2019: Palliative care, rail upgrades, broader festivals on wish list for Orange

Chair of Orange Push for Palliative Care Jenny Hazelton said they were hoping for an announcement from the Western NSW Local Health District in January about a successful tenderer to supply four palliative care beds for Orange by March.

“I’d like to get the four full palliative care beds operating as soon as possible. We’ve been waiting for a very long time,” she said.

She said it should be “best practice” with end-of-life and respite care.

Orange Rail Action Group chairman Dr Peter Bilenkij said the state government should begin planning an upgrade of regional rail lines, including to Orange.

“It’s about better tracks. That’s what we have being planning and advocating for the last four-five years. We don’t want fast trains on slow tracks,” he said.

Police Association representative Adam Piffarelli said more police were needed.

“The big issue is securing the extra 12 spots for front line officers so we can focus on tackling the property crime [and other issues] that has occurred in the past month,” he said.

Orange360 general manager Caddie Marshall said she hoped for continued volunteer involvement and support from the community.

Ms Marshall said she also wanted to see the scope of festivals broaden from food and wine to include cultural and arts activities.

That includes the Orange Writers Festival combining with the Winter Fire Festival in 2019.

Orange Region Vignerons Association president Debbie Lauritz said they would encourage wineries to become more sustainable which could help cut costs and provide a unique marketing tool.

Miss Lauritz said they had a grant from Landcare and a representative of the Australian Wine Research Institute would address Orange vignerons in January.

“We see it as one of the more unique selling points,” she said.

NSW Farmers Orange branch chair Bruce Reynolds said they hoped for government help to reduce the impact of high power bills on orchardists.

“Electricity costs are a huge burden, particularly for orchardists, and gas prices. We hope the government will deliver in the next 12 months,” he said.

Mr Reynolds said farmers also hoped for government assistance of about $3-3.5 million for netting to help keep crops safe from hail and bats.

And he said he wanted to see the American market open up for exports of Orange cherries.

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St Vincent de Paul Bathurst central council executive officer, Bruce Buchanan, said the drought would continue to hurt farmers and businesses which relied on their spending.

“Instead of having the tractor fixed the farmers are fixing the tractor themselves,” he said.

Mr Buchanan said there had been a 23 per cent increase in people seeking help in the past six months with a “steady increase” expected in 2019.