THIS year’s State Budget has delivered some major projects for the Port Macquarie electorate as part of a plan to build for the future and invest in the growing needs of our community.
Member for Port Macquarie, Leslie Williams said, “Despite the current economic climate in NSW, the Liberals & Nationals Government has delivered a strong but tough budget which has honoured on our promise to supporting regional NSW and this budget highlights that fact.
“The inclusion of a public school at Lake Cathie, a multi-million dollar water reservoir at Thrumster and ongoing funding allocations for the upgrade of the Pacific Highway and Port Macquarie Base Hospital are all significant projects for our electorate.
“Locally more than $85.2 million dollars has been allocated to our electorate.
“[Last Tuesday’s] funding announcement is vindication of the work my staff and I have done over the past 12 months, meeting with every State Minister to argue the case for our fair share of funding.
“I am particularly pleased that the Budget included the Lake Cathie Public School with planning work already underway. This is the only new school being built in regional NSW.
“Under a new Building the State package to boost housing construction, a water reservoir will be built for the Thrumster release area and Sancrox employment area, accelerating the release of 4,500 properties for the Port Macquarie region,” Mrs Williams said.
“This infrastructure announcement to stimulate the Port Macquarie housing and construction sector will be matched with additional incentives for both first home owners and new home buyers.
“The generous First Home Owners Grant will more than double to $15,000 and a New Home Grant of $5,000 will be welcome news and will re-invigorate our local housing market and the broader local economy.
“The Budget builds better services including more nurses, more police and more teachers throughout NSW,” Mrs Williams said.
“The Budget’s focus on infrastructure will give the Port Macquarie electorate the kick start it needs and is a very welcome initiative.
“While the Federal Government is contributing less to NSW infrastructure, the NSW Budget increases infrastructure spending by 17 per cent over the next four years, compared with the past four years.
“The people of the Port Macquarie electorate will see in this Budget a focus on building better infrastructure for the services we rely on every day,” Mrs Williams said.