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Thursday, March 30, 2023
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Family Fun Day of dancing, Dirty, disease-carrying, Easter Parade, and destructive: call to cut services feral pig numbers
Country newspapers’ bright future – Report’s blueprint for success
STORY: PAGE 4
STORY: PAGE 3
Boat ramp works on until mid-April
STORY & PHOTOS: PAGE 11
Saunders bucks trend in local vote count; vows to fight on
By LUKE WILLIAMS NARROMINE’S Rotary Park Boat Ramp will be closed for at least another three weeks. Repair and restoration works are currently being carried-out on the ramp which should, weather permitting, be fi nished by mid-April. Water levels at that time will then determine its re-opening date. The works had been planned to begin for the past 12 months, however, the height of the river meant that the builders – specialised maritime contractors – were unable to get access. “The existing boat ramp slab units will be removed and will be later used for bank erosion control,” a Council spokesperson recently told the Narromine Star. “Large boulders will be laid on the bed of the river along with a geotextile fi lter membrane around the boat ramp area to stop erosion. “Piles will be installed for bank protection. A concrete ramp will be poured in situ (on site). The total estimated cost of the project is approximately $173,000,” they added. The area around the boat ramp for some times has been getting scoured due to boating activities and river currents.
Continued page 2
By LUKE WILLIAMS DUGALD Saunders has pledged to keep pushing for projects across the Narromine region, as he retained his seat of Dubbo in resounding fashion at the State Election over the weekend. With more than half the vote counted, the returning member for Dubbo looks to have gained a 15 per cent swing in the seat with more than double the votes than his next closest rival – Labor’s Josh Black. On a two-party preferred basis, Saunders leads by 66 to 33 over Black. This compares favourably to the 2019 result where Saunders only narrowly defeated Independent, Mathew Dickerson. Without an independent in the field this year, both Labor and the Nationals also enjoyed big increases in their votes. “People were just responding to the dedication and hard work of our team,” Saunders told the Narromine Star of his increased poll result “We have worked too hard to fi nd-out what issues people are concerned about and what they talking about. “You can’t always please everyone, but you can do your very best and that’s what we
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have done,” he added. State-wide, the Labor Party recorded a 7.4 per cent swing and is now on about 54.3 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote. The Coalition had a five per cent swing against it to record less than 30 per cent of the primary vote. The overall
minor-party and independent vote is up to more than 28 per cent, up from a previous record of 25 per cent in 2019. The Greens have gained a small swing on the vote count so far across NSW, however, they dropped slightly in the seat of Dubbo. The Liberals lost the ma-
jority of their seats in Western Sydney. The Nationals appear to have lost one seat state-wide. “People do really respond when you have a good local member who is absolutely dedicated to serving the local community,” Saunders said. Continued page 7
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