Inverell Shire Council Mayor Paul Harmon met Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Minister for Water David Littleproud and Member for New England Barnaby Joyce at Inverell Airport late on Wednesday afternoon.
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As you might expect, he offered his own thoughts, but said while the talk was about everybody having to be on the same page, it a little perplexing that there was no representative from the State Government present.
"Particularly our local Member, who is also our Agricultural Minister, who works tirelessly, not just for our electorate, but for the whole State," he said.
"I can't answer it. I was just curious as to why there was not those three tiers of government, Local, State and Federal. They probably need to answer that, it was their show.
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"It was perplexing. State government have stepped up and done some wonderful things, but it needs to be a combined effort from all levels of Government. We need to put all the politics aside, get in one room and nut out what can be done for our communities."
Cr Harmon thought Mr Frydenberg got the message when he sat down in Freckles cafe to have a coffee.
"He sat in a seat and picked up a piece of paper that one of the farming ladies had written on, about what effect the drought is having on them," he said.
"I saw a profound change in his whole demeanour when he read about how they had lost time.
"They don't have time to do the things they used to because their time is used up feeding cattle, feeding sheep, carting water, and that had a real profound effect on him."
While Cr Harmon said the town had yet to receive a cent, but if nothing else came from the visit, he thought the treasurer now understood some of the problems the drought was creating.
He defended what seemed to be ignorance about rural Australia.
"They should know. but that comes back to how well your local Member is portraying that situation and reporting what's happening in their community. Some local Members are better at that than others," he said.