The NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro will change tack this year on policy, moving from bricks and mortar to the concerns that affect people more intimately.
Mr Barilaro said he had picked up on the anxiety of parents in regional NSW, and wanted to do much more to help youth, concentrating on mental health and wellbeing.
Parents had also told him they were increasingly concerned about the scourge of drugs and wanted a better future for their children.
“There is a lot of anxiety I have picked up on in regional NSW and we have to start listening,” he told The Land in an exclusive interview.
“And youth, wellbeing and mental health will be our focus in a third term,” he said.
“It’s not just the right thing to say, its the right thing to do.
“We want to focus on the individual, the wellbeing of communities, and the future of young people.
“We want to have the services there too that matter, the mental health services, the hospitals that have cancer care services and dialysis, so people don’t have to travel. We will focus on service delivery.”
“We also understand that regional NSW just doesn’t want jobs, it wants good jobs, that’s another focus. We need to move more businesses to the regions to create better jobs, more long-term jobs.”
It was also about creating faster linkages between towns and Sydney. The government had nominated a number of fast rail corridors that will connect places such as Orange and Parkes more quickly to Sydney.
The drought had amplified issues to do with mental health, and the government had to work on post-drought mental health issues in the regions.
He said there were a number of excellent youth programs, including one at Bellingen and another at Narrabri, that the government saw great promise in, and was forming policy around their success. The government would fund excellent local youth programs that were making a difference.
“We have seen local solutions where government can play a role.”
He says he hopes the government has learnt from its mistakes and has built up a new trust with the people of NSW.
Mr Barilaro faces a tough task, given recent polls showing the Coalition standing in the electorate, of hanging on to his bellwether seat of Monaro. He has just a two and a half per cent majority, and if polls are correct, by March 23 he could be the first Coalition member to lose their seat.
But he’s not giving up. “I’ll be fighting right until the last day,” he said. “I know now there is no such thing as a safe seat.”
He hopes his members engagement at a local level will shore up the Nationals vote at the state election.
John Ellicott
journalist and author
journalist and author
