Leader of the NSW Opposition Barry O'Farrell has given his budget reply speech to Parliament, outlining several key policy areas to take NSW forward. In Government, the NSW Liberals and Nationals will establish Restart NSW, a capital fund to build essential infrastructure including public transport, roads and infrastructure to support people working in front line services. The fund will have a specific mandate to grow economic productivity in NSW and a clear goal of listing NSW economic growth to above the national average. To watch Barry's speech and find out more about the NSW Liberals and Nationals policies, click here.

We've heard it all before. Another NSW Labor Government budget, another year of budget promises that the commuity knows the Government will fail to deliver. This is not a budget for the future of NSW, but rather, it's a budget that has a shelf life of 10 months and has been cobbled together to get Labor through the next election. To see the reaction of the Keneally Labor's Government budget from the Leader of the NSW Opposition Barry O'Farrell and the Shadow Treasurer Mike Baird, click here.

The NSW Liberals and Nationals will oppose the construction of Tillegra Dam near Dungog in NSW. Since Tillegra Dam was first announced, as a diversion from the NSW Labor Government's political scandals, Hunter residents have raised their concerns about the project many times with me. The project was never part of the State Plan and was never about securing water for the region. Hunter residents would be paying more for their water for a dam that we don’t need and this is on top of increasing prices for electricity, vehicle registration costs and property tax.

 After numerous reports of school building projects costing thousands of dollars more than market cost and soaking up millions of dollars in project management fees, I am pleased to announce a NSW Inquiry to the Building the Education Revolution (BER) Program. The inquiry will examine the BER program and whether outcomes of its construction projects are of acceptable quality and suitable to the needs of schools in NSW. The inquiry will also look at the effectiveness of government oversight and review contracts between contractors and the NSW Government. Submissions are now being taken and will close on Monday 7th June 2010. For more information on this inquiry, including the terms of reference, click here.