You need to know what each party has planned for New South Wales – how much they are spending, what projects are going ahead and when essential infrastructure is being built.

Tomorrow, New South Wales will vote in the state election, and it's looking like Mike Baird’s Coalition is the favourite, with Luke Foley’s Labor party behind in recent polls. Below we clearly compare their infrastructure policies, so you can make informed decisions about who to place your trust in for another three years.

The biggest differences in policy is in infrastructure, and the Coalition is proposing that 49% of the state-owned electricity distributing infrastructure be leased, which would raise almost $20 billion dollars for road and rail investment. Labor is opposed to this on the grounds that it would increase debt, and push power prices up.

Baird has declared that “there is no Plan B” to fund most of his promises in this campaign - without the Government achieving its goal of partially privatising the power industry. Early polls demonstrated that the majority of NSW voters were opposed to privatisation, however the latest polls have shown less opposition to privatisation when the proceeds are used for infrastructure. Obviously, New South Wales voters have a longer memory and recall the ‘infrastructure drought’ of previous Governments causing congestion and stress on their roads and key transport hubs.

Labor’s Luke Foley may be lagging in the polls, but has recently said he’s still confident of taking the government from the Liberals. He maintains that sending profits from the state-owned electricity network to a private owner will be permanently robbing the state of funds which it needs to serve the community. Foley also told reporters that Labor will oppose the privatisation even if Mike Baird wins.

Baird has promised to create 150,000 additional jobs with his spending, and recently announced a range of new health initiatives. In regards to privatisation - he’s said his plan is to lease some of the states existing assets, use the proceeds from the leasing assets to invest in new assets, and the Government will then own both.

Here’s what voters should know about the future of mining and infrastructure in NSW:

The NSW Government has recently proposed a number of construction and infrastructure projects, and the election will have a critical impact on these plans.

Labor has agreed to keep all of the current projects which are under construction and have been committed to.

Labor won’t commit to stage 3 of WestConnex, which would connect the M4 East tunnel near Rozelle to the future M5 East tunnel in St Peters.

The Coalition has allocated $11.3 billion to urban public transport and roads, $4.1 billion for regional transport, and $3.5 billion for infrastructure projects.

Labor has planned to delay the building of the second harbour rail crossing until 2022, while Liberal National Coalition has planned construction for as early as 2017.

It’s estimated that Labor has committed $10 billion less than the LNC to infrastructure due to its reluctance to increase debt.

The Coalition has introduced new policies which would protect water and land, but also plans to continue approving coal seam gas applications, and has started buying back licenses which were issued by Labor during the previous government.

Labor plans to place a moratorium on coal seam gas exploration until it is proven that the process is safe.

So if you are an earthmover, or a productive member of our civil infrastructure, engineering, project management or construction industries – go into the ballot box informed about the party’s plans for the future of New South Wales and vote to keep the progress in this dynamic state moving.

Image Source: abc.net.au