Heart Foundation
A project co-run by Snowy Valleys Council and the Murrumbidgee Local Health District has been named as the winner of the 2020 Healthy Town Challenge.
The challenge is an initiative of the Heart Foundation and the NSW Centre for Population Health. It supports regional and rural communities to facilitate healthy living activities to improve the health of their members.
Early last year, five communities – Condobolin, Holbrook, Murwillumbah, Muswellbrook/Denman and Snowy Valleys – received a grant of $15,000 each to bring their proposed projects to life. Today, the Snowy Valleys project, “Move & Grow”, was named the overall challenge winner, with the prize being an additional $5,000.
âShopped around for yearsâ: Skydiving funding from bushfire grants criticised
Save
Normal text size
Advertisement
A NSW council twice unsuccessfully sought government funding for a regional skydiving and adventure sports facility before it was eventually awarded $11 million from a bushfire economic relief fund.
The funding for the Macleay Valley Skydiving Adventure Park was announced by the NSW Nationals in October 2020, under a fast-tracked $177 million state and federal Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund now at the centre of an inquiry into government grants.
Firefighters combat a blaze on the NSW Mid North Coast in November 2019.
Credit:Nick Moir
Months before the stateâs bushfires, the council released the Macleay Valley Coast Destination Plan in July 2019, which identified the adventure park as a âgame changerâ project and outlined a plan to âleverage the NSW governmentâs support for adventure sports tourismâ.
Share
More than 100 homes were damaged in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, which took a $65 million hit.
Blue Mountains Council has submitted 24 grant proposals for local projects worth $5.4 million, which have all been rejected. We lost the same number of homes as the Hawkesbury, we lost 70 per cent of our world heritage area, mayor Mark Grenhill told the Sydney Morning Herald. Fire crews were out day after day, night after night and we were surrounded by fire from three sides leaving our communities traumatised so surely Blue Mountains deserved something.
The Byron council area in the state s far north (in red) suffered a $88 million economic loss in the horror bushfires of last summer
Advertisement
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro says the Blue Mountains missed out on funding from a $177 million bushfire relief fund because 23 projects, including upgrades to Rural Fire Service sheds, did not meet the criteria.
Mr Barilaro agreed to appear before the grants inquiry last year when it was investigating the $250 million Stronger Communities grants program. The inquiry has since been expanded to include the state and federal bushfire fund.
John Barilaro answering questions on Monday.
Credit:Edwina Pickles
The Deputy Premier sparred with the committee over allegations his government had used the council grants and bushfire relief funds to pork barrel, saying it was simply âinvestmentâ.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro defends his Government's handling of bushfire economic recovery grants, saying areas that missed out didn't meet the criteria.