Sunraysia communities have had to fight for every government dollar while Melbourne and Canberra decide which projects are deemed worthy of support.

The Albanese Labor Government's $560 million Major and Local Community Infrastructure program was a closed grants program. Communities could not simply put forward their best projects and compete on merit. It was invite-only!

The Mallee electorate covers 83,412 square kilometres, over one third of Victoria, and despite Victoria getting 36 per cent of national MLCI funding, we received just one $4m project in Maryborough.

Centre for Public Integrity analysis found 45 electorates received no MLCI grants, with 20 being rural, regional and remote electorates, while about three-quarters of the $560 million went to notionally Labor-held seats.

Meanwhile the invite-only MLCI gave $6 million for Marrickville Golf Club in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's own Sydney electorate. The Prime Minister was also an honorary member of the club, although he said he wasn't. He has since had to correct the record.

Here in Sunraysia, I have fought for years for a proper Mildura heavy vehicle bypass. At the last federal election, I secured a Coalition commitment of $5 million for the business case to finally start getting heavy vehicles out of Mildura’s CBD, including examining a new Murray River crossing near Monak.

The Nationals' Member for Mildura, Jade Benham, has secured a commitment from a Victorian Liberal and Nationals Government to fund a business case for a second Murray River crossing near Monak, a key part of the wider heavy vehicle bypass strategy.

A Monak crossing could take around 1,000 trucks a day out of Deakin Avenue, make all our intersections safer and cut heavy freight travel times by up to an hour between the capital cities – a win-win for everyone.

That is what a fair share looks like: governments backing the infrastructure regional communities need.

The Nationals' Fair Share Guarantee also commits at least 25 per cent of new Victorian infrastructure investment to regional Victoria, reflecting the 25 per cent of Victorians who live regionally.

Jade and I will keep fighting for Sunraysia so we get our fair share.

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