DEAR News Of The Area,
THE NSW Government’s $561 million Transport Affordability Package is being sold to the whole state, but two of its four headline measures are built for a network that doesn’t exist on the Mid North Coast.
The package includes a lower $50 weekly toll cap, $100 off vehicle registration, a 12-month freeze on Opal fares and the scrapping of toll administration fees, alongside a separate $557 million Home Energy Saver loan scheme.
The toll cap and Opal fare freeze are of minimal practical use to people living in the Port Macquarie electorate.
There isn’t a single toll road in the Port Macquarie electorate and Opal cards aren’t used on our local buses and they never have been.
So when the Government announces a $561 million cost-of-living package and two of the four measures in it are a toll cap and an Opal fare freeze, that’s money and headlines built for Sydney, not for the Mid North Coast.
Local families are dealing with exactly the same cost-of-living pressures as everyone else, fuel, groceries, insurance and power bills, but they’re being offered relief that was never designed with them in mind.
The $100 registration discount and the Home Energy Saver loans will provide genuine relief for local households and I encourage people to check their eligibility and apply.
But it’s not good enough for the Government to bundle those measures in with a toll cap and an Opal freeze and call it cost-of-living relief for the whole state.
Regional communities like ours deserve a package that actually reflects how we live and get around.
I will continue to push the Government for cost-of-living measures targeted at regional NSW, including the reinstatement of the Regional Seniors Travel Card.
If the NSW Government is serious about easing the cost of living everywhere, not just in Sydney, it needs to start designing these packages with regional electorates like Port Macquarie in the room from day one.
Regards,
Robert Dwyer MP,
Member for Port Macquarie.
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