Jeff Drayton rewarded with cake and the Labor candidacy on his 51st birthday today

JEFF Drayton was rewarded with the Labor candidacy for the Upper Hunter seat and a cake on his 51st birthday as he attended a presser in Singleton and called into a John St cafe for a chat with Scone.com.au today.

Mr Drayton who said he would work “bloody hard” for the electorate intimated he not only had connections with the coal industry but also the equine, viticulture and agricultural industries.

“I have connections in each of the industries and understand what the issues are in the Upper Hunter. I’m able to talk about them and see what the conflicting issues are between the different industries,” Mr Drayton said.

“There’s fear-mongering every day in the coal industry. They ask me ‘where am I going to go’ so we’ve got to work out what job they’re going to go to before they leave their current job,” he said.

“Every time I open the newspaper or every time I turn the TV on I see somebody having a go at coal miners and that has to stop.

“And I’m going to fight bloody hard to make sure that does.

“I want to be able to be that representative that walks down the street and someone comes out to talk about an issue and I will deal with the issue, to be able to be in a pub and speak to people about what their issues are. That’s something certainly in the Upper Hunter we have been lacking.”

“All coal miners are welded to the industry. They’re a fairly diverse bunch, most of them. They need to have somewhere for them to go first before we start talking about not having a job.

“I want miners to feel like they’ve got one of their own in there for them, let’s send one of their own to defend their jobs.”

Opposition Leader Jodi McKay who was in Singleton with Mr Drayton to launch Labor’s campaign joined him and spoke about the strengths Mr Drayton would bring to the role should he win the by-election.

“One of the things everyone will do is bring everyone together because renewable energy is coming but we’re still going to be exporting coal so there’s still that protection we’re going to do around those jobs, but what are the jobs, what will they be,” Ms McKay said.

She said she wanted assurance the proceeds of the $4 million from the sell-off of Scone TAFE would be spent in Scone.

“We want (NSW Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education) Geoff Lee to debate Jihad Dib. We want him to come up to the community in Scone, debate Jihad and back what he’s saying about the sale because it was so underhand. The community wasn’t consulted. Give us some guarantees going forward. We’ll be pushing for Geoff Lee to step up and debate the issue in Scone,” Ms McKay said.

“Manufacturing is something Jeff and I feel very strongly about and we’ve had conversations about this. The Government has off-shored all its transport projects, every rail, bus, ferry contract has been offshored. That’s millions, billions of dollars and thousands and thousands of jobs,” she said.

“Every single project has been a cost overrun and late and also sub-standard. There’s a huge opportunity to build jobs in Manufacturing here.

“We don’t accept that the Premier said NSW doesn’t make things. I was on the Hunter Manufacturing group here and we promoted manufacturing. I sat on the Hunter Manufacturer’s board and all we did was promote manufacturing.

“The Government has a responsibility to build here. During this Government, 8000 jobs were lost in the Hunter in Manufacturing. The issue here is we talk about the jobs but where are the jobs going to come from?” Ms McKay said.

Mr Drayton said he was sick and tired of coal miners being vilified for doing their work when those jobs drove the economy.

“They should be thanked for the work they do, not blamed for doing a hard day’s work,” he added.

With his avid interest in the equine industry as an owner of several racehorses, Mr Drayton loves living in the Upper Hunter and enjoys the support of his wife Susan and their three children.

“Dad worked as a dairy farmer and I worked on the dairy farm at weekends. Then, when I was 15, dad started working in the mines.”

If only a younger Mr Drayton could have imagined the future awaiting him which included a cake to celebrate his birthday earlier, at the end of the presser and an electorate hungry for change.