Member for Orange, Russell Turner said the budget would serve as a financial report card on the Rees Government’s management of the state’s economy

“After last year’s horror mini-budget, Labor has failed to implement a properly planned strategy to return NSW to its leading economic position.

“The government has a responsibility to provide an equal share of the budget funds to regional and metropolitan areas, however given Labor’s track record I am sceptical they will deliver on this.

Mr Turner said leaked budget papers confirmed that the Bells Line Expressway is a dead duck and will not be funded by the Rees Government.

“The government continually refuses to invest in this vital project, while it plans to fund a $5.3 billion rail link to the inner west of Sydney.

In contrast Member for Bathurst, Gerard Martin said the government was committed to preserving the road corridor on which the expressway would eventually be built.

“It’s just a matter of time but it will be well before 2033 but it’s disappointing there is no funding in this budget for the expressway,” he said.

He said from discussions at a meeting in Bathurst last week with the Premier and senior Ministers, he was confident that the state’s regions would receive their fair share.

“This will be a record roads budget and we’ll get the detail when the budget is released.

“Every time we dissect the figures out of a budget for specific projects, the regions always get their share,” he said.

The Mudgee Guardian asked Mr Martin how the massively indebted Health Department would be handled in this budget.

“We will be spending money to implement the recommendations of last year’s Garling Report,” he said.

The report addressed the delivery of acute care services in NSW public hospitals and recommended a complete overhaul of the state’s health system.