Hospital a key issue for Tweed at the polls
NSW ELECTION
THE most northerly electorate in NSW will be a key battleground in today’s state election after a heated war of words.
Every vote will count in the battle for the marginal seat of Tweed, held by Nationals MP Geoff Provest since 2007.
Labor candidate Craig Elliot, husband of Richmond MP Justine Elliot, has been campaigning hard around a key issue, the location of the new half-a-billion-dollar Tweed Valley Hospital.
Should the Nationals retain Tweed, construction will forge on at Cudgen Plateau at the cost of a slice of State Significant Farmland.
However, Labor has fought hard for construction to be shifted to Kings Forest, the proposed location of a Leda residential development.
Greens candidate Bill Fenelon wants the current Tweed Hospital radically overhauled, reflecting the views of Animal Justice Party candidate Susie Hearder and Sustainable Australia’s Ronald McDonald.
The Liberal National Coalition could retain a majority government if it holds Tweed, based on a uniform swing statewide. Formerly a safe seat for the Nationals, Tweed’s MP will probably be determined by preferences.
Votes for the Greens will flow to Labor if the Greens do not secure a majority, leaving Mr Provest in a tough situation.
Though, if the Coalition wins the election but loses Tweed, the member will be unable to move the hospital.
Mr Provest won the 2015 election with 47 per cent of the primary vote, but a margin of only 3.2 per cent after preferences.
Betting firm Ladbrokes has Labor the $1.50 favourite to take Tweed. The Coalition is $2.50.
Mr Provest said he had never experienced a more heated election campaign.
He was hesitant to predict his chances of retaining the seat, but said he had done all he could.
“I think most of the voters have pretty well made up their mind and are pretty determined to cast their vote accordingly,” he said.
“The hospital, there’s obviously two trains of thought and everyone is pretty determined in their views.
“Most of the others (parties) are preferencing each other. You’ll note on my howto-vote (cards) there’s no preferences. I think people like that, they don’t like to cast a vote for one party and have it funnelled off through backroom deals and handshakes.”
Mr Elliot – campaigning next to Mr Provest at the somewhat chaotic Minjungbal Drive pre-poll – described the election as a “referendum on where people want a hospital built”.
“I would say only Labor has a policy that reflects community sentiment about protecting farmlands, stopping a ninestorey hospital, which is nothing but a Trojan horse for development by the National Party.