Nationals candidate for the seat of Cootamundra Katrina Hodgkinson has brushed off claims by Labor Party member of the NSW Legislative Council Mick Veitch she treated the seat as second best to Goulburn.
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On Wednesday Mr Veitch called for a backlash against Ms Hodgkinson who he says has poorly ministered her parliament.
“The people of Cootamundra should hold her to account for the way she poorly administered her portfolio the last four years,” he said.
“There’s a number of people in Young that in the last four years have complained to me about the way Katrina has let them down.
“Saturday is the day you hold her to account. Saturday is the day you make her pay for all those issues that you weren’t happy with.”
This war of words has broken out just days before tomorrow’s state election.
Ms Hodgkinson said she is astounded at the audacity of the NSW Labor party.
“This is the first time I think we’ve heard from Mr Veitch for a long time - what he’s been doing in the upper house is a mystery to me,” she said.
Ms Hodgkinson said the Nationals have campaigned to maintain regional representation in the NSW Parliament, and following the abolition of a rural seat, she is honoured to be standing for the new seat of Cootamundra.
“Where so-called ‘Country’ Labor neglected the bush for 16 years, the Nationals have truly put regional NSW back at the heart of government and we are fighting to keep it there this Saturday.”
A positive Ms Hodgkinson said she is proud of the number of achievements and infrastructure funding she has secured for the Young district in recent years, and if elected, will continue to be a strong advocate for the towns and villages within the Young Shire.
“Should I be successful on Saturday, it will be a privilege to continue being a strong voice for my electorate and regional NSW in a Nationals government,” she said.
Also vying for the seat of Cootamundra is Country Labor’s Charlie Sheahan who is strongly focusing on the effects of council mergers.
An analysis by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office - based on the Queensland Treasury’s review of the cost of council amalgamations undertaken in Queensland, 2009 - shows it would cost residents $48 million to merge councils in Cootamundra as recommended by the Coalition’s “Fit for the Future” policy.
That’s $10.3 million to merge Boorowa, Harden and Young,” Mr Sheahan said.
“Almost half of these costs will be changes to IT and communications systems – money which could be better spent improving local roads and sporting grounds,” Mr Sheahan said.
“The independent Parliamentary Budget Office’s advice makes clear that the costs of mergers are significant and unavoidable, but the savings they promise are uncertain.”
Mr Sheahan described the Fit for the Future policy as a sham, in a recent release stating not one cent of the $258 million promised to councils in the Coalition’s budget on their election promise costings.
NSW Labor has ruled out forcing councils to merge.
Rod Therkelsen of the Greens has taken a different pre-election approach, focusing on public education, health, public assets, and blackspots.
Mr Therkelsen is advocating for the review of private education funding, saying private schools with enormous amounts of money don’t need government funding.
“That money should be put into the public education system,” he said.
“The other one is health - all people have access to health care and they aren’t disadvantaged because they don’t have money - that’s a strong Greens policy.”
He also believes improved phone coverage in regional Australia is a necessity.
Despite a late entrance into the election Mr Therkelsen said he hopes to get control of the upper house.
Despite efforts to contact No Land Tax party representative Elio Cacciotti, party leader Peter Jones appeared to be too busy to provide The Young Witness with his contact number.
“I absolutely cannot talk right now, I’ve got a million things to do, I’ll talk to you next week,” Mr Jones said.
Philip Langfield of the Christian Democratic Party, Fred Nile Group confirmed via email from an administrator that he would not be providing comment for The Witness.