WHO would have thought that the simple label “Bathurst-free budget” could have such an immediate impact?
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It’s less than a week since this newspaper gave that appraisal of a NSW Budget that made nary a mention of the Bathurst region less than a year out from the next state election.
At the time, however, Bathurst MP Paul Toole assured us that his electorate would be well-served in the fine print and on Monday we saw the first delivery on that promise.
Mr Toole brought to town Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight, Melinda Pavey, and Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Andrew Constance, to make a $95 million roads funding announcement aimed at improving links between Sydney and the Central West.
One of the first steps in the plan will be a $30 million upgrade to the Great Western Highway between Kelso and Raglan, extending the work recently carried out at Kelso.
The plan also includes a $28 million upgrade to Chifley Road at Scenic Hill on Bells Line, with $5 million to be spent in 2018-19, and $22 million on the Clarence rail bridge, $6 million of this allocated in 2018-19.
And there is $15 million allocated in 2018-19 to planning for the highway duplication from Katoomba to Lithgow, while a multi-agency task force will be assembled in Bathurst to deliver a transport masterplan.
But perhaps the most exciting element of the plan is the money set aside to begin investigating highway bypasses of both Blackheath and Mount Victoria which would significantly cut travel time.
That’s some exciting news, even if the $95 million price tag is just a drop in the bucket compared to what would need to be spent to really bring the links to Sydney up to scratch,
But just as significant was the presence of both Ms Pavey and Mr Constance standing beside Mr Toole in the centre of Bathurst to make the announcement.
It’s not often you get three government ministers together for just another funding announcement, so this was a show of strength by the Coalition.
In truth, they could have selected any town between Bathurst and Kattomba but perhaps we got the nod here in response to accusations the government was not planning to make Bathurst a priority in its election strategy, given Mr Toole’s commanding hold on the seat and the lack or a viable – or any – alternative. We hope so – and we hope to see more of it.