We are made up of numerous towns and cities with thousands of residents that contribute to the economy.

The MIA is one of the largest food bowls in the country.

So the state budget had to throw cash our way to save face.

But it was pocket change, only enough to be a token gesture at best.

The cash will skim the surface of some of the region’s projects while others have been left completely untouched.

The Riverina will receive about $51 million for numerous projects in a budget that splurged about $72.7 billion over four years, predominantly in the cities.

Regional NSW has been neglected. 

When people flee country NSW at least they will be able to drive into Sydney and Newcastle on smooth new roads with multiple billions of dollars dedicated to their upgrade.

Gocup Road between Tumut and Gundagai will receive about half of the allocations for the Riverina.

It is clear that roads are at the forefront of their minds, everything else be damned.

The funding we got is a drop in the ocean compared to what is really needed to complete the projects.

If the state’s cities and towns were high school students, Sydney, Newcastle and Woolongong would be the popular kids while regional areas would be hanging out under the bleachers.

Because when it came to allocating funds, we were clearly not visible enough to remember we needed attention.

The only thing we are lighter on than funding is details on projects that were mentioned.

We have been earmarked for a new public school but where is anyone’s guess.

And don’t even get us started on the Junee jail sewage debacle. 

At some point we have to call the $4.2 billion what it is – more of a peacocking gesture than an actual attempt to save money.

What we got is nothing compared to what they saved and it definitely seems like they could have spent more to finish projects in the region rather than committing to drip-feeding them funding over the coming years.

Or perhaps we are being ungrateful and it’s naive to think we deserve more.

But we can’t grow the region on hopes and dreams, we need dollars to do it.