After months of waiting, last Friday saw premier Gladys Berejiklian roll into town to announce $5 million in funding for the expansion of Junee’s sewerage treatment plant.
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Ms Berejiklian was full of praise for the Council and Ms Hodgkinson’s advocacy in pushing for help, speaking of the need for smaller shires to shout out loud to be heard over the ruckus of other projects around the state competing for funds.
She’s right, the Council and Ms Hodgkinson’s efforts to be heard should be lauded.
But should it really have been up to them to beg and claw for the cash needed to expand a significant state interest and responsibility?
She spoke of her excitement at being a part of a project that would enable the expansion of the town as it grows, but what was overshadowed on that windy day at the water treatment plant was the real reason it needs to expand in the first place.
Expansion of the plant is necessary to facilitate the expansion of the jail.
Junee Correctional Centre, managed privately by GEO on behalf of Corrective Services NSW since it opened in 1993, is the state’s largest regional correctional centre.
Its $220 million expansion will see the population increase from 875 to 1355 with the addition of 480 maximum security beds; that’s roughly 20 per cent of the town’s entire population.
It seems a lack of foresight that the government wouldn’t consider the wastewater needs of its largest regional jail in the planning stage.
They’re committed to the $3.8 billion expansion of NSW’s prison network but apparently not particularly committed to ensuring these expansions can actually function in the communities they exist within.
It took the local member and Council jumping up and down and pursuing every avenue to ensure the project could be funded and completed on time.
A significant $2.8 million will still be worn by Junee in the form of loans.
The jail is an important part of Junee and its expansion will undoubtedly bring growth to the region, creating hundreds of new jobs and drawing people to the shire.
But state investment in their own fundamental infrastructure shouldn’t been seen as big favour for the shire; it’s a basic obligation.
The jail may be privately run but it’s owned by Ms Berejiklian’s government.
