Mr Donato delivered his first speech to the parliament on Wednesday before an-almost full house and received a standing ovation at the end.

He started his campaign for the region by outlining his own upbringing and family life, telling the chamber how he, his wife Nadia and their five sons moved to the region from Sydney in 2005.

“There is no reason why Sydneysiders, particularly young families, wouldn’t move to regional cities and towns if there are good jobs, good transport, affordable housing and a great lifestyle,” he said.

He said the lack of parking and a dedicated palliative care ward at Orange Health Service, protecting and growing jobs, and improving roads and infrastructure despite went “to the heart” of what voters expected from government

“The closure of Myer, Electrolux and a mining down turn has meant that our whole community has suffered through job losses,” he said.

“The state of some of our roads is embarrassing, something that I got to experience during my campaign.”

He spoke about last year’s devastating floods in Forbes, which caused the closure of the Newell Highway for more than six weeks and the highway’s need to be flood-proofed.

“The inland rail solution has remained somewhat in limbo, which is a project I would like to see completed before my time is up here,” he said.

He said education and early childhood indicators were generally below the state average and he wanted to see the expansion of the Charles Sturt University School of Medicine.

“If the same were occurring in Sydney, there would be riots in streets,” he said.

“But the people of Orange have, in-effect, rioted. They’ve elected me.”

He wanted to see a mandatory driver education program, similar to the traffic offenders intervention program, as a component of a learners licence and the promises made during the Orange byelection campaign to proceed.

“I will be cynical enough to go on the record and state that if perhaps The Nationals didn’t think they would retain the seat, some of these funding announcements would still be in the trays of the ministers’ printers.”