State election candidate profiles: Luke Sanger, Country Labor Party

Updated March 19 2019 - 2:34pm, first published March 16 2019 - 2:33pm
ON THE BALLOT: Country Labor Party candidate Luke Sanger.
ON THE BALLOT: Country Labor Party candidate Luke Sanger.

PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY:

  • Name: Luke Sanger.
  • Political party: Country Labor Party.
  • Age: 39.
  • Family: Father of two children.
  • Where do you live? Orange.
  • What do you do for a living? Small business owner.
  • How long have you lived in the Orange electorate? I have lived in Orange on and off for 15 years.
  • What is the best part of living in the Orange electorate? The best part of Orange is the people (minus internet trolls), the recreational areas, the expansive areas, and the vast array of seasons, sometimes in one day.
  • Why are you running for the state seat of Orange? I am running for the state seat of Orange to put the people of Orange first.

POLICY POSITIONS:

  • In the past couple of years Orange has received far less government funding than the Bathurst and Dubbo electorates. How do you propose to redress that imbalance and, if elected, what would you spend the money on? I propose that the next State government open their eyes (and more importantly wallets) to the seat of Orange and the vast amount of potential Orange has over its country cousins in the areas of tourism, recreation, medical facilities and lifestyle. These are the areas that have strong Laborpolicies and I will push to secure funding and grants for local council.
  • The new XPTs are in the pipeline, but there have been no meaningful commitments on track upgrades to straighten the line between Orange and Bathurst. Meanwhile, the push to extend the Bathurst Bullet train to Orange and build servicing facilities for the train here is yet to yield results. If elected, what will you do about these much-needed service upgrades? Of course, I will fight for the Orange residents' right to access a fast and safe rail road to Sydney, as well as meet with the relevant council members and minsters to secure the XPT facilities back to Orange and not Dubbo. It has been needed for a lot of years and is at least eight years late.

Should NSW get a Labor state government, we will use the numbers from the trial to make the case stronger to have a full-time palliative care unit in Orange.

  • The Northern Distributor Road is taking the lion's share of Orange's freight traffic now. If elected, will you fight to make the Northern Distributor Road a regional road to shore up its maintenance funding, and if not, what will you do to ensure Orange City Council receives help to maintain it? Yes, if Labor is successful on March 23 I have suggested that council submit the Northern Distributor Road to the $900 million rural road funding board, which is an independent board consisting of engineers, the RMS and other experts, for the purpose of the state taking over the Northern Distributor Road instead of council copping the overbearing costs this road has inflicted onto ratepayers.
  • If elected, what measures would you support to tackle to ice and illegal drug issues in Orange? Is the solution as simple as increasing the number of police in the city? The solution to any drug matter is not simple and never will be. What is clear is that the war on drugs has not been as effective as we would have hoped it to be, so maybe a different approach is needed. This is why a NSW Labor government will support and adhere to suggestions made at the next Drug Summit if Michael Daley is successful in winning government.
IN THE ELECTORATE: Country Labor Party candidate Luke Sanger.
IN THE ELECTORATE: Country Labor Party candidate Luke Sanger.
  • Do you support the proposed Mount Canobolas mountain bike trail centre? If so, and if elected, how will you help Orange get the required funding to make the project a reality? I do support the Mount Canobolas bike trail, but I do however think that those funds could be better utilised towards supporting the life sciences precinct and a full-time palliative care unit in Orange.
  • If elected, will you support replacing the palliative care 12-month trial with a full-time facility, and with more than the current four beds? I have stated this several times that should NSW get a Labor state government, we will use the numbers from the trial to make the case stronger to have a full-time palliative care unit in Orange. If elected I will have direct contact with Walt Secord who is the Shadow Minister for Health (at the moment) and I will definitely being pushing for the funding of the full-time palliative care facility orunit.
  • What are the major issues facing the villages and small communities in the Orange electorate, and if elected, what steps would you take to improve them? One of the major issues that is affecting our smaller communities in the Orange electorate is water security, for which NSW Labor has announced a $1 billion water infrastructure fund for regional and rural areas. We have also appoint 50 mental health support workers for drought-stricken farmers.
  • If elected, what measures would you introduce to decrease the up to six-week-long waiting lists for people seeking support for mental health issues in Orange? See above, and also NSW Labor has announced more than $2 billion in mental health funding, as well as introducing a policy to legislate and mandate a nurse to patient ratio in mental health facilities.

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