Photo caption: Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton goes over the Budget with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

Labor’s Budget a blow to the Parkes electorate

Sadly, the Parkes electorate was one of the biggest losers in Labor’s Federal Budget, which delivered several blows to our regions.

The slashing of the highly popular Building Better Regions Fund was the most obvious insult, but after further digging I’m also disappointed to find out that Labor will not be continuing the apprenticeship wage subsidy and instant asset write-off programs which made such a difference in my electorate, helping local businesses put on more apprentices and invest in new equipment.

While childcare has been trumpeted as a winner in this Budget, it is not the case for regional Australia where affordability is not the main issue for our families – accessibility is. Funding rebates does nothing to help those families in the Parkes electorate who are unable to return to work because they can’t access childcare in their town. But not a cent will be spent on creating one single additional childcare place.

Families will also be $2,000 worse off by Christmas as electricity and gas prices continue to rise, along with interest rates and grocery bills.

And the prospect of water buybacks is extremely worrying for Basin communities across the Parkes electorate.

After 10 years in opposition, Labor is clearly taking out its frustration on regional Australia, scrapping programs and funding that had significant benefit to the bush.

Building Better Regions Fund scrapped

Labor’s scrapping of the Building Better Regions Fund (BBRF) was arguably one of the biggest blows to our rural and regional communities.

The BBRF has injected more than $46 million into the Parkes electorate since it was established, funding valuable projects like a retirement village in Narromine, a new library for Broken Hill and oval upgrades in Cobar. These projects are making a real difference in our communities and I’d challenge anyone who claims these are ‘rorts’.

Countless organisations in the Parkes electorate invested time, energy and money into applying for Round 6 of the BBRF, so to find out that this has been cut is extremely disappointing. It means much-needed projects like a new childcare centre for Bourke or the extension of Macquarie Home Stay miss out on funding, further delaying proposed delivery timelines.

Innovative Broken Hill renewable energy storage project

Broken Hill will have a more reliable back-up power supply when a disused mine is converted into an air storage facility.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced the conditional approval of $45 million in funding to construct a 200 M / 1,600 MWh fuel-free energy storage facility, developed by Canadian firm Hydrostor Inc.

Utilising its Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage technology, Hydrostor plans to repurpose a disused mine at Broken Hill for the development of a subsurface air storage cavity which will support the reliability of electricity supply for the city.

I’ve been supportive of this proposal since first meeting with Hydrostor last year, so I’m pleased that this game-changing project has been funded.

Once complete, it will be one of the world’s largest compressed air projects, providing at least eight hours of storage for Broken Hill. This will work in conjunction with the wind and solar farms, providing a clean, reliable backup energy supply for the city.

As Broken Hill continues to expand, this will be even more critical. It will not only keep the city’s lights on, but will ensure the growing mining industry has the reliability it needs to flourish.

For more information on Hydrostor’s project, visit arena.gov.au.