BY JESSICA ROUSE
Whether it's a better plan for housing affordability or funding boosts for local infrastructure, all will be revealed when the Federal Budget is handed down this evening.
The NRMA is hoping the budget will provide funding boosts to projects they've been involved with across the Hunter, in particular plans for improving the bottleneck at Hexham with traffic heading to and from the Sydney motorway, and the Lake Macquarie interchange which will get commuters out of cars and onto public transport.
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| Kyle Loades Image dailytelegraph.com.au |
NRMA Chairman Kyle Loades believes more funding to continue improving Hunter's major roads will continue to reduce fatalities and make the roads a safer place to be.
"The reality is the more investment into five-star roads saves lives and even though there have been improvements, there's still much more to be done so the federal government need to keep committing more funds for regional and our major roads around the Hunter and beyond," said Kyle Loades.
Meanwhile, Hunter housing experts are confident a solution to the affordable housing crisis in Newcastle will be outlined in tonight's federal budget.
Negative gearing is unlikely to be abolished, but experts say they'd be surprised if a housing solution wasn't discussed in the budget and expect it will increase the supply of affordable housing.
Hunter Director of the Property Council Andrew Fletcher says if there isn't a concrete plan within the budget tonight, "they can also force state and local governments to lift their game in terms of planning and doing those sorts of things over time will see pressure come off rising house prices".
The median house price in Newcastle has risen from around $300,000 to around $500,000 making it near impossible for first home buyers to get into the market and forcing many to look outside of the city.
"We've got commonwealth and NSW budgets due in the coming weeks - at the heart of those budgets we expect new policy measures on housing affordability and policy settings which will help solve the Hunters housing shortage," said Andrew Fletcher.
