I have proudly debated petitions on behalf of local community groups, raising important issues in the Legislative Assembly and requiring the Government to respond.

Some notable petitions I have taken carriage of, on behalf of local petitioners, include Orange Push for Palliative's petition on palliative care services for Orange, and Orange Rail Action Group's petition on rail services for Orange and Central West.

In the case of Orange Push for Palliative's petition, it was instrumental in pressuring the Government to eventually deliver Orange a dedicated palliative care facility.

Until now, petitioning of the NSW Parliament has been entirely paper-based.

As of last Monday that all changed when ePetitions commenced, enabling petitioners to create a petition online via the NSW Parliament website.

Traditionalists will be happy to know that paper-based petitions will continue for the foreseeable future.

Paper-based petitions require 10,000 signatures to have the matter debated on the floor of parliament, whilst e-Petitions will require 20,000 signatures for a debate.

For those interested in creating an ePetition, visit the link below, or feel free to contact my office on 02 6362 5199 or 123 Byng Street, Orange for information or assistance regarding ePetitions. https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/pages/epetitions.aspx

Having been a police officer for many years, serving in both metropolitan Sydney and out here in the country, I am well aware of how limited police resources are for country-based cops compared with police in the city.

After I was first elected, I pushed for an increase in resources for police in regional New South Wales.

I've been agitating government to base police dogs and handlers out here in the Central West to assist local police in their fight against crime.

When Police Minister Troy Grant clearly wasn't doing anything about it, I had arranged a face-to-face meeting with NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller to personally make my request.

I am pleased the Commissioner listened and has now responded by allocating two police dogs for duties here in the Central West.

They will be based at Bathurst and include a General Purpose (GP) dog and a drug detection dog, supporting police to tackle a broad spectrum of policing tasks.

I'll proudly take this announcement as a personal accomplishment in seeing increased resources delivered for our police, who are there 24/7 keeping us safe.

I'm continuing to work behind the scenes, advancing Orange City Council's Mt Canobolas Mountain Bike Trails initiative.

It's a project that I believe in and have been backing from the get-go.

Council have at least 18 months of planning ahead of them, which involves a mountain of paperwork.

This project will be important to Orange and the broader district in generating jobs and boosting the economy through tourist visitation.

We need it sooner rather than later to help us thrive in spite of the economic impact resulting from years of drought and COVID-19.

Recently I asked NSW Planning Minister to assist the Council by fast-track the planning process through the Planning System Acceleration Program, which is designed to speed-up the planning and assessment of projects which will directly inject investment in the economy and provide jobs.

I eagerly await the Minister's response.