Labor puts $150m on the table for NW

LABOR has pledged $150 million in the North-West to improve health facilities, roads, education and infrastructure.

Opposition Leader Rebecca White said the party’s North West Development Package was an investment in projects to create jobs and provide the infrastructure the region deserved.

“Labor will invest in key infrastructure like hospitals and schools to ensure the people of Braddon get the schools and health system they deserve while also stimulating the local economy with investment,” Ms White said.

“We will rebuild TAFE and work with industry and training providers to create more full-time jobs so that local people can stay living and working in the NorthWest.”

Ms White announced Labor will commit $250,000 towards the purchase of a welding simulator in the North-West, to help train apprentices.

“It is important to ensure businesses in the North-West are provided with the capacity and flexibility to certify local welders to meet their Defence Force supply contract requirements.”

Ms White committed her party to responsible spending.

“Each of our election commitments that we are making will be fully costed and will also be assessed by Treasury.

“The Liberals have made more commitments than the Labor Party; they have promised more than $2 billion worth of extra spending since the last Budget ... and yet they haven’t explained how they are going to pay for these things or how it will affect the budget bottom line.”

The North West Development Package includes:

$50 million for capital upgrades of the Mersey and North West Regional Hospital; $10 million for the Devonport Integrated Care Centre; $600,000 for a new mother- and-baby unit; $3.5 million for a new child-and-family centre in Smithton; $20 million for a new K-12 school at Penguin; $9.5 million for community roads improvement; $46 million for tourism; $250,000 for the welding simulator and $2.87 million for the Wynyard foreshore development.