I can speak with experience when I say that the only thing exceptional about the roads is the lack of basic maintenance that has been carried out on these roads for a number of years.

It is not surprising that when we have a period of rain that these roads are failing. 

Water is allowed to run onto the road, culverts are blocked, gravel has been eroded for some time, some table drains do not allow the water to drain properly.

The side effects of these poor roads are such that our vehicles are incurring higher rates of wear and tear. It is difficult to traverse these roads in heavy vehicles.

This is having a detrimental effect on our rural business.

If the results of the Orange by-election tell us anything, it is that rural and regional people in NSW do not accept the forced mergers of their councils or the handpicked council administrators who have been appointed by the NSW government.

The result of the Baird government’s council mergers is the stripping away of democracy from our community. Instead of having a number of elected councilors representing the community, all we have is unelected administrators.

It does not sit well with me or the community that decisions at the council level across our region are being made without the support of democratically elected councils.

The NSW government must bring the council elections forward to March 2017. Why should the community have to wait another 11 months for council elections when it is clear that they are unhappy with the merged councils being run by people who they didn’t vote for?

As a result of the Orange by-election we have seen the National Party fall into disarray. Now that John Barilaro is the new National’s leader, he needs to step up and fight the Sydney-centric Baird government for fairer outcomes in rural and regional Australia.

To start with, he should listen to the people of his region and act swiftly to bring forward council elections.

From July next year, the NSW Liberal and National government want every local council to collect a new land tax for them – the ‘Emergency Services Property Levy’ (ESPL). The new state government tax will be included on all council rate notices.

But Premier Baird won’t put the legislation to Parliament until the very last minute to avoid a community campaign against this new tax. Parliament doesn’t even sit again until next February. The devil will be in the detail, and it is all being kept secret behind closed doors in Macquarie Street.

There could be different tax rates for commercial, residential and rural properties. Some groups are worried that the tax could shift costs from metropolitan or commercial classifications onto residential and rural landowners. 

The government has refused to say if it will compensate councils for the cost of collecting the new tax, or if local ratepayers will also be hit with this extra cost. 

To the emergency services who prove themselves the biggest asset to the Yass Valley community in times of trial. We all thank you for your wonderful work and calm manner in the face of difficult events, and to the toll it takes on them personally.