Premier’s visit dismissed as ‘fluffy photo op to re-announce tree planting’

Local MP Greg Warren has described yesterday’s visit to Campbelltown by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian as “a fluffy photo opportunity to re-announce a plan to plant more trees in Sydney’’.

The premier visited Rosemeadow Primary School to announce the planting of one million trees in the metropolitan area by 2022.

“The premier forgot to mention that the original plan to plant 380,000 trees a year until the year 2030, had been reduced by a third to just 250,000 a year,’’ the Labor MP said today.

“While the environment is one area Campbelltown residents are concerned about, there are several other long standing issues which the premier and her government have refused to address in the past eight years.

“There’s the commuter car parking crisis, the introduction of paid parking at Campbelltown Hospital, the dilapidated state of Campbelltown public schools and the refusal to invest in major road infrastructure.

“If the premier was serious about Campbelltown’s local environment, her government would take a leaf out of NSW Labor’s book and commit to establishing a koala national park from Appin to Glenfield,’’ Mr Warren said.

Yesterday, Premier Berejiklian said: “Planting trees and creating new parks is just as important as building new roads, rail lines, schools and hospitals’’.

The plans announced at Campbelltown are on top of the NSW Government’s decision to appoint a dedicated Minister for Public Spaces and the $340 million Open Spaces and Greener Sydney package.

However Mr Warren was unimpressed.

“The premier only ever comes to Campbelltown for a photo op to spruik some meaningless artist’s impression or to make a re-announcement,’’ he said.

“Campbelltown residents do not want to see the Premier and her colleagues appear for a fluffy photo op, they want to see this government tackle the number of issues continually crippling our community.’’