New NSW Treasurer Andrew Constance said the upcoming state budget “will be a cracker”.
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Member for Bega Mr Constance was elevated from the Finance Minister’s role in new NSW Premier Mike Baird’s cabinet reshuffle announced at lunchtime Tuesday.
He will be officially sworn in at a ceremony at 10am Wednesday.
Although handed the Treasurer’s role only weeks out from a state budget, Mr Constance said he has been sitting around the expenditure review committee table for almost nine months and was well-placed to deliver his first budget in May.
“It will be a cracker,” he said after Tuesday’s cabinet announcement.
“I will be an outcomes-focused Treasurer – that means making the point that with infrastructure spending we are putting people and community first.
“We want to progress quickly and transform this state."
Mr Constance highlighted the NSW Liberal Party’s $13billion of infrastructure spending in regional NSW, and “significant input” of teachers, nurses and police in country NSW.
“We are going to, at pace, change NSW," he said.
“My absolute aspiration for all this is directly in line with Mike (Baird) – we are outcomes focused.
“We want to make sure life aspirations can be met for all individuals and that means providing a solid budget.”
Mr Constance said he was “humbled by the enormous opportunity” of his appointment as Treasurer.
“It has been an interesting week,” he said with not a little understatement.
“Certainly from a state perspective it’s great to have a Treasurer from Bega.
“I remain focused on making sure the South Coast gets a better deal.
“My feet will be on the ground – I will still be home three or four days a week slogging away as the local member.”
Mr Constance said his time as Minister for Finance and Services had been complex, but rewarding.
He said his successor to that portfolio, Castle Hill MP Dominic Perrottet, was “a smart guy” and will work under him in a tight-knit economic unit.
The new cabinet
Mike Baird: Premier, Minister for Infrastructure and Western Sydney
Andrew Stoner: Deputy Premier, Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Regional Infrastructure and Services, Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Minister for Small Business and Minister for the North Coast
Gladys Berejiklian: Minister for Transport, and Minister for the Hunter
Adrian Piccoli: Minister for Education
Mike Gallacher: Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for the Central Coast, and vice-president of the executive council.
Duncan Gay: Minister for Roads and Freight
Anthony Roberts: Minister for Resources and Energy
Jillian Skinner: Minister for Health and Minister for Medical Research
Andrew Constance: Treasurer
Pru Goward: Minister for Planning, and Minister for Women.
Brad Hazzard: Attorney-General and Minister for Justice
Gabrielle Upton: Minister for Family and Community Services
Katrina Hodgkinson: Minister for Primary Industries, Assistant Minister for Tourism and Major Events.
Kevin Humphries: Minister for Natural Resources, Lands and Water, and Minister for Western NSW.
John Ajaka: Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability Services, and Minister for the Illawarra.
Stuart Ayres: Minister for Fair Trading, Sport and Recreation, Minister Assisting the Premier on Western Sydney.
Victor Dominello: Minister for Citizenship and Communities, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Veterans Affairs, Assistant Minister for Education.
Rob Stokes: Minister for the Environment, Minister for Heritage and Assistant Minister for Planning.
Troy Grant: Minister for Hospitality, Gaming and Racing, and Minister for the Arts.
Dominic Perrottet: Minister for Finance and Services
Paul Toole: Minister for Local Government
Jai Rowell: Minister for Mental Health and Assistant Minister for Health