STOP PRESS | Careful what you touch, as everyday items deemed dangerous thanks to the coronavirus

But standing out like a sore thumb are those traffic light buttons you press to cross the street.

Just imagine how many times people repeatedly touch these things every day so they're a no-no in these coronavirus days. You see impatient pedestrians feverishly pressing the button to try to change the traffic lights faster. Ratatatat...ratatatat.

The bottom line is it makes no difference whatsoever.

You can push as many times as you like but the lights react to just one press so standing there belting the daylights out of the button doesn't do a thing.

But while we'll have to put up with people pushing these non-sanitised buttons in town, it's come to an end at the lights on Forest Road near Orange Hospital.

Transport for NSW has installed automated pedestrian crossing lights operating 24/7 to areas close to major health precincts and Orange hospital now has them.

There's no need to push the button.

You just wait for the 'walk' signal to safely cross the road.

And, as well, TrainLink now has an easy online booking system for the XPT to minimise the need for in-person bookings, plus on-board buffets on regional services have been modified in keeping with advice from NSW Health.

It looks like Deputy Premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro is playing politics again by bypassing our local MP Phil Donato and sending a Bathurst Upper House MP here to make announcements on the government's behalf.

The Nats selected Sam Farraway last October to fill a vacancy in the Legislative Council after the retirement of Niall Blair and he's now suddenly popping up in Orange handing out government cheques; a job that should be going to Phil Donato.

They did it before the last election with parliamentary secretary Rick Colless making all the government announcements but it didn't help the party.

And when the government announced Dubbo was getting the maintenance centre for the new intercity trains, something Orange wanted, former Dubbo MP Troy Grant said `at the end of the day, that's what happens when you don't have someone at the decision making table of government...'.

So there you go. Has the pork-barrelling begun again or what?

We can only wonder how long Orange's honeymoon with petrol prices will last with prices around 98c a litre the lowest for years.

Australia has just spent $90 million buying and stockpiling bargain-priced oil in the US that refineries here will convert to roughly 300,500,000 litres of petrol, enough to fill a family car 4.8 million times or a national supply for only five days. Countries are expected to have a stockpile of 90 days of petrol but we're only around the 55-day mark so the latest buy won't help much. But we could also stockpile while Orange prices are at 99c basement prices. You should fill every old can you've got while you can because these prices won't last.

"Billy," says the farmer to his son, "go outside and see if it's raining".

"Aw, do I have to?" he says. "Can't you call in the dog and see if he's wet."