THE Victorian Government has been accused of missing vital opportunities to support the Mildura region in handing down its State Budget.
Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell said it was “extremely disappointing” that projects in many of the towns in her electorate had been overlooked.
Ms Lovell said projects in Mildura that failed to attract a funding commitment in this year’s budget included rail upgrades, highway improvements, the SuniTAFE SMART Farm, female-friendly facilities and a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.
“This budget is a budget of missed opportunities for regional Victoria,” Ms Lovell said.
“There was no funding to complete vital maintenance on the Sunraysia and Calder highways, which the council in Mildura has been calling for, and no funding to construct overtaking lanes on the Calder Highway between Ouyen and Bendigo, which the community have been saying is a vital project that needs to be invested in,” she said.
“There was also no funding to improve passenger rail services on the Bendigo to Swan Hill line and the connection to Mildura.
“The Mildura community have been very vocal for a number of years in saying they want passenger rail services returned to Mildura.
“At the moment there is a bus service from Swan Hill to Mildura, but there has been no commitment from this government — in fact no commitment over 17 of the last 21 years that this Labor Party has been in power in this state … they have made no commitment to that community on rail infrastructure.”
Ms Lovell said SuniTAFE was “extremely disappointed” it missed out on $10 million that it had applied for to upgrade SMART Farm facilities to create a state-of-the-art teaching centre and function centre and new farm infrastructure on the Cardross campus.
Equally, she said there was no state share of the funding needed to complete the Murray Basin Rail Project, “which is a very important project in the north-west of the state”, including the standardisation of the Sea Lake to Manangatang line.
Ms Lovell said there had also been no commitment for a heavily advocated drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, or a project for female-friendly facilities along the Mallee Track.
“It was only a small amount of money — I think it was only about half a million dollars — and that would have gone towards a larger project that the council also had money for to deliver female change facilities at about five small town locations,” she said.
“I know that they had their heart set on that funding and it did not come through.”
