Our Board of ten Mayors have worked collectively to identify our shared advocacy priorities for the Hunter Region in the lead up to the March 2027 NSW Government election. We recently started our advocacy campaign around these priorities by meeting with 22 NSW Government Ministers, Shadow Ministers and Hunter-based MPs in Parliament House, focusing on:
Economic transformation and jobs
- Increase the NSW Future Jobs Investment Fund to $150m per year
- Investment of $54.45m in projects that will catalyse economic diversification:
- Update & timeline on implementation of NSW Parliament’s Inquiry into Beneficial and Productive Post-Mining Land Use
- Establish a community benefit funding model for the Hunter Renewable Energy Zone
Housing
- Commit to funding for enabling infrastructure for local government valued at $100m per year indexed to support Local and State housing targets
- Repurpose temporary housing used for the Hunter Transmission Project (and for future REZ projects) to contribute to long term housing across the region
- Funding Masterplans (range $500k per Masterplan) and enabling infrastructure to catalyse development of Transport Orientated Developments (TODs)
Roads
- Reform of road funding models to align with Council asset management cycles and to properly account for maintenance costs
- Confirm expectations for the re-categorisation of Local roads to State roads
Financial Sustainability of Local Governments
- Commit to a three-way equal shared funding model (federal, state & local) for funding improvements to council owned water & sewer infrastructure
- Amend disaster recovery funding arrangements to support water & high priority community infrastructure
- Establish a non-competitive resilience and betterment funding framework that allows resilience upgrades during the emergency works phase of recovery
- Return 9% of the waste levy previously provided to Hunter councils to support delivery of the NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041
- Support advocacy to Federal Government to increase Financial Assistance Grants to 1%
Key outcomes from our visits included:
- Building stronger relationships between our Mayors, Ministers, Shadow Ministers and Hunter MPs
- Promoting a united, bipartisan voice for the Hunter
- Ensuring the region’s challenges and opportunities are well understood by both Government and Opposition representatives
- Emphasising the need for all levels of government to work together to support economic growth, resilience and community wellbeing
Looking ahead:
- Building on the momentum of these meetings, we’ll continue our coordinated advocacy in the lead up to the 2027 NSW Election
- In June, we will be hosting a Hunter MP Roundtable, bringing together democratically elected representatives from Federal, State and Local Government to identify a shared vision for the region and strengthen collaboration across all levels of government
- This will be followed by a return to NSW Parliament House in October, where our delegation of Mayors will again engage with NSW Ministers and Shadow Ministers to reinforce the Hunter’s shared priorities ahead of the election
Thank you to Ministers, Shadow Ministers and Hunter MPs for meeting with us – The Hon Penny Sharpe, The Hon Yasmin Catley, The Hon Paul Scully, The Hon Steve Kamper, The Hon Jenny Aitchison, The Hon Ron Hoenig, The Hon Kate Washington, The Hon Emily Suvaal, Mr Clayton Barr, Mr David Layzell, Mr Gurmesh Singh, Mr James Griffin, The Hon Scott Farlow, The Hon Paul Toole, Mr Tim James, Ms Steph Cooke, The Hon Kevin Anderson MP, Mr Robert Dwyer and Ms Eleni Petinos.
These conversations were highly valuable, fostering a whole of government, collaborative approach to ensure the Hunter’s challenges and opportunities were heard and understood.
Visit our website for information on our priorities for the NSW Election 2027 https://hunterjo.nsw.gov.au/election-priorities/