DUBBO man Stephen Lawrence says he will be a point of contact within the NSW Labor government for Bathurst people after he was announced as the "duty MLC" for this electorate.
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Mr Lawrence is a former Dubbo mayor who was elected to the NSW Legislative Council in March.
"The system is that in every electorate where the Labor party does not hold the lower house seat, we appoint an upper house MLC [Member of the Legislative Council] to represent the seat in the Labor government and to assist residents," he said of the duty MLC arrangement.
"My hope is to assist people who have issues with government and to be available as a point of contact within the Labor government.
"I will also work with the local MP whenever this needs to occur in the interests of the community."
That local MP for Bathurst is the Nationals' Paul Toole, who comfortably retained the seat in the state election in March even as the Coalition lost power after three consecutive terms.
Mr Toole finished with just over 57 per cent of the first preference votes, well ahead of Labor's Cameron Shaw (16.11 per cent) and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers' Craig Sinclair (7.35 per cent).
Bathurst is also home to Nationals MLC Sam Farraway, who was elected to the NSW Legislative Council in late 2019 after Niall Blair stepped down.
Both Mr Toole and Mr Farraway have called into question Labor's commitment to country NSW since the party won back power in March.
They say a deferred upgrade to the Great Western Highway between Katoomba and Lithgow is an example of Labor's disinterest in areas over the Blue Mountains.
"Labor, who are fixated on prioritising Western Sydney roads and have no experience in building road projects, have completely stalled the Great Western Highway, taking us back 10 years," Mr Farraway said recently.
Mr Toole, meanwhile, said back in March that NSW Labor is "going to be bloody scared of me now, because they know that I know a hell of a lot about regional NSW and they know barely anything, so I'm going to certainly be up their ribs for the next four years".
Meet our Labor duty MLC
STEPHEN Lawrence was elected to the NSW Legislative Council in March.
He lives in Dubbo and was mayor of Dubbo Regional Council from mid-2021 to the local government election in December that year.
He was a barrister for eight years before he was elected to state parliament and his legal career involved periods working overseas on conflict and post-conflict justice, including 12 months in Afghanistan with the Australian Government.
In his inaugural speech to parliament, Mr Lawrence said he would "have no compunction in being a strong advocate on issues where there might be a tension between the Labor party position and the interest of residents of western NSW".
"I think that's a really important thing to be willing to do," he said.
"But, frankly, I don't expect that it will be too much of a problem because the government is very focused on the needs and the interests of NSW [...] we're focused on ensuring that our essential services are properly resourced.
"We introduced legislation to decisively move away from politicised discretionary spending and put money back into essential services like health and education."
Mr Lawrence will also be the duty MLC for the Barwon, Dubbo, Orange and Cootamundra electorates.
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