Government’s decision to can essential Shepparton bypass slammed by Goulburn Valley leaders

Federal Labor’s decision to cancel the Shepparton Bypass project has been slammed by Goulburn Valley leaders.

Plans for the Shepparton Bypass have now been scrapped by the Federal Government.

The government’s decision to cancel an important project which has been lobbied for decades in the Goulburn Valley has been slammed by Shepparton leaders, who labelled the decision “astounding”.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Caroline King on Thursday released findings of the government’s Federal Infrastructure Review, revealling Stage 1 of the Shepparton Bypass project would be cancelled.

The Goulburn Valley community has pushed and probed for the Shepparton Bypass project for more than 20 years.

Stage 1 of the project was set to be a single lane carriageway in each direction extending from the Midland Highway west of Mooroopna to the Goulburn Valley Highway in Shepparton North - a total distance of 10.05km.

Greater Shepparton City Council mayor Shane Sali said the decision was “a huge blow” to the local community.

Mr Sali referred to the October 2022 floods when supplies had to be flown in via helicopter as “essential workers were unable to cross the Goulburn River to work at the hospital”.

Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor Shane Sali.

The Greater Shepparton City Council announced plans for the Shepparton Bypass in May 2016.

Mr Sali said after all that work it was “devastating” to have the “rug pulled out from under us now”.

He said he was frustrated by the decision.

“Politics should be removed when making decisions on critical infrastructure upgrades,” he said.

The benefits of the project were set to increase national and regional economic output by $590m, during the construction phase, create 3170 additional regional and national jobs, and revitalise the Shepparton CBD, Nationals Member for Shepparton District Kim O’Keeffe said.

Local leader Kim O’Keeffe has slammed the Federal Government’s decision to cancel the Shepparton Bypass.

It was also set to deliver badly needed road safety benefits to Mooroopna and Shepparton by removing freight and through traffic from the CBDs.

Ms O’Keeffe said the cancellation was something the community “deeply feared”.

She also mentioned how important the bypass would have been during the October 2022 floods.

“How critical that need (for a bypass) was during the October 2022 floods when emergency services and freight could not move between Mooroopna and Shepparton,” she said.

An impassioned Ms O’Keeffe said it was “astounding” the project had been cancelled, slamming the decision as “lacking any national strategic rationale”.

About a quarter of the state’s trucks are registered in the Greater Shepparton District.

The cancellation came just a year after Ms King reassured Goulburn Valley residents the government was committed to the project.

The former Federal Coalition contributed $208m to the bypass after an initial $10.2m was enshrined in the 2017-18 Victorian Budget.

Ms O’Keeffe went on to say the “community’s needs and priority projects have been ignored.”

“I am appalled by the decision to cancel the Shepparton Bypass and that Labor cannot see the value in a Bypass for Shepparton,” she said.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King today announced that Labor would not be going through with its pledge to build the Shepparton Bypass.

“This is a vital project that is well overdue and would benefit not only our region, but the whole of Victoria and indeed the entire country that relies on our region’s productivity and economic benefit,” said Ms O’Keeffe.

It comes as 12 other Victorian projects have been dumped while the federal government tries to claw back cash amid $33bn in cost blowouts in its $120bn infrastructure pipeline.

The long-awaited federal infrastructure review recommends cancelling 82 of 274 projects nationwide.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King on Thursday announced that at least 50 would not proceed.

“The independent strategic review found that the Infrastructure Investment Program inherited from the former Coalition government was undeliverable,” Ms King said.

“Following consultation with the states and territories, we now have a forward plan of projects that are properly planed and targeted to unlock significant economic, social and environmental objectives.”