“I started the year as minister, but it didn’t end that way,” she said. 

Barry O’Farrell stepped down as premier over a bottle of Penfolds Grange – a gift he maintained he had no recollection about but which saw Mike Baird appointed leader and Ms Parker was shuffled out of cabinet.

Ms Parker announced her retirement in October, able to hold her head high, untouched by the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry that saw many of her Liberal colleagues in the Hunter resign after being embroiled in scandal.

“I’m in a good place; and we’ve got projects that aren’t finished but that are well under way,” she said looking back at her time as Maitland MP.

“It’s hard to be negative when you live in such a great place like Maitland.

“And when you travel around you realise how lucky we’ve got it here.”

Ignoring the Macquarie Street drama there were plenty of positives.

“One of the projects [that is unfinished] is the overpass, but that should be completed in 2015,” Ms Parker said of the New England flyover that will take the lion’s share of $45 million.

“We also have a hospital site. 

“The planning has moved forward this year and people see it as a reality.

“[But] the game changer this year was the Hunter Expressway opening.” 

Other wins for the city included $5.6 million to upgrade No. 1 Sportsground, which was announced during the regional cabinet meeting in Maitland that Ms Parker chaired.

Maitland Town Hall also received $2 million to upgrade the auditorium.

Ms Parker helped open the Hunter River Community School at Metford in an $8 million joint effort with the federal government, using leftover Building Education Revolution funds.

The Mercury was also there when Ms Parker inspected the widened New England Highway at Rutherford worth $3 million. 

Ms Parker also helped Maitland with its Resources for Regions applications to ensure it would be eligible for a future share of mining royalties.

“The message there is that you really have to keep pushing and that was demonstrated with Resources for Regions.”