NSW Opposition leader Jodi McKay yesterday attacked Premier Gladys Berejiklian for running the "most Sydney-centric government in history" as she and the Labor shadow cabinet met in Singleton on the eve of this weekend's Country Labor conference.
Speaking outside Singleton TAFE with Teachers Federation organiser Rob Long and opposition front benchers Adam Searle and Jihad Dib, Ms McKay took the government to task over its TAFE policy, climate change and the time taken to complete the Singleton bypass.
Later, Ms McKay and shadow ministers including her deputy, Swansea MP Yasmin Catley, and Port Stephens MP Kate Washington, met Hunter local government leaders at Singleton council chambers.
A shadow cabinet meeting followed.
On the bypass, Labor says the government has committed just 20 per cent of the cost and allocated 2 per cent.
"This bypass will take up to 15,000 vehicles a day out of the Singleton CBD and transform the town for the better," shadow Hunter minister Clayton Barr said.
Ms McKay said budget blowouts on the government's big infrastructure projects and the unnecessary Powerhouse Museum move had topped $13 billion or the equivalent of 20 Singleton bypasses.
On vocational training, Mr Dib said the government had so badly bungled the TAFE system that the Singleton campus had no metalwork, mining or agricultural apprenticeship courses despite an obvious need.
Mr Dib said TAFE had lost 5700 staff since the Coalition won office in 2011 and enrolments were now down by 175,000 students.
Teachers Federation organiser Rob Long said staff were devastated by what had happened to Singleton TAFE, with some students having to travel to Newcastle for trade courses.
Skills Minister Geoff Lee was asked about the Singleton courses losses during question time on Thursday, and was howled down by the opposition when he said: "It is great news to inform the House that mining is offered at Kurri Kurri, some 15 kilometres away."
The actual distance is more than 45 kilometres.
The government has announced a review of the TAFE sector and floated the idea of HECS-style loans, raising privatisation fears that Mr Lee moved to counter yesterday, saying the government was committed to TAFE as a "comprehensive public provider".
With Upper Hunter Nationals MP Michael Johnsen goading Labor to support taking "Scope III" emissions out of coal mining approvals, Ms McKay said Labor could have "a very strong stance on climate change" and still support coal mining, which was "going to be with us for a very long time".
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