The Newcastle Herald welcomes Chris Minns to Newcastle for the first time as Premier. Login or signup to continue reading We hope it's the start of a beautiful relationship. Mr Minns will be the keynote speaker at a Business Hunter and University of Newcastle event at City Hall on Wednesday night.
His government and his four Hunter cabinet ministers have been at the wheel for 15 months, and the jury is out on whether the region is benefiting from its staunch support for Labor at the ballot box. The Hunter will want to know that he can see beyond the Hawkesbury. Labor's time in power has coincided with an inflation and interest-rate crunch that has pounded household budgets but failed to stop the rise in property and rental prices.
At the same time, the Hunter's unemployment rate is just 3 per cent, one percentage point below the state and national levels. The region's once-high jobless rate has morphed into a labour shortage. Mr Minns and his government have little influence over the macroeconomic climate, but are trying to address housing supply with interventions in the planning system.
It remains to be seen if these succeed in making housing more affordable in the Hunter, but, as Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has said, doing nothing is not an option. The Hunter's challenges are numerous: a public housing waiting list of more than 5000; alarming rates of domestic violence ; an economy facing a massive transition away from coal; school , health and child-protection systems under .
