All Media - Coverage of Suburban or Regional Affairs - Winner

Greg McFarland, Central Western Daily, "Cadia Wants Our Water"

The hardship of drought was naturally a common theme to many regional stories this year, but Greg McFarland’s story raised the most awful dilemma a community could face: choosing between water and jobs.

In drought-ravaged Orange, the town’s biggest employer, a gold mine, attempted to buy much of the town’s water supply from the council. McFarland initially broke the story in early May with leaked information from the local government. The next day the local council officially revealed it had been approached to sell water.

The stories ignited passionate debate, prompting a barrage of letters to the editor as McFarland covered the issue from employment, financial, environmental, social and legal viewpoints.

It was a true community story but it spoke to the heart of the drought-induced hardship across Australia, and went on to be picked up nationally.

Greg McFarland’s reporting career has been spent in country media, mainly with the Central Western Daily in Orange, NSW, where he is currently the senior journalist. Born in Darwin, he studied journalism at the University of Canberra.

He was initially a reporter with The Land newspaper before going into daily news at the Central Western Daily in 1993.

McFarland won the national Dalgety Farmers Award for rural reporting in 1993, and a United Nations Media Peace Award commendation in 1996.

Judges’ comments

A standout exclusive of local, state and national significance.

McFarland used his contacts to deliver a newsworthy and incisive story which is balanced, fair and nuanced. It is clearly written and canvasses a lot of voices and angles; no small feat for a reporter with limited resources to call on.