Later I lived and worked in Newcastle for a year or so before returning to Armidale, where I had attended senior school and university. Until 18 months ago I had been the district manager at the Probation and Parole office in Gunnedah and had earlier filled the equivalent positions at Moree and Gunnedah.

A Labor government will restore funding to hospitals, schools and TAFEs; appoint 840 nurses to emergency departments and paediatric units; fund 500 extra paramedics and associated assets such as vehicles; allocate $100 million to replace more than 1200 temporary structures with real classrooms; and fight for every dollar under the Gonski agreement for NSW school students. 

TAFE course fees will be pegged at 2014 levels, indexed for inflation, saving students hundreds of dollars on the increases imposed under the Nationals and the Liberals from just last year to this. 

Labor will reverse the cuts made to hospitals, schools and TAFE without selling, or leasing, the poles and wires. We will allocate an additional $10 billion for state infrastructure, with $3 billion to be spent in country areas, with $1 billion of that for roads, including in the Liverpool Plains area. 

For the Tamworth and Gunnedah areas, I would promote speedy implementation of drought policy, fight for jobs and liaise with the community on road projects.

And, as I have discussed with a local newsagent, Labor has promised to back newsagencies to remain the main point of sale for lottery tickets. Labor will restore the drought declaration system abolished by the Coalition and reintroduce stock and fodder subsidies and transport subsidies up to a value of $20,000 for farmers affected by drought for nine months or more. 

Labor will also press the federal Coalition to review its eligibility criteria for income assistance for farmers during tough times.

– Joe Hillard

Labor