5 May 2015
At a glance:
Agriculture output budget – cut by 12 per cent (Budget Paper 3 p123)
Regional development output budget – cut by 24 per cent (BP3 p123)
Trade output budget – cut by 61.5 per cent (BP3 p123)
Regional Expo – cut (BP3 p355)
Road asset management budget – cut by 10 per cent (BP3 p154)
Country Roads and Bridges Program – cut
Wild dog bounty – cut
Fox bounty – not funded beyond next year (BP3 p20)
Roadside Weeds and Pests Management Program – not funded beyond two years (BP3 p56)
Riparian management – not funded beyond next year (BP3 p56)
Comments:
“It has only taken one State Budget for Daniel Andrews to totally abandon rural and regional Victoria.
“Instead of creating jobs all this budget creates is uncertainty.
“Regional programs are being cut completely while others aren’t being funded beyond one or two years.
“This budget is not about country people – it’s about Daniel Andrews playing politics.
“The flagship Regional Infrastructure Development Fund is not even additional money. It’s simply a grab-bag of projects that should have been funded through departments like health sport agriculture environment and arts – so that Daniel Andrews has more money left in the core budget for projects in Melbourne.
“The most significant project for rural and regional Victoria is the Murray Basin Rail Project which was started and funded by the Coalition.
“But we still don’t know which lines will be standardised under the project or when it will be completed.
“This government has today lived up to its reputation of being focused on political outcomes in Melbourne at the expense of rural and regional Victoria.”