THE resignation of NSW Deputy Premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro is “good news for regional NSW”, according to Murray MP Helen Dalton.
Mr Dalton, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party representative who believes the state Nationals have lost touch with country issues and voters, said Mr Barilaro had been “terrible” in his role as Minister for Regional NSW and had shown “a complete lack of commitment” to the portfolio.
She feared, however, that The Nationals would be unable to provide a suitable replacement.
“The calibre of people in The Nationals at the moment is incredibly poor,” Mrs Dalton said.
“I look at them and wonder if you were on a desert island, needing to survive, who would you want with you, and it would be none of them. None of them is capable.”
Mrs Dalton said she also had little faith in the likely new Liberal state leadership, as a factional deal made Dominic Perrottet the probable new premier in the wake of Gladys Berijiklian’s resignation last week.
“It’s more of the same … I doubt he’s ever been over the Blue Mountains,” she said. “They need a fresh, new team.”
Mrs Dalton said the regions were booming, despite the economic impacts of the pandemic, but she feared country hospitals had been left poorly prepared for a flood of COVID-19 cases likely to follow the opening of a locked-down state.
She said the new leadership must address the state of the country health system as a matter of urgency.
