LISMORE MP Janelle Saffin is disappointed that three NSW Nationals MPs are not lending their support to a single e-petition to Parliament to restore NORCO’s contract to supply milk to North Coast hospitals and health services.
Ms Saffin said: “Constituents have contacted me wondering why my fellow MPs Gurmesh Singh (Coffs Harbour), Richie Williamson (Clarence) and Michael Kemp (Oxley) are not backing in the e-petition launched last Friday:
“We need 20,000 signatures to get this issue debated on the floor of Parliament and that is powerful.To have two separate petitions in circulation is already leading to confusion in the community and effectively weakens our chances of getting the required number of signatures.
“When the Nationals were in government and the same thing happened, we all backed in the then local member Thomas George and the Health Services Union ran a big campaign, fully supported by the community and after some time, people power changed the decision of the then bureaucracy
“It is people power we need this time as well to support our local NORCO employees and dairy farmer suppliers who are part and parcel of the NORCO dairy co-operative.
“It was the bureaucracy that made this recent decision to award the tender to a different supplier, but I, on behalf of the community, expect the Minister for Health and Regional Health (Ryan Park) to work out a way to fix it.
“That means NORCO getting its contract back as it was to deliver its products into the North Coast Hospitals and Health Services.”
