General News
1 September, 2026
Chaffey’s Corner - September 1, 2026
This week's column from Federal Member for Parkes, Jamie Chaffey
It was a pleasure to welcome both the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Angus Taylor MP, and the Leader of the Nationals, Senator the Hon Matt Canavan to the electorate of Parkes for the Bush Summit in Dubbo last week.
It was vitally important to bring attention to this regional centre and the concerns the community faces every day.
Prime Minister Albanese’s appearance at the Bush Summit only succeeded in showing the huge divide between our city-centric Labor Federal Government and the people of this great region. It was blindingly apparent just how out of touch the Prime Minister is with the challenges we face.
While the Opposition Leaders were there, we met with residents of the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone to hear the devastating impact this Federal Government’s race to net zero is having on their homes, families and livelihoods.
These projects are not just lines on a map. They are large-scale infrastructure projects that are encircling properties, impacting on land values and hurting the very environment they are supposed to be saving. New documents obtained by the Opposition under Freedom of Information laws from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation have shown the Central West Orana REZ project is estimated to produce more than 600,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent during construction.
The Coalition announced during the Bush Summit that we will move to introduce a Bill to end the net zero obsession and stop taxpayer money being used to help investment funds buy up Australian farmland to be turned into “carbon-offset” projects.
It’s regional Australians, like those in Dubbo and the surrounding areas, who are paying the true cost of net zero. Until you see and hear the stories of how these massive projects are being imposed on regional communities, it is truly hard to comprehend. In some cases, these projects are changing the very fabric of a community built up over generations.
The stress, the legal aspects, the devaluation of property and the uncertainty are taking a toll long before a project even begins.
There has been rude haste and a massive lack on consultation and communication when it comes to bringing in projects in the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone.
This was a major issue at the Bush Summit, but there were many others that people from regional Australia spoke about, including food security, water, housing, healthcare, infrastructure, red tape and regional jobs.
It was good to hear from regional people at this high-profile event.
Congratulations to the Bush Champions for 2026; overall and Ag Champions Philip and Adele Hughes, Community Champion Jen Hamilton and the joint Youth Champions Sam Rogers and Dubbo’s own Molly Croft. Molly is a two-time cancer survivor who is an inspiration, raising more than $2 million for sarcoma research.
I also caught up again with 12-year-old Dusty from Warren, who is walking about 500km to Canberra to raise $1 million for the children’s charity Little Wings. A great cause, and a great effort by this young man.
Together with Senator Canavan, I caught up with people in the Trangie area at a Pollies in the Pub held at the Imperial Hotel. It was an opportunity to have a chat with big turnout by the community!
Students and staff from the Burrabadine Christian Community School made me welcome at the opening of their new science building and sang a wonderful song about living in the bush.
I’m also a big fan of the CWA of NSW, who last week launched their Backing the Bush state election campaign, putting forward the issued they want on the agenda. The CWA has always been the backbone of the bush in hard times and good, and it was great to be in Dubbo for the launch.
Big congratulations to the Forbes Chamber of Commerce, sponsors, the winners, finalists and nominees at the Forbes business awards, the Boscars. There were 25 awards on the night, and winners will now go on to the regional awards.
It was also a beautiful weekend at the 130th anniversary of the Condobolin Show – thank you, Condobolin!
Finally, my thoughts and prayers are with the families of the Australians missing in Nepal. We have a strong Nepalese community in the electorate of Parkes, and this terrible event has reverberated throughout our own country.
