AT LEAST one in five of the new dollars for regional Australia under Labor's deal with three independents will go to projects in their electorates.
Details of the deal released yesterday show $490m of the $2.14 billion in extra rural spending in the next 4-5 years will go to the constituents of Tasmanian Andrew Wilkie and NSW independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott.
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Under the deal, Mr Oakeshott's electorate of Lyne on the NSW mid-coast has won $75m from Labor for the expansion of Port Macquarie Base Hospital, $35m to accelerate the Pacific Highway upgrade between Kempsey and Port Macquarie and $20m in seed funding for a new university campus.
His neighbouring New England colleague Mr Windsor has brokered $20m for a training facility at the Tamworth Hospital and an un-funded commitment to construct the Bolivia Hill and Tenterfield heavy vehicle bypass on the New England Highway.
Tasmanian Independent Andrew Wilkie walked away with $340m for the re-development of the Royal Hobart Hospital in his electorate of Denison.
The three independents have also managed to ensure other projects in their electorates gained priority funding when it came to doling out $800m through a Regional Infrastructure Fund, the major component of the new spending.
In letter to Mr Oakeshott confirming the deal, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the government would seek to prioritise a number of local projects when considering funding allocations from the $800m fund.
In Mr Oakeshott's electorate, the government will:
- Prioritise funding for local roads and timber bridge replacements in the Taree City Council's shire.
- Prioritise funding for the Mid-North Coast Aviation Plan to boost business at Taree, Port Macquarie and Kempsey airports.
- Upgrade the regional road between Gloucester and Taree.
In a letter to Mr Windsor, Ms Gillard promised to:
- Meet Labor's commitment three days before the federal election to expand the Chaffey Dam supplying Tamworth and local irrigators from 62,000 megalitres to 100,000 megalitres.
- Maintain the $290m commitment to the Liverpool Range rail development.
Labor's total commitment to regional Australia under the deal with the independents and new Greens MP Adam Bandt is worth $10 billion over 10 years.
But the government's own budget analysis shows that much of this is either bringing forward spending in existing health, education and broadband programs and making sure rural Australia gets a third of all investments.
The budget impact of the deal is calculated at only $2.14 billion over 4-5 years, with much of the money committed to renewable energy projects.
Nationals leader Warren Truss described the deal as a lost opportunity for the regions.
"When you look at this $9.9 billion, $6 billion of it is coming from the mining tax over a period of 10 years,'' he told ABC Radio today.
"So it's only going to trickle into country areas.''
