LABOR candidate for Calare Jess Jennings has hit back at calls from Nationals incumbent Andrew Gee to support an upgraded connection from Orange to Mudgee, saying it will be years before constituents will see the promised funds.
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Mr Gee issued a statement claiming Dr Jennings had stated he would think about supporting the Dixons Long Point crossing and should "back a local project for a change".
"If Jess can't bring himself to say those simple few words, it says everything you need to know about his attitude to regional development," he said.
Dr Jennings said he "fully" supported the project, but the $16 million promised in Tuesday's budget documents would not start being spent until the 2021-22 financial year, when the next election was due.
Two million dollars would be spent in 2021-22, $4 million in 2022-23 and $10 million in 2023-24.
"And I would point out the state government hasn't committed any funds to the roads on either side," he said.
"When the former deputy premier Troy Grant says in his valedictory speech that no one likes Andrew Gee speaks to how dysfunctional this is - I get on better with some of the Nationals around the Central West."
Following Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's budget reply speech on Thursday night, Dr Jennings said he backed Labor's Medicare cancer plan, which would provide free consultations with oncologists and surgeons and eliminate out-of-pocket costs for scans.
"Only three weeks ago I attended the funeral of a good friend - she was 45 years old, she started with bowel cancer but it spread and it was financially devastating for that family," he said.
"They resorted to crowd funding to get through, but you can't rely on goodwill to get through the battle of your life."
Dr Jennings said the key to wage growth was restoring penalty rates, raising the minimum wage and expanding on the tax cuts promised by the Coalition, while restoring TAFE places and uncapping university places would get more young people into training.
He said measures to cover pre-school places for 15 hours a week was a win-win for parents and children.
He said the answer to the climate change question was upgrading the grid to handle more renewable energy and encouraging coalfired power stations, including Mount Piper at Lithgow, to remain open during the transition.
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