Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has shunned handing over more federal taxpayer cash for Victoria’s controversial Suburban Rail Loop megaproject, instead pumping $3.3 billion into road and rail in Melbourne’s west.

Albanese has been under pressure from the Victorian Labor government to hand over an additional $9.3 billion, on top of an already promised $2.2 billion, to fund a third of the $34.5 billion SRL East, the opening phase of the loop.