OAKESHOTT INDEPENDENT
NO SURPRISES IN STATE BUDGET FOR PORT MACQUARIE. RATHER, WORKS CONTINUE ON SOME KEY PROJECTS, LOBBYING CONTINUES ON OTHERS.........
No great surprises jumped out from the State Budget for the Port Macquarie electorate today, with ongoing works at the $6 million Port Macquarie TAFE upgrade, the $2 million new Port Macquarie ambulance station, the $2.4 million Port Macquarie Base Hospital mental health unit upgrade, and the $110 million allocated to the Moorland to Herons Creek section of the Pacific Highway being the stand out local features.
"This is the final round of funding for our new ambulance station which should be well and truly operational by budget time next year, and the campaign to drag the other services into this combined emergency facility now begins in earnest, Mr Oakeshott said.
"It is time both the fire brigade and the SES put their plans on the table for their move into this excellent new combined facility, said Mr Oakeshott.
"The final $5 million has been allocated to complete the TAFE/ University upgrade for Port Macquarie, and this is an important project with the majority of funding having come from State Government for these improved education facilities, Mr Oakeshott said.
"This is the start of a new generation of education in Port Macquarie, and I am now interested in further growing this TAFE/University capacity beyond where we have got to do today, Mr Oakeshott said.
"The continued Pacific Highway upgrades are welcome, particularly with the big dollars being allocated to the Moorland-Herons Creek section, one of the final sections left undone in the Port Macquarie electorate. I am also pleased to see $3 million allocated to planning works for the Oxley Highway-Kempsey section of the Highway, which is an important and much needed section of Highway upgrade that has just become part of the Port Macquarie electorate, Mr Oakeshott said.
"And once again, I am certainly pleased to see $4 million allocated to the Oxley Highway to Wrights Road upgrade, and hope we can finally see the last two compulsory acquisitions resolved, so that construction works can begin. However, I make a similar point to last year, that I find it somewhat extraordinary that the RTA has already managed to spend over $9 million on planning, consultation, and some acquisitions. In the end, we need to question whether we have currently received $9 million worth of outcomes at this point in time, Mr Oakeshott said today.
19 June 2007