Member for Gippsland Darren Chester says regional road safety, transport infrastructure, local governments and bushfire recovery projects should all be quarantined from the Labor Party’s budget cuts.
Mr Chester said today’s announcement of a 90 day review into the Federal Government’s infrastructure program was an ominous sign for the Gippsland community with several projects yet to start construction due to long delays by the Albanese Government.
“Minister Catherine King has failed to respond to any of my letters since June last year requesting consideration for critical road safety projects like upgrading the Great Alpine Road and further stages of Princes Highway improvements, which were already part of the previous government’s budgets,” Mr Chester said.
“We have no pipeline of future projects because this Minister refuses to do her day job and even consider road safety initiatives that were already budgeted for in 2019.
“In 15 years as the Member for Gippsland, I’ve never experienced a Minister from either side of politics who can’t be bothered responding to legitimate requests in writing. Out of frustration, I’ve written to the Prime Minister and asked him to intervene on behalf of all Gippslanders.”
Mr Chester said the review of the infrastructure program should exempt life-saving projects like road safety upgrades and improved transport connections for regional Australia.
“Too many people are killed and injured on sub-standard regional roads and this government has refused to approve projects put forward by local councils since May last year,” Mr Chester said.
“No doubt under the Minister’s instructions, the Federal Department has failed to process ‘project proposal reports’ for local communities on road safety initiatives which were actually agreed to in principle, by the previous government.
“In effect, the Minister and her Department have been ‘on strike’ since the last election and failed to support critical regional infrastructure and road safety projects in Gippsland.
“All regional road funding should be quarantined from any budget cuts and the Minister and her Department need to stop blocking important projects from proceeding.
“At the same time, we need a guarantee that bushfire recovery projects which are still in the planning stage will be honoured and there should be no cuts to Local Government programs.
“The Coalition Government increased funding to councils because we understood they were better placed to decide local infrastructure priority needs. If the Federal Government cuts funding to councils, the only other option is increased rates to deliver local projects.
“The Minister’s failure to release the details and eligibility criteria for new regional grants programs was a deliberate strategy to starve communities of funding during the 2022-23 financial year. Labor MPs are happy to turn up to cut ribbons and unveil plaques on projects that were funded years ago but refuse to commit funding to a pipeline of new projects.
“These are worrying signs from a city-focused Labor Party that wants to drip-feed projects to the regions and doesn’t trust local communities and local councils to make decisions on projects that are important for us.
“Sadly, next week’s budget looks like being a horror story when it comes to guaranteed funding for regional Australia.”
