Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Bland, Dull and Boring—I'm not passing reflections on anybody in this chamber; I'm talking about three local government areas. Bland Shire is in my electorate and its centrepiece is West Wyalong. It has partnered up with Dull in Scotland and Boring in Oregon to form the League of Extraordinary Communities, and extraordinary communities they are.

Indeed, the recently re-elected Mayor of Bland Shire, Brian Monaghan, made the comment to me, since parliament last sat, that he has never seen the amount of funding and the emphasis going to local government that he has in recent times. He put a time frame of 30 years on it, saying, 'We haven't seen this sort of commitment to local governments and local councils in all of my time in that important first phase of government.' Bland Shire has been the recipient of $6.9 million under the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program. It is second only to Wagga Wagga, which received $9.2 million of the $54.8 million that has gone to the 12 councils within the Riverina electorate. The reason Bland Shire has received that amount of money through this particular program is its extensive road network, much of which is dirt and some of which has been sealed, but of course that requires upgrading and constant maintenance. I pay credit to the West Wyalong council—to Ray Smith, the general manager there—and to Councillor Monaghan, for the commitment they have made to West Wyalong Airport, getting a new hangar, as well as the tennis club for a modification and so many other projects, including raising and widening of the Ungarie School bridge, the Mackrell Street bridge, over—there you go!—Humbug Creek. Again, I'm not reflecting on anybody in this chamber. It's just one of the interesting names that crop up in our local government areas and certainly in Australian communities right across the country!

I know that the recent elections within New South Wales in local government have brought about some change. I commend all those councillors who put their names up for election in that process. I've got six new mayors of the 12 councils. I commend David McCann OAM of Coolamon, Charlie Sheahan of the Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Council, Margaret Roles of Hilltops Regional Council, Greg Verdon of Lockhart Shire, Dallas Tout of Wagga Wagga City and Craig Bembrick of Weddin Shire in Grenfell for being new mayors. They've got big roles to play and they will all enjoy the benefits of that LRCI funding.

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