Projects
Enabling Priorities
Advanced Planning/Application Submitted
Funded/Commenced
Energy Security
The lack of reliable energy undermines the capacity of the town to attract new business investment, creates risks for local business revenue, impacts health care and education, and inhibits future tourism growth. Collarenebri is located in a high value solar and wind zone providing a foundation for the community to become energy self-reliant to support long term business growth. The Corporation will explore investment opportunities to secure reliable energy and become a renewables centre of excellence.
Broadband Access
Poor reliability and cost are a major contributor to low rates of household internet access and has a major impact on business investment, education and health care limiting growth. The Corporation will explore options for securing funding to implement a reliable satellite or other technology to ensure high speed reliable access to broadband services and provide free wifi access in town for school children, job seekers and other community members unable to afford internet at home.
Street Beautification
The town lacks an attractive street presence to underpin increased visitation and tourism investment, and poor management of interaction between heavy vehicles and pedestrians. The Corporation will work with Walgett Shire Council to develop a Street Beautification and pacification strategy and seek funding to support investment in the community.
Street Maintenance
The Main Street and associated businesses flood during heavy rain due to inadequate drainage impacting business continuity, resulting in additional business costs and in some cases can impede access to health care. A lack of green cover during hotter months discourages CBD utilisation during the daytime including retail and hospitality. The absence of regular street cleaning and maintenance allows dust and dirt accumulation contributing to low visitor stickiness. The Corporation will work with Walgett Shire Council to establish a plan to address backlog maintenance and ensure the town is presentable for tourists and residents.
Town Plan
Collarenebri lacks an aspirational town plan that supports economic growth and employment development, including appropriate zonings to attract freight and other businesses to the town. This limits business investment, employment growth, training capacity and population growth. The Corporation will work to develop an urban plan to ensure land zonings support long term capacity for business growth and residential development.
Economic Priorities
Industry Plan
The location of Collarenebri at the midpoint between the New England and Western regions, its proximity to the inland rail ports and International shipping ports and its strong back ground in agriculture augur well for the development of supporting industries including abattoirs, freight related services, mining, broad acre and dry land farming and tourism. The Corporation will develop an industry plan based on competitive advantages to grow the business base and employment in the community where it is able to add value.
Galariinbaraay
Model Farm
The Corporation will work with the Murray Elders, universities, Foundation, Collarenebri Central School and TAFE to explore funding options to establish a Model Farm as a training facility for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in agricultural trades and management to create employment and training for local people and reduce the cost of fresh produce across the region.
Collarenebri is a remote Aboriginal community in NSW(MMM6).The project will establish the Warraymbaa Business & Training Hub (Warraymbaa means 'Workplace' in Gamilaraay) as a social enterprise.The Hub will support Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal people to gain the knowledge and skills to establish new small businesses, work with schools & businesses to expand training ppportunities for youth in areas of need, help to strengthen school attendance & participation by building aspiration, and promote educational and career pathways through expanded local employment & training opportunities for young people.
Museum of Gamilaroi Art, Language and Culture
The Collarenebri-Galariinbaraay scar trees were stolen from the local Aboriginal community and are held away from country in various university and academic collections. The return of these artefacts is essential to the wellbeing of the Gamilaroi people and will require a purpose built museum to safely store and display the trees, as well as other traditional artefacts creating jobs and training opportunity for local Aboriginal people, and supporting the restoration of language and culture.
Waygal Art Cooperative
There is a rich history of artistic expression in Aboriginal nations. This project will create a art circle to engage adults and young people who are unemployed, living with mental or physical illness and other vulnerable people in recovering history and building social interactions supporting improved health literacy while creating an income source from the sale of goods and potential opportunities for entrepreneurship and tourism.
Baayangali Native Flora and Fauna Park
Collarenebri-Galariinbaraay has a diversity of native wildlife. There is an opportunity to establish a riverbank petting park for visitors, including cottages, to allow visitors to get close to nature in an idyllic riverside setting attracting family visits.
Bilyan Natural
Springs
The Collarenebri community was awarded funding to establish a new bore bath to support visitor attraction in 2021. Still to be constructed, the Corporation will work with Walgett Shire Council to ensure its location is appropriate and the baths support the town's destination management strategy.
