The events which occurred in my hometown of Moree at the weekend are shocking and disgraceful. Police allege a group of teenagers broke into a motel and stabbed the 52-year-old owner of the motel who was airlifted to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

I have been in contact with the victim’s family. He came through surgery well but has a long and painful road to recovery in front of him.

The alleged perpetrators are 13 years old. One was arrested and charged with reckless wounding, face blackened/disguised with intent to commit indictable offence, and special break and enter commit serious indictable offence, and breach of bail.

But just a few hours later, the youth was granted bail by the court and was back in the community.

It is a complete failure of the judicial system in NSW.

The opposition’s crime Bill offers practical and effective solutions, and the Minns Labor Government needs to stop playing politics with the rural crime crisis listen to MPs who have their feet on the ground in their communities.

I am angry and fed up with what is happening in our community, and I will continue to push for change so we can feel safe.

Road funding

A total of $23 million has been secured to improve safety on roads across the Northern Tablelands through the Towards Zero Safer Roads Program.

I have been fighting hard to improve travel conditions for residents and road users so I am glad to see the NSW Government has responded with $23 million.

Works include:

Waterfall Way at Old Hillgrove Road, Metz: $2.6m for installation of roadside barrier, shoulder widening and safety improvement to corners;

Waterfall Way at Bullock Creek No. 2, Ebor: $2.4m for installation of roadside barrier, shoulder widening and safety improvements to corners;

New England Highway at Tilbuster Ponds South, Black Mountain: $3.1m for the installation of wide centre line, roadside barrier and shoulder widening;

New England Highway at Newman Park, Black Mountain: $4.8m for the installation of roadside barrier, wide centre line and shoulder widening;

Oxley Highway at Honeysuckle Creek, Yarrowitch: $1.5m for installation of shoulder widening and safety improvement to corners; and

Newell Highway at South Croppa, Tulloona: $8.6m for installation of wide centre line and shoulder widening with pavement rehabilitation;

New kitchen for Glen Innes and District Community Centre

The Glen Innes and District Community Centre has received $51,571 to refurbish and update the current kitchen facilities. The grant came from the Community Building Partnership program.

The centre looks after the community’s most vulnerable people including seniors and people experiencing homelessness.

They provide daily and frozen meals, social networks and services to those who need a helping hand. By upgrading the kitchen, the centre’s dedicated volunteers can deliver even more daily meals.

Parliamentary wrap

I was back in Parliament this week for the second week of the September sittings this week.

I delivered Community Recognition Statements on Glen Innes Auskick volunteer Nikki Lee, Optiweigh, Bingara Lions, Inverell’s Sloane Garrett, Inverell’s Sharon Irwin, O’Connor Catholic College, Walcha’s John and Margaret Cross, Moree United Hospital Auxiliary, and the University of New England Smart Region Incubator.

This follows on from last week’s Uralla Community Spirit, Transport to Treatment, Sweetie Pie’s Bake Shop, ASC’s Nyla Chemane, Glen Innes’ Judy Vivers, Walcha’s Friends of Riverview, Special Olympics North West New England – Polar Plunge, Gather for the Gwydir and Adair Beattie Awarded RFS National Medal.

This week I tabled Questions on Notice on regional art gallery funding, anaesthetists at Armidale Hospital, the maternity ward at Inverell, Glen Innes, Moree and Armidale Hospitals, police vacancies across the region, funding for the maintenance of local council roads and the Moree Special Activation Precinct.

Last week’s QoNs were on the Moree Ambulance Station renovations, energy infrastructure, Moree Secondary College, virtual doctor equipment, doctor replacements, the Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Assistance Scheme (IPTASS), teacher housing, and ambulance transfer flights.

My Private Members’ Statement was on rural and regional crime, again offering practical solutions to assist in reducing the amount of crime within our communities.

This follows on from last week’s PMS on the lack of doctors in emergency departments, and I put forward a number of solutions that both levels of government should implement to address this ongoing crisis.

Last week’s Notice Of Motion called on the state government to reject the use of laptops on trolleys (virtual doctors) instead of doctors being physically present in the emergency replacing doctors in hospital emergency department.

It was also great to catch up with Rachael Parsons from the New England Regional Art Museum in Armidale in Parliament.

We met with the Minister for Arts John Graham to discuss the importance of continuing funding for regional art galleries and the importance of NERAM to the local community.

Crime inquiry

The Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety (Community safety in regional and rural communities’ inquiry) will be in the region next week.

They are scheduled to visit Tamworth, Armidale, Inverell and Moree for public hearings, a meeting with BackTrack, stakeholder round tables and meeting with local police.

Member for Mt Druitt Edmond Attalla, Member for Orange Phil Donato, Member for Ballina Tamara Smith, Member for Heathcote Maryanne Stuart, Member for Bathurst Paul Toole and Member for Cabramatta Tri Vo are on the committee and will be part of the travelling party.

What’s on

Armidale City Public School fete from 9am on Saturday, 20 September.

Come and try waterskiing at Moree Water Park. $45. Saturday and Sunday, 20 and 21 September.

For more information visit Come and Try Water Skiing – What’s On in Moree Plains Visit Moree Plains.

Run the Plains Moree. Events from 200m for the kids through to the half marathon. September 26-28. Visit Run the Plains Race Roster for registration, marketing, fundraising and more information.

Get Ready at the NSW RFS. The NSW Rural Fire Service is hosting Get Ready events across the state this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

There will be events at Armidale, Uralla, Invergowrie, Glen Innes, Lower Creek, Inverell, Delungra, and Ashford. To find an event near you visit NSWRFS Get Ready.

Veteran Community Grants Program applications open

The Veteran Community Grants Program (VCGP), formerly the Anzac Community Grants Program (ACGP), provides grants of up to $3000 for a range of projects that commemorate and educate NSW communities about the service and sacrifices of current and former military servicemen and servicewomen.

Projects which support activities benefiting the NSW veteran community are also eligible for funding.

Applications close 5pm 11 November 2025. The online application is available at Veteran Community Grants Program.

Service NSW mobile centres

Service NSW is bringing their mobile service centre to Toomelah, Mungindi and Boggabilla. The mobile service centre can help with driver knowledge tests, drivers licence applications and renewals, working with children check, birth, death, and marriage certificates, and more.

The mobile service centre will be at Community Centre, Toomelah on Tuesday, October 21 from 9am until 11am.

The mobile service centre will be at Community Health Centre, 74 Merriwa Street, Boggabilla on Tuesday, October 21 from 12pm until 3pm.

The mobile service centre will be at Barwon River Park, 155 George St Mungindi on  Wednesday, October 22 from 10 until 3pm.

Commentary by Brendan Moylan, Member for Northern Tablelands