JUST when you think you’ve gotten to the bottom of Labor’s budget barrel for the regions, more curve balls get thrown in.
And this time it hits hard at the safety of every person on Mallee’s highways.
Senate Estimates have revealed Labor’s cuts to regional Australia didn’t stop at axing programs such as Building Better Regions and the Community Development Grants.
They have cut almost a quarter of a billion dollars from forward estimates for the Roads Of Strategic Importance program in Victoria.
I am absolutely seething at this complete disregard for the electorate I represent.
As all Mallee road users should be.
The funding reduction hits five of Victoria’s major highways – and all five are in Mallee.
These roads are the Calder Highway, Sunraysia Highway, Murray Valley Highway, Western Highway and Henty Highway.
It is well known these roads need the future investment the Coalition had committed to deliver.
These were future priorities to safeguard our road users.
These highways desperately need investment to maintain major transport routes where road trains, local families and grey-haired nomads with caravans coexist.
It is a matter of safety for these people – who are Victorians too.
So why can’t Labor recognise that?
It is particularly galling that while they reduce this funding, they can also throw more than $2 billion to their state counterparts for a Suburban Rail Loop for Melbourne.
It pits the convenience of city rail users against the safety of regional road users and that is entirely unacceptable.
They see it as a fair game to ignore the regions yet again.
And that is not good enough.
