On the line are plans for a new building to include an emergency department, inpatient unit, medical imaging services, surgical theatre, mortuary and larger renal dialysis unit. 

The business case for the project was submitted to the NSW Government earlier this year, leaving Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall confident funding would be announced.

The MP has a major stake in the Budget announcements after publicly stating he won’t “accept anything less” than the full funding allocation. 

“I told the Treasurer that there was now no reason that funding could not be forthcoming in the year’s Budget,” Mr Marshall said.

“The planning team have stretched every last cent of the $30 million promised.”

The hospital plans follow a decade-long fight for improvements that increased in momentum in November 2016 after reports locals were arriving at the emergency department and finding no doctors available. 

A full-time emergency doctor and consistently staffed GP clinic were announced by Hunter New England Health earlier this year after a petition began circulating demanding better hospital better services. 

New England is hoping to also benefit from a $20 million boost for community health services across the state, which will target mental health reform.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet is facing a debut Budget that is estimated will deliver a surplus of more than $4 billion, after revenue from long-term leases of the NSW electricity network which added $23 billion to state coffers.