Congratulations: to Valmai Westport on celebrating her 80th birthday this week!

National Police Remembrance Day: Central West Police District Commander, Superintendent Chris Taylor is inviting the community to join police in paying tribute on National Police Remembrance Day. A service will be held at 10am on Friday, 27th September at Holy Family Catholic Church in Parkes. National Police Remembrance Day, traditionally held on 29th September each year, holds a special significance to police throughout Australia and the Pacific region, and is one of the most important events on the NSW Police Force calendar. On this day members of the NSW Police Force and the community remember those officers who have given their lives in the course of their duties.

Choose Tap Water: Parkes residents are urged to replace plastic bottled water with tap water during Keep Australia Beautiful Week in a bid to shift our obsession with bottled water. Every year Australians spend more than $736 million on bottled water, with almost 375 million bottles ending up in landfill and waterways, impacting the environment and marine life. At 2,000 times the cost of tap water, plastic bottled water is an expensive convenience, which is also much pricier than basic expenses like milk and petrol. Facts about bottled: It takes more than three litres of water to produce one litre of bottled water; a plastic water bottle takes around 450 years to break down; Australia’s annual use of bottled water generates more than 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions; In Australia alone, we manufacture almost three million tonnes of plastic every year.

New Medicines On PBS: The Federal Government’s listing of four new medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will help patients to fight aggressive forms of cancer and inflammatory conditions. The $56 million investment will slash the costs of Avastin, Sprycel, Actemra and Somatuline Autogel – saving patients thousands
of dollars. Without the subsidy, patients would be paying $31,200 for Avastin, $51,900 for Sprycel and $10,200 for
Actemra. Under the PBS, the medicines drugs will be available for $40.30 per script, or $6.50 with a concession card.

Forbes news in Parkes: Are you interested in what’s happening in Forbes? You can pick up a free copy of the Forbes Phoenix at the Parkes Newsagency every Friday.

Successful Campaign: Parkes Shire Council received a Highly Commended for Excellence in Communications at the RH Dougherty Awards in Sydney last week for the delivery of the Parkes National Logistics Hub Business Attraction Campaign. Business Development Manager, Anna Wyllie said the success of the Hub campaign exceeded all expectations. Some of the key opportunities generated for Parkes as a result of the campaign included the inaugural Inland Rail Conference, the international trade mission led by the NSW Deputy Premier, the establishment of the State’s first Special Activation Precinct (SAP), as well as an investment of nearly $8 million by the NSW Government under the Growing Local Economies Fund (GLEF) to deliver crucial service infrastructure extensions to the Parkes Hub precinct.

Reconciliation and Remembrance: Australians will share in the pride rightly felt by Vietnam Veterans this Sunday at 10:50am when they celebrate their annual Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day. It is not a memorial about issues, about glorification of war, or the justification of political decisions. Rather it recognises sacrifice and suffering, the honour and sense of duty carried out by 50,000 young men and women in the biggest conflict Australia has been engaged in over the past two generations. Those who returned from the war did not find a nation taking them to its bosom as heroes. Today’s dedication of the Vietnam Forces Memorial should and will continue the healing process.

Road Safety In Regional NSW: Motorists are more likely to crash on country roads. This is the sobering message of this month’s Rural Road Safety Month. Of the 223 people killed in road crashes in NSW so far this year, 147 were on country roads – which is five more than the same time last year. NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole said at the launch in Bathurst: “Too often, people think it’s okay for them to quickly check a text, to drive faster than the speed limit because they know the road or they get behind the wheel when they’re tired. It’s not.”

Daffodil Day Appeal: Cancer Council NSW is urging Parkes residents to support the Daffodil Day Appeal this month. Daffodil Day is on 23rd August, and for the first time ever, EFTPOS devices will be available to make it easier for people to donate. Visit www.daffodilday.com.au or call 1300 65 65 85 for more information.

Parkes residents streamed to Orange last weekend to have fun in the snow as a result of the town’s two coldest days on record.

See this very special certificate from NASA signed by the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on exhibit at the Henry Parkes Museum. (Read full story on front page.)

Forbes News: Are you interested in what’s happening in Forbes? You can pick up a free copy of the Forbes Phoenix at the Parkes Newsagency every Friday.

Coffee With A Cop: Parkes Police are hosting Coffee with a Cop on Monday, 19th August at the Roasted Kombi from 10:30am. It is a golden opportunity to meet local officers and discuss community issues with them over a coffee. It is an informal event at a neutral space to help build relationships. All community members are invited to attend and use this unique opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the Police work in Parkes and the Central West Police District. Coffee with a Cop breaks down barriers and allows for relaxed, one-on-one interaction.

