Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott.
INDEPENDENT MP for Lyne Rob Oakeshott last week described claims by the National Party that it was their work that secured the $96 million for Port Macquarie Base Hospital, as “extraordinary front”.
“It is misleading to the NSW Parliament and disrespectful to local people who worked for many years on getting the funding, for the new state MP Leslie Williams to claim in Parliament that, in her first 100 days, she clicked her heels and got the fourth and fifth pods.
“Ms Williams needs to correct the record, and bring her over-the-top rhetoric back to planet Earth. The record Commonwealth allocation of $96 million didn’t happen easily. It did, however, happen before the NSW state election even took place.
“To link $96 million of hard-fought Commonwealth dollars, announced prior to the NSW State election, to the first 100 days of the Leslie Williams era, is the cheapest of cheap politics.
“I hope we see better from the Member for Port Macquarie in the future,” Mr Oakeshott said.
Meanwhile Mrs Williams has replied to Mr Oakshott’s comments labelling them “a bit rich”.
“Regarding Port Macquarie Base Hospital, the Liberals and Nationals committed to building the 4th pod of the hospital way back in September 2008. That is the simple fact,” Mrs Williams said.
“The speech I made in Parliament on Tuesday was on the improved funding arrangements between the State and Federal Governments which will now see us getting an extra $3 billion for NSW Health over six years. I would have thought that was a positive outcome and not something to nit pick about.
“The fact is under the Liberals and Nationals State Government, the projects I mentioned in Parliament are being delivered and were committed to prior to the March election. There is no disputing that.
“I have been working hard for many years for our local area and will continue to. I am more interested in that than worrying about the egos of Independent MPs,” Mrs Williams said.
“In the most outrageous case of the pot calling the kettle black, if Mr Oakeshott and his staff want to make these sort of claims, I’d be more than happy to remind our community about the Independent’s claiming the $578 million upgrade of the Pacific Highway between Herons Creek and Coopernook as theirs, when it was Mark Vaile who negotiated the deal in 2006.
“Politics is about working for better outcomes for your community. I would be happy to sit down and have a chat with Mr Oakeshott about working together to achieve results for our area, rather than him critiquing my performance. I’ll leave that up to our community”, Mrs Williams said.