BARNABY Joyce refuted suggestions the Coalition was trying to "pork barrel" its way to victory in the seat of Hunter, saying $10 million was allocated to the electorate on Monday in order to get "some services out here".
The Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader was at the Hunter Sports Centre in Glendale yesterday to announce funds for the facility's $25.7 million expansion.
The $10 million grant came from the latest round of the Building Better Regions Fund, but its announcement was clearly an early move in the race for Hunter - the seat being vacated by retiring Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon.
"We do have an election coming and I do have my candidate here, James Thomson, and that's the great thing about democracy," Mr Joyce said.
"I'm sure the Labor party will have their candidate and that's what you've got to do, you've got to give people the opportunity to look over the product that is before them on the political shelf.
"You shouldn't be shy about it, it's your job. Get out with your candidate and let people make their choice."
Despite saying he wouldn't make a "tragic mistake" in the "first press conference down here" while joking about Lake Macquarie being larger than Newcastle, My Joyce later mistakenly referred to Lake Macquarie as "Macquarie Lakes".
Unaware of the mix up, he went on to say the city was worthy of upgrades like the sports centre and refuted a suggestion the grant was "pork-barreling".
He said if it had of been announced in Sydney, "they wouldn't even blink".
"Every time Sydney gets something, apparently it's a great decision," he said.
"It's a great decision they spend billions of dollars on a new tunnel, it's a great decision they get a new railway line to the western Sydney airport ... and you've got to have that new arts precinct.
"All these things in Sydney are 'great' decisions, and then something magical happens - you cross over the Hawkesbury [River] and it's pork-barreling. I don't care what they call it.
"We're going to drive to make sure people, whether they're in Lake Macquarie, Muswellbrook, Singleton, Tamworth, Dubbo ... get some services out here."
Asked if funding or commitments would be forthcoming for other local projects like the Glendale transport interchange, Mr Joyce said the Coalition was "trying as much as we can to pour money into this region", pointing to a committed $1.6 billion spend on the M1 Motorway extension and more than $900 million on the Singleton and Newcastle bypasses.
"We're spending billions on upgrades in this area," he said.
"We're going to make sure that we do what we can to assist, and I'm not going to start preempting, but judge us on our record and the money we are spending."
Lake Macquarie City Council will contribute the rest of the sports centre's upgrade cost using a mix of funds, but mostly through developer contributions.
Key features of the shovel-ready project, which already has development approval, include a 4505 square-metre expansion of the main building; upgrades to the athletics track to World Athletics Class 1 standard; new community, meeting and function rooms; and Improved health, fitness and treatment facilities.
The project is expected to create more than 100 direct and indirect jobs during construction.
