THE Coalition has made a big-money election-year pitch to regional Victorians, promising a $1 billion growth fund that will give country voters a say in government investment.
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The Brumby government immediately accused the Nationals of setting up a cynical slush fund that would benefit its safe seats and leave Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong in the cold.
Unveiling the opposition's key regional election policy on Saturday, Nationals leader Peter Ryan painted the Brumby government as ''city-centric'' and said his Regional Growth Fund would revitalise town centres, encourage better transport for university and TAFE students, fix roads and bridges, and boost local health facilities.
Speaking at the Nationals' state conference in Wangaratta, Mr Ryan said the $1 billion fund would be spent over eight years, with finance coming from budget surpluses. Of the fund, 40 per cent would go to projects prioritised by local communities and 60 per cent would go to strategic regional infrastructure.
If the Coalition wins government in November's election it will set up five regional development committees to advise ministers on ways to spend the money. The fund will be added to existing spending on regional Victoria and will aim to fill gaps, supplementing but not replacing current departmental funding.
''This is a result of an enormous amount of research and consultation from a huge variety of sources across the state,'' Mr Ryan said. ''We believe it will accommodate many of the concerns put to us by so many elements of the community. One of our constant frustrations is that programs are driven out of Melbourne.''
Mr Ryan said the Brumby government had provided no new funding for its $611 million Regional Infrastructure Development Fund, set up in 1999, and had left $56 million uncommitted. The government says it has already indicated it will commit the remaining funds by June 30.
Shaun Inguanzo, a spokesman for Regional and Rural Development Minister Jacinta Allan, said Labor had committed $553 million to 351 projects under its infrastructure fund. The government will release a blueprint for regional Victoria's future before the end of June.
The Victorian Labor Party's platform, released on Friday, commits to the idea of ''rural-proofing'' all policies to measure their impact in the state's regions.
Ms Allan said yesterday that the Nationals' idea to set up regional committees cut across the bodies already set up by Regional Development Australia. ''Peter Ryan wants to trash all of this and set up a new layer of red tape as a cover for allocating his slush funds to National Party seats,'' she said.
