The election result in the seats of Bathurst, Dubbo and Barwon will come as little surprise to most voters. These solid Nationals seats were never in any doubt.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The fourth seat in affecting the readership area, Upper Hunter, has come down to the wire, due to a combination of factors: The retirement of a local member of long standing with a strong personal following, a well-known and respected Labor candidate and a strong vote for the Independent candidate, which further whittled away the Nationals’ margin.
At the end of the day the election came down to a choice between partial leasing of the state’s electricity network - the much mentioned “poles and wires” - to fund the Coalition’s infrastructure promises, or keeping the network in public hands, with less lavish spending under a Labor government.
The majority of voters weighed up the warnings of higher electricity prices under privatisation against the possibility of better infrastructure and put their money on another four years of the Coalition.
With the Coalition Government back in power, voters will now be looking for the promised payback.
In the Mid-Western Region, voters will be looking for action on the upgrade of the Mudgee and District Hospital, for which $60 million in funds have been promised.
This is not the sort of project that materialises overnight but local voters will be looking for the funding, or at least the first installment of it, in the re-elected government’s next budget.
The Coalition has made a lot of promises in the past few months. Now it’s time for them to show they intend to keep them.