Mr Marshall has been lobbying hard for the redevelopment of Armidale and Inverell hospitals.

He’s after $34 million so the Armidale hospital redevelopment can be completed by “the end of the calendar year”.

“We had $26 million in this current budget, out of the $60 million, so I’d be looking for the balance of that in this budget,” Mr Marshall said.

Mr Marshall was adamant the budget must also include $30 million for Inverell hospital’s redevelopment, which was “vital for Inverell’s growing community”.

“I’ve been meeting with the Health Minister and Treasurer saying we've gone through the whole planning process,” Mr Marshall said.

“We’re shovel-ready, we need the money in the budget so we can crack on and get this redevelopment underway, which the community has been desperately waiting on for a decade.

“I told the Treasurer that there was now no reason that funding could not be forthcoming in this year’s Budget.

“He now fully understands that Inverell expects this project to move ahead without delay and that I won’t accept anything less. The community has been fighting for over a decade to see this project move ahead and must not wait another year.”

While Mr Marshall would “love to see the full amount” delivered in one hit, he expects it “would be delivered in two tranches, as Armidale was”.

The recently-approved plans include a new building which will contain:

The Inverell community has seen the benefits of the town’s recently opened Service NSW centre and Mr Marshall is “very keen” to see more of those centres rolled out.

“I’d like to see them in the communities of Moree, Glen Innes – maybe even somewhere like a Guyra or a Uralla,” he said.

“So I’ve put a bid in for some funding to roll those out further in the electorate.

“They’re very successful, people love them and they’re a lot more efficient then the Motor Registers. They mean people can do a whole lot of extra things – interactions, payments – in the one spot.”

The Northern Tablelands MP is keen to get Moree “geared up and ready” for the Brisbane to Melbourne Inland Rail, after the federal government’s multi-billion dollar “rock-solid” commitment to the project.

“It's probably a little bit early for this budget period, but I have put a bid in to establish a major intermodal facility at Moree,” Mr Marshall said.

“But even without the inland rail yet, an intermodal facility would still be great to load onto the existing line and take things to Newcastle.

“When the inland rail comes, we’ll have the ability to continue to go to Newcastle and up to Brisbane, giving us port access at either end.”

Mr Marshall said he wanted money from the budget set aside for Newell Highway, Carnarvon Highway, Gwydir Highway, New England Highway and Waterfall Way to continue and finish the upgrade work currently being carried out.

“It’s going to be really important to upgrade those feeder roads into Moree, to make sure we can get the produce into Moree, to smoothly put it on the [inland] rail,” he said.

Mr Marshall is looking for extra money for the Armidale airport expansion.

There is a funding split between the federal government, NSW government and Armidale Regional Council, with each obligated to front up a million dollars.

“The money already committed for the airport redevelopment at Armidale as well as the new roundabout that has to be built on the highway,” he said.

“So I’m looking for the million to finish that off.” 

He’ll also be looking for more money for “significant work” on the region’s schools to improve their physical facilities, particularly in Armidale where there are a number of older high schools.

“Last year we saw some big money to completely rebuild Moree East Public School,” Mr Marshall said.

”I would really love to see a major capital investment to basically rebuild or refresh some of our local schools.”

The NSW government recently announced a $230m package to tackle the maintenance backlog the state’s schools face, including Armidale City Public School ($44,797), Armidale High School ($1.8m), Glen Innes High School ($1m) and Guyra Central School ($204,345).

Much of that package has yet to be allocated.

“I’ve said we need to start concentrating on that,” Mr Marshall said.

“I’d be looking for something in the budget for that.”