Liberal Member for Penrith Stuart Ayres MP today expressed his concern and disappointment at the Federal Budget. The budget offers the people of Penrith nothing but future pain and really does prove once and for all that Labor is ignoring the needs of western Sydney.
\”The years of incompetent economic management by Labor mean they are now asking families to foot the bill for servicing billions of dollars of debt and investment in social programs. There is no doubt that families have been targeted to pay for Labor’s mess.\” Mr Ayres said.
\”The write-down of $860m in GST revenue for NSW means the State Government will have to work even harder to maintain services. The Federal Labor Government must rule out any reduction in funding to NSW through National Partnership Agreements, especially in health. It is entirely unacceptable that residents of Penrith have funding cut to their local services because Federal Labor couldn’t live within its means.\”
\”Most disappointingly there is almost nothing in the way of infrastructure to support Penrith to help manage its future growth and move people to and from work. $1.4bn allocated to the NSW Government’s Westconnex project would not be delivered until 2019/20 at the earliest. This proves once again that Labor pays mere lip service to the people of western Sydney who have been crying out for this road for years.
“There is no funding allocated to key local road projects like the Werrington Arterial which the State has agreed to fund 50% of the cost. This shows once again how neglected Penrith is under Labor.\” Mr Ayres said.
\”Since its election in 2007 Federal Labor has not funded a single major road or rail project in western Sydney.\”
\”In short this budget means families pay, NSW has to do more with less and Penrith gets ignored by Labor again.\” Mr Ayres said
