Nuatali Nelmes wants Newcastle to be considered a metropolitan area to end funding 'uncertainty'

Cr Nelmes is seeking clarity from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian after the state government earlier this month drew a line under Newcastle, meaning the city would miss out on receiving a slice of the $4 billion earmarked for regional areas from the sale of the state’s share of the Snowy Hydro Scheme.

It followed a similar rejection last year after the state said it would not use a regional cultural fund to help fund the expansion of Newcastle Art Gallery.

On Tuesday night, councillors unanimously supported a lord mayoral minute that called on the Premier to provide “clarification about regional and metropolitan boundaries” and noted the “continued uncertainty” the classifications were having.

Cr Nelmes said Newcastle was “very different” to Sydney but should be classified as a metropolitan area because “big infrastructure projects” were being held back without “metropolitan funding”, citing the development of the Port of Newcastle as a container terminal and the international expansion of Newcastle Airport.​

“Without metropolitan funding, these big infrastructure projects remain largely unfunded, stifling economic growth for Newcastle and the broader region,” she said.

Despite his desire for Newcastle to “one day” be regarded as a metropolitan area, Hunter Business Chamber chief executive Bob Hawes believed the city was “not quite there yet”.

The chamber recently wrote to the state government requesting the city be viewed as regional after becoming frustrated some big projects were going unfunded.

Mr Hawes saw “advantages and disadvantages” in being classified as metropolitan but wanted certainty so Newcastle “knows where it stands”. “Right now there is inconsistency across all levels of government,” he said.  

Parliamentary secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald dismissed suggestions Newcastle was missing out on funding.