It's a refrain that coincides with every state budget - the Hunter deserves a greater share of the wealth that it generates for the state from coal royalties.
You don't have to look far to understand the basis of this argument - Macquarie Street has collected $9.3 billion from Hunter coal mining royalties since 2023, with another $3.2 billion predicted for the coming financial year.
By comparison, $3.84 billion has been spent on infrastructure spending in the Hunter, the state's second largest centre, over the past three state budgets.
Meanwhile, the list of Hunter major projects crying out for funding investment keeps piling up: the Broadmeadow precinct, a new entertainment centre, stage 2 of the John Hunter Hospital redevelopment, investment in international flights at Newcastle Airport. The list goes on.
The man in charge of the state's finances told the Newcastle Herald that he supported calls for the Hunter to get a greater share of coal royalty income.
"We respect the fact that if you have an intensive activity like mining in your region, we respect the fact that all of NSW has to help make sure that the roads work, the port works and that the basic infrastructure is there," NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said.
"I'm never going to begrudge the Hunter for arguing for more, particularly because for a decade I do think the Hunter was ignored."
Rather than solely focusing on how much the government collected from coal royalties, Mr Mookhey said governments should be judged on the value they delivered in terms of hospitals, schools and essential infrastructure.
"There are some who say that royalties are about to come to an end and others who say that we should be charging more," he said.
"We just call it the way we see it and the way we see it is that coal mining is going to continue in NSW for a long time. The royalties will go up and down.
"I'm inviting the people of the Hunter and NSW to judge us on the quality of how we spend the money."
The Treasurer highlighted that the Minns government had spent five times more on Hunter roads than the former Coalition government did during its last term - $2.5 billion compared with $400 million.
This included accelerating progress on projects such as the Singleton and Muswellbrook bypasses and the M1 to Raymond Terrace extension.
Almost $180 million has also been spent on upgrades along the New England, Golden and Castlereagh highways to connect the Port of Newcastle to the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone.
Tuesday's budget will commit a further $410 million for projects including Nelson Bay Road, Hillsborough Road, Newcastle Inner City Bypass, Maitland Westbound Overpass and Mandalong Road.
Mr Mookhey said forecast coal royalty income over the next year was in line with expectations (about $3 billion) despite the impact of global economic headwinds.
"The biggest factor that is affecting royalties right now is the value of the US dollar," he said.
"The decline of the US dollar has meant that for the last two budgets we have seen some of the royalties come off. We've been writing down royalties more than we have been writing them up."
