Labor Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin has welcomed the state government’s announcement of a new State Emergency Services Incident Control Centre in the flood-ravaged regional city.

While Byron Shire roads get $25m of the $70m needed to get them up to a reasonable standard and Ballina gets a commitment for some money in the future for the hospital emergency department the environment is once again left to burn.

The NSW Budget 2018-19 Electorate Report (Ballina) is a simple 13 page document that lists capital projects, transport projects, ‘Restart NSW fund projects’ and regional grant funds across this electorate.

In recent weeks, northern rivers communities have been tantalised with promises by the state government. But when it came to setting out those promises in the ledger of yesterday’s state budget, there was little to see.

With the state budget just hours away, Greens Member for Ballina, Tamara Smith has called on the coalition government to keep the many promises it made to the Ballina electors in during the March state election campaign.

Not much of the state government’s highly publicised $60 billion infrastructure program has trickled as far as the north coast, according to its critics. The winners in this year’s budget have been health and roads, but even there concerns have been raised.