The Brumby Government has again shown it doesn’t care about creating jobs in regional Victoria by rejecting a key Parliamentary recommendation to speed up spending on critical infrastructure, tourism initiatives and other vital job creation programs, Shadow Minister for Regional and Rural Development and Leader of The Nationals Peter Ryan said today.
Mr Ryan said the Labor Government had betrayed regional Victorians after promising to deliver $585 million under the ten-year Regional Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) and promote regional development and jobs.
“Documents tabled in Parliament confirm that by July 2008, Labor had spent just $272 million under RIDF,” Mr Ryan said.
“At that time the all-party Parliamentary Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) acknowledged the drastic underspend and noted that the matter had become urgent: ‘To ensure that the total of the approved allocation of funding of the RIDF is fully committed and spent in a timely manner the government will need to accelerate the number of announced projects over the next two years to 2009-10’ (Source: 2008 PAEC report).
“Labor has now released its response to the PAEC recommendation which shows both the Premier and the Minister have rejected this crucial recommendation,” Mr Ryan said.
“By doing so, the government has arrogantly ignored the urgent need to boost employment and stimulate economic growth in regional Victoria at a time when jobs are rapidly vanishing.”
Mr Ryan said that even if recent government claims of extra spending under RIDF were correct, it would still leave about $160 million unspent which could be invested in critical infrastructure, tourism initiatives, the construction of community facilities or other vital job creation programs.
“To meet its target the government will need to commit over $10 million per month to RIDF projects, more than twice the rate of expenditure achieved over the previous eight years,” Mr Ryan said.
“John Brumby is either trying to save money at a time when regional Victorians urgently need more help than ever, or he is holding back so he can go on a spending spree across the state just prior to the 2010 state election.”
Media contact: Sonia Heath (03) 9651 8526
