Coulton's Catch Up - June 20, 2023

King’s Birthday Honours for the Parkes electorate

The 2023 King's Birthday Honours List was announced yesterday, with many outstanding people named from the Parkes electorate, including:

• Mr Roger Butler (Moree) was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the community through charitable and volunteer organisations.

• Mrs Jennifer Armstrong (Dubbo) was appointed Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the com- munity of Dubbo.

• Ms Donna Burton (Coonabarabran) was appointed Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to science, particularly astronomy.

• Dr Diana Coote (Warialda) was appointed Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to medicine.

• Mrs Christine Corby OAM (Walgett) was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to Indigenous health, and to the community of Walgett.

• Mrs Wanda Dunnet (Narrabri) was appointed Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the print media industry.

• Mr John Dunnet (formerly of Narrabri) was appointed Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the print media industry.

• Dr Clement Gordon (Warialda) was appointed Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to medicine and to the community.

• Mr Sean Gordon (formerly of Brewarrina) was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for signifi- cant service to the Indigenous communi- ty as an advocate for equity.

• Mr Peter Milling (Dubbo) was appointed Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the live- stock industry.

• Mr Peter Shinton (Coonabarabran) was appointed Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to local government, and to the community of Coonabarabran.

• Mrs Gae Swain (Carrol) was appointed Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to local government, and to the community of Gunnedah.

• Mr Wayne Slater (Broken Hill) was awarded the Australian Corrections Medal (ACM).

• Mrs Linda Riley (Mungindi) was awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal (AFSM).

Congratulations to each of these self- less people for achieving such wonderful recognition for service to our communi- ties and Australia; we thank you!

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Regional connectivity grants close soon

There's not long left to submit an application to the Regional Connectivity Program (RCP) and Mobile Black Spot Program (MBSP). I encourage all eligi- ble groups to consider applying for this combined grant opportunity, which clos- es on 12 July 2023.

These grants provide $160 million in overall funding for communications installations or improvements in region- al, rural, remote and Aboriginal commu- nities with the aim of improving phone reception and broadband across our nation.

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Environmental bill a negative for farming communities

I gave my view last week on the Nature Repair Market Bill 2023, which is designed to create biodiversity credits for landholders in a similar mechanism to energy credits.

The speeches from city-based Members of Parliament on topics like this, who live in completely altered envi- ronments, are breathtaking in their naivete. They put the burden of environ- mental responsibility onto agricultural communities in places like my electorate without any recognition of the fact that farmers actually produce the food, fibre and resources that they rely on.

There are some falsehoods in the phi- losophy of this Bill that I object to, one being that locking up land is good for the environment – it’s not – in fact often the reverse is true. I also find the idea that land used for agricultural purposes degrades the environment to be a false- hood – from personal experience as a farmer, the environment can benefit greatly from good farming practices such as rotational grazing and zero-till farm- ing.

I'm opposed to this bill. I'm sorry I have to be, because in its original form as put up by the Coalition Government it would have been a positive one. Now I'm afraid to say it is potentially dangerous in the longer term for this country, and I no longer will support it.