Rural Financial Counselling Service back on track after State Budget
13-September-2011
Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has welcomed the NSW Government’s announcement that they will continue to put forth their funding contribution to Rural Financial Counselling Service (RFCS).
The NSW Government handed down their budget last week and confirmed they will continue their funding contribution which makes up about 15 per cent of the overall budget of the Federal Government program.
“I welcome the announcement by the Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson that the funding contribution will be maintained at the same level as previous years.”
“Before the budget announcement I wrote to Katrina to highlight the importance of the RFCS in the Parkes Electorate,” Mr Coulton said. “
“The Rural Financial Counsellors provide a free and valuable service to farmers and agriculturally based small businesses, not only in times of crisis, but also when times are good seasonally. It is a very important service to many people in my electorate. Therefore I welcome the funding announcement.”
“The Central West RFCS has been severely affected by a Federal Government funding shortfall which was going to force the closure of the Gilgandra, Parkes and Walgett offices.”
“The CW RFCS was very dependent on this funding commitment from the State Government to allow these offices to remain open to service their local areas. However, I do understand that the Federal Government funding shortfall will still leave significant challenges for the service.”
“I trust this commitment will allow the CW RFCS to reassess these circumstances.”