Election spat: Hogan rejects highway funding cut claims

LABOR candidate for Page Janelle Saffin has accused the government of quietly cutting $351 million of Pacific Highway upgrade funding in this month’s budget.

No Caption. Picture: Bill North

LABOR candidate for Page Janelle Saffin has accused the government of quietly cutting $351 million of funding for the Pacific Highway upgrade in this month's Federal budget.

"In the 2016 Budget, delivered a fortnight ago, the government forecast spending of $1.369 billion on the Pacific Highway, $351 million less than the $1.72 billion it promised in its 2015 National Partnership Agreement with the NSW Government," she said.

"Just a year earlier, the government had again quietly cut funding by $130 million on what it had promised in its 2014 Budget."

>> New section of the Pacific Hwy upgrade opens to traffic

However Page MP Kevin Hogan has rejected the claims, and said there has been no such cut to the funding of the project.

"The Federal Government has allocated $5.64 billion in the budget to complete the Pacific Highway by 2020," he said.

"This money is drawn down as it is spent. The speed at which this happens can be affected by construction delays due to such things as wet weather.

"The money is all there, all accounted for and we are building this as fast as possible."

Ms Saffin said the Pacific Highway was an essential piece of infrastructure, and only a Shorten Labor Government can get the Pacific Highway duplication back on track.

"The completion of its duplication is a national priority, both in terms of road safety and economic productivity," she said.

"While the Prime Minister goes on about the importance of cities, the disappointing Nationals have gone missing in action when it comes to investing for the regions."

Mr Hogan has disputed the assertion from Ms Saffin over Labor's ability to build the highway and funding commitment during its time in power.

"The facts are this: at the last Federal Election, the Labor Party put $3.5 billion on the table to finish the Pacific Highway. This was 50% of the total needed," he said.

"After I lobbied the then-Deputy Prime Minister, the Coalition put $5.6 billion on the table. This was 80% of the total cost.

"If Labor had won, the highway would not be finished by 2020. This is due to the fact they wanted to revert to a 50-50 split with the State Government."

Labor NSW Senator Sam Dastyari, who was in Grafton yesterday morning as part of a campaign tour from Cairns to Canberra, said funding for the Pacific Highway was vital.

"It's vital not just for jobs as the road process is undertaken, but more importantly for making sure that as a tourism and regional centre this area gets the support it needs," he said.

"Labor is committed to making sure we have an independent process when it comes to official road funding, and frankly we don't understand why there's been any cuts to the Pacific Highway funding agreement when there was a joint agreement between state and federal government.

"We want to make sure the Pacific Highway is upgraded in full, and really our record speaks for itself in what we were able to do when we were in government.

"Any cuts in funding to the Pacific Highway upgrade would have serious consequences."

Originally published as Election spat: Hogan rejects highway funding cut claims