Premier

Prime Minister For Sydney Strikes Again, Duds Victoria

19 December 2017

The Prime Minister for Sydney, Malcolm Turnbull, has struck again, appointing fellow New South Welshman Barnaby Joyce as Infrastructure Minister, in a sure sign Victoria can forget about ever getting its fair share of federal infrastructure funding.

Loyal Victorian Darren Chester has been dumped from Cabinet altogether, clearly paying a price for standing up for our state in Malcolm Turnbull’s Sydney-centric Government.

In what is a truly scary prospect for the nation, we now have four New South Wales politicians in charge of Victoria’s infrastructure decisions – Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, Paul Fletcher, and Barnaby Joyce.

This is at a time when federal infrastructure funding is becoming increasingly farcical and beyond outrageous.

New South Wales is getting a mammoth 45.5 per cent of federal infrastructure funding, while Victoria is getting a disgracefully paltry 9.4 per cent.

This is despite Victoria leading the nation in economic growth, employment growth and population growth.

Put another way, hard-working Victorian taxpayers – who make up 25.9 per cent of the population - are forking out billions of dollars for projects in New South Wales, including:

  • $5.3 billion for Sydney’s second airport
  • $3.6 billion for the joint Australian Government and NSW Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan
  • $1.5 billion of funding and a $2.0 billion concessional loan for the WestConnex project in Sydney
  • $412 million for NorthConnex in Sydney

The Andrews Labor Government will stand up for Victorians and keep fighting this outrageous behaviour by the most Sydney-centric Prime Minister our country has ever seen.

Quotes attributable to Treasurer Tim Pallas

“The Prime Minister for Sydney has little to be proud of in this latest reshuffle – the only infrastructure job he’s ever created in Victoria has been shipped to New South Wales.”

“By dumping a loyal Victorian and replacing him with just another politician from New South Wales, it’s clear Malcolm Turnbull couldn’t care less about our state.”

“We’ll keep fighting this Sydney-centric Government for our fair share, while continuing to grow our economy, create jobs and invest in the projects our state voted for and needs.”

Reviewed 19 August 2020

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