Flu Still Prevalent: There have been 1,521 cases of influenza in the Western NSW Local Health District so far this year, compared to only 85 last year. People are urged to remember simple hygiene precautions to avoid spreading the flu. It is not too late to get a flu shot. Flu shots are free for pregnant women, people over 65 years, Aboriginal people and those with medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart problems.

Helping Women In Need: The August Dignity Drive of Share the Dignity has begun and for the first time Woolworths Supermarkets across the country will be collection points for all sanitary product donations. Over three million Australians are currently living under the poverty line, more than half are women and young girls who are unable to afford sanitary products. Share the Dignity is asking Australians for every sanitary product bought, to also buy one for a woman or girl in need. Donations can be dropped off at any Woolworths supermarket.

$100 Kids Vouchers: Arts OutWest is encouraging parents of school aged kids to make use of the Creative Kids vouchers. The program provides $100 for each school-aged child in NSW to get involved in creative and cultural activities. Vouchers can be used for registration, participation and tuition costs for performing arts, visual arts, coding, languages, literature, music and other creative and cultural activities. Across the Central West 70 providers have registered to accept the vouchers. Parents apply for the vouchers using their MyServiceNSW account and need to provide their child’s Medicare card details. The vouchers can be used any time during the calendar year.

Enter our Parkes Show competition on page 8 to win a show ride pass.

Students In Parkes: Some of the country’s brightest young engineers are doing student placements with Parkes Shire Council for the fourth year. They are participants in the University of Sydney’s Engineering Sydney Industry Placement Scheme (ESIPS). During the six-month placement students undertake high-level investigative research. The two students are Hassi Al Kabanchi and Anjana Hariharan. Hassi is studying a combined Bachelor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and Bachelor of Science and was placed at the Parkes Water Treatment Plant to develop tools for water resource management. Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering student Anjana’s research project characterised the chlorine decay in the Parkes Recycled Water Distribution Network to identify the chlorine residual at end user sites.

Tidy Towns Finalist: Parkes is one of 11 NSW towns to be named as a finalist for the 2019 Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Award. An assessor will be visiting Parkes to inspect our sustainable infrastructure and assess the overall presentation of the town. The results will be announced at the much-anticipated Tidy Towns Awards Weekend in Cessnock, from 1 – 3 November. CEO of Keep Australia Beautiful NSW Val Southam said: “The submissions received continue to show that many towns are developing innovative and resourceful ways of being sustainable in the face of a host of financial, environmental and social issues.”

Grants For Schools: Schools in the Central West are encouraged to apply for a share in up to $200,000 in funding under the Local Schools Community Fund. Schools will be eligible for funding from $1,000 to $20,000 that includes anything from a small-scale refurbishment or extension to a classroom, playground equipment and sports facilities to mental health and counselling services, new computer facilities and library resources. Applications opened on 25th July, and are to be submitted through the Department of Education’s SchoolsHUB portal at https://schools.education.gov.au by 5pm on 30th September.

Cash Prize For Best Float: CMOC-Northparkes Mines will continue to sponsor the Elvis Street Parade for a further three years, and once again offer a $1,000 cash prize for the Best Float in the 2020 parade, to help schools, sporting and community groups. The 2020 Festival theme is from the 1966 movie Frankie and Johnny where Elvis stars as a riverboat gambler and performer with his girlfriend Frankie. The Street Parade will take place on Saturday, 11th January with registrations opening in September.

Tiffany Steel, Elvis Festival Sponsorship and Marketing Coordinator with Parkes Mayor Ken Keith and Northparkes Managing Director Hubert Lehman.

President of the Red Cross Norma Oliver (left) and Red Cross member Joyce Mulligan would like to thank the Parkes Boars for their generosity for the charity game they played on Saturday, 6th July. The money will go towards getting the kitchen updated. Norma reminded residents of the parents’ room at the Red Cross in Church Street that is open Wednesday to Friday. Any volunteers are welcome to join.

New History Blog Post: How do you cover the most defining moment of the 20th Century in one blog post? According to Local and Family History Officer of the Parkes Shire Library, Dan Fredericks, there’s so much humanity behind the story of the landing on the moon – and some fascinating twists and turns to Parkes even getting a radio telescope in the first place! Read the latest blog entry The Dish – Connecting Parkes & The World to the Moon at https://historyparkes.org/2019/07/18/the-dishconnecting-parkes-the-world-to-the-moon/

Opportunity For Young People: Would you like to have a real say in the things that matter to young people in regional NSW? The NSW Government is recruiting for the Regional Youth Taskforce. For the first time, the NSW Government is offering regional young people the opportunity to share their voice on issues such as getting a job, mental health and wellbeing, getting around and having things to do. A sitting fee will be paid and flights and accommodation will be covered. The taskforce will meet about four times a year, twice in person and twice through Skype. Two young people from each NSW region will be selected including Central West and Orana. Applications close at 11:59pm on 5th August.

