SATURDAY'S mixed state election results across the region have left federal Calare MP Andrew Gee with a strong message as he seeks re-election in two months' time.
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The two major seats within the Calare division - Bathurst and Orange - returned polar opposite results for The Nationals.
In Bathurst, Paul Toole increased his margin while in Orange, Kate Hazelton lost significant ground against incumbent Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate Phil Donato.
Mr Gee said both electorates had chosen to re-elect their incumbent candidates.
"They liked their sitting member and they were drawing that clear distinction between the sitting member and the party itself," he said.
"I think the lesson is clear that if you're the sitting member, you've got to work hard and if you do that and if you have the trust of your community, then the results will follow at the ballot box.
He said communities were no longer "rusted onto" the major parties.
"They're willing to switch if they like a local person," he said.
His comments came after Orange City Council applied for $16.8 million in federal funds for various projects and missed out on all but $20,000, for an LGBTIQ festival.
The task now is to sit down with the relevant department and the council, get feedback on the problems with the application and submit a stronger one the next time around.
- Member for Calare Andrew Gee
Mr Gee said between the $22 million for the Murray Darling Medical School, $588,000 for the domestic violence crisis centre and several million dollars in road funding in recent years, Orange was not missing out.
He said he supported the CBD revitalisation project, but it did not score high enough on the independent assessment.
"The task now is to sit down with the relevant department and the council, get feedback on the problems with the application and submit a stronger one the next time around," he said.
Meanwhile, he said the Mount Canobolas mountain bike track was not ready to be submitted because the state government had not approved the plan of management.
"I was told that if approval wasn't obtained, any funding council received would have to be handed back," he said.
"The fate of the management plan needs to be sorted out before a fresh application is made, which I would support."
Mr Gee said the third project, the southern feeder road, had another chance under the heavy vehicles program and an application had already been submitted.
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