Mr Joyce is proud to be a born-and-raised New Englander, and he’s prouder still to fight for “what is vitally important” for the electorate.

While the other candidates could make promises, Mr Joyce said, he could deliver.

“People can say what they want about me, but like him or lump him, he can deliver,” Mr Joyce said.

“I’ve got a proven record of working incredibly hard.”

Mr Joyce doesn’t hide the fact he is second only to the Prime Minister – or what a boon the title of Deputy Prime Minister is to New England.

“My peers elected me to be leader of the National Party; it didn’t happen by mistake,” he said.

“The way politics works is nothing is ever delivered by anybody except a minister. You can’t deliver something as a backbencher, you certainly can’t deliver something if you’re not even in the party that’s in government; you have to lobby the minister to get delivery – and it’s statement of fact, I’m the Deputy Prime Minister.”

Mr Joyce said the election would be tight – not just for New England but for the whole country.

“New England will be front and centre on election night – the outcome here could determine the outcome of the whole nation,” he said.

Education

“WE’VE put more money towards education than any other government before us,” Mr Joyce said.

The Coalition has been criticised for not funding the last two years of the needs-based Gonski education funding, but Mr Joyce said the education of the nation was a complicated issue that wouldn’t be solved through money alone.

“If money was the solution, we should be twice as good as we were in 1988, because we’ve doubled education funding since then – but we’re not,” Mr Joyce said.

“We’ve got to find where the problem is and invest where the problem is. Gonski is not just a blank cheque where you throw any amount of money at it and that will somehow solve it.”

Australia had slipped to the middle of the international pack, Mr Joyce said, with many other countries ranking higher on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development education index, despite spending less on education.

“Singapore and South Korea spend less per student than we do and are vastly ahead of us, so we’ve got to ask further questions,” he said.

“We need to have a really hard look at exactly how we are going about this, so our students match up against other students overseas.”

Coal mines and renewable energy

MR JOYCE is an out spoken critic of the Shenhua Watermark and BHP Caroona coal mines on the Liverpool Plains.

But he said it was not in his power to cancel mining licences.

Mr Joyce said the mining legislation was “overwhelmingly” a state’s responsibility.

“People get frustrated with that, but it’s the truth,” he said.

“If you go beyond where your scheme of power resides, then you’ll end up in the High Court.

“It’s like saying the federal government is responsible for collecting garbage – it’s not, it’s the local government’s responsibility.

“Shenhua’s exploration licence was not approved when I was the member, it was approved when the previous independent [Tony Windsor] was the member. There is no mine at Shenhua.

“Since I’ve been here, it has not been approved; they have not started building the mine.”

With $400 million secured for the Glen Innes wind farm, Mr Joyce said New England would be the only seat in Australia to be a renewable energy exporter.

“That will supply power for 75,000 houses – we don’t have 75,000 houses in New England,” he said.

“It’s the biggest capital investment that has even happened in Glen Innes. It’s going to have 200 workers during construction and another 15 employed full-time when it’s finished.

“It’s funny when people take me on that one, because I can actually show you I’ve done it – you can talk about it, I did it.”

Jobs and infrastructure

MR JOYCE has promised millions of dollars for the region’s infrastructure during his campaign – $3.5 million for a second Jewry St bridge in Tamworth, $24 million to upgrade Mount Lindesay Rd, $75 million for Dungowan Dam, $20 million for the Scone bypass and $8.5 million for the Tamworth sports precinct. 

“This is real delivery. I’m not fighting for something, I’m actually delivering,” Mr Joyce said. 

“People can say this is just for an election, but I fight for this funding all the way through my term. The funding for dams started with the fight for the Agricultural White Paper funding – that started three years ago.”

The infrastructure funding is part of a plan to drive jobs to the region and grow its economy.

“What excites me now is I can see that hard work coming to fruition – this plan to make the electorate better that you’ve had since you were a kid,” Mr Joyce said.

“Making the New England stronger makes the nation stronger.”

Mr Joyce has also promised to move the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), a government organisation, from Canberra to Armidale, which would “secure the growth of the city” with 175 jobs.