To the Editor, 6 July 2020
Through Mr Phil Donato MP, Member for Orange:
Dear Michael McCormack, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and my Federal Member. How dare you give the regional money that I asked you for to build us a new swimming pool complex here in Forbes to the City of Sydney? How dare you give the city of Sydney $14 million? I did not ask you for $14 million, we only need $8.1 million, Mr McCormack.
Do you think that we are just voices crying in the wilderness? We are an important part of your Federal electorate, which you have just chosen to betray, you have just sold out an important agricultural centre of NSW, sold us out to the city of Sydney. We already have 300 little children who want and need to learn to swim.
Many children drown every year in Australia, and in our heated pool, each month, there are more than 700 people from Condobolin, West Wyalong, Eugowra, Grenfell, Parkes, Peak Hill and Forbes, as well as a large group of people with disabilities who use this facility.
How dare you deny us the opportunity to provide vital construction jobs during this difficult time, and how dare you deny us the opportunity to increase our tourism events in Forbes during this very difficult time of recovery from drought and the virus?
I am very saddened by your behaviour, and disappointed that you have betrayed our important community of Forbes and the Central West.
Dianne Decker, AM JP.