Janelle Saffin said interpreting the recent State Budget was an exercise in trying to match up the Berejiklian-Barilaro government’s election commitments with budget papers scant on detail.
Ms Saffin had been following up with various Ministers on the NSW Nationals’ suite of election commitments made during the campaign for different parts of the electorate of Lismore.
‘This is what any newly-elected MP worth their salt would do on behalf of the community groups and organisations anxious for news that funding was locked in so they could get on with their projects,’ Ms Saffin said.
Deputy Premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro wrote back to Ms Saffin, confirming that the Liberals and Nationals government would honour all election commitments.
‘Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention,’ Mr Barilaro wrote.
Ms Saffin said: ‘I can only take him at his word. As a bit of insurance though, I have compiled a spreadsheet of all election commitments and will hold the government to account if there is any slippage in delivering them.
‘An example of Budget brevity was that 60 per cent of the government’s new or upgraded schools have no details attached to them in Budget Paper 2 – the Infrastructure Statement,’ Ms Saffin said.
‘In my electorate – Bexhill Public School (election commitment) and Murwillumbah High School and Murwillumbah East Public School (ongoing upgrades announced in 2017/18)– have nothing next to them.’
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