The Corporation will work with governments to secure a grant to acquire the Liberty Theatre and establish a Centre for Reconciliation to teach young people across the region and more broadly about Aboriginal history and the significant role played by leaders such as Isabel Flick in challenging engrained racism and segregation in Australia.
Ridge-Colly Road
Walgett Shire is reliant on Lightning Ridge as its main tourist destination limiting the capacity of the region to attract increased overnight stays and potential economic and employment flow-on benefits. A second tourism focused town, offering a range of complementary services and activities, with a direct link to the Ridge would add to the destination assets and increase overnight stays and economic activity.The Ridge-Colly Road is not suitable to safely enable visitors and residents in either community to easily access the other. The Corporation will work with Walgett Shire Council to prioritise upgrading of the Ridge-Colly Road in parallel with development of a Destination Management Plan.
Social Priorities
Galariinbaraay
Health & Education Hub
The Collarenebri Community Youth and Health Hub was a community-led project that was funded by a grant from the Murray Darling Basin in 2021 to enhance access to integrated people-centred health care in the community. The project showed that by working together as one community we could achieve great success. This became one of the foundations for how we work today.
Aboriginal Health
The community have agreed to seek funding to establish an Aboriginal Medical Service that will be operated by the Collarenebri Community Youth and Health Hub to improve health service access for Aborignal people.
Poor community transport services limit the capacity of young people to attend education and training in Walgett and Moree; limit access to specialised health services and employment mobility. The Corporation will talk to government about the establishment of a local Community Transport Service that employs local people and is responsive to the needs of the local community.
Winanga-li Social
Care Hub
Redevelop the old Tennis Courts into a Youth and Community Hub to coordinate social services and programs to address alcohol and drug dependency, parenting skills, nutrition, child assessment and development integrated with the health and education focus of the Galariinbaraay Hub.
Mangankali Housing
Inadequate shelter leads to overcrowding, poor health and insufficient space for study and poor mental health. The Corporation will work with relevant authorities to explore the establishment of the Mangankali Housing Corporation as a local provider of environmentally sustainable social and public housing, and a provider of local skills and apprenticeships.
Disability and aged care services are delivered to Collarenebri-Galariinbaraay from organisations that are not located in town. This reduces the flow-on benefits of economic activity from funding for NDIS and Aged Care services, and results in the loss of job opportunities and training for locals. Standardised service models designed for regional or metropolitan cities do not reflect unique community needs particularly Aboriginal residents. The Corporation will explore with the local community, NDIS and Department of Health and Ageing the establishment of a community based NDIS/Aged Care services provider to increase local employment, economic activity, education and training and ensure services reflect local needs.
Mobile Women's
Health
On average, women living in rural and remote areas of NSW experience poorer general health, reproductive and sexual health outcomes than people living elsewhere in the state. These poorer outcomes include higher rates of teenage pregnancy, higher rates of maternal death, and higher rates of some sexually transmissible infections (STIs). The Mobile Women’s Health Clinic will ensure women across western and north-western remote communities have access to high quality sexual and productive health care when they need it within easy reach.
Family Violence
Refuge
Rates of domestic violence and child protection in Walgett Shire significantly exceeds the State average. Providing families, women and children in particular, with a safe and secure place is critical to improving health outcomes and creating an environment where problems can be resolved.
Health and social care are the fastest growing sectors in the Collarenebri-Galariinbaraay economy. The lack of adequate housing, however, remains a critical challenge in attracting and retaining high quality staff to the community. This project will identify funding to purchase land and construct eight two bedroom houses for health and other public sector workers.
Learning Community Plan
The community has low school attendance rates, low educational attainment, high rates of developmental vulnerability and poor employment outcomes which limits economic capacity for growth in the community. The community has committed to developing a Learning Community Plan to coordinate programs to engage everyone in the community in understanding the value of education and promoting early years learning, health literacy, educational participation and attainment and progress to vocational and higher education for employment.
Dhirri-li Education
for Work Centre
A lack of local training opportunities in health results in low participation in vocational education in the community despite a shortage of health and social assistance professionals. The Centre will encourage students and parents to consider health and social assistance as a career option and support school students to succeed in vocational health training by providing high quality training and support.