Andrew GEE MP INDEPENDENT FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CALARE

Runs On The Board For Cabonne

√ $2 billion for Great Western highway upgrade

√ $40 million for Mitchell Highway upgrades between Orange and Molong

√ $2.1 million for streetscape improvements in Molong and Canowindra

√ $15 million for a new Molong Multipurpose Service

√ $492,410 for construction of the Eugowra Community Centre

√ 24 hour rescue helicopter

√ $408,000 for childcare/early learning services in Molong

√ $700,000 for Bangaroo Bridge Replacement

√ $117,396 for resurfacing and new lighting at the East Molong Tennis Club

√ $60,000 for the Molong water tank artwork

√ $390,210 for new lighting and nets at Molong Rec Ground

√ $308,175 for an education and info centre at the Australian National Field Days site at Borenore

√ $2.5 million for an ambulance station in Molong

√ $2.59 million for new overtaking lanes on the Cargo Road

√ $185,764 for a new amenities block and support for the Molong Showground and Society

√ 47 mobile phone towers and base stations for Calare

SEVEN MONTHS OF SILENCE: NATIONALS’ NEGLECT OF OUR DISASTER-HIT COMMUNITIES

Itis truly extraordinary that it took the National Party seven months to publicly mention the plight of storm and flood-hit communities in the Central West. From the party that claims to represent regional Australia, this is disgraceful and deeply insulting to the people of our area who’ve lost so much.

We’ve had the devastating storms and floods of November last year, then the Hill End bushfires, and through it all the National Party has been invisible to our disasterhit communities.

At the time of the Express going to print, neither David Littleproud nor his shadow cabinet ministers have set foot in Eugowra or the disaster-hit Cabonne shire. The National Party neglect of our communities is appalling.

It’s been seven months of silence from The Nationals. Seven months of having the chance to help, but choosing not to. Seven months of playing politics, instead of helping devastated residents pick up the pieces.

To add insult to injury, the NSW

DISASTER-HIT COMMUNITIES STILL EXCLUDED FROM RECOVERY FUNDING

National Party could’ve activated a full suite of disaster measures before the state election but failed to do so. Why wasn’t David Littleproud demanding the NSW Nationals take action? It would be a joke if the hurt and heartbreak wasn’t so real.

Through all of this, the federal Nationals sat silent and were content to leave our residents to their pain and anguish while they jetted around other parts of Australia. They’ve been missing in action on the Hill End bushfires too.

I believe this type of insincere charade is exactly why more and more Australians are turning away from the major parties. It’s truly bizarre that the Nationals think they can play the public for mugs and expect nobody to notice. Our residents know exactly who has been here on the ground working for them and who hasn’t. They see through the political spin.

The Nationals’ seven months of silence shows they only offer a hand when it suits them. They have no shame.

Flood And Storm Preparation Meeting

Irecently attended a very important meeting in Molong hosted by the SES on future storm and flood preparation.

Those present discussed the storm and flood event and how early warning systems and preparations could be improved so a disaster of this scale does not happen again.

Congratulations to David Rankin from the SES, with the support of

Orange Electorate Office

Grow Molong for organising the event. It was important to hear of people’s experiences and get an action plan in place so that heartbreak of this scale will not be repeated.

Thank you David for convening the event. Discussing what happened on that awful night with residents who had been evacuated and what warnings they had was very useful.

Almost eight months on from the November 2022 floods, devastated communities in Cabonne and Wellington are being held back from moving on, ineligible for several disaster recovery funding programs. To help our hardworking country communities come back stronger, the State and Federal Government must open up these recovery funding programs to disaster-hit areas in the Central West. It’s deeply shocking that they haven’t. It’s a national disgrace.

Community Assets Program

In January, the Federal and NSW Governments announced the $70 million Community Assets Program to enable flood-hit areas to repair damaged community infrastructure.

Here’s the kicker – it’s only available to council areas hit by floods in February and June 2022 – not November, when those massive storms hit Cabonne and Wellington.

Despite Cabonne suffering storm and flood damage on par with the Northern Rivers, the local council is not eligible to apply for the grants of up to $7.5 million to fix key community facilities like playgrounds, sports fields and parks.

It’s now been months since I first called this out. It’s time to fix it.

Resilient Housing Package

Just three months after the February flood event in the Northern Rivers, the federal and state governments launched the $741 million Resilient Homes Fund - the largest home resilience program of its kind to ever be delivered in Australia. This offered affected homeowners the opportunity to raise homes, retrofit them or take part in the voluntary buy-back of their house, and recently the NSW Government said it expects to issue about 1,100 buy-back offers.

With many communities in Cabonne bearing the same level of destruction as the Northern Rivers, it’s outrageous that a similar scheme has not been put in place to help flood-hit locals move forward more than seven months after the disaster.

This scheme would give hope and provide some confidence to hundreds of homeowners in Eugowra, Molong, Cudal and Canowindra who lost everything in the devastating flood. They need and deserve all the help they can get. If other flood-hit parts of the state can access this program, our region should be able to.

More funding needed for rain-bombed infrastructure

I recently inspected the Nyrang Creek Bridge between Eugowra and Canowindra. It is still a wreck. A lack of funding to get the job done means that in country NSW in 2023, we’re forced to close roads rather than fork out to fix them.

There have been several accidents over the past few months at that crossing, including a recent, tragic fatality. The situation is clearly urgent. Look at the wrecked state of the Duke of Wellington Bridge in Wellington or the still-closed Wellington to Dunedoo Road.

We need more funding to truly futureproof our regional infrastructure. Moreover, we need to not just replace a bridge like-for-like, but to build one which will support our communities well into the future, that can survive future storm events.

All of these support measures for our storm and flood hit communities could have been switched on by the previous NSW Government, including the National Party, but weren’t. The new state government needs to get this assistance moving because the disaster-hit residents of our region are being treated like second-class citizens. It’s shameful and inexcusable and it has to stop.

I have contacted the new NSW Minister for Emergency Services and asked him to action this support. I've also invited him to visit our area to see first hand what our residents have been through.

Our residents pay their taxes like everyone else and are entitled to the same support as other parts of the nation.

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?

It’s interesting to hear that senior federal Nationals have now decided to visit our electorate, after being called out in the media.

The storms and floods hit the Cabonne Shire and Wellington on the 13th and 14th of November 2022.

It has taken them almost eight months to show up. For residents of disaster-hit areas, the visit is eight months too late.