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Nats promise increased spend in regions, if elected in November

Jun 23, 2022

Pledge: The Victorian Nationals have promised to increase spending in the regions, specifically on regional roads, if elected in November. Photo by David Rak

The Victorian National Party has pledged to spend 25 per cent of all state capital investment in regional areas, if elected in November.

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Nationals Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy said the plan would primarily focusing on neglected regional roads.

“Over the last couple of years the capital expenditure in the country has been 13 per cent and 11 per cent respectively, and this is despite the regions having 25 per cent of the population of the state,” Mr McCurdy said.

“All one has to do is drive from Melbourne to our smaller country towns to see the inequality in our roads and lack of investment.

“The current condition of our regional roads is not an ‘imagined fantasy’ as the city-based Labor MPs may think, instead it’s an ongoing reality for our regional communities.”

Mr McCurdy said he was expecting a major investment in country roads in the budget a fortnight ago.

“But now we’ve received another $24 million dollar reduction for Road Asset Maintenance,” he said.

“This is just not good enough, it’s time we give our regional towns the opportunity to rebuild and recover.”