THE NAMBUCCA Valley’s Susan Jenvey – wearing the hat of Labor secretary for Oxley – has praise and concerns about the latest State Budget of the Coalition Government:
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“In response to the State Budget, it was great to see that infrastructure was a priority for Oxley with funding for Wauchope Public School, a new hospital for Macksville and money for Waterfall Way.
What wasn't so great was that climate change, rental affordability, and the rising cost of living, including high electricity costs for individuals and businesses, weren't priorities. The enormous pile of cash this government is sitting on would seem to have little correlation to the empty shops in our country towns, and the fact that consumers aren't consuming.
When tens of thousands of pensioners and families and businesses open up their next electricity bill, and stagger over to turn the heater off from ‘bill shock’, that is the result of this government's priorities lying elsewhere.
In his budget reply, Luke Foley has pledged a Labor Government will re-regulate the electricity companies to treat consumers fairly.
Labor will use the proceeds from the transfer of the Snowy Hydro to invest in renewable generation across regional NSW.
Labor will provide a fair minimum solar tariff, and massively increase solar energy generation on the roofs of all government buildings, including local government, creating an industry in itself with huge growth potential.
Now that $50 billion worth of State assets have been privatised, the once stable and predictable profits that those assets returned to the State budget every year are gone.
In their place, the State will be relying on the unstable and unpredictable stamp duty receipts.
Perhaps that's why this budget chooses to establish a Future Fund, for the medium term investment of the cash that sits in the Restart NSW fund. Restart NSW is where the money has been parked from the privatisation of the State’s assets – 30 per cent of which must be spent in the regions.
Restart NSW must issue an annual report and be audited by the auditor general and detail where cash is spent, including the 30 per cent to the regions. The treasurer already has complete discretion on how to invest the cash in Restart NSW either in the short or medium term; so it remains a concern, especially to the regions, why there is a need to establish this fund and avoid the duties imposed by Restart NSW.
