Russell Fitzpatrick - Liberal Candidate for Bega made a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT on his Facebook page this week saying:
After getting to know my electorate more than ever in recent months, I am excited to announce that Dominic Perrottet and NSW Liberal Party have committed to investing $11.5 million into essential infrastructure of the Moruya Community.
This announcement will increase accessibility, viability for local business and help dramatically with housing access.
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NOTE that he says "have committed to investing $11.5 million into essential infrastructure of the Moruya Community".
To the average voter the BIG announcement, just weeks out from a State election implies that the $11.5 million came, more or less, directly from 'Dominic Perrottet' and 'NSW Liberal Party' . The only reason Mr Fitzpatrick would have posted this in the way he has done, with that particular wording, would be due to the fact he is a Liberal candidate.
FACT CHECK:
The $11.5 million announcement DID come from the NSW Government. The last time I looked it was a government that the NSW Liberals have in coalition with the National Party of Australia. It seems Mr Fitzpatrick overlooked that fact.
The next fact that Mr Fitzpatrick overlooked was that the $11.5 million funding comes courtesy of Round 3 of the NSW Government’s Accelerated Infrastructure Fund, which supports delivery of close to 140,000 new homes in four years across New South Wales.
Mr Fitzpatrick might like to acknowledge that Eurobodalla was one of 36 selected council and agency-led projects sharing in $254.1 million.
The projects put up for consideration are short-listed after being assessed using the mandatory criteria outlined in the program guidelines, by an independent technical consultant and strategic review panel before final ministerial approval.
Irrespective of what government is in place: Liberal, National, Labor, Greens, Teal or the Party Party the NSW Government’s Accelerated Infrastructure Fund will continue to make independent assessments that are focussed on areas undergoing the highest growth across NSW.
The 18 metropolitan and 23 regional councils eligible for funding in the latest round, including Eurobodalla, account for 94% of the state’s total population growth over the next 10 years, according to the latest NSW population projections.
Basically the determination had nothing to do with either the Premier or his party and was signed of by the Minister for Infrastructure as a matter of procedure with no ministerial intervention (hopefully).
In a response to Mr Fitzpatrick's Face Book post I advised him that:
"The Accelerated Infrastructure Fund (AIF) was launched on 3 April 2020 as part of the Planning System Acceleration Program, to cut red tape and fast-track planning processes to keep people in jobs and the construction industry moving throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The objectives of the fund are to:
fund infrastructure that unblocks development approvals and enables development activity, and speeds up the delivery of housing supply stimulate construction activity by investing in infrastructure projects that can be brought forward quickly encourage developers to enact development approvals and invest in construction encourage councils to bring forward expenditure of local developer contributions to accelerate infrastructure delivery.
All of this came about due to the realisation that the previous 'system' set needless hurdles that contributed to development backlogs.
I also advised Mr Fitzpatrick that Eurobodalla Council have their planning personnel to thank for this allocation from a STATE budget that has bipartisan support.
The map below outlines the areas and projects that will directly benefit from the $11.5 million allocation.
In closing I advised Mr Fitzpatrick that : "Your attributing the Dominic Perrottet and NSW Liberal Party to having committed to investing $11.5 million into essential infrastructure of the Moruya Community is electioneering and you should know better, being a Mayor.
D- .... Can do better." ... and what was his boo-boo? Mr Fitzpatrick, or his social media admin decided to hide the Fact Check Comment so that only those who are my direct FB friends can read it - that way it appears to me that it is still there and not deleted... but a check by another account reveals the stunt. And it isn't a very clever stunt given that the author of the Fact Check is the editor of a local newspaper. Hopefully this isn't how the candidate wants to run his campaign... by controlling his narrative.
Above: Alas Mr Fitzpatrick's Face Book admin person has chosen to hide my comment. Given that it is the comment of the Editor of The Beagle it is an odd thing to do. Accepted that the reply wasn't deleted (yet) Mr Fitzpatrick might like to be a little more cautious in some of his electioneering BIG announcements.
