It has been a frustration of mine for a number of years that we have not funded the upgrade of council’s infrastructure to be inclusive of all.

Ever since my first election in 1999, I have received complaints about various footpaths and gutters that either did not have disability access or the access ramps installed was done during the days when “any ol’ ramp will do” without knowing that access ramps must be a certain gradient.

Other complaints I have received is a lack of accessible bathroom facilities in our public toilets, lack of basic information on accessibility services by way of signage and on council’s website and even areas where footpath tactile indicators for vision impaired people have not been installed.

Knowing that council has a large network of public toilets and that many are nowhere near modern standards of accessibility is something that is frankly embarrassing for our organisation.

My new plan is to form a panel of experts and disability advocates to identify the problem areas under council’s jurisdiction. Once that list is complete council will have a 4 year period to complete upgrades.

I’m well aware that council’s power to implement disability access on private land is severely limited.

But that does not stop me from having at least all of our council facilities brought up to scratch.

I’m not going to pretend that this initiative will not be costly.

This plan that council has adopted will see Dubbo Regional Council complete all these infrastructure jobs within four years. This gives council the ability to plan and budget for the implementation.

However, we shouldn’t see my accessibility plan as merely a cost burden.

There are economic advantages in making our region accessible for all.

The reality is the national population on average is getting older and therefore requiring infrastructure to meet this need. In Dubbo we have a particular need to lift our game in this field more so than most other areas.

For years we have been encouraging retirees to Dubbo as it is a great place to live.

It seems that we have succeeded in making Dubbo the most desirable place for the people of Western NSW to choose to retire. This influx of people has been fantastic for our economy.

We see the evidence of this boom by way of the amount of retirement facilities popping up everywhere!

We have the opportunity to grow this particular market at an even faster pace if we claim the title of Australia’s most accessible regional city.

We can use this reputation as an extra incentive to convince people that Dubbo is the place to be.

More people equals more income which leads to more facilities and a better lifestyle for all.

With all the economic and technical arguments that goes with this plan, there is also another bigger reason – it is simply the right thing to do.

Address: Corner Church and Darling streets. For details about the city and any of its events visit https://www.dubbo.nsw.gov.au/ or phone: 6801 4000.