RURAL Victoria has missed out on its “fair share” of this year’s budget, according to the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF).
“As you work through the budget it becomes clear metropolitan Melbourne has gained more than 90 per cent of the infrastructure spend,” VFF president Peter Tuohey said.
“The Government has committed $15 billion to VicTrack rail projects, with little more than $200m promised to the Murray Basin rail freight upgrade.
“The Government has promised to spend $220m on the standardisation and upgrade of the Murray Basin’s north-west freight lines, but will only spend $30m on the project in 2015-16.
“The Government has given us no detail on which lines will be upgraded, and when, as part of the overall $220m project.”
But the VFF welcomed a raft of other government initiatives that build on its commitments to rural jobs, youth, market access, biosecurity and farmer health.
The VFF has highlighted the government stood to earn more than $5 billion from selling the Port of Melbourne lease and has already gained another $400m from the sale of the Rural Finance Corporation (RFC).
“We expect the Government to deliver a fair share of this port and all RFC revenue to rural Victoria, given they were built on the back of farm exports and finance,” Mr Tuohey said.
VFF Grains Group president Brett Hosking warned the government seemed focused on simply upgrading and standardising the Mildura “spine” line.
“Failure to complete the spur lines - Sea Lake and Managatang lines - risked isolating more than 1 million tonnes of grain,” Mr Hosking said.
The VFF had spent years lobbying successive state and federal governments to invest in standardising Victoria’s inefficient network, which consists of broad and narrow gauge (width) lines.
