Regional Victoria waiting for campaign road promises

Pledges for road funding across the country are coming thick and fast from both major parties — but specifics on new regional Victorian upgrades are lacking.

Pledges for road funding across Australia are coming thick and fast from both major parties this election campaign – but regional Victoria is still waiting to see what might be coming its way.

Labor has been busy announcing a series of upgrades to roads on the outskirts of Melbourne, as well as regional road upgrades in New South Wales and Queensland on Monday, while the Coalition has pledged $600m to support upgrades to road infrastructure critical to the mining and agricultural sectors.

But when asked by The Weekly Times if there would be more investment in upgrading Victorian regional and rural roads more than 100km outside of Melbourne, neither party directly answered the question or provided specific details on any potential projects.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking said it was disappointing that federal Labor were seemingly focusing on suburban road maintenance over regional thoroughfares.

But he added the federal Coalition had also not issued a regional Victorian roads pledge.

“There’s five weeks of the election campaign and we’ve still got more than half a campaign to go. So both sides have got an opportunity to properly address this multi-billion dollar issue,” Mr Hosking said.

“It’s not like they’re not aware. Anyone driving outside Melbourne’s city boundaries knows how bad regional Victoria’s roads are. It’s disappointing that all the focus so far has been on Melbourne, given the social and economic consequences.”

Of the $8.45bn earmarked for the ‘road investment component’ to support state infrastructure projects in the federal budget, $1.67bn is to go to Victoria.

This is less than New South Wales and Queensland ($2.47bn and $2.03bn respectively), but higher than South Australia ($1.58bn). However, Victoria received a greater proportional increase from last year’s budget than its eastern counterparts, with its funding rising 51 per cent.

“The Albanese Government has significantly increased transport infrastructure funding in Victoria’s regions which were short-changed by the Coalition for almost a decade,” Minister King said.

Meanwhile, the Coalition announced it would reinstate the 80:20 federal funding model for significant road projects in remote and regional Australia, after Labor moved to a 50:50 contribution split between state and federal governments.

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie said the plan would incentivise state governments to partner in productivity enhancing upgrades.

“The majority of the national highway network runs through regional Australia and Labor’s cuts mean these critical freight routes will be denied the funding needed to maintain efficient, safe and productive supply chains,” she said.

Originally published as Regional Victoria waiting for campaign road promises