Ballina Electorate Media Releases
Rees Government Puts Opera House Revamp Before Vital Regional Infrastructure (25/03/2009)
Member for Ballina, Don Page MP was appalled at the Rees Labor Government’s decision to spend $1 billion on refurbishing the Sydney Opera House.
“Since the State Labor Government’s mini-budget in November they have announced the closure of the Alstonville Tropical Horticulture Research Centre, the closure of the Vet Labs at Wollongbar Agricultural Centre, a two year delay to the commencement of the Tintenbar to Ewingsdale section of the Pacific Highway and 400 jobs to be cut from the North Coast Area Health Service,” Mr Page said.
“These cuts to our region were justified by the State Labor Government due to a lack of funding and a need to cut costs in the current global financial crisis,” he said.
“Now the Rees Labor Government feels it is a priority to give the Opera House a face lift. How can they justify spending $1 billion on the Opera House when they can’t pay their bills for basic running costs in our hospitals?”
“This is yet another example of the incompetent and out-of-touch State Labor Government,” Mr Page said.
“We are losing services at a frightening rate on the North Coast and very little is being spent by the State Labor Government on improving infrastructure. The decision to focus on the Sydney Opera House is another example of the city-centric attitude of the Rees Labor Government,” he said.
“In the current economic downturn jobs are vital to the regions. Action is urgently needed to reverse the current decreasing population of NSW.”
The latest ABS figures showed that in excess of 22,000 people had fled NSW in the year to 30 September 2008 while Queensland increased their population by around the same figure
“Spending $1 billion on the Opera House won’t create a single job in regional NSW nor bring $1 into regional economies,” Mr Page said.
“The State Labor Government need to take urgent action to help the regions and stop focusing all of their attention on Sydney,” Mr Page said.
