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Menindee Transaction Centre hosts Minister Visit - 28 Jul 2008

On Thursday 26^th July, the Hon. Linda Burney MP, Minister for Fair Trading, Youth and Volunteering met with an assembly of approximately thirty people at the Menindee Transaction Centre. The Minister set aside one hour to hold discussions with community members, volunteer organisations, youth representatives, representatives from the Central Darling Shire. The Minister was introduced by Mayor Ray Longfellow who welcomed her to the Central Darling Shire and to the community of Menindee. He said it was a positive demonstration to see the Minister meeting with and listening to the issues of rural and remote community. The Hon. Linda Burney was pleased to revisit Menindee again after her first visit some years before.

The two main topics for discussion were the provision of youth centres in the Central Darling Shire communities, with specific needs in Menindee, Ivanhoe and Wilcannia. The Minister recognises the need for children to have activities to do, in after-school-hours. In addition the Minister informed the assembly that she can relate to the issues faced by children and families in rural and remote communities, as the Minister herself grew up in a rural community of 200 people.

The second issue on the agenda was to acknowledging the effort of volunteers in the Central Darling Shire communities. The Minister informed the assembly that volunteer hours contributed five (5) billion dollars to the NSW economy each year. The Hon. Linda Burney took special attention to appreciate the effort of SES volunteers she said, who undertakes extensive training to become an SES volunteer. The Central Darling Shire representatives were also very interested in the Indigenous volunteering program of SES training that has taken place in Taree and Moree. Mr. Tim Hazell Acting General Manger said, we (the Central Darling Shire Council) are about trying to build social capacity within the community, a sense of pride in the community and such a scheme would be an ideal way of achieving this aim. Mr Tim Hazell also noted that it seems the same people are always volunteering and these people are becoming older. It is difficult to maintain essential services such as the SES in our areas and any programs to assist that is most welcome.

The Central Darling Shire would like to take this opportunity to thank the volunteer groups throughout the Shire for their tireless work.