NSW National Party leader John Barilaro added some spark to the debate over infrastructure funding on Friday when he told his party's annual state conference he was prepared to resign as deputy premier if such a step was needed to allow him to better represent the interests of regional communities.
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The division of spoils between Sydney and the bush is a recurring theme in NSW politics, and Mr Barilaro took particular aim at the Coalition's 2012 promise that 30 per cent of its multi-billion-dollar Restart NSW fund would be spent in regional areas.
Starting with $300 million, the Restart NSW fund now holds $33.2 billion from various "asset recycling programs", as the Coalition likes to call privatisation.
The "30 per cent rule" was promoted as ensuring that regional NSW receives its fair share of the pie. But in calling for the policy to be scrapped, Mr Barilaro said its real purpose had been to "justify spending in Sydney and metropolitan centres".
Telling the senior Coalition partner, the Liberal Party, it had "no right to trade away regional NSW", Mr Barilaro said the Nats would not allow the government to "hide behind the weasel words of bean counters in Treasury".
While the deputy premier clearly intended to grab public attention with his criticisms, cynics may wonder whether Mr Barilaro acted independently, or whether the Liberals - or at least Premier Gladys Berejiklian - were warned in advance.
Regardless, the speech will encourage a closer look at the real extent of regional funding, which can be no bad thing.
Interim opposition leader Penny Sharpe responded to Mr Barilaro by saying that regional NSW was receiving only 18 per cent of the money as things stood.
Upper Hunter Nationals MP Michael Johnson, who was at the conference, disputed the ALP's claim, saying it did not include future allocations. This month's state budget does indicate a regional share - including future commitments - of very close to 30 per cent. But the criticisms by Mr Barilaro of Treasury bean counters telling the regions "what is best for us" seem to indicate that he, at least, knows there is more - or less - to the published figures than meets the eye.
Time will tell whether Mr Barilaro carries through on his threats, or it's the Nationals being loud in the bush and quiet in Macquarie Street, to quote Ms Sharpe.
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