COUNTRY Women’s Association (CWA) Coffs Harbour members promoted their organisation’s annual Awareness Week this year by setting up a stand at the Plaza shopping centre selling homemade goodies and having community conversations about the rural health crisis.
The Week’s theme focuses on the organisation’s Rural Health Action Plan (RHAP), calling on the government to ‘Stop normalising the rural health crisis – start fixing it’.
“In the regions we are seen as ‘the poor country cousins’,” CWA Coffs Harbour branch President Ros Hopwood told News Of The Area.
“In NSW so many birthing units have closed down, and in rural and remote areas there’s also a lack of General Practitioners (GPs).”
Statewide the members are urging for a GP guarantee and calling for action to be taken on funding flexible, team-based models and training local workforces.
Secondly, they are lobbying for the Government to reopen rural birthing units and expand midwife-led and culturally safe models.
Other suggested actions in the RHAP are to redirect funds to permanent staffing, housing and support; mandate genuine consultation and embed communities in governance, including First Nations communities; create an independent Rural Health Commissioner and fund Rural Health Precincts; and require collaboration between hospitals, GPs and community care.
“Yesterday we had the opportunity of talking to shoppers and promoting this theme,” Mrs Hopwood said.
Shoppers comments included: “I’m glad I live close to a maternity hospital” and “gosh, that is terrible in this day and age, no doctor in town”.
“Our members felt happy promoting this Rural Health Action Plan and shoppers went home with CWA jams, pickles, relishes and lemon butter.”
CWA of NSW Awareness Week 2026 runs from Sunday 6 September to Saturday 12 September.
The campaign provides branches statewide with the opportunity to acknowledge and raise awareness of their work in the community and give other women a taste of the fun and friendship enjoyed by members in their town.
“CWA started 104 years ago, in1922, and our aim was to improve the welfare and conditions of women and children, support schemes for rest homes and rest rooms in country towns for women and children, and Baby Health Centres in country districts along with skilled maternity treatment, proper accommodation for maternity cases, bush nursing services, maternity wards and Australia’s first volunteer ambulance service,” Mrs Hopwood said.
“In1923 the CWA Binya (30 kms from Griffith, Riverina area of NSW) members fundraised for a bush nursing centre and hospital.
“It was close to a railway station and the centre provided accommodation for a nurse and two or three patients, including a maternity ward with one bed, which opened in June 1923.
“Here we are, 103 years later and still fundraising for the same thing – a GP in rural or remote areas, restoring maternity services, and more,” Mrs Hopwood said.
The National’s Party State Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh visited the stand and Federal Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan sent representatives Karolyn Dennes and Liz Newberry.
By Andrea FERRARI
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