Accepting he can't always help everyone has been the hardest part of the job so far for state Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders.
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"The reality of life is it is impossible to help everyone all the time, I cannot fix every problem," Mr Saunders told the Daily Liberal in an interview to mark six months since his election to the NSW Parliament.
"There are some problems that people have probably had that just keep going around and around and it's really frustrating for them," he said.
"They come to me as a new member of parliament and think maybe I can fix it so I start trying and then I hit brick walls.
"I've always said I'll give it my best shot, whatever it is and that's continuing to be what I do but some things are out of the basket of norm and you don't quite know where to go and it takes a long time and then you still can't help.
"That's hard but that is reality and that's probably the hardest thing... actually dealing with the fact you cannot help everyone because you do want to help everyone and in a way, people expect that you can help everyone."
Mr Saunders feels the best part of the job is often being able to help residents or groups achieve their goals by connecting with them with government grant initiatives or other services.
"People need help, we all need help in some way so if you can be the one providing a bit of that help it's a pretty good feeling," he said.
"We've had situations where somebody is struggling with housing and we help sort it out...they don't know where else to go."
Watching work progress on NSW government funded infrastructure projects - including the Dubbo Hospital redevelopment, police training centre and rail maintenance facility - has been another highlight for Mr Saunders.
"There has been a fair history of projects that have been lined up for Dubbo anyway that are being delivered upon and that was because the previous member worked really hard to get things done and Dubbo is an exceptional example of a regional city," he said.
"In a drought, say you're building a road or a bridge, that will be 100 jobs. It's not just the bloke that drives the grader, it's the bloke that sells him his smoko or coffee. There's so many direct and indirect jobs that come out of infrastructure projects.
"That's why governments continue to try to build infrastructure in tough times."
When asked how he responds to critics who often attack him online, Mr Saunders said he usually ignored them.
"If people really want to connect with somebody I don't think it's via a tweet or an Instagram post, it's via a conversation.
"If people want to actually genuinely engage with me, I won't do it on social media, I just won't.
"I will give people replies occasionally but often my reply will be 'please call me at the office' or 'give the office a call and I'll call you back'."
Mr Saunders said while he respected peoples right to voice their views online, he preferred talking in person because it led to more informed discussions.
"I've had cases where people have been fairly blunt in emails and I've rung them to have a chat and they're completely different because they actually had a wrong perspective on something.
"I always like face-to-face contact and to talk to somebody. To me that's proper engagement and discussion."
Despite some differences, Mr Saunders said he regarded his new role as not all that dissimilar from his previous job an ABC Western Plains radio presenter.
"I'm talking to people all the time about things that matter to them and then I take that and I try and do whatever I can to help," he said.
"I listen a lot in this role and as a radio announcer I listened a lot and then asked what I regarded were important questions.
"I ask people important questions to get the best information from them and then I present that in the best possible way to who I need to present it to, to get an outcome that I want.
"I'm all about delivering for this region."
After former Dubbo mayor Mathew Dickerson ran a close second to Mr Saunders in the state election, the seat of Dubbo became one the government could very easily lose at the next election.
"Probably from a media perspective it's all about being a marginal seat, it's actually not because I've still got a job to do to try and get interest in Dubbo," Mr Saunders said.
"I have to work really hard to get Minister's here and be part of things. I still work as hard as anyone else.
"They're not just doing it because it's a marginal seat, they're doing it because I'm pestering them.
"There isn't a spare $50 million just to give to make me feel good, that is not a reality.
"People think 'oh well they'll just keep chucking money at you, they've got plenty'...they don't and there's a budget very much in place for a reason."
