One Mallee shire’s road funding win today under a Coalition-era fund could be the last if Labor botches another grants rebranding process, Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster said.
“The Albanese Labor Government must ensure the time management and guidelines under their new ‘Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program (SLRIP)’ will be suitable to fund Mallee councils securing urgently needed and vital community road safety work”, Dr Anne Webster said on the day Northern Grampians Shire secured almost $1 million in funding.
Northern Grampians Shire is one of the last recipients under the Coalition-era Bridges Renewal Program (BRP) and the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program (HVSPP). Labor’s SLRIP rebranding will feature guidelines due to be announced during next month’s Federal Budget process.
“When the Albanese Labor Government took office they shelved the highly successful Building Better Regions program, leaving shires in limbo for over two years waiting to receive replacement Growing Regions Program funding. Victorian Labor axed the Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund (RJIF) in last year’s State Budget, stranding Councils up the federal grant application creek without a paddle. State co-funding is vital to getting major projects like road upgrades over the federal funding line,” Dr Webster said.
“Local roads are in such horrendous disrepair, Mallee residents cannot afford similar abysmal delays and abandonment.”
Northern Grampians Shire today received $400,000 under the BRP to upgrade the Greens Creek Road Bridge, including widening, and strengthening it, installing new safety guardrails and increasing the width to allow safe passage for two vehicles in each direction.
A further $400,000 in BRP funding will go towards the Mt Dryden Road Bridge crossing the Mount William Creek in Lake Lonsdale.
Northern Grampians Shire also secured $664,000 under the HVSPP to rehabilitate and widen sections of Minyip-Banyena Road, a strategic freight route in the Wimmera Southern Mallee region.
“The former Coalition Government had already budgeted for the funding Labor announced today. I am pleased to see Northern Grampians Shire now enabled to carry out important work on these important domestic and freight routes,” Dr Webster said.
“The Albanese Labor Government is leaving councils hanging on their pledge to improve their general federal funding, staging a review that will now come too late for the upcoming May Budget. Mallee residents and their Councils need faster action from their Federal and State Governments.”