Dubbo MP Troy Grant said school children across the electorate will be much better off, with $3.5 million to be injected to improve conditions.
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Earlier this month Mr Grant called on Education Minister Rob Stokes to allocate him $1 million to fix the worst of the maintenance backlog at schools including Dubbo, Wellington and Narromine.
He said when he made the request he thought he would struggle to get near his request, and didn’t dare dream he would get three times that much.
“It’d be fair to say I’m stoked with Stokes,” Mr Grant said.
“This money will go towards fixing class rooms that get too hot or too cold, replace guttering that is falling off and fixing the maintenance issues that impact on the learning environment for our children.”
Fifteen schools in and around Dubbo will receive a share of the money, along with schools at Wellington, Mudgee and Narromine.
Many of the budget announcements for the Dubbo electorate related to existing projects, such as the $43.5 million for Dubbo Hospital, but Mr Grant said the government was ensuring the projects continued on time.
“Obviously there is ongoing money for Dubbo Hospital and that ensures the build of stages three and four cracks on at the right speed,” Mr Grant said.
“This allocation of funds is on top of the $10M announced a few weeks ago making good on my commitment to secure funding for a cancer centre for Dubbo.
“The redevelopment is meeting all its milestones while our dedicated and hardworking hospital staff, nurses and doctors continue to deliver high quality healthcare to our community and region.”
Mudgee Hospital received an additional $10 million, bringing its total to $70 million, with work starting in the next financial year.
Mr Grant said the government had acknowledged that the regions needed investment across a variety of infrastructure and had come up with a plan to make it possible.
“You can’t spend money like this unless you have been economically disciplined,” he said.
“These aren’t political decisions that are made for today, this is investment that will help drive the regions for years to come.
“We cop plenty of flak but we have been responsible in government.”
Mr Grant said there was other funding that had been budgeted but not allocated, which he expected to add to Dubbo’s total.
He said some of Dubbo’s big projects, including the city’s third bridge and the special needs school in West Dubbo, will receive larger funding amounts in next year’s budget.
