A UK journalist was in Cobar last week talking to locals to get a rural perspective on what Australians think about The Voice Referendum.
Currently based in Bangkok for the UK Telegraph, Sarah Newey was tasked with the job of reporting on the Voice Referendum in Australia.
Sarah said from an international interest point of view, the Voice is being compared to Great Britain’s ‘Brexit’.
Sarah has worked for The Telegraph for the past five years and has been based in Thailand since the beginning of this year as their Global Health Security Correspondent.
While her subject matter is normally health based, Sarah got this assignment as her paper doesn’t have anyone based in Australia.
“I was the closest, 10 hours away,” Sarah said.
She’s in Australia for a week and spent her first few days in Sydney getting a feel of what city people are saying about the referendum.
Sarah said she also wanted to get a rural point of view to give her articles some contrast and that’s how she ended up in Cobar.
“I wanted to go to the Northern Territory but that was too hard to organise, I’m only here in Australia for a week,” Sarah said.
“I was put in touch with Gemma [McKinnion] who told me about the information sessions they were doing out west and, for me, Cobar was the easiest to get to.”
It still however required driving for a full day to get here.
Sarah attended the Voice Referendum Information and Q&A Session last Wednesday night at the Services Club, talked to a few locals after the session, had dinner with a couple more and then lunch the next day with another local.
After learning a bit more about the town, Sarah was curious to have a look around and see if there were any more stories of interest she could cover while she was here.
She was directed to the Cobar Sound Chapel and the museum and also spoke to NSW Rural Fire Service Far West District Manager Brad Lennon about the upcoming bushfire season.
And just before she headed off back to Sydney on Thursday afternoon, Sarah also visited the Newey. (She thought there could possibly be a family connection with the name, but we put her straight and let her know ‘Newey’ was a nickname given to the New Tank Reservoir
