Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

In last year's federal budget the Liberal-National Party government announced a commitment of $208 million for stage 1 of the Shepparton bypass. This project will significantly boost road safety in Greater Shepparton by removing the B-doubles from the CBD. It is a very important project that will see an increase in national and regional economic output of over $590 million and the creation of thousands of jobs at the construction stage.

The Andrews state Labor government committed funds for a business case back in 2017-18, nearly three years ago. The absolute farce is that they still haven't completed this business case, and there's no indication as to when the Andrews government is likely to release this business case. The Labor government in Victoria are saying that, because they haven't finished it, they can't consider this money in the budget that is coming up, but they can say that the project is going to cost more than the previously estimated $250 million. So the Labor Party in Victoria don't know how much this project is going to cost, but when put under pressure they do know how much it's going to cost.

The Morrison-McCormack government has put stage 1 funding on the table. If we need more, we'll have to go back to the government and see if we can get more. I call on the Labor Andrews government and the Victorian Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Jacinta Allan, to get on with it and deliver the business case. Table the business case, stop kicking it down the road, and commit this funding so that Shepparton can get the bypass that it needs. Maybe the Labor government will stop spending money in their own seats and look after regional Victoria.

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