Residents and election candidates to voice disapproval of rehab site in public meeting

Worried neighbourhood residents will be joined by election candidates Josh Black, Stephen Lawrence, Kate Richardson as well as deputy leader of the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmer's party Mark Basniak MP.

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Attendees will gather at 5pm at the end of Spears Drive, along the block of land purchased by Western NSW Local Health District for the centre, and put forward a petition. They are hoping to change the site of the rehab centre to a "more suitable" location.

"[The petition] will say we support a rehab for Dubbo but want the site moved to a suitable rural location so it will give better cultural, therapeutic and health outcomes, and that residential West Dubbo is inappropriate, or not the best position," Mr Black, the Labor Party candidate for Dubbo said.

Residents near the purchased site told Mr Black they didn't want a rehab centre near their houses and feared for their safety.

"I don't know if it's a well-rounded fear or not but we do need to bring the community. People's views do matter, Government shouldn't just dictate what should occur to people," he said.

Mr Black said stakeholders had been advocating for a decade to build the much-needed rehab centre at a rural location and now their work had been "thrown out the window".

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He said the member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders had "dropped the ball" when it came to his own electorate.

"That is just insulting, he is a Cabinet minister, he is the local member, nothing happens without his approval and for him to try and blame some health bureaucrats for the site it just shows how out of touch he is," Mr Black said.

He said Mr Saunders would be invited to the public meeting to hear concerns and explain his position.

When Mr Saunders' office was asked if he would be attending, it was said he would be away on the day in his capacity as Minister for Agriculture and had not received an invitation as of March 8.

However, Mr Saunders did state that proximity to urban centres and services was important for rehabilitation and defended the suitability of the Spears Drive site.

"It has the size and capacity to support residential, treatment, and recreational facilities, and it is also in close proximity to health services, community, public transport, and other amenities," he said.

"Connection to community is vital for people undergoing rehabilitation, which is why 80 per cent of residential rehabilitation services in NSW are in urban areas, similar to this site."

The topic of the rehab centre was also spoken about during a radio debate on 2DU on Thursday morning.

Mr Saunders, Mr Black and Ms Richardson all attended and questions were evaded at times while the trio also got the opportunity to query each other.

In relation to the rehab centre, Mr Black asked Mr Saunders if he could guarantee whether the proposed site would not result in house prices in the area falling and that "alleged criminals on bail will not reside there".

Mr Saunders stated he found it a bizarre question and spoke about the second aspect of it in the allotted time.

"Alleged criminals living there is a pretty appalling way of describing somebody who is looking for help for rehab," Mr Saunders answered.

The incumbent MP added "the suggestion alleged criminals will be roaming the streets is misleading, disappointing and disingenuous".

"This is a health facility," he concluded.

"For the umpteenth, millionth time. This is not something I have decided on. It's a preferred site selected by the health district to actively provide help to people who want to come forward and seek that help."

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Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers Party candidate for Dubbo Kate Richardson previously said the announced location was "abhorrent". She told Daily Liberal residents were upset that they had not been consulted prior to finalising the site.

"I have personally spoken to a resident that lives there and they're very concerned that there's been no prior consultation [with residents] by either the State Government or NSW Health," she said.

"It's all sort of happened and there's been nothing prior to the announcement in the media.

"Please don't get me wrong, we desperately need a rehab centre, we needed one years ago but according to other sources, the ideal location for a rehab centre like that would be out of town."

Ms Richardson also said it was "nice" to have political opponents on the same page.

"We're representing different parties but when it comes down to it, we're actually representing the people of this electorate, if they're concerned then we need to air their concerns," she said.

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