Wagga’s leaders have used the budget reply speech by Opposition Leader Luke Foley as an opportunity to emphasise the importance of maintaining existing infrastructure.
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In his budget reply speech on Thursday, Mr Foley renewed Labor’s support for selling the state’s share of the Snowy scheme to the federal government, but only if all of the proceeds – an estimated $4 or $5 billion – are spent in regional NSW.
The Labor leader flagged “regional schools, TAFEs, hospitals, roads, energy, water, cultural and sporting infrastructure”, but didn’t detail any specific projects in the Riverina or southern part of the state generally.
Wagga mayor Greg Conkey believes that while there was a list of big-ticket new projects that would benefit the city, it was equally important to ensure existing facilities were maintained.
“We have, for example, a road network that needs repairs and maintenance,” he said. “We have $1.5 billion in assets and $80 million to spend. We need more funds to maintain our asset base.”
Former Labor state candidate and current Wagga councillor Dan Hayes agreed there was a lack of specifically named projects in Mr Foley’s address.
But, he said, the biggest difference between the budget announced by NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Mr Foley’s reply was an investment in people.
Cr Hayes said while the treasurer had announced a lot of infrastructure projects, the budget was “not really following through on people.
“Look at the way TAFE has been gutted over the last six years, or the announcements of more staff for FACS, yet there always seems to be a hiring freeze,” he said.
Concerns about adequate nursing, police and paramedic staff had also been voiced in Wagga, Cr Hayes said.
Member for Wagga Daryl Maguire said he understood the concerns of Cr Conkey about maintaining existing assets.
“But we are doing something about that. We are now investing in helping councils fix the backlog,” he said.
