At the end of this month we are expected to go to the polls to vote for a new government in NSW and the big decision is whether we vote for more of the same under a Coalition Government or opt for a change with a Labor Government – and more importantly vote for someone who has our interest at heart.
Sadly many politicians, once voted in, put the interests of their electorate second or third or fourth on their priority list with the interest of their political party coming up first, donors second, lobbyists third and the poor silly constituents fourth.
As we vote on the Central Coast we need to remember the huge issues that we have had to deal with over the past term of government.
It was the NSW Coalition Government that forced the amalgamation of Wyong and Gosford Councils that lead us into the strife that our Council is in now – huge debt, selling off our assets to try to recover that debt, an administrator who fails to keep us fully across what is happening and total chaos across the Central Coast Local Government Area (LGA).
Central Coast Council, for the past two years, has topped the list for the most complaints received about an LGA.
It was the NSW Coalition Government that handed the newly-formed Council a paltry $20M to defray amalgamation costs yet gave $90M to Hornsby (Liberal Council) that did not amalgamate with any other Council.
It was the NSW Coalition Government that “pork barrelled” the handing out of cash to victims of the last major bushfires, that saw no money coming to the Central Coast in its first round of grants.
Remember Gladys Berejiklian stating that pork barrelling was acceptable? What a disgrace.
Funding was promised and then withdrawn for lifts at Tuggerah Station, only to be offered again after the last State election.
If the Coalition Government had honoured its first promise on these lifts they would now be in place, rather than just starting.
I think it is time for a change in Terrigal as the current NSW Coalition Government has not done anything for the Coast due to the fact that of the three Federal MPs and five State MPs only one is a Liberal and therefore funding to the Labor electorates has not been forthcoming.
Email, Mar 6
Errol Grace, Niagara Park