Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

And now for some good news! I would like to congratulate Gilgandra Community Radio station, WAR FM, for winning two prestigious national awards at the 2015 Community Broadcasting Association of Australia Conference at the Crown Plaza in Terrigal last month. There was an award for Excellence in Community Participation, and Susan 'Del' Gordon won the award for Outstanding Volunteer Contribution.

The community radio station first began in 1999 in a small ex-bakery shop. The station is operated purely by volunteers, who dedicate over 100 hours of their time per week to broadcast a variety of programs to the community of Gilgandra. It is a fantastic achievement for such a small community radio station to win these national awards. It also provides a timely reminder of just how valuable and successful local radio stations are. They are our local voice and they provide a significant support mechanism for local communities. Gilgandra is a strong rural community in the central west of New South Wales, which is in the centre of the Parkes electorate. I congratulate WAR FM on their remarkable success at the recent awards.

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