A Gunnedah community organisation has been gagged amid a funding furore which is holding back multi-million-dollar development plans.

Gunida Gunyah Aboriginal Corporation in Gunnedah was last year awarded $2 million in Australian Government funding to expand its Community Cultural Hub Project.

The grant announcement was marked by the appearance of NSW Senator and Labor’s duty senator for the federal seat of Parkes, Deborah O’Neill. But nearly a year since the funding announcement was made in May, the organisation is yet to see a single dollar in assistance or even have their contracts signed.

Frustratingly – even before the first round of projects has started – the federal government this week announced a second round of funding recipients but with only one successful applicant in the entire Parkes electorate – a vast geographical area of some 406,755 sq km.

Parkes MP Mark Coulton said slow progress on the release of funding was not good enough from the Labor government.

“Round 1 recipients [are] yet to even sign a contract, let alone receive a cent of the funding that was promised to them back in May last year,” Mr Coulton said.

“Those five projects … Gunida Gunyah Community Cultural Hub … cannot start until a contract has been signed.

“It’s extremely frustrating for those communities which have been waiting for eight months to see these important projects get underway.”

The Gunnedah Times approached Gunida Gunyah about the delay in funding but was told the organisation was unable to comment.

Mr Coulton’s recent criticism comes after last year accusing the government of a two-month delay to the funding rollout.

The government said at the time that the delay was minimal – a matter of weeks – and urged people to keep the big picture in mind in terms of project delivery.

The proposed new Gunida Gunyah hub developments will include a community meeting and workshop space, an exhibition centre, a café and functional kitchen, a gift shop, outdoor yarning circle, accessible bathrooms and laundry, a mural artwork on the building’s exterior and improvements to signage.

The office of the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Catherine King, was contacted for comment.

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