But what does Wagga need right now?

That's the question we posed to Wagga community members, putting together our very own local 'wish list' ahead of the state budget.

Riverina Therapeutic Health mental health social worker Katie Murrell-Orgill said there are plenty of improvements Wagga could immediately use in the health sector.

"How long of a list can you write?" she said.

"Because there's just so many areas that would be of benefit to Wagga.

"One of them would be a treatment program or a clinic for eating disorders which we don't really seem to have set up outside of the hospital system at the moment.

According to Ms Murrell-Orgill, treating a condition like an eating disorder requires services from a mental health clinician, a dietitian and a doctor.

"Often the client is travelling to multiple venues to see these people and it gets quite expensive," she said.

"They don't really have access to that specialised care in Wagga."

Ms Murrell-Orgill said she'd also like to see more financial incentives like relocation grants offered to draw clinicians to regional areas like Wagga, with month-long wait lists hindering access to specialised health care in the region.

"To get more mental health clinicians to the area with an incentive to come here, the same as the doctors, I think that would be really valuable," she said.

Aboriginal cultural heritage survey worker Uncle James Ingram said the Wagga region needs state investment in Aboriginal Country initiatives.

"Livingstone and Berry Jerry and other national parks around Wagga need to be co-managed with my people," he said.

"And that way, we get to run training programs from cert twos in land management conservation, right through to degrees.

"We're probably looking at about a workforce of 10 people and then we would look at running junior ranger programs out of the high schools."

The Wiradjuri elder said he and many others would also like to see a large Aboriginal Keeping Place built locally - a community-managed space which houses and displays historical Indigenous artefacts.

"We believe that in Wagga, being such a central place, that we should have an Aboriginal Keeping Place for more artefacts and the telling of the story of the great nation of Wiradjuri," he said.

"We're actively pursuing that goal and looking for investment from the National Indigenous Australian Agency and the state government and federal government."

Wagga business Chamber business manager Serena Hardwick said businesses in the region would benefit from reduced red tape.

"What that would mean in the state budget is that we would like to see additional resourcing ... ensuring a faster process," she said.

"We've had examples of businesses that are struggling to get things like liquor licences or development applications."

Wagga councillor Georgie Davies said a Central Wagga conference centre would be a big help in attracting business tourism to the region and to raise council funds.

"It's obviously an expensive project, so it would require support from state government."

"We have the gun range and we have venues at the university where you can host business events.

"But nothing's in town, nothing's really attracting big conferences and we miss out on a lot of events because we don't have the facilities."

Cr Davies also said funding should go towards Wagga's roads.

"The state of our roads always needs improving, and we always rely on state and federal government grants to improve our roads," she said.

Blamey Street Surgery principal GP Dr Rachel Glasson said areas with major inequities between regions and cities are mental health and women's health.

"We are in desperate need of more counselling services and psychology services," she said.

"Everyone that I refer for counselling under mental health treatment plans these days, I have to give them a list of places to call around and just find out who might be able to see them.

"A lot of places have closed their books."

According to Dr Glasson, women's health and services in contraceptive options are areas of need in Wagga and most regional centres around the state.

"I went to a presentation at the Women's Health Centre involving a representative from Family Planning [NSW] and she put up a map that showed where surgical terminations are available in New South Wales and it is all on the east coast."

"There is virtually nothing at all west of Penrith".

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Wagga Residents and Ratepayers Association's Lynne Bodell said there are several issues the association hears about from its members.

"One that constantly comes to us is more road funding," she said.

"Council is well and truly underfunded for roads, so that would have to be top of the list."

"Second would be, we still get inquiries about how they're going with the lake."

Dr Bodell said many in the association would like to see successful funding applications with the state government to facilitate the Lake Albert pipeline and help maintain the lake's water levels.

Prominent Wagga hotelier Sean O'Hara said one Wagga suburb has a glaring and immediate need.

"North Wagga needs a levee so it doesn't flood again - that's very important," he said.

"I know you keep a lot of people happy in the North Wagga area if they could build a levee."

On a lighter note, Mr O'Hara also suggested a giant monument similar to the famed Hollywood sign.

"We should have a massive 'Wagga Wagga' on Willans Hill," he said.

Wagga Women's Health Centre co-founder Jan Roberts said centres like Wagga's have been on "very low funding" for many years.

"We have a peak body called Women's Health New South Wales, who has been running a campaign coming up to this budget, to have the core funding for all women's centres doubled," she said.

"That would be quite significant in Wagga because we're one of the lowest core funded [centres].

"The Women's Centre only gets funded for three full time positions - and that's not much."

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