Liberal MLC Catherine Cusack will resign from the New South Wales Parliament over the distribution of emergency disaster funding on the north coast of the state.
A spokeswoman for Ms Cusack confirmed to 9News.com.au on Wednesday evening that she had announced her intention to resign.
An official resignation is expected only after the pre-selection process has taken place to replace her.
“The idea that being a flood victim in a National Party seat makes you more valuable than a flood victim being in the Richmond constituency … is probably the most unethical approach I’ve ever seen,” she said.
The three areas that receive extra funding are all in Page’s nationally-held federal headquarters, while Ballina, Byron and Tweed are in Richmond, run by Labor Justine Elliot.
On Wednesday evening, Ms Elliot called on other North Coast Liberals and National Deputies to follow Ms Cusack’s leadership and resign.
“They failed us all,” she said on Facebook.
“Locals will not forgive and will not forget that in the midst of this ongoing crisis, Scott Morrison and his candidate Kimberly Hone, along with all the local Liberals and Nationalists, have deliberately excluded our region from extra disaster payments.”
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg last week defended the government, saying that expert advice guided the extra funding.
A day of destruction: Sydney’s flood chaos and images
“We know that in the Lismore area there was a catastrophic event, and the damage we saw there is greater than what we have seen in other parts of the country due to floods,” he said today.
“So what we did was we sat down with the experts. They gave us the facts on the ground.”
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