Bettering Dubbo with new facilities
A NEW convention centre is on the top of the Mayor’s list when it comes to building a better Dubbo.
While Deputy Prime Minister Michael Mccormack was in town last week, he announced Dubbo Regional Council would receive $42,500 under a Building Better Regions grant to bring more events to the city.
Cr Ben Shields wants to see the money used on physical infrastructure, saying our current facilities aren’t good enough.
“We do need a large convention centre in Dubbo. We have proposed a 1500-seat convention centre for the showground,” he told Dubbo Photo News. “We can’t get those giant indoor exhibitions without a big convention centre.
“They didn’t do a good enough job when they built the tiered theatre over 10 years ago and, realistically, it is in the wrong spot. It’s just not big enough for proper conventions,” Cr Shields said.
He said getting a business case together for a convention centre is a good thing, and that it would take into account what would be needed to attract large events – including sporting events – to Dubbo.
He also remained committed to getting an NRL game to Dubbo, urging Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders to “put his money where his mouth is and actually fund it”.
It comes after Mr Saunders was named on the NSW Government’s NRL Regional Taskforce earlier this month and said it was his “top priority is to see Dubbo host an NRL premiership game in 2021”.
“Council is absolutely committed
Mayor of Dubbo Ben Shields believes a new convention centre will attract more business to the region. He is pictured with the Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton and Deputy Prime Minister Michael Mccormack. to the NRL. I’m extremely excited now that the State Government is on board and they’ve made indications that they are keen to do something with us on that, but that is solely dependent on State Government funding,” Mr Shields said.