Tony Windsor.
HEALTH and education matters in the district took centre stage in Inverell on Tuesday night at a community meeting headed by member for New England Tony Windsor.
Mr Windsor has held several similar meetings across the electorate in the past few years.
Tuesday night’s session at the RSM club was attended by about 80 people.
Mr Windsor covered issues such as the hung parliament and what it’s meant to policy development, before opening the floor up to questions.
Attendees raised national issues, such as the structure and strategies of the minority Labor government, before moving onto local matters like the future of Inverell hospital.
“Things don’t change too much in terms of people’s concerns. Health and education are always top dogs,” Mr Windsor said.
Bindaree Beef’s pilot plant to convert waste by-products into methane gas to use in power generation was also mentioned.
The plant was made possible through $1 million in funding from the Clean Energy Fund, which is funded by carbon tax payments from the nation’s biggest polluters, and will help reduce the meat processor’s reliance on the
electricity network.
“If Bindaree pulls off what it’s looking at very seriously, which would require some assistance from the funds, they could actually add another shift to their workforce. That one thing could have an enormous impact on the economy of Inverell,” Mr Windsor said.
There were also questions about the future of the Clean Energy Fund and other programs if there was a change of government at the next election.