Shepparton’s proposed bypass has been all but consigned to the scrapheap after the project was neglected by the Victorian Government in its budget this week.
Shepparton Bypass Action Group chair Peter Johnson said “reading between the lines” of the Victorian budget and the Federal Government’s comments around funding, the bypass was kaput.
Money was promised by the Federal Government for the project in 2018, but this week in parliament Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King implied the project was the exact type of pledge set to face the axe in its infrastructure review.
Ms King was asked by Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell if she stood by her comments from last year about the government staying committed to the bypass project.
Ms King said the money was still in the federal budget, which was released earlier this month, but said Labor had been left with a “mess” by the previous Coalition government
“The question addresses the issue we’re facing after 10 years of mismanagement of this pipeline, political priorities above deliver-ability, making announcements when you didn’t know how much it was going to cost, or without having a funding partner, without working with state governments to see if these projects could be delivered,” Ms King said, addressing the Opposition.
“We’re now left with a pipeline full of over 800 projects, many of which simply cannot be delivered, so we’re cleaning up the mess.”
Mr Johnson said he had watched the past few weeks play out with “considerable frustration”.
“Reading between the lines, it’s not good. We’re very disappointed. We have been seriously let down by the Victorian Government,” he said.
“The lack of funding puts the whole project in jeopardy.
“We’re going to need either a change of heart from the government or a change of government.”
Mr Johnson said advice from Ms King made it “abundantly clear” the ball was in the Victorian Government’s court, with the group contacting Victorian Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan, urging her to make the bypass a priority.
He said the group never heard back from Ms Allan’s office.
“It’s a no-brainer,” he said.
Mr Johnson said it was frustrating to see big projects such as the Suburban Rail Loop have billions of dollars tipped in, without a thought for regional projects such as the Shepparton bypass.
“They’ve sat with them and made it abundantly clear we need it, but both governments look like they’re turning around and saying ‘sorry, there’s no money’,” he said.
“It’s unbelievable (when compared to the Suburban Rail Loop), then Federal Government came and tipped $2.2 billion in without a business case.”
State Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell said the government couldn’t even complete the roundabout at the Ford and Wanganui Rds intersection with the Goulburn Valley Hwy, let alone the bypass, with the project blowing out by four and a half years.
“What the government has demonstrated to us is that they’re just not interested in building our bypass despite the fact that during the floods our city was divided and demonstrated to them the need to have a second river crossing that’s above flood level,” Ms Lovell said.
“The way they keep kicking the roundabout down the line just shows that they have no intention of getting on with the job of building the bypass.”
State Member for Shepparton Kim O’Keeffe said the bypass had been “ignored” in the state budget.
“We need to see the federal and state governments work together in collaboration in order to deliver critical infrastructure projects in regional Victoria such as the Shepparton bypass,” she said.
The Victorian Government didn’t answer the News’ questions about why the Ford Rd roundabout had been delayed by more than four years and why there was no additional funding for the bypass in this week’s state budget.
It also didn’t respond to questions about whether the lack of funding left the project at risk of being scrapped by the Federal Government.
“We’re continuing pre-construction work on the Goulburn Valley Rd, Ford Rd and Wanganui Rd intersection, with the final design and service relocation works to be completed before major works begin,” a Victorian Government spokesperson said.