Wollongong has been declared ineligible to apply for a share of $500 million under the NSW Government’s Growing Local Economies program.
Official guidelines for the program released on Friday confirm that funding is available for “projects in regional NSW outside Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong.”
Wollongong has so far been deemed ineligible for any funding program under the NSW Government’s $1.3 billion Regional Growth Fund and Regional Arts Fund, first announced in the 2017-18 NSW Budget in June.
The Growing Local Economies program is open to projects that have a capacity to deliver jobs and economic growth.
The NSW Government has deemed that Wollongong is part of metropolitan Sydney and not part of regional NSW.
Wollongong MP Paul Scully has previously asked the NSW Government to list projects it had invested in from the sale of NSW’s electricity poles and wires in the Wollongong local government area.
The Government failed to nominate a single project.
In the meantime, the Premier’s comments today that the NSW Government intends to fund upgrades to two stadiums in Sydney signal yet another set-back for the upgrade of WIN Entertainment Centre.
In contrast, as part of NSW Labor’s Illawarra Jobs Action Plan, announced during the Wollongong by-election last November, $50 million has been allocated to an upgrade of the WIN Entertainment Centre.
The upgrade is expected to deliver an additional 280 jobs and create an additional $12 million in regional economic benefit.
NSW Labor, in supporting the sale of the Snowy Hydro Scheme to the Federal Government, has pledged that every single dollar of the sale proceeds is used in regional NSW, which includes the Illawarra region. It is estimates NSW’s share of the proceeds would be around $4 billion.
The Government’s decision to exclude Wollongong from the Growing Local Economies program stands in stark contrast to Labor’s plans for the Illawarra.
Comments attributable to Paul Scully MP:
“Another day, another Government funding program, that fails to allow Wollongong to bid for funding.
“This Government sold off our poles and wires and has given Wollongong nothing in return – except higher power prices.
“With the budgets of more and more Sydney-based projects blowing out, less and less is available for projects in Wollongong.
“In direct contrast, NSW Labor has a fully funded Illawarra Jobs Action Plan, which includes a $50 million upgrade of the WIN Entertainment Centre, and we’ve pledged every single dollar of any sale of the Snowy Hydro to the Federal Government will be returned to the regions, including Wollongong and the Illawarra region.”
