Member for Orange Phil Donato, candidate for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party for the March 23 election, was also in Forbes this week.
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Donato, with Upper House candidate Brett Cooke, threw some sausages on the barbecue in Victoria Park on Wednesday and invited community members along to have their say on issues as the campaign for the State seat of Orange warms up.
Donato, with his staffer of the past four years and now Upper House candidate Brett Cooke, has also been doorknocking in Forbes.
The need for a 24-hour police station was a consistent concern, Donato said.
Health services and medical facilities also came up frequently.
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The impact of the drought on the farming and broader community is being felt.
Donato highlighted a win in getting farmers some refunds after a report found a concession for heavy vehicles in primary production, introduced in 1998, had not been applied.
“I know of farmers who got $10,000 to $15,000 in refunds,” he said.
Donato said he would continue to campaign on behalf of Forbes when it came to the weighbridge issues at the Central West Livestock Exchange. Their suggestion is to use axle-mounted scales rather than install a fixed weighbridge.
“We’ve been submitting written questions to the Roads Minister,” he said.
Cooke added that their visits to homes had raised a lot of localised issues, and they’d been glad to connect people to local Council or the appropriate services to get those addressed.
