Yesterday, NSW tourism minister Matt Brown inspected the transport hub’s upgrades which will allow it to handle a higher volume of passengers in the future.

Mr Brown said an upgrade of the the runways would enable flights carrying more passengers to arrive at and depart from Dubbo, which would help the city’s tourism industry.

“Currently the flights which come into Dubbo can carry 50 passengers but after the upgrades the passenger limit will be 78 which is a big improvement,” Mr Brown said. “Dubbo is such an important inland town. It has a ready-made tourist attraction in the zoo and it is really the main attraction for visitors to the central west region.”

Air traffic is not Dubbo’s only avenue of transport being looked at by the NSW Government.

A project has been put in place where visitors from Sydney can travel on the XPT train service to Dubbo and get two nights accommodation at the Sundowner Motor Inn and two days at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

“The cost for a family of five would be $670 which includes train tickets to and from Dubbo as well as the accommodation, and also two days for everyone at the zoo,” Mr Brown said.

“In total it works out that the kids travel for about $1 which isn’t as cheap as chips, it’s cheaper than chips.

“The XPT is another important service. More than 106,000 people travel between Dubbo and Sydney on the XPT each year.”

ben.walker@ruralpress.com

Kids contribute to Lunar Park upgrade

NSW housing minister Matt Brown hopes Lunar Park will be a place where families can have a barbecue and kick the footy when extensions to the facility are completed.

Mr Brown was in Dubbo yesterday and during his trip joined Dubbo mayor Greg Matthews and council’s general manager Mark Riley in celebrating the start of construction on a new playground which is part of a $200,000 upgrade funded by Housing NSW.

Local children were involved in the design of the new facility, which Mr Brown said was historic for the department of housing.

“It’s pleasing for the kids to be involved with the process and it gives them more of a sense of ownership,” Mr Brown said.

“The Lunar Park upgrades are part of the Iemma Government’s $66 million commitment to turn housing estates into neighbourhoods and in the process promoting better, stronger communities.”