When Scott Morrison first visited Blayney as Prime Minister in October of 2018 it was to announce that applications for the first round of the Drought Communities Program were open.
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On Tuesday Mr Morrison returned with Water Resources Minister David Littleproud to visit one of the completed projects commenced under the program.
The funding for the Central West Equestrian and Livestock Centre's water catchment system was financed through the DCP, and Blayney Mayor Scott Ferguson was proud to show it off.
"It was good that he was here to recognise a small council that in the first round of DCP funding were able to use it in a really effective and efficient way," he said.
"Not many councils in Australia have been able to do that so it's nice to have that recognition from the PM."
The short time-frame of the first round of funding meant that many councils struggled to get projects together in time Cr Ferguson said, but a discussion with Mr Morrison in 2018 urged them forward.
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"I said back then that it would be very difficult for councils to spend the funds within the time-frame because they need a lot of planning," he said.
"Mr Morrison's response was simply 'Do you want the money, or not?'"
With the Central West Equestrian and Livestock Centre already funded by the state government and ready to go, adding the water catchment, dust suppression and fire system to the whole package completed the package, receiving $400,000, the largest single amount in the $1,000,000 grant.
Bathurst, Dubbo, Cabonne, Parkes, Forbes, Cowra, Mid-Western and Oberon local government areas also all qualified under the previous round of funding.
Mr Morrison made his first visit to the Orange on Tuesday, together with Minister for Water Resources David Littleproud and Minister for Education Dan Tehan to attend a meeting of the board of the National Drought and North Queensland Flood Response and Recovery Agency.
Mark Logan
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
