Albanese government infrastructure review nearing 200 days since starting

A long-awaited start on a bypass for Shepparton is the latest casualty of the Albanese government’s infrastructure review. See what also got the chop.

The Shepparton bypass is the biggest Victorian regional road project casualty of the Albanese government’s infrastructure review with $208 million for stage 1 works vanishing.

Also getting the chop on Wednesday when federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King handed down the results of an independent review is $168 million towards an intersection of the Hume Freeway west of Wodonga.

Initial funding for the McKoy St intersection was announced by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election.

Also getting axed in Victoria’s North East was a heavy vehicle alternative route at Rutherglen, which the federal and Victorian governments had contributed $4m each towards.

Among projects surviving the review include Princes Highway and Western Highway works.

Almost $1 billion will be spent on the Western Highway works including duplication works between Ballarat and Stawell with a further $99 million announced following the review.

Federal Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Minister Catherine King. Picture: Martin Ollman

Ms King said: “The independent strategic review found that the infrastructure investment program inherited from the former Coalition government was undeliverable.

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

Nicholls MP Sam Birrell, whose electorate includes Shepparton, said: “As feared the Shepparton bypass has been scrapped by Labor because fundamentally they don’t understand the importance of regional projects to industry and communities.

“The Coalition committed $208 million to try and get the project moving with the Victorian government and that is now gone under Labor.

“It is a short-sighted decision, but the fight isn’t over.

“I will keep pushing for this project to be built.

“We saw during the October 2022 flood the disruption caused by the closure of the causeway, which only underlined the case second crossing between Shepparton and Mooroopna.”

MORE TO COME

20 COUNTRY ROADS IN LIMBO

More than $1 billion in federal cash for critical regional Victorian road projects including new bridges and safety upgrades remains on the chopping block.

Community leaders are becoming increasingly concerned at the length taken and method used to conduct a review of infrastructure, announced by the Albanese government in May.

On Friday it will be 200 days since the review, meant to take only 90 days, was instigated by Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King.

Big-ticket items in doubt include $360m for the Western Highway duplication between Ararat and Stawell and $208m for the first stage of the Shepparton bypass.

Among smaller projects in limbo is $10m for the only road from the Princes Highway into tourist town Mallacoota in East Gippsland.

Mallacoota resident Peter Hancock said the condition of the 26km road between Genoa and Mallacoota was “absolutely dismal” with speed restrictions on almost half the distance a regular occurrence.

“The road is extremely important,” he said.

“We’re getting B-double tankers coming into the service station now because we’ve dropped from two service stations to one.

“They put a new surface on it just before Christmas last year and it fell apart over Christmas.”

Large trucks would no longer need to travel into the Shepparton CBD if a second crossing of the Goulburn River was built. Picture: David Crosling

A section of the Mallacoota-Genoa Road during the Black Summer fires in 2019-20. Picture: David Caird

It’s also unsafe for abalone fishermen towing large boats on the road, he said.

“I understand why they keep patching it up,” Mr Hancock said.

“But you’ve got to have that action point at the other end that says ‘yes we are going to do it’.”

Swan Hill’s bridge was identified as the top priority for replacement on the Murray River in 2018, but $60m in federal funding announced three years ago is also at risk of disappearing.

Swan Hill mayor Les McPhee said he was concerned at the lack of community input into the review.

“They are reviewing it among themselves and not talking to locals,” he said.

“How can they get a true indication of its importance?

“It’s hampering the economy on both sides of the river.

“With the increase in agricultural production, the increase in freight movements, trucks are only getting bigger, we’re limited by the fact it’s a single lane, weight-restricted bridge.”

SHEPPARTON BYPASS IMPASSE

A long-awaited Shepparton bypass will have national and local benefits when built, according to two proponents of the project in danger of losing $208m in federal funding.

Commonwealth cash for stage 1 works will create a second crossing of the Goulburn River west of Mooroopna to Shepparton North that will remove pressure on the only existing link between the two centres. Large trucks would no longer need to travel into Shepparton and Mooroopna when the bypass is built with Taylor Hall, managing director of logistics and storage company Valley Pack, describing it as a “critical piece” of infrastructure.

“People don’t really grasp the connection both east-west and north-south that Shepparton provides,” he said.

Valley Pack’s Taylor Hall is concerned about the state of Victoria’s rural roads. Picture: Zoe Phillips

He said the current causeway was bordering on unsafe with 33,000 daily vehicles movements presently, according to VicRoads data.

“Especially in the world of distractions in vehicles now,” he said. “There is no centre barrier and you’ve got heavy traffic in both the morning and evening. It’s the only suitable crossing for high productivity freight vehicles across the Goulburn Valley north of Seymour.”

Committee For Greater Shepparton chief executive Linda Nieuwenhuizen said the importance of the bypass couldn’t be underestimated.

“Road freight activity is expected to double, if not triple, between now and 2050,” she said.

“You combine that with the climate change conversation saying extreme events are going to be more frequent and you look at how important this intersection is to the movement of product into the Murray Darling Basin, out of the Murray Darling Basin, to consumers, to export.

“You then understand why it is such a critical project for the future resilience of our national freight network.

“If you look at where Shepparton sits in the national freight network it is not a stretch to say we’re the most important intersection in southeast Australia with the amount of product that moves from basically the Darling Downs to the Port of Melbourne and across to Adelaide.”

GOVERNMENT BLAME GAME

Federal Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Minister Catherine King. Picture: Martin Ollman

Projects already underway and government election commitments were not included in the review which has been completed, but findings not released.

“The review is a lengthy report, which highlights how badly the Liberals and Nationals managed the infrastructure investment program during their wasted decade,” a spokeswoman for the minister said.

“Under the Liberals and Nationals, the number of projects in the infrastructure investment program blew out from nearly 150 to 800.

“There is an estimated $33 billion in known cost pressures across all projects in the program and there is a high risk that figure could increase.

“Because of the mess the Coalition left, the government cannot afford to meet identified cost pressures or add new projects in the next 10 years without significant changes.”

Former Coalition Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester at the site of one of the projects under threat of being shelved by the federal government in Bairnsdale.

Former Coalition Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester said important regional road projects were stalled due to “this razor gang review”.

“If you see a grader, bulldozer or crane working on a major public infrastructure project in Victoria today, you can be certain that this minister had absolutely nothing to do with it,” he said.

“The minister repeatedly talks about a so-called ‘wasted decade’ then turns up to officially open projects that were fully funded and delivered by the previous government.

“There are regional road safety projects that were fully funded by the previous government and they have been stalled by this razor gang review.

“Every project is getting more expensive, we will end up building less, and lives are being put at risk today, while the minister ponders her response to the 90-day review, which has now taken almost 200 days.

“Tragically, Victoria is on track for its worst road trauma result since 2016 and the condition of our roads is contributing to the crashes in many regional areas.”

Ms King announced on Tuesday a 50-50 split between the federal and state governments on future transport projects.

In response, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said she was focused on the state getting its “fair share of funding” from Canberra.

“For too long, on too many projects, here in Victoria under the former federal Liberal-National government there was no funding split because it was zero,” she said.

“It was zero funding we got from Canberra on the Metro Tunnel, West Gate tunnels, we’ve removed 72 level-crossings without a dollar from the federal government.”

Victorian Infrastructure Minister Danny Pearson said regional infrastructure projects would suffer if more funding was required from the state.

“It would be concerning if the federal member for Ballarat, Minister King, sought to walk away from regional Victoria,” he said.

“I’m hoping it’s something they won’t do.”