The NSW election campaign is drawing to a close and the smell of the democracy sausage is almost in the air.
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So how has Maitland faired with local election promises from the Coalition - the Liberals and Nationals - and the Labor Party, and what can residents expect from the next state government?
The Mercury asked Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison (Labor) and Liberal candidate for Maitland Michael Cooper to list their party's promises for the electorate.
The Coalition will build a new ambulance station in East Maitland, through the $615 million NSW Ambulance infrastructure program that was announced in the 2022-23 State Budget. The East Maitland project is one of 30 across NSW.
The Coalition has promised to build new preschools at Bolwarra Public School, Gillieston Public School and Lochinvar Public School and provide a free universal pre-kindergarten program there five days a week.
The Coalition will also make parking at Maitland Hospital free from July 1.
The Labor Party will give Maitland council an extra $1.8 million in emergency road repair funding for urgent works, put $15 million towards planning and early works for the duplication of the Thornton Rail Bridge, and pay $2.5 million to replace Melville Ford timber bridge.
Labor will also split $293,000 between 10 Maitland community groups.
The breakdown will be:
- $100,000 to Early Links Ashtonfield for kitchen upgrade and ergonomic workstations to support cooking classes for people with disability
- $80,000 to replace the kitchen for the local motocross dirt bike track for the Maitland District Motorcycle Club.
- $10,000 to Friends of Palliative Care in collaboration with other Hunter Palliative Care organisations to produce a palliative care information booklet.
- $10,000 to Maitland Against Domestic Violence (MADA) for raising awareness of domestic violence through flyers, website and community activities.
- $10,000 to Carrie's Place Refuge for CCTV and fund a group facilitator for specialist programs.
- $10,000 to Got Your Back Sista for new computers to enable domestic violence outreach programs.
- $10,000 to Maitland Family Support to fund four fully trained staff to deliver Bringing Baby Home program.
- $10,000 to Hume Community Housing towards equipment and supplies to support activities for underprivileged youth, such as murals and sporting activities.
- $18,000 to Maitland Regional Community Support to provide funding for hampers to support vulnerable people in community.
- $35,000 to the Maitland Business Chamber and the Maitland Liquor Accord in support of Maitland's inaugural Best Bite Program.
Labor will also double the funding for local Landcare groups in Maitland including Bolwarra Landcare, Earthcare Park and Luskintyre Landcare group.
In other news:
The Coalition and Labor are promising statewide policies that will have some benefit to the Maitland electorate.
Related: for a detailed list of where all the parties sit on certain issues, click here.
The Coalition pointed to its priorities for the first 100 days in office and flagged three. These are:
- Making the $250 energy bill rebate available for all households that undertake a comparison of their current energy deal.
- Open expressions of interest for our NSW Kids Future Fund on Service NSW and work with TCorp to finalise the design of the account.
- Expand the First Home Buyer Choice program, giving eligible homeowners the opportunity to continue paying an annual fee instead of stamp duty for future home purchases.
The Coalition's other priorities for the first 100 days in office are:
- Direct Transport for NSW to reduce the Opal cap by 20 per cent, effective 1May.
- Allow domestic and family violence victim-survivors to have their first home owner status reinstated.
- Increase community involvement in planning decisions.
- Legislate the right to one-year of free preschool for all children.
- Ban offshore mining and exploration in NSW waters.
- Appoint a new Supply Chain Commissioner and hold the first industry roundtable, with a focus on regulatory barriers.
- Roll out a trial in pharmacies across the state for the diagnosis and treatment of UTIs and the renewal of contraceptive pill scripts.
- Make the $1,000 Small Business Fees and Charges rebate available through Service NSW.
- Continue planning works for the construction of new preschools on school sites across NSW.
- Establish the cashless gaming transition taskforce - including industry and harm minimisation experts - to lead the implementation of our plan for cashless gaming.
- Commence the procurement process for the business cases for the four new Sydney Metro lines to ensure Western Sydney has the infrastructure needed for a growing population.
- Commence industry and stakeholder consultation on our 'reasonable grounds eviction' policy, standard three and five year lease agreements and design of the rental bond rollover scheme.
- Open applications for the expanded Farm Innovation Fund from July 1 to help farmers invest in innovation and infrastructure to future proof their operations.
- Go-live of our website reporting on the delivery of election commitments.
Ms Aitchison provided the following list of statewide policies that would benefit Maitland residents.
- Minimum Safe Staffing levels in public hospitals, including one nurse to three patients in emergency departments, and 1:4 in general wards.
- Additional 1200 nurses and midwives across the state.
- Additional 500 regional paramedics across the state.
- Specialist breast care nurses for every person in NSW experiencing breast cancer.
- New study subsidies for recruiting and retaining health workers.
- Build three new helicopter ambulance bases across NSW to reduce emergency health response times in regional and rural NSW.
- Additional 600 permanent firefighters for NSW Fire & Rescue across the state.
- Create 10,000 new permanent teaching roles across NSW to combat the teacher shortage crisis and unwind the Liberal government's casualisation of the teaching workforce.
- Ban mobile phones in public schools
- Rebuild TAFE with a funding guarantee and 1000 new apprentices across the state employed by the NSW Government
- Scrap the unfair wages cap on essential workers like nurses and paramedics, teachers, police and firefighters
- Rebuild the manufacturing industry in NSW by introducing local content rules, building new trains in NSW, and creating manufacturing centres of excellence.
Belinda-Jane Davis
Passionate about community news
Passionate about community news
