Station owners hit by road closures

Samantha and Richard Maiden of Mt Gipps Station, about forty kilometres north of Broken Hill, lost more than a quarter of their annual business due to ongoing road closures.

Sixty thousand dollars lost to floods

The sheep station with farm-stay accommodation received about twenty five millimetres of rain this year, closing its dirt roads for more than five months. Ms Maiden lost about sixty thousand dollars in revenue after cancelling guest reservations.

“It's decimated the tourist business.”

NSW launches grazier contractor program

Transport for NSW has launched an initiative to hire graziers and station owners as contractors to fix roads in the Far West using equipment they already own, following three natural disasters in six months.

Vast network needs urgent repair

Craig Matthews, director of regional road network maintenance for the west region, said the Far West has two thousand eight hundred kilometres of unsealed roads. Landholders would be paid hourly market rates through a tender process.

Safety rules block faster repairs

Graziers say red tape is slowing repairs because a trained spotter or safety supervisor must be present. Ms Maiden called this disrespectful and said the program was not fit for purpose.

“It was disrespectful for TfNSW to think graziers did not already have the knowledge and safety requirements.”

Graziers propose emergency response system

Ms Maiden suggested an emergency response tender where graziers with equipment could be called to fix roads within one hundred kilometres of them. Mr Maiden said graziers would likely do the work themselves if the wait was months.

“We just want the road open. We don't want to make a billion dollars from it.”