At about the same time as David Harvey was being confirmed as The Greens' candidate for the seat of Bathurst, another candidate - Bathurst MP Paul Toole - was at the local police station announcing a $7 million upgrade.

Mr Harvey was supported by the local party faithful as he kicked off a ridiculously short three-week campaign for the seat of Bathurst, while Mr Toole has been effectively in campaign mode for the past 18 months or more.

And while Mr Harvey could really promise nothing to potential voters outside of The Greens' traditional commitment to environmental and social justice issues, the promises [or announcements] from Mr Toole seem to have no end.

Indeed, we are now at the point where it appears Mr Toole - and the Coalition Government - has more money to throw around in the Bathurst electorate than projects to spend it on.

The $7 million police station upgrade announcement was extraordinary not only for the amount of money on offer, but also for the fact there appears to be no clear plan on how it should be spent.

Local media were given a tour of the police station and run through a series of possible ways to spend the money, but nothing concrete is under way.

This is not how government money is usually allocated.

In the normal course of events, a need would be identified, plans to meet the need would be drawn up and a budget for the project would be produced.

Then a decision would be made on whether or not the funding would be allocated.

That whole process has been turned on its head in this case.

None of this is to say that the money won't be well spent; there are clearly some problems with the station building that need to be addressed.

But it's hard to escape the conclusion that the timing of Friday's announcement had more to do with a looming election on March 23 than genuine concern over the safety of our serving officers.

And with three weeks still to go until the election, who knows where the next splash of cash will land?