PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has a stern message for the NSW Labor Government: lift your game.
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A TERSE Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has bluntly told NSW Premier Nathan Rees to lift his game as Australia braces for a global recession.
The Prime Minister has pointed the finger at the Labor Premier, warning he could hurt the national economy as Mr Rudd acknowledged that a world recession loomed.
Senior federal sources have struck out at NSW management as a "triumph of press release over policy".
The Federal Opposition will expose any attempts to bail out NSW by pumping billions into infrastructure.
Other senior federal ministers, aghast at the state's worsening financial position, are baulking at pouring federal funds into the "basket case".
The Prime Minister didn't mince his words in an interview with The Sun-Herald on Friday.
"On the state of NSW, I will say it in loud and clear terms: the Government of NSW has to radically lift its game. Radically lift his game," he said.
"It is necessary not just for the people of NSW but for the national economy."
NSW has given a wish-list of $40 billion worth of projects to Infrastructure Australia, the body that oversees the Federal Government's infrastructure program.
The Premier, Nathan Rees, has nominated a $4 billion mini-metro running from Central to Rozelle as the priority.
Embarrassingly, it is understood NSW was forced to take back and change some proposals because they lacked proper costings.
At the time of the announcement of the mini-metro, Mr Rees and his infrastructure chief David Richmond were unable to say how much the project would cost - even though they had been meeting Infrastructure Australia chiefs that morning. The $4 billion price tag was revealed after the press conference.
Other projects nominated by Mr Rees for federal funding are the long-awaited M4 East extension, improvements to the chronically choked M5, extending the F3 to Branxton and linking the F3 and the M2.
Gun-shy senior federal ministers are voicing concerns that any proposals put before the fund may lack costings - and credibility.
"NSW has been a triumph of press release over policy," one said. There was a federal concern about "touching anything" from NSW for fear "they have announced it 14 times before and there's nothing underneath the piece of paper".
The Government is even more cautious about NSW because of Opposition accusations it is poised to favour NSW to help it out of its financial misery.
The fast-tracking of huge infrastructure programs is part of the remedy to stave off the global economic recession.
Despite telling yesterday's Country Labor conference in Port Macquarie that NSW was discriminated against in Commonwealth-state relations, Mr Rees was unfazed by Mr Rudd's assessment.
"The Prime Minister is exactly right but we are working hard to change that perception," Mr Rees said.
"We are working hard to tackle important issues like transport, health, education - that is what the mini-budget process is all about and we won't make promises we can't keep.
"We have made a submission to Infrastructure Australia seeking funding for important infrastructure projects and they will make an independent decision based on the merits of the projects and their strategic significance to the nation."
