changeslives

“The critical need for this property meant that we could not wait until we reached our fundraising goal before purchasing the property and given the impact it is making on the lives of our two young tenants, we are proud of this decision,” Jody said. “However, we’re hoping the community will continue to get behind us over the next few weeks as every donation, large and small, will assist us to reach our target.” million for a second radiotherapy unit at Orange Health Service

All donations over $2 are tax deductible and can be made at: donation towards this Appeal, simply click on this link: https://veritashouse.org.au/donate/ transitional-youth-housing-appeal/. Alternatively, donations can be made at the Orange Farmers Markets this Saturday, 10 June at the Orange Showgrounds, where representatives from the Rotary Club of Orange Daybreak will be fundraising on behalf of Veritas House.

√ $10 million for the Orange Conservatorium & Planetarium

√ 24 hour rescue helicopter service for Orange and region

√ $14 million for highway upgrades between Lithgow and Orange

√ Bat/hail netting funding for local orchardists

√ $1.2 million for CCTV in Orange, Bathurst and Wellington

√ 47 mobile phone towers and base stations across Calare

Ithink our whole region was shocked by the news that power prices in NSW are to rise by as much as 24% from July 1.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe the Federal Government has done enough to combat rising power prices. As I have said previously, a lot of working Australians will not qualify for the $500 energy rebate that was announced in the Budget. There needs to be serious efforts made to bring power prices down, but also rein in the inflation that is running rampant throughout the nation. Everything is going up!

All of the major parties need to share the responsibility for rising prices. During COVID-19, the previous Federal Government and the NSW Government shovelled money out the door like there was no tomorrow.

New Life For Newstead

For the first time Australia started printing money to help pay for it all. All of this cash sloshing around the economy has fuelled rising prices and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.

With both state and federal governments lumbered with massive debts, paying off the state and federal credit card bills needs to be a top priority, as does providing meaningful cost-of-living relief for all Australians.

Last week during Question Time in Parliament I asked the Treasurer what he was doing to bring interest rate relief to home and business owners. While I appreciated his well-intentioned response, the Australian Government simply needs to be doing more to ease these crippling cost-of-living pressures.

It was wonderful to attend the official opening of the Newstead Early Education and Care Centre recently!

The old Newstead Bowling Club has had quite the transformation! It certainly brought back memories of the many functions the building hosted over the years. I’m told that late Member for Orange, Charlie Cutler, had many a political meeting in there!

Operated by Gowrie NSW the new Centre is a delight and there were lots of happy little people joint in the festivities (and cake!) today.

Thank you Gowrie, and thank you to all our early childhood educators for the vitally important work you do.

Big Banks Continue To Ditch Country Communities

Anotherweek, and tragically another disgraceful bank closure in regional Australia.

It has just been announced that the National Australia Bank will be closing its iconic Wellington branch on the 22nd of August. These banks have absolutely no shame.

There’s currently a parliamentary inquiry underway into regional bank closures but this has not stopped the banks shutting the doors and turning their backs on country customers. The parliamentary inquiry has not even served as a speed hump to slow the rate of bank closures down.

Banks are still making profits from our vibrant regional communities. They just believe that they can make even more profits for their shareholders by closing branches. This way they don’t have to pay staff and they don’t have to pay rent.

It means that customers in country areas have to travel long distances to access basic banking services. Banking at post offices in its current form is not a viable alternative. Telling people to travel to large regional centres to do their banking is impractical and insulting.

I have proposed that the government impose minimum service obligations on banks for country areas. I am renewing those calls and I will be discussing this issue with the Minister for Financial Services to see if we can progress it through the Parliament.

Banks are making record profits, yet they continue to gouge our country communities on interest rates, while at the same time reducing the level of services they provide. It’s not right. They need to be held to account. The only language these banks understand is government regulation.

They know that there will be community outrage but once this subsides, they move on to the next town to shut a branch in. The major banks are turning their backs on the very customers who built their wealth and prosperity through the generations.

Our country communities and our nation deserve better.

A WONDERFUL INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NIGHT!

Last week I attended the International Family Night in Orange which brought the community together for a night of fun, music, dancing and international cuisine.

Orange and the Central West have always been very welcoming to people from all over the world, and this night continued the warm tradition.

A huge thank you to Grace Pereira and the team at Orange CultureHub and also the Rotary Clubs