Printer Gremlins: In Issue 172 (two weeks ago) the inside pages of The Parkes Phoenix were in fact from The Forbes Phoenix as a mistake crept in during the assembly stage of our paper. Our apologies to our readers for the confusion.

New Lions District Governor: Forbes Lion Peter Bright will take over as District Governor of District 201 N4 (that includes Parkes) at the annual Changeover event on 20th August. The appointment follows 15 months of intensive training, culminating in a week-long event in Milan, Italy from 5th to 9th July, when around 800 District Governors from around the world were officially sworn in. “I want to make sure we can continue to help our communities through tough times, and I’m keen to involve younger people in the idea of voluntary community service,” Peter said. Peter and his wife, Elaine, have been active Lions since joining in 2006. In 13 years, Peter has twice served as Club President, and is committed to spreading the message that kindness matters. He will lead a membership of around 1,000 Lions in 48 clubs across Central, Northern, and Southern NSW.

$100K Injected into Local Economy: Over $105,000 has been generated for local businesses through Shop Parkes Gift Cards since the program launched in December last year. The shop local program aims to stimulate economic activity and support our local business community, by encouraging people to look local first. There is no cost for the card, as little as $1 to as much as $1,000 can be loaded onto a single gift card. To find out more about the program, and to view the list of Load Up and Participating Stores, head to www.visitparkes.com.au.

More amazing Young Farmer Business Program news! The Young Farmer Business Program has announced grants for groups who support young farmers and fishers, locally and regionally in NSW to deliver training for their members. A grant of up to $10,000 (excluding GST) is available per eligible group and examples of projects include (but are not limited to) farm tours, commercial fishing business tours, workshops, events, business skills coaching, training and guest speakers. Learn more about the program, eligibility and application at: http://farmtable.com.au/grant-group-training/ There are also a range of additional grants, funding and support programs across NSW and Australia for young farmers and fishers to take advantage of. The Young Farmer Business Program has handpicked a selection of subsidies, rebates and more and brought them together in this one easy and convenient location. Young farmers and fishers may be eligible for funding through a diverse range of organisations, from the Rural Assistance Authority, Regional Development Australia, Jobs for NSW, the Regional Investment Corporation, Local Land Services and Austrade.

Central West Arts Groups Don’t Miss Out! Regional Development Australia (RDA) Central West is calling on all arts practitioners, groups and communities across the region to not miss out on their opportunity to apply for support through the Regional Arts Fund. The Regional Arts Fund’s community grants aim to support sustainable cultural development in regional and remote Australia and meet the strategic priorities of supporting participation in, and access to, the arts and encouraging greater private sector support for the arts. Go to http://regionalartsnsw.com.au/ grants/raf/ for more information.

Tough Conditions for NSW Business Owners: The latest Business Conditions Survey conducted by the state’s peak business organisation, the NSW Business Chamber, highlights that many businesses across the state have been doing it tough, however there are preliminary signs that businesses in certain regions think tax cuts and interest rate reductions will provide a welcome boost. “Our businesses in the Far West and Orana reported some of the worst business conditions in the state, with one of our business noting it was the hardest climate that they have operated in 24 years. Unfortunately, that sentiment is widespread.” said Western NSW Business Chamber Regional Manager Vicki Seccombe.

NAIDOC Celebrations at Parkes Public School: Parkes Public School held an assembly last Wednesday 3 July to celebrate the school’s NAIDOC activities. The assembly was hosted by the school’s Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG), with a Welcome to Country performed by Lionel Lovett and his daughter Carly, chaperoned by local elder Aunty Pat Oliver. Lionel also spoke about this year’s NAIDOC theme, Voice, Treaty, Truth and how this theme foregrounds Indigenous Australians’ strive for recognition for their knowledge and culture. The assembly continued with performances by the school’s choir and cultural dance group and presentations of weekly awards.

Regional Tourism Awards: 25 leading Country and Outback tourism businesses, events, and visitor experiences have been announced as finalists in the 2019 Destination Country and Outback and Destination Riverina Murray Regional Tourism Awards. Congratulations to local finalists in Trundle – the Trundle ABBA Festival, and in Forbes – Grazing Down the Lachlan. Winners will be announced at the gala awards ceremony on July 27 in Dubbo. The winners gain finalist status upon entering the NSW State Tourism Awards, and if successful, go onto the National Tourism Awards.

Kids Helpline – 71,533 contacts go unanswered: Kids Helpline, Australia’s only free confidential 24/7 national children’s counselling and support service, has today released statistics showing 51% of requests for help to the service went unanswered over the first 6 months of 2019, due to funding shortfall. Responding to concerns children and young people have in relation to their mental health, general well-being and other developmental issues is a major area of Kids Helpline’s work. Kids Helpline relies heavily upon your town’s charitable art union and donations from the community to continue its operation. In order to meet the extra demand, an additional $5 million annually would be required to enable employment of additional professional counselling staff.

