Odds are, State Labor shown door

CENTREBET currently has the Coalition at $1.50 and Labor at $5 to win the next State election.

Ballina resident and National Party member Neil Saines (left) with Andrew Stoner in Ballina yesterday during a visit by the leader of the National Party and several shadow ministers. . Picture: Doug Eaton

CENTREBET currently has the Coalition at $1.50 and Labor at $5 to win the next State election and according to Nationals leader Andrew Stoner, ‘Centrebet has been right every other time’.

The party leader and several of his shadow ministers appeared in Ballina yesterday as part of a two-week bus tour across regional NSW.

The tour is aimed at meeting people in regional communities and recognising the issues that concern them.

The tour, which is making its way along the notorious Pacific Highway, has brought the Nationals face to face with the road’s realities and has created a sense of urgency in Mr Stoner.

“We want to get the job finished as too many people are dying on this road and too many people are afraid to drive on it,” a somewhat teary and emotional Mr Stoner said.

“Every day there is an increasing amount of trucks on the road and it is an upmost priority to get it finished.

“We were at a youth conference in Coffs Harbour on Wednesday and we met a young man who had come to the scene of a crash and held one of the victims in his arms till he died.”

The confident party leader also delivered a promise of increased police numbers and ‘investing them with powers to deal with things like anti-social behaviour and youth crimes’.

The average ratio for police is one to 400 citizens whereas the Northern Rivers has a ratio of one police officer to every 700.

Accompanying the party leader was Shadow Minister for Industry Duncan Gay who had one eye on the Casino gas plant and the other on rising electricity prices.

“There is a price for ineptitude in government and this is it,” Mr Gay said.

“People in NSW have already paid for these high prices but the government has siphoned the money to other projects instead of to a renewable source.

“I’ve been told about the gas plant in Casino. It will increase electricity reliability as well as provide local jobs.”

As for the election, both Nationals agree they are ‘confident people want a change’.

Originally published as Odds are, State Labor shown door