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Concerns over Andrews Government’s spending for regional Victoria

Significant concerns are being raised about the Andrews Government’s spending priorities for regional Victoria.

By Portal Admin - 19th January 2017 - Back to News

Dear Editor,

Significant concerns are being raised about the Andrews Government’s spending priorities for regional Victoria.

Four months in, Labor has already spent $53.5 million of the Agriculture Infrastructure and Jobs Fund (AIJF), but farmers are mystified as to how funding decisions are being made.

The VFF recently questioned why the AIJF was being used to fund an irrigation upgrade, when there was another funding option available.

Daniel Andrews has failed to explain why he has picked some projects and not others.

Country Victoria has a long list of projects in need of funding after two years of city-centric focus by the Andrews Labor Government.

Country roads are crumbling and it is making it harder to get agricultural product to port, while the grain harvest was dogged by temperature restrictions on freight trains after Labor’s failure to maintain the rail network.

Daniel Andrews has a record of treating regional Victorians as second-class citizens while he focuses on sand-banking Labor’s inner city seats.

Farmers will be furious if the Andrews Government squanders the AIJF by spending it on projects that can and should be funded by existing departmental budgets.

Peter Walsh

Shadow Minister for Agriculture

Member for Murray Plains

Source: www.gippsland.com

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