Shoalhaven Mayor Amanda Findley returned last week from the national general assembly of the Australian Local Government Association with a significant achievement.
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She managed at this meeting of local governments from across the nation to convince a majority of delegates to back her call for the Princes Highway to be deemed a road of national importance.
The ALGA, the peak body representing local government, will take the resolutions from the national general assembly to the federal government.
Cr Findley’s success in having the motion supported adds yet another voice to the growing clamour for federal assistance to get the highway upgraded. It was no mean feat to have 114 delegates vote in favour and only 29 against.
As the Mayor explained, local government by its very nature is rightly parochial, bringing often competing interests to the table. So to have an overwhelming majority of delegates back her motion was quite an achievement.
Local government support for the highway to be deemed of national importance from Sale in Victoria all the way to Wollongong adds further weight to the FIX IT NOW campaign.
The ALGA vote follows an entreaty from Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis to the Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack to have the highway classified as a road of strategic importance. And it follows consistent calls from South Coast MP Shelley Hancock for an 80-20 funding split between the NSW and federal governments. The campaign is clearly gathering momentum.
With Annette Alldrick now announced as the Labor candidate for South Coast, a commitment from her party to work towards a safer highway between Nowra and the Victorian border would be welcome.
Some time ago, we discussed the same with federal Labor candidate Fiona Phillips, who offered some generalities about her party always investing in infrastructure but little more.
With two elections bearing down on us, we will do our utmost to ensure the highway and the FIX IT NOW campaign is squarely on the radar of everyone who runs for office.
This campaign is about safety, traffic flow, freight movement and local economies. A key part of it is seeing the Milton-Ulladulla bypass become a reality and improving the lifeline that connects us to Nowra and Batemans Bay.
