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I REFER to the letter from Alby Schultz of December 19 which he refers to my 22 Point Policy Platform.
I note that his own Liberal Party candidate has no policies for the electorate at all shown on his website.
In fact, I cannot find any definite commitments anywhere from the Liberal Party to apply federal government funds to the electorate of Hume for significant infrastructure projects.
This is not unusual as the electorate of Hume has been ignored by successive federal governments for many years.
The majority of my proposals do relate to the electorate and concern developments which have been agreed to be either necessary (such as the Barton Highway duplication) or desirable (such as developing Goulburn as a rail freight hub, the completion of the Maldon-Dumbarton rail line, the re-commissioning of the Blayney- Demondrille rail line or the upgrading of secondary roads in the electorate such the Nerriga, Tarago and Braidwood roads).
The majority of these proposals also have the stated support of local governments within the electorate and most have also had feasibility studies completed.
The ability to implement these proposals would be greatly assisted with some degree of federal government support. Given that the Liberal Party has recently committed to expending $5.6 billion to upgrade the Pacific Highway and $1.5 billion to the WestConnex project, then there is clearly money available.
I would suggest that it is time that some of this money was applied to the electorate of Hume.
Other policies of mine relate to issues such as the restoration of Land & Water Australia, the maintenance of strategic agricultural lands, biosecurity, living away from home allowances for rural students, improved aged and remote care facilities and foreign ownership. I have stated my position also on coal seam gas and wheat deregulation.
Once again, as with most areas of policy, I see nothing definite from the Liberal Party candidate in regard to any of these issues.
I would hope that all candidates for the seat of Hume could agree that what we need to do is to raise the profile of the electorate to ensure that at least some of the projects which many of us have worked towards for many years can finally be put into place.
James Harker-Mortlock, Independent candidate for Hume, Yass.