The Federal Government may have recommited to Victoria’s Surburban Rail Loop and Airport Rail in its budget, but the state will have to wait to see if funding will come its way for other major projects.
On Tuesday, Jim Chalmers delivered his Federal Budget, however despite other states receiving additional funding for infrastructure projects, Victoria received no additional funding.
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The state will receive $5 billion for the Melbourne Rail Loop, $2.2 billion for the first stage of the Surburban Rail Loop and $2 billion for the Geelong Fast Rail.
In contrast, the status of other projects including the North East Link and M80 Ring Road upgrade remains unknown along with at least 100 other major projects which were all promised federal funding.
In other disappointments for Dan Andrews’ state, no funding was allocated to support the 2026 Commonwealth Games – despite Brisbane receiving $1 billlion for the Olympics in 2032 and $230 million for the new AFL stadium in Hobart.
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The Commonwealth Games will cost at least $2.6 billion to host, which the Victorian Government expects for Canberra to contribute half of it which will mostly go towards infrastructure.
The Federal Government said it was in talks with Victoria and would make an announcement at a later date.
Victoria has lost residents over the last two years but is forecasted to attract the second-highest number of interstaters in 2023/24.
The Federal Government uses state population projections when determining the distribution of funds – with it expected the state’s population will increase by 150,000 of the next financial year.
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