The Country Women's Association (CWA) of NSW has welcomed the opportunity to be part of a new group focused on issues in rural and regional NSW, saying meaningful consultation with communities west of the Great Dividing Range is long overdue.
The CWA of NSW has been announced as one of nine groups invited to be part of the NSW Premier's Rural Remote and Regional Advisory Council (PRRRAC), which was announced at this week's 2025 Bush Summit.
The advisory panel is to meet twice a year with Premier Chris Minns and NSW Minister for Regional NSW Tara Moriarty, with the first meeting due to take place later this year. It is designed to provide advice and insights impacting country communities.
"This is certainly a step in the right direction and we welcome the chance to be part of this group to put forward the issues our members are telling us are impacting their communities and the quality of life of residents in those areas," said CWA of NSW President Tanya Jolly.
"But it needs to be more than just words - we have to see the insights this group is providing be taken forward by the NSW Government and acted on. And the issues from our perspective are very clear."
Tanya said the CWA of NSW would be highlighting the declining level of health services in many areas, land use and planning regulations, lack of affordable housing and the state of telecommunications.
"What we hear often is that so many country residents feel like they're not being listened to by government and their concerns are being relegated to the 'too hard' basket. In 2025 our regions deserve better, and the people who live there should be able to expect reasonable access to quality services and workable infrastructure," Tanya said.
"If this new group helps give them the voice they deserve, then we are looking forward to being part of it and applaud the NSW government for putting it in place."
Tanya said with plenty of statistics and evidence to support the trend of migration from the cities to rural and regional areas, it made a lot of sense for the NSW Government to focus on the services and infrastructure country communities needed to support increasing populations.
"Many groups are calling this shift from the cities a 'long-term' trend, but currently many rural and regional towns and cities would say they need the resources to support this growth. We are hopeful this new government advisory group will help shed light on the issues being felt by the regions and provide the quality of life both existing residents, and newcomers, should expect."
