FEDERAL COALITION COMMITS $16 MILLION TO NARRANDERA WATER TREATMENT PLANT

Steph Cooke MP with members of the Federal Coalition, and Narrandera Shire Council.

"This is a milestone in our journey to achieve clean drinking water for the people of Narrandera. For the past three and a half years, since the 2022 floods, two issues have dominated this community. The first one is their stormwater. The second one is their drinking water.

"Council and I have worked doggedly on both issues simultaneously. We've got $17 million to fix the stormwater issues here in Narrandera. We've secured $1.8 million to ensure that the business case for the new water treatment plant is conducted. Now we are at a critical moment where we need to secure the $30 to $32 million to build this plant that this community so desperately needs.

"Today is an important day because we have a federal coalition that has stepped up to the plate. They are the first government or political party to do so, and to say ‘we know that there is a significant problem here in Narrandera, and we are prepared to lead. We are prepared to say we will go halfway to funding these costs.’ I am so grateful to Matt Canavan, to Michael McCormack, to the Nationals and to our coalition partners for coming to the party and acknowledging that we have a problem and that they are prepared to put money on the table to fix it.

"I'm so excited about today. Narrandera Council has worked so hard on this proposal, and I really want to acknowledge the journey that they have been on over the past three and a half years. I will continue to stand with the community, and now it's over to other political parties. It's over to the state government and to federal Labor to step up and make sure that this community doesn't have to put up with this any longer.

"Thank you so much for coming here when we asked. You are the first people to have come in person and to see what we are facing here. We haven't seen the federal Water Minister. We haven't seen Prime Minister Albanese. We haven't seen the New South Wales Minister, Rose Jackson. So, this is now a line in the sand. Enough is enough. We have a $16 million pledge for this project, and it's now important that other parties follow suit, and that the New South Wales government step up to the table. To fund their portion and, in the meantime, fund the temporary measures we have been calling for over 18 months.

"A temporary water treatment plant to deal with this in the interim, until the permanent one is built, and to also provide $2 million for council to flush their mains to relieve the issues that are happening in our streets every single day. It's a good day to be here."