WATER security was at the top of the agenda for Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate Sam Romano at his official federal election campaign launch on Monday.
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Mr Romano said a "fresh start" would do wonders for the seat of Calare and urged the electorate to give a new party a chance after 70 years with the Nationals had led to "virtually nothing".
"If you don't make a change, we'll be stagnant forever," Mr Romano said.
"We've been left behind. It's been a safe seat for so long and I'm urging the voters to not be afraid to say no to the Nats ... it's worked with our state member [Phil Donato], working with whichever government is in power at the time and he can negotiate with them."
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Mr Romano said he'd heard "so many horrible stories" about current Calare MP Andrew Gee turning away constituents.
"I'm not going to attack him personally, but they're the stories I'm hearing," Mr Romano said.
"He's never seen. He doesn't mix with the community. I'm prepared to work with anybody, rich or poor; I take that from Phil Donato.
"I'm not going to make a promise and then go and have a great time down in Canberra ... if you don't bring results home, what are you doing?"
A new dam was at the forefront of his launch.
"Everyone talks about it before an election, but guess what? Once they're elected, they do nothing. I think we should really focus on fixing the water situation in the Central West," he said.
"We haven't had a dam built in many, many years and I think the time has come where we need to build dams and make sure when it does rain, the infrastructure is in place for these dams to provide water to regional communities."
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Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
