Mr Gee addressed the much-needed crossing with the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Darren Chester by referencing the 1989 movie ‘Field of Dreams’.

As part of the recent submission, he included the famous quote from the 1989 movie.

In the movie, the lead character hears a voice when walking through his corn field which says ‘If you build it, he will come’. He builds a baseball field and a long dead professional baseball player turns up to play catch.

The quote has been adapted into a business setting and often means, if you build something people will come to use (and pay for) it.

“I use whatever means possible and I try and do it in a nice way and if a little bit of humour helps, great,” Mr Gee said.

“The minister had a laugh about it and he told me after that he found the submission amusing.”

Back in December 2016, the federal and NSW state governments committed $200,000 to investigate the connection between Orange and Mudgee.

The federal government promised $100,000 toward the study and project planning during the July election campaign.

Mr Gee updated the Mudgee Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, stating the costing report ‘looks really good’.

“There is still a lot of work yet to do, we’re still waiting on the final report from Cabonne Council but we have the basic numbers and there is some scope there to get it done.

“I think we need to bring the parties together now –  federal, state and local – and get everyone on the same page because they’re not at the moment,” he said.

Currently, the crossing over the Macquarie River is only possible with a four-wheel drive and much of the route is dirt. 

An upgraded road and crossing would cut the route to Orange by 80 kilometres.

Travellers either have to drive through Bathurst and Sofala or through Wellington and Gulgong.

“I think there is scope to do something but there is a little bit of work to do yet – it terms of who would actually do what and who would pay for what – but that’s always the issue with government,” Mr Gee said.