Melinda
Parvey 25
June 2016
Member for
Oxley
Dear Ms
Parvey
Earlier this
month I wrote regarding the opening of the Bowraville-Bellingen Road (my email
is copied below). Our community still is
waiting for action on this matter and, following the NSW Budget announcements,
I feel I must petition you again.
The Bowraville-Bellingen Road has
been in existence for a very long time and is of historic importance. Our
indigenous people walked the road between the Bowraville camp to Bellingen
Hospital to see the doctor and to some times give birth as it was the only
hospital in walking distance. Someone I met remembers how, when she was a girl,
she and her friends used to ride their horses from Bellingen to Bowraville to go
to dances. The road carried the royal
mail by Cobb and Co.; it was the main road north that was never flooded and the
mail could get through. And today it
remains an important access route. People
living in the area need it for their safety and well-being.
I for one do not care who’s jurisdiction
this road is anymore. People’s safety is
at stake and I am not alone in losing patience.
Until 2009 it was a State responsibility and then guess what? It became
local! Of course it did! Right around the time of major flooding that
washed the road away in several places. In local jurisdictions where significant land
is unrateable due to State Forests and National Parks, local governments are
always behind the 8 ball. They fixed
what they could but there is more to do.
With a Budget surplus of $3.7b and a
total of $20.2b to be spent on Transport and Roads, over $6.7b of which is on
Road Transport, surely the State Government can help us out here!
But when I look at the Budget
programs, precious little of it goes outside the Sydney metropolitan area. The only hope seems the $1.5b for road
maintenance, however there seems to be a lot of caveats regarding
fixing things for economic growth and none for the safety of Australians.
This road has been in existence for a
long time and people bought property along it thinking they had reasonable
access in and out. Then, call it what
you will - climate change, act of God, nature’s forces – it was eroded. We
have a basic right to have the road restored!
Sandy Radke
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