YOU couldn’t be blamed for thinking the current NSW Government is so untrustworthy that if the Premier’s Department put out a press release saying the sun was going to come up tomorrow you’d want to get up early just to make sure.

Yesterday’s NSW State Infrastructure Strategy makes it very clear what this Government is willing to say it will do in order to win an election or, in our case, to keep The Nationals out of the local seat. It is a very different story to what it will actually do.

On March 7, 2007 – just weeks out from the last State Election – Morris Iemma pledged construction would begin on the new Tamworth Hospital in the life of what is now the current

parliament.

Yesterday, with less than three years of the current parliamentary term to run, the treasurer, Michael Costa, released an infrastucture plan that stated “planning will continue” on the Tamworth hospital redevelopment for the next four years.

And, even more alarmingly, the infrastructure plan carries a notation saying the hospital redevelopment has been included but not yet approved by the NSW Government.

The one person who may well feel embarrassed by this latest development – because there are numerous past proofs of his integrity – is the independent member for Tamworth, Peter

Draper.

Mr Draper told The Leader last week he was “comfortable” with State Government financial commitments to the hospital project and confident that the promised work would begin in the life of the current parliament.

We are in no doubt Mr Draper was telling the truth in so much as he was passing on assurances he had been given.

We are also in no doubt it may well be some time before he is “comfortable” with an assurance from the Iemma Government again.

The challenge now facing our local member is to remind the Iemma Government of its commitment to the people of Tamworth and to ensure – despite the bad news in yesterday’s report – construction does begin on the original timetable if not sooner.