Book Launch by local Doctor: Dr Rick Newton, retired from his general practice in Tullamore, has written a small book of humorous short stories about his farming experiences, after moving from Sydney to the Central West. The Tullamore launch is on Saturday 13 July at the Tullamore Bowling Club. Then there will be a Parkes launch at the Parkes Library on Tuesday 23 July at 6pm. All funds raised go to Brain Cancer and Stroke Foundations, in memory of Geoff Williams and Geof Horsburgh.

Dress like a Farmer Day: On 2 July, Parkes Public school held a ‘Farmers Day’ to support the drought-stricken farmers. Students were allowed to come to school dressed up as farmer and bring in a gold coin donation, which will go to the charity ‘Buy a Bale’. We raised over $600 on the day which is an amazing amount for our school community. We got the idea from learning about drought and watching Behind The News and seeing other schools doing similar things to help out. Lucy Hall and Nina Richardson-Bartley, who are in Year 6, thought to do this farmers day and asked Mrs Ruckley and 6 Red before going to Mrs O’Neill for her approval. When we put the whole plan into action it was a great, fun day. Thank you to everyone who participated and brought in a gold coin donation!
By Lucy Hall & Nina Richardson-Bartley

$250 Regional Seniors Travel Card: Travel is one of the most significant household  costs for residents living in our region. The State Government is set to ease this cost for rural and regional travellers from January next year, through the rollout of the $250 Regional Seniors Transport Card. Seniors will be able to use the $250 to purchase fuel and pay for taxi fares from participating providers in rural and regional NSW, and pre-booked NSW TrainLink train and coach services.

Find a Cheaper Energy Bill: The energy industry welcomes the introduction of a comparison tool that makes it easier to assess energy deals in the market. From today every offer in NSW will be compared against an independent benchmark called a Reference Bill. Customers will be able to rate the value of a new offer by the size of the discount against the Reference Bill. All customers are encouraged to go to thegovernment’s EnergyMadeEasy website (https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au) to help find a cheaper deal.

Recycled Water Rising Main Construction Update – Nash Street Rail Crossing: Underboring will be undertaken at the Nash Street Rail Crossing for the recycled water pipeline to be installed beneath the tracks. Works will commence from 27 June and are expected to be completed by 7 July (conditions permitting). Nash Street will remain open during this period, however variable speed limits will be enforced to ensure the safety of construction workers working alongside the road.

Petition to Save Parkes Maternity Ward: Over 500 baby outfits were donated for the Rally to support the Parkes Maternity Unit last Friday. If you were not able to attend the rally, there is also a petition circulating in Parkes and Forbes asking the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales to stop the downgrading of health services in Parkes and Forbes Hospitals. 10,000 signatures are required to have the petition considered for a debate in Parliament. The petition is available at some of our local businesses. If you have a business and would like to include the petition for your customers to sign, please contact the Parkes Chamber of Commerce at chamber@parkeschamber.com.au.

Ag in Education. Combating the City/ Country Divide: The NSW Farmers’ Parkes/Forbes Branch Annual Meeting will be held at 6:30pm at the Forbes Services Club on Wednesday, 3 July. The Special Guest for the meeting will be Sarah Thompson, beef and grain farmer from Cassilis, with a long record of representation within the Association, as an Executive Councillor and on the Rural Affairs Policy Committee. Following the Annual Meeting a General Meeting will be opened. Please note, ten voting members are required to attend to form a quorum and the branch is entitled to send five delegates to conference. Please RSVP to Gavin Tom, Chair on 0438 678 916, gaveltom@hotmail.com, or Catriona McAuliffe, Regional Services Manager, 0488 100 005, mcauliffec@nswfarmers. org.au

Restrictions Reminder: Level two water restrictions are still in place across the Parkes Shire. Under level two restrictions, residents are only permitted to water outside the hours of 10am and 5pm with odd numbered households allowed to water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and even numbered households on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. For more information about Level 2 water restrictions, visit www.parkes.nsw.gov.au

Urgent call to support St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal: With just days until the end of the financial year, Vinnies is only halfway towards its Winter Appeal fundraising goal. The charity is urgently calling for donations to support its work with people experiencing poverty, homelessness and disadvantage. “Sadly, more and more people are turning to us for help with very basic needs. Our aim is to raise $1.2 million to ensure that we can continue to be here for the growing number of people needing our help,” said Jack de Groot, Vinnies NSWCEO. You can make a donation at 13 18 12 or visit vinnies.org.au.