There were some people who reckoned the $5 billion WestInvest handout was a gigantic bribe to Greater Western Sydney voters by the then Liberal State Government.
Well, if it was, it didn’t work, because as we saw in the March election, they lost seats across South Western Sydney and indeed Greater Western Sydney.
As a result, they lost government after 12 years in office.
So it wasn’t a gigantic bribe as much as it was a case of humongous delusion by people who were in power for too long and were clearly out of touch.
More importantly, they took the people for granted, treating us as shallow and greedy.
Honestly, politicians will never learn that the poison of hubris is never far away when they gain access to power.
But that’s another story, so let’s get back to the WestInvest billions, and, more specifically, the $410 million piece of cake promised to Campbelltown.
The Mayor of Campbelltown has quite rightly expressed his concerns regarding the appetite of the new Labor Government to keeping commitments made by its opponents when they were in power.
In his mayoral minute, Cr Greiss, who obviously knows more about the situation than the rest of us, is careful not to accuse the Minns Government of planning to deny Campbelltown the money promised.
But the Mayor is right to raise his concerns, and the timing of it.
Every man and his dog know that next Tuesday’s NSW Budget will not be light reading for the faint hearted.
Where the cuts will be made is anybody’s guess at this stage.
But Mayor Greiss going public with his concerns has put Minns and his government on notice that this neck of the woods, the outer South Western Sydney region, is keeping a close eye on what the Budget has to offer.
Just in case he’s forgotten, this region, Macarthur and Liverpool, have long been neglected when funding’s been made available in other parts of Western Sydney.
For decades the lion’s share has gone in and around Parramatta, with the scraps thrown at us here in the south west.
As the mayor’s concerns indicate, it is high time this equation was reversed.
Too much debt will cripple NSW. The libs just spent up big with no real funding for paying down the debt. It’s amazing that this labour government is having a go at doing so. Labour normally spends up big. That’s why I didn’t vote libs this time as they’ve lurched too far to the left. If WestInvest funding has to be streamlined then so be it. If it means lower increases in taxes then I’m all for it. WestInvest was a big bribe which failed so why should the Minns government keep it. I live in Leppington rural and I don’t see any of that money go to projects out here.