Rural Relocation Program (Proof)

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Rural Relocation Program (Proof)
About this Item
Speakers - Speaker; Torbay Mr Richard; Baird Mr Mike
Business - Questions Without Notice, QWN

RURAL RELOCATION PROGRAM
Page: 37

Mr RICHARD TORBAY: My question is directed to the Treasurer. Given the more than $40 million unspent funds from the Rural Relocation Program will the unspent amount be reallocated to other regional development projects or absorbed into consolidated revenue?

The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer has the call. I am sure the member for Northern Tablelands would like to hear the answer.

Mr MIKE BAIRD: I thank the member for his question and note that he was a great former Speaker in this House and advocate for his community. I am amazed at the question directed to the Attorney General earlier. The Labor Party attacked the State Attorney General for being interested in rehabilitation.

Ms Carmel Tebbutt: Point of order: My point of order relates to relevance.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer has barely begun to answer the question. However, I uphold the point of order. I am sure he will return to the question about rural relocation straightaway.

Mr MIKE BAIRD: I can assure the House that this Cabinet is very proud to stand alongside the Attorney General. In relation to the question, it is very important to note that we finally have a government in Macquarie Street that is interested in regional and rural New South Wales. We have an overall package that is about growing regional and rural New South Wales and we are very proud of it. In our Infrastructure Fund we have announced that 30 per cent of our funds in Restart NSW will go to regional and rural New South Wales. We have a Jobs Action Plan which is about putting jobs back into the economy—100,000 jobs. Of those 100,000 jobs 40 per cent will go to regional and rural New South Wales.

Regional relocation grants are attractive and they have been supported by the Clarence Valley mayor who said, "We applaud the Government for that investment in regional New South Wales". The member for Northern Tablelands said that it was a positive policy initiative and deserved to be commended. I commend the Deputy Premier for taking a policy initiative in relation to the regional relocation grant. Obviously, in the context of the budget the State Government will look at this policy and all policies in relation to their effectiveness, their value for money and the policy outcomes they are delivering. The Government is committed to supporting regional and rural New South Wales, but we are unsure where Labor sits on this issue. Labor did support it at some point. Labor's Rural and Regional Taskforce in 2008—

[Interruption]

The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer is being relevant to the question asked.

Mr MIKE BAIRD: The taskforce recommended providing incentives for people to relocate from Sydney. Members opposite probably did not read the report because we know they do not read many. We also know that when we introduced the bill Labor supported it wholeheartedly. Indeed, the member for Maroubra at the time said that he was thinking about retiring in a few years and that he would be "taking my family up to a little farm in Kempsey where my dad came from". I think that is a good thing because Kempsey is a great spot. The member for Maroubra supported this scheme and he spoke to the Parliament about it. The Opposition supported the bill but then in the budget reply it opposed it.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Northern Tablelands is struggling to hear the answer. Opposition members will come to order.

Mr MIKE BAIRD: I know the member for middle management is interjecting because it gets embarrassing for him from this point on.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member to Maroubra to order.

Mr MIKE BAIRD: The Opposition's budget reply speech contained one policy to cost, and if members had got to page 3 of the budget they would have seen the costing right there in front of them, but they did not get to page 3. In his one policy the shadow Treasurer was $100 million wrong—

The SPEAKER: Order! I remind the member for Maroubra that it is disorderly to wave pieces of paper around.

Mr MIKE BAIRD: —which very clearly comes back to the member's question. We are committed to investing in rural and regional New South Wales. That is why in the budget there was a $4.2 billion investment in the road network and $2 billion for the Pacific and Princes highways.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kiama to order.

Mr MIKE BAIRD: Let me go through where the hospital funds are going. There are hospital funds for Wagga Wagga, Port Macquarie, Dubbo, Parkes, Forbes, Tamworth and Bega—there are funds everywhere—and there are 400 extra nurses for rural and regional New South Wales. There is money for roads, for buses, for transport, for health and for tourism, and why is that? It is because the O'Farrell Government cares about rural and regional New South Wales and we are going to get on with the job of supporting those communities.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kiama to order for the second time