The Country Women's Association (CWA) of New South Wales has announced the creation of a Policy Manager role, further strengthening the organisation as a significant and powerful voice when it comes to advocating for rural, regional and remote women and families in NSW.
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Adair Garemyn, a key player in the state's agri-policy sector, has been appointed to the role.
The appointment comes at a critical time, with the NSW election looming on Saturday, March 23, the federal election following soon after, and the organisation intent on ensuring all parties know just where its members stand on key issues.
CWA of NSW chief executive officer, Danica Leys said the creation of the position confirms the organisation's reputation as a powerful and fearless advocacy organisation.
"We see this appointment as the logical next step for the CWA of NSW as we continue to lobby hard on issues our members see as important to their rural and regional communities," she said.
"This organisation was founded on the basis of ensuring country areas received their fair share of resources and attention from government at all levels and that remains as important now as it was then," she said.
"As the NSW election approaches we've been highlighting the issues that matter to country NSW and this is Adair's first priority as she starts in this new role. She knows this policy space so well and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge that will assist us in furthering our policy objectives and pushing for change where we feel it's needed most."
Adair comes to the CWA of NSW from NSW Farmers where for six years she worked in the ag/environmental policy side of the organisation and said this focus on country NSW in her professional life was no coincidence.
"I grew up on a farm so I've always had an interest in rural and regional Australia," Adair said. "The CWA of NSW is an organisation that shares this passion, where there's a real and genuine need for policy and advocacy work with no other agenda beyond empowering and strengthening rural and regional communities."
Adair said her policy focus would be broad, in line with the diversity of the CWA's membership base, but health and the drought would be among the immediate priorities, particularly with elections just around the corner.
The CWA of NSW is continuing to lobby for drought-affected farmers and communities as the drought drags on across much of the state, with the organisation announcing this month that more than 5500 applications had been processed since its Disaster Relief Fund began processing drought relief funding applications in July of last year.
More than $9 million has been distributed to farm families under the relief scheme, and applications continue to be processed.
"The drought is still taking a terrible toll on farmers across NSW so the need for assistance schemes remains high and we encourage people who need some help to apply for one of our grants," Danica said.
For application information and criteria related to the drought relief grants go to www.cwaofnsw.org.au/droughtaid
People can also donate to the CWA of NSW Disaster Relief Fund, with donations tax deductible and able to be made via the CWA website at https://cwaofnsw.org.au/donate