Shelley Hancock said (via Facebook) the ABC was wrong and “it’s not ahead of Milton Ulladulla bypass”.

It was then that I read a tweet from the Member for Bega Andrew Constance confirming what I had heard on the ABC:

"Massive news for the Princes Highway: Today we committed to duplicating the Princes Highway all the way to the Victorian border, with work to begin on the Moruya Bypass and south of the Jervis Bay Rd intersection in our next term of government."

Is this just about re-electing Andrew Constance and not about priorities?

There is a dire need of an overdue promised Milton Ulladulla bypass.

During the Christmas holidays traffic was a slow bumper to bumper virtual car park from Conjola to Milton and from Burrill to Ulladulla.

The traffic on Matron Porter Drive was from the pony club to the lights on the highway. Traffic was a grid lock.

We do not have alternative forms of transport, just the single lane highway. So what happens in emergencies?

The closest maternity hospital is in Nowra, an hour away, and the nearest hospital for fractures is Wollongong which is approximately 2.5 hours away.

Thirty-five years ago when people were moving to Milton they were told then to watch where they bought land because of the expected bypass

At a meeting I attended in Ulladulla of community representatives in 1990 we were assured that we would have a bypass by the turn of the last century.

There are currently about 31 shops empty in Ulladulla. If long term road works were to be initiated locally it would also be an injection of jobs that would boost our local economy.

The highway is our lifeline. Why are we being overlooked?

The election announcements and post box fillers are coming thick and fast. Yet again the Milton by-pass is announced and one wonders if it will come before or after the Very Fast Train to Nowra.

The sad reality we face is that little or none of this will actually ever happen any time soon. The real estate surplus this government has relied upon to fund its plethora of new city-centric projects such as rebuilding existing world class sports stadiums, is now a thing of the past. The money has been spent and, with GST revenue also about to decline, we will post-election face a new economic reality.

But this is not the key issue. While it is widely acknowledged that our local state member is energetic and effective, the party she now represents has forfeited the right to continue to govern the NSW as a result of its reckless policies in relation to our natural systems and environment. It is clear to most in the community that a healthy environment is the bedrock of a healthy economy and agricultural sector. We have seen too many examples of towns, communities and farming areas slowly dying as result of poor water management, soil degradation and habitat loss. These are a direct result of this government’s decisions to allow broad scale land clearing and its misuse of the Murray Darling water system.

Further, newly increased logging rates to feed overseas wood chip demand will turn our remaining natural forest areas into no more than plantation timber over the years ahead, eliminating the homes our koalas and other native animals need to survive. Only the feral animals destroying the Kosciusko alpine reserve get any protection, it would seem.

This government has abrogated its right to another term. It is time to move on and to give another leadership team an opportunity to do better, before it is too late.