Government grants a ‘vote of encouragement’ for the shire

Spring has certainly arrived, with above average warmer weather and of course the ‘spring breezes’ as well – and my sympathies to the allergy and hay fever sufferers in the Shire, there are plenty of pollens and dust in the air.

The fantastic looking winter crops are post-emergent and awaiting a little more rainfall to continue the impressive start they have had to date. Here’s hoping the coming months are on target for optimum growing conditions and will lead to a bumper harvest and will encourage positivity in our localised agricultural food bowl.

Which leads me to sincerely congratulate the IA Watson University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute on their $11.95 million funding announcement to continue to develop and expand the current laboratories, office facilities and field plots at the Narrabri site.

This was a marvellous ‘win’ for the management and staff at the Institute, with a fantastic ‘vote’ of encouragement by the State Government to improve and expand on the current site within our Shire, to build on local initiative with world-wide respected agricultural research and development. The community should be very proud of what the institute has produced to date, and funding like this is a rare opportunity, and I am sure that the Sydney University team will take this opportunity to promote further investment, increase employment opportunities and continue, both in Australia and worldwide, with industry-leading research and development, cementing our Shire on the map as the ‘site for investment’.

Finally last week, also during the NSW Deputy Premier’s visit to the Shire, I was very proud to accept on behalf of the Shire and its residents, a funding opportunity for $16.8 million from the NSW state government and attended by deputy Premier John Barilaro and MLC Sam Farraway, for the Stage 1 funding of the Northern NSW Inland Port (N2IP) which will be a major Logistics and Industrial Hub within Northern NSW and link many new opportunities for the locally generated agricultural and resource commodities to be sent to east coast ports for domestic and international markets. This project has the potential to generate much needed, and ongoing investment opportunities within the Shire, as there has been great interest in the project to date.

Now that the State Government has provided backing, investments within the Shire are expected to at least double, which is a win-win for all residents within the Shire, no matter what industry you are currently employed in – there are major economic benefits for all. And with the Inland Rail project expected to commence locally in the short term, this will also enhance prospects for larger scale investments within the Shire.

This was a large vote of confidence and support in what the Council has managed to produce so far, and I sincerely thank Council management and staff for the great amount of time and preparation that has gone into securing such an investment of this scale – congratulations and keep up the wonderful work – you certainly have the community’s future at the forefront, with motivation and progress of such innovative infrastructure developments, well done.

Cr Cathy Redding, Narrabri Shire Council Mayor