One wag made a suggestion in the wake of the state budget on Tuesday which made us chuckle.
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The commentator on Facebook suggested that, given the stance by the Berejiklian Government in the budget, a change in Gareth’s Ward title may be in order.
Rather than the Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra, the wag proposed the Member for Kiama’s title be changed to read as “the Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra *excluding Wollongong". Sound ridiculous?
Well that’s essentially what Mr Ward's own government has proposed through excluding Wollongong from the Illawarra in its own budget papers.
Unfortunately Wollongong has long found itself in a political wasteland and there has been no greater acknowledgement of that than by the Premier and her cohorts this week.
Essentially, what the NSW government is saying is Wollongong is to be regarded as metropolitan.
At its most basic, this means the government regards Wollongong as being on level footing with Sydney when it comes to competing for funds.
Sydney, with five million of the state’s 7.5 million people, will always get the lion’s share of government attention.
The crazy thing about this? Western Sydney? "Regional”, according to the budget papers.
Confused yet? We don’t blame you. Newcastle has copped the same treatment.
Time and again this government in its various forms has been found more than lacking – or more accurately completely devoid – of any real vision for this “region”.
While Premier Berejiklian could not be accused of being quite as Sydney-centric as Mike Baird, who we famously hit with “The Cupboard is Baird” front page a couple of budgets ago, she’s not far from it.
This political positioning at the expense of Wollongong and the Illawarra has to stop. The IBC reiterated calls on Wednesday for the Illawarra to be designated a Regional Economic Centre by the government.
“Opening the doors to state investment in the Illawarra, not excluding Wollongong, as a Regional Economic Centre is necessary,” IBC head Adam Zarth said.
“Dedicated funding for the region as a whole should be prioritised given the substantial flow on benefits for the state, community and business.”
Are you listening Premier?