Pork barrelling in Newcastle

It was announced yesterday that the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) was to receive $10 million support from the State Government.

This was reported in The Newcastle Herald today.

What wasn't reported is that the chair was, until recently, Ms Jodi McKay (she is still a board member). And a previous chair was Mr David Simmons, ALP right-winger and husband of the Sydney Labor candidate's campaign manager.

The tangled web of pork barrelling.

Why didn't The Newcastle Herald report this?

It's a shame that a worthy cause such as HMRI has become entangled with politics in the week before the election - this blatant pork barrelling is just the sort of corruption that people are fed up with Sydney Labor.

It's not about open and transparent decision-making, it's about which individual does the lobbying?

How desperate is Sydney Labor in the week before the election?

If Sydney Labor really did think HMRI was worthy of funding (and not just a pet project of their candidate in Newcastle) why wasn't it announced earlier? or after Saturday?

The timing of this announcement calls into question the process of government policy decisions.

The use made of this announcement by the Sydney Labor campaign in Newcastle unnecessarily politicises a worthy cause in our community.