Dubbo hosts regional development funding forum
Posted
Local councils and area consultative committees will address a Federal Government inquiry today into a new regional development funding program.
The House of Representatives Infrastructure and Transport Committee is holding one of a series of roundtables and public forums in Dubbo.
It is set to report back by the end of November to the Minister, Anthony Albanese, who plans to set up the scheme by next July.
The Member for Blaxland, Jason Clare, who is on the committee, says so far there has been a lot of feedback about the former Regional Partnerships program.
"People were particularly concerned that in the past you put in an application for one of these regional grants and it might take up to 12 or 14 months before you get a response," he said.
"People think these grants are really important to make local communities work, particularly remote communities, but it was important to make process of application simpler and also more transparent."
