BY DAKOTA TAIT
The Regional Roads Minister has admitted he can't confirm even a single kilometre of regional roads across the Hunter and the State had been transferred to the NSW Government, despite a major election commitment in 2019.
Sam Farraway's also told Budget Estimates, the 15,000 kilometre commitment was a ceiling, and not a minimum.
The Coalition made the 2019 election promise in the hopes of alleviating the financial pressure on councils struggling to manage local roads.
Shadow Regional Roads Minister and Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison says the promise was another attempt at pork-barrelling, and regional councils were banking on it being realised.
"If you look at a council like Dungog, for example, they don't have state roads in that council," she said. "Every single road has to be maintained as the responsibility of the council."
"We know there are roads in that council which connect to other electorates. They fulfil, one could say, a state function or at least a regional function."
"We've been told for years about the financial issues that Dungog Council had. This was a policy that was supposed to and promised to reduce the burden on council and on the ratepayers who are looking at increasing rates all the time."
"This is right across all of the regional councils in the Hunter."
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| Regional Transport and Roads Minister Sam Farraway at Budget Estimates last week. |
