The latest from Member for Barwon Roy Butler MP I have just spent much of the last two weeks out on the road, but this week I am back in parliament for two consecutive sitting weeks. I made my way across about 3000 km from Sydney to Bathurst, for an arms fair, to Nyngan, Nymagee, Cobar, Wilcannia and Broken Hill, for the St Patrick’s Day races, making my way back to Sydney for the sitting week. Free Virtual Care for Western NSW Earlier this month the government announced it was extending its free virtual health care service to patients in Western NSW. The service will be limited to non-life-threatening conditions such as coughs, colds, fever, respiratory complaints, vomiting, diarrhea, minor infections and rashes. The service will operate between 8am and 10pm and can be accessed by phoning Health Direct on 1800 022 222. Patients will be put through to a registered nurse who assess the patient’s condition and, if appropriate, refer them on to the correct service. It isn’t meant to be a replacement for on-site health workers, of which there is still a major shortage in many regional, rural and remote areas, but it is meant to deal with some of the problems with the health system. In some towns in Barwon there are no regular GP services, forcing people to either travel hundreds of kilometres or to turn up at the ED (emergency department) of their local hospital or medical centre. Having some alternative, albeit online, will prevent people having to travel for medical attention, reduce the number of people presenting at an ED and take some of the pressure off overworked hospital staff. International Women’s Day March 8 was International Women’s Day, and a couple of days before that I attended the NSW Women of the Year Awards 2025 at the International Convention Centre in Sydney where Barwon woman Sally Edwards was honoured with the award for Barwon Woman of the Year. Sally has long been a strong advocate for her community, working for positive change, environmental conservation and volunteering for several different organisations including working with the youth of Coolah. She has also declared her candidacy for a seat in the upcoming federal election. On International Women’s Day there were many events held around Barwon, obviously it was not possible to be at all of them, but my staff were able to make it to some. In Broken Hill more than 100 women gathered for lunch at the historic Astra Hotel. Guest speakers included Gigi Barbe, Kirsten Linden, and Bree Borlace with music from locals, Grace Molloy, Molly Molloy, Grace Crannaford and Bonnie Aeschlimann. I want to thank the Domestic Violence Committee of Broken Hill for all their efforts in organising a wonderful celebration of women. There were many others, too many for me and my staff to attend all of them. I look forward to next year’s events. Inquiry into the bill to split Hunter New England LHD In the February sitting weeks I introduced a bill to split the Hunter New England Local Health District (HNE LHD) into separate Hunter and New England Northwest health districts. That legislation was fast tracked by the government, so that it could go to an inquiry to examine whether the rural and remote communities currently within HNE LHD would be better served by having their own health district, distinct from one that is run from a metropolitan area hundreds of kilometres away. That inquiry has gone to the Community Services Committee, chaired by Clayton Barr, the Member for Cessnock. The inquiry will review the bill I brought to Parliament and the proposal to split the health district. The committee will explore the merits and implications of splitting the health district and make recommendations to the NSW Government in regard to the Bill. I would like to see more focus on Regional Hospitals and Services, which should be achieved by the bill. By making Regional Hospitals the sole focus of a separate Health District run from a rural headquarters, the only priority should be operating and staffing hospitals and delivering services that best serve regional areas. The deadline for submissions is 17th April 2025. Submissions can be made online. https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inquiries/Pages/inquiry-details.aspx?pk=3092#tab-submissionsReport into Menindee Fish Deaths Early in March the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) published the first progress report into the NSW Government response to the Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer independent review into the 2023 Menindee fish kill. It showed that of the 26 that were recommended in the Chief Scientist’s review, 10 are complete and the remaining 16 are underway. One of the ten completed actions is the review of the Water Quality Incident Management Plan, about managing the river when there is low dissolved oxygen, and to update it to reflect lessons learned from water quality issues and mass fish deaths of 2022–23 and 2023–24. Those underway include the building of a floating hydraulic fishway designed to allow fish to migrate over barriers, at Menindee. Construction began in December 2024. To find out more about the report and which recommendations have been acted on or are underway see:https://water.dpie.nsw.gov.au/our-work/allocations-availability/drought-and-floods/menindee/restoring-the-darling-baaka-program Nymagee catch-up While I was out on the road last week, I called into Nymagee, to chat with some of the locals from the Nymagee Progress Association, who raised several issues. One was their concern over the local police station, which has been unmanned for some time. There are programs in place that should help to fill the position, but they will take some time, but I will discuss the problem with the Police Minister to see what can be done. The town is also having some problems with the quality of the local water due to decaying infrastructure and with poor telecommunications in country areas. I have already discussed the water issue with Cobar Council, and