The sight of six government ministers in an Orange pub eager to meet locals and hear their grievances is extraordinary.
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From 1947 to last year the Orange seat was safely held by the conservative forces and so there wasn’t a need for key decision makers to make their way over the Blue Mountains from Parliament House to our region.
But when fears of a close poll in last year’s byelection started to emerge in Macquarie Street, Orange was greeted by a flood of government ministers.
The result, in which the Shooters and Fishers scored a historic victory, looks likely to ensure Orange will be seeing more visits until the next election in 2019.
On Friday six ministers from the Nationals came to town. And they brought their chequebooks with them.
The biggest announcement was promising $3.4 million toward the Southern Feeder Road project, but there were others, including a truck wash for Molong.
The ministers met with the Orange City Council and were keen to get out and meet local voters.
Friday night’s Pollies in the Pub session was an old-fashioned election exercise.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro (pictured) has promised to keep coming back to Orange to make more announcements about spending money in the region.
Back in October in the lead-up to the election we considered the same issue and suggested drawing up a wish list of projects we’d like to see happen.
They included better parking at the hospital, building the entire Southern Feeder Road and getting the Rural Fire Service and TAFE to call Orange home. Funnily enough, they could all still be on our wishlist today.
We’d like to add a wish that the government take over funding the upgrading of the Northern Distributor Road.
And while we’re at it, the federal government must be wondering how they will fare in the Central West after the state byelection result.
It might be a good time for them to fund the Murray Darling Medical School to get doctors trained in Orange.
And with the current Department of Primary Industries building looking like it might be emptied to move the operations to the old hospital site, there will be a huge building able to be filled by another government department.
Feel free to send them our way.
They’ll all be welcome in Orange.