Ballina Electorate Media Releases
No Surprises In NSW Budget For Ballina Electorate (17/06/2009)
Ballina MP, Don Page, says there are no real surprises in the NSW State Budget with $170m being allocated for continued work on the Ballina Bypass and $25m for planning and pre-construction of the Tintenbar to Ewingsdale section of the Pacific Highway.
“The Ballina Bypass is budgeted to cost $640m altogether and to be completed by 2012. $289m has already been spent and a further $170m will be spent this year. It’s a joint State/Federal project”, he said.
“Planning for the Ballina-Woodburn upgrade will continue with a small allocation of $2m in this budget. The Alstonville Bypass gets $35m from the Federal budget this year and construction is expected to be completed by 2010”, Mr Page said.
“It was disappointing not to see any funds for an upgrade of Ballina Hospitals surgery unit or the proposed new Byron Shire Central Hospital (land for this hospital at Ewingsdale has already been purchased). On a statewide basis the health infrastructure budget was cut by 23%,” Mr Page said.
There is also funding for child protection and care, part of which will benefit agencies such as Life Without Barriers in Alstonville.
Ballina TAFE receives $3.3m for its continued upgrade, Lennox Head Public School receives $280,000 to upgrade toilet facilities and Ocean Shores Public School receives $20,000 to upgrade its ventilation system.
“However it must be noted that of the $2.6billion to be spent on capital works in schools about $1.8billion comes from Canberra,” Mr Page said.
In summary the allocations for the Ballina Electorate are:
- $170m for continuation of construction of the Ballina Bypass
- $25m for planning and pre-construction of the Tintenbar to Ewingsdale section of the Pacific Highway
- $5m for new community living accommodation for people with a disability
- $2m for further planning for the Woodburn to Ballina section of the Pacific Highway
- $35 m (Federally funded) for ongoing construction of the Alstonville Bypass
- $3.3m for upgrade of Ballina TAFE
- $1.19m for Tweed-Byron-Ballina community transport
- $1.8m for public housing upgrade
“The North Coast Area Health has received an 8.7% increase in funding but overall, the state health budget increased by 10%. With the recurrent shortfall in funding to NCAHS under the State Government’s Resource Distribution Formula this increase will not have closed the gap,” Mr Page said.
Mr Page said there was also $27m allocated for the Integrated Cancer Care Unit at Lismore, which is a regional facility.
