Spotlight on bank closures

It was good to host Senator Matthew Canavan in Moree last week to talk to locals about the impact of bank closures, just a day before Westpac’s Moree branch closed its doors for the final time after almost 150 years of serving the community.

Senator Canavan is currently touring around the country as part of the newly established Senate inquiry into regional bank closures. As Chair of the Committee that established the inquiry, Senator Canavan is speaking to communities impacted by bank closures in an effort to find solutions to ensure regional people can still access banking services without having to travel large distances.

The increasing closure of banks across the Parkes electorate is most disadvantaging our elderly, Indigenous people and those with a disability. If the big four banks were serious about fulfilling the aims of their Reconciliation Action Plans, they would not be withdrawing their services from places like Moree with a high proportion of Aboriginal people.

While it’s unfortunately too late for Moree’s Westpac branch, we’re hopeful that other branches might be saved as a result of this inquiry. I encourage people throughout the Parkes electorate to make a submission to the inquiry by 31 March 2023. For more information, visit: www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/BankClosures

Concerns over water buybacks

Water Minister Tanya Plibersek last week announced a reopening of non-strategic, open-tender water buybacks for a number of catchments in the Parkes electorate, which is very worrying news for our basin communities.

A total of 49.2 gigalitres of water will be recovered from six catchments in the Murray-Darling Basin, including the Namoi, Barwon-Darling, NSW Border Rivers and Lachlan catchments which all fall within the Parkes electorate. The new round of buybacks aims to help achieve the ‘Bridging the Gap’ target – a total of 2,075GL in flows to be returned to the environment each year.

Previous water buybacks have had disastrous consequences for communities in the Parkes electorate, and I’m concerned about the impact these new purchases will have. It’s all well and good for the Minister to say that irrigators want to sell their water but there’s obviously little thought as to what that means for our agricultural communities when productive water is taken out of the system.

Voice meetings and tree plantings

Following a few days at home recovering from the removal of a melanoma and two BCCs, I enjoyed a busy week back out and about in the electorate last week with various meetings and events in Dubbo and Moree.

I had a number of meetings with local Aboriginal leaders about the proposed Voice to Parliament last week. I’ve been trying to meet with people throughout the electorate to find out their views and, interestingly, there has been lots of varying opinions. But regardless of whether they support the Voice or not, everyone I’ve spoken to has some concerns over the mechanisms of a Voice – how it will work, what regions it will cover, who will be eligible to vote and how leaders will be elected – as those details are yet to be released.

During the week I also met with members of the Paramount Tennis Club in Dubbo and OzFish Unlimited in Moree, both groups that have received funding from the former Coalition Government, to find out what they’ve been up to.

I had the opportunity to be a panellist at the RDA Orana Outlook Dinner last Monday night where we discussed how we might overcome some of the challenges our region is facing including worker shortages, housing, population growth, liveability and more. We also heard about some of the incredible projects and opportunities our region has to look forward to over the coming years.

I also had the pleasure last week of attending the opening of the upgraded Moree PCYC, where I had the opportunity to plant a tree in memory of the late Queen Elizabeth II. The PCYC received funding under the Australian Government’s Planting Trees for the Queen’s Jubilee program to plant about 30 trees outside the renovated building, so it was wonderful to see what a difference they’ve made to the façade. As the Moree community enjoys this great facility for years to come, the trees will be an ongoing reminder of the dedicated service of the late monarch.