcing organic meat. They don’t create any public safety issues doing that. Public safety should be the key consideration in any regulatory activity around firearms.
While governments have been slow to come to the realisation, a permanent, no questions asked amnesty is just common sense. If the objective is to remove unregistered firearms from circulation and stop them falling into the wrong hands this should have been in place for as long as registration. Same goes for the opportunity to register a firearm that is found – for example in a deceased estate clean up.
Law abiding firearms owners do not want to see firearms used for criminal purposes. It tarnishes the reputation of an industry and good people.
Narrabri Fire Control Centre
I was out at Narrabri last week to look at the situation with the bushfires in the region and to hear the announcement of the funding for the Narrabri Fire Control Centre, similar to the one at Coonabarabran.
One of eight centres planned for areas across the state, it has been in the pipeline for some time and something to which the council and I have given our full support.
It is great to see that $8.5 million has been committed to the state-of-the-art centre, which will also include a helipad rated to a high standard. This will be a facility where all emergency services can collaborate on any emergency.
Hopefully construction should start soon pending tenders and signing of contracts.
Splash parks for Barwon
While I was in Narrabri, the Deputy Premier Paul Toole, and mayor Ron Campbell, also made an announcement of three splash parks that will be built in Narrabri, Boggabri and Wee Waa.
The exact locations of the parks will be determined by council.
This is a good thing for these communities. It provides a place for locals and visitors to go and cool down during the hot summers.
While it might not actually seem like vital infrastructure it is great to see funding for these sorts of facilities, which really improve the liveability of towns in Barwon.
I will be pursuing more of this type of thing in Barwon to help make our towns better places to live. Especially for families wanting to live in or move to the bush. Population growth will drive other infrastructure improvements.
Yarrie Lake
Yarrie Lake near Narrabri is one of the wonders of NSW, a natural body of water formed by what is believed to have been a meteor that hit the earth thousands of years ago. In dry times there can be little or no water in the lake, but right now it is full and spectacular. It’s a popular place for boating, swimming, and yabbying. It’s been my role to back the Yarrie Lake advancement team.
I helped win an extension in the grant fund application for the project to drill a bore to provide the lake with top up water at times to extend the skiing season and I helped install new trust members to allow grant funding for work around the lake.
Last Thursday, Deputy Premier Paul Toole visited the lake to announce funding to seal some of the dirt roads leading into the campgrounds and picnic areas around the lake, which will make it even more of an asset for locals and a bigger tourist draw card.
While there I also took a look at the test bore that has been drilled to keep the lake topped up. The test bore has been promising, with good water quality and a strong flow. Along with the sealing of the road and the upgrading of amenities this will help make Yarrie Lake one of the top attractions in the Narrabri Shire.
Coal seam gas
The week before last NSW Treasurer Matt Kean was heard on radio saying that the Narrabri coal seam gas project had passed a major hurdle and that “The orders to approve the pipeline to extract the gas from the site in Narrabri, into the cities and into where the load is has been approved”.
From the context of the interview, he made it clear he believed that the project was going ahead, but that was far from the truth. In the days that followed it was revealed that both he and Paul Toole took to the media to back-pedal on that statement, saying that the right to survey the land for a proposed pipeline had been approved, but Kean asserted “the New South Wales Government is absolutely focused on delivering this project.”
However, it emerged that an Aboriginal objection to that right to survey had been lodged with the Federal Court.
I have long opposed CSG primarily because of the threats to aquifers. Although there has been plenty of water about (in some cases too much water) in the last two years, that won’t always be the case.
When dry times return, we will be grateful for the fact that the excessive rains have refilled our subterranean watercourses.
However, drilling down through our aquifers to access the gas endangers these precious water sources, which are absolutely vital in periods of drought.
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