It's an age-old question for local councils when it comes to getting the most out of state and federal governments: Play nice or kick up a stink?
The usually mild-mannered mayor of Lake Macquarie, Kay Fraser, has opted for the latter in an interview with the Newcastle Herald this week, arguing her LGA has too long been overlooked for funding.
Cr Fraser pointed to unrealised road projects at Hillsborough and Speers Point, train station improvements and Swansea dredging as evidence of a NSW government "handbrake" on the region.
"The state government has pulled the handbrake not just on us as a city but the Hunter region," she said.
The Labor mayor might have had one eye on the upcoming NSW election when delivering her assessment, but the community at large will have no argument with it.
While massive Sydney road, rail, stadium and hospital projects appear to progress with relative haste, the Hunter is left waiting decades for key proposals to turn into concrete and bitumen.
Singleton bypass, Nelson Bay Road, Newcastle Inner City Bypass, light rail extensions, Hunter Park, the freight rail bypass, high-speed rail and numerous other infrastructure plans have fermented away in a dark corner of Parliament House for years.
Some may see the light briefly during the election campaign.
The city and broader region have had some wins of late, including hospital upgrades, funding for a new airport terminal and, finally, money for the M1 extension to Raymond Terrace, but Cr Fraser is right to be vocal in her frustration. She appears to have reached the conclusion that quiet engagement with the higher levels of government has not served her area well.
No one in the Hunter would argue that Sydney does not have large and complex infrastructure needs as the economic and population growth engine of the state.
But, hopefully, the government's retooled Greater Cities Commission, with its "Six Cities" strategy encompassing the Lower Hunter and Illawarra, is some acknowledgement that both can offer some solutions to Sydney's inefficient urban sprawl.
But the prospect of a long planning period to even enunciate the commission's aims will not fill Cr Fraser or anyone else in the Hunter with confidence that sorely needed infrastructure is just around the corner.
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