The NSW Government and John Barilaro have come under fire for failing to better engage regional media in their COVID-19 messaging.
It comes after the Deputy Premier announced on Twitter at the weekend that rural areas of NSW would go into a state-wide lockdown.
Shooters Fishers and Farmer’s Party member for Barwon Roy Butler and Mark Banasiak MLC both took aim at Mr Barilaro, who is also the Minister for Regional NSW and a member of the COVID-19 crisis cabinet.
“For the NSW Government to fail to engage local, regional media to assist in communicating the stay-at-home orders is unforgivable,” the latter said.
“I have many people who rely on local papers or listen to local radio.
“Again, it demonstrates a lack of understanding of regional NSW.
“Let’s be honest, there are a lot of people with limited or no access to the internet out in the country.
“And, many wouldn’t know what Twitter is.”
Mr Butler echoed Mr Banasiak’s sentiments.
“There needs to be a review of government’s communication decisions now,” he said.
“Rural and regional newspapers remain the most trusted media source for communities in our regions and, as such, they must be supported by government and included in all marketing campaigns.
“It’s the same for consultation with regional NSW communities.
“They just don’t know how to do it successfully.
“Vital health information is not being communicated to our regions because government has ceased to include small regional and rural newspapers in their marketing campaigns and would rather spend their money with Facebook to get their message out.
“Accessibility of evolving health orders that incur criminal penalties and hefty fines is of great concern to us.
“We’d like to see the NSW Government remedy this immediately.”
The Local Government (General) Amendment (COVID-19) Regulation 2020, which removes requirements for councils to publish advertisements and announcements in local newspapers, is already hurting small local papers and their communities.
Now, these same publications are left out of state government health campaigns.
“These measures impact a person’s right to access information, and we see the reality of that in the misinformation spreading through our regions relating to COVID-19 health orders and restrictions being relayed through social media,” Mr Banasiak said.
“The most up-to-date ABS statistics tell us that there are 421 000 households without internet access.
“It is these people that rely on the local paper to inform them.”
Get all the latest Newcastle news, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, competitions and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Newcastle Weekly Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.
For more news stories:
