Linda Burney's final pitch to Barton voters before Saturday's election

This weekend when the people of Barton vote they will have a choice.

When I entered politics in the NSW parliament 13 years ago in my inaugural speech I spoke about what it meant to carry the hopes and aspirations of thousands of people into that building.

I still see this as the most important role of your representative – giving you a voice that loudly and effectively advocates for the needs of our region.

This election each of the candidates have made a range of commitments to local causes – I’ve pledged funding for local sporting groups, to local hospitals and an additional $27 million for local schools but these aren’t the only promises we have to make to the people in the electorate.

At this late stage of the campaign I want to make my core promise clear to each and every voter – I want to give a voice in the parliament back to the people of Barton.

The last three years has seen the concerns of locals completely ignored. When funding to our local hospitals was cut – silence; when the government’s promise to fund the Gonski program was broken – silence; and when aged pensioners across St George saw their real incomes cut – silence.

This election I’m asking people to vote for me so that they have a voice in the parliament again.

We will fully fund Gonski, we will protect Medicare, we will invest $4 million in sports facility upgrades across the electorate and we will put people first.

I’m excited at the prospect of working with people across Barton to get the results we need and I gurantee that if I am lucky enough to be elected on Saturday I will not let the concerns of our community go unheard in Canberra.