WHILE he insists he was happy with the budget delivery to his electorate, Tamworth state MP Kevin Anderson will have obviously been disappointed with the rollout of financial figures from yesterday’s 2015 state budget.
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There wasn’t much by way of any surprises, certainly not any big birthday boxes to validate his win in the March election.
Maybe the government ran out of steam after a veritable ministerial parade of politicians during the campaign, when preliminary internal polling suggested the sitting member might have been in some trouble, given the early impetus for the previous independent Peter Draper’s position as his main opponent.
The Coalition, too, had a few shaky moments, given the issues of mining versus prime agricultural land – the food bowl of the Liverpool Plains – and Mr Anderson’s seemingly soft stance there.
It was obvious, as the campaign went on, that the momentum turned to the sitting member, but the Nationals particularly, with leader Troy Grant leading the charge with a handful of high-profile visits, wanted no risk to their hold on the seat.
Along the way, there were some undertakings for some big-budget investment, so yesterday would have been a real letdown for many, particularly in relation to the money that wasn’t there for the Gunnedah hospital upgrade, or the entire amount for the sporting centre of excellence at Tamworth, which might include more quality sports facilities, including an aquatic centre.
During the campaign, there was much made about the proposal and Mr Anderson pushing his party for $4 million for it.
We know Tamworth Regional Council and Mr Anderson were hoping to see a full commitment of that funding for that centre at the sporting precinct at the Longyard.
There’s seed money, of course, in the shape of $1 million, which is something, but it’s not the whole game plan.
And there were some other start-up funds for other big-budget projects, which will demand a lot more in the end, too.
And a lot of what we can see in the budget papers are “finishing-off funds”, so to speak – the project end bits for infrastructure works already under way, like Tangaratta Bridge, Chaffey Dam, Parry School and Tamworth hospital.
And there’s some regional roads money, but no more than we will have expected.
The onus, of course, will be on Mr Anderson to go in fighting hard for a bigger slice of the pie along the way over the next year.