they have said they are working on a solution. The communications issue is a federal issue, but it is one I have been corresponding with the Federal Minister, but some of the problems will be sorted with Low Earth Orbit satellite technology over the next year or two. Another thing they were asking about was the availability of grants, and I talked through what grant programs are available. My team and I will assist in connecting the Progress Association with those opportunities. While it is good to meet with people face to face, and I get around to as many communities as I can when parliament isn’t sitting, as you can probably appreciate it takes a long time to make it around the entire electorate. If you have any issues of concern, it is best not to wait until I am there in person. I have a large team who you can contact, at any of my offices - Narrabri (02) 6792 1422, Cobar (02) 6836 3722 or Broken Hill (08) 8087 3315. Or email us [email protected] For more information go to www.roybutler.com.au Broken Hill Clubhouse From Cobar I headed west to Wilcannia, to meet with some locals from the town and surrounding communities, before making my way to Broken Hill. There I dropped into the Broken Hill Clubhouse, an after-school tech space for children 12 to 17 where they can develop their own projects, working with computers, doing 3-D printing, creating podcasts or recording music. Run by community service group Social Futures, the Clubhouse is facing certain challenges with funding. Hopefully those problems can be resolved, and it can continue.Hydrostor moving closer to construction While in Broken Hill I also met with Martin Becker from Hydrostor, to visit the site for the planned Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage, which is now in its last stage of development. This technology uses water to compress air into an underground cavern, which can then be used to generate electricity. Located adjacent to the Potosi mine, Hydrostor is part of what will be a mini grid incorporating solar, wind, batteries and the compressed air storage system. When it is up and running it should be able to provide Broken Hill with extended periods of backup power. It will create 750 jobs during the construction phase, then 35 ongoing positions. When I visited the site there was not much to see, but I look forward to seeing the plant develop. This will be an important development for the city, and I will continue to report on its progress. For more details see https://hydrostor.ca/projects/silver-city-energy-storage-center/ Transgrid Grants There were some worthy beneficiaries of Transgrid’s first round of grants in their Broken Hill & Far West NSW Community Partnerships Program. One of the recipients is West Broken Hill Rifle Club, a club with a lot of history and tradition behind it, but one that has not let the present slip by and installed solar panels. When the inverter failed last year, they applied for one of the Transgrid grants and they have been awarded $8,300 to replace their solar. Congratulations to the club and I look forward to having a shoot with them on some future occasion when I am in Broken Hill. Another recipient is LandCare Broken Hill, who are working on transforming Imperial Lake into a recreation park and sustainability hub. They have been given $5,000 to buy two generators to help them achieve their vision for the area. This is a project I have given my support to for several years and I look forward to seeing it progress. St Pats Day Races March in Broken Hill all centres on one of the biggest events on the social calendar, the St Pat’s Day Races and I was privileged to be there for the celebrations. The night before the races I went to the St Pat’s Day Races Cocktail party, which is almost as hot a ticket as the races themselves, attracting prominent citizens, business owners and even the mayor, Tom Kennedy. The races are one the biggest events of their kind in Outback NSW and they attract horses, jockeys, trainers, punters and tourists from everywhere. The town buzzes for days before and after the race. The event is run by the St Pat’s Race Club and this year celebrated 60 years. It was a hot day, but that didn’t seem to deter the crowds, who turned out in force. As a touching tribute to my late friend Dave “Gal” Gallagher - former police officer and President of the Silver City Cup Races - the jockeys in the first race all wore a black armband as a mark of respect. Remote Paramedics We have seen some good things happening with regional paramedics in recent times, including an increase in numbers and in pay. Last week I met with a group of paramedics from Broken Hill who discussed some areas that still needed improvement. One major problem is that given their isolation, it is not always possible to find a crew for call outs. In a metro area backup crews can easily be called in from a neighbouring suburb to plug gaps, but that isn’t possible in a remote station like Broken Hill. They are asking for a “taxpayer funded roster” that will give the paramedics the flexibility to cover team members taking leave. They are also asking that they be allowed to have paramedics on-call to cope with peak periods, like the St Pat’s Day Races, which draws thousands of people and was held on a particularly hot day this year. There is also the issue of career progression; to become an Intensive Care Paramedic (ICP). Broken Hill’s paramedics need to go elsewhere to train, with the likelihood they might never return. ICPs increase the survivability for patients through advanced medication and intubation skills. Very soon, Paramedics with their extended scope of practice, will play an increasing role in taking pressure off local hospitals by dealing with patients who might otherwise present at an emergency department. It is clear that some of the rules and policies surrounding paramedics need to change to suit conditions in remote stations like Broken Hill. I will be discussing this with the Regional Health Minister.