He said it was "unacceptable" that a woman in her 70s was forced to travel to Geelong for withdrawal treatment recently.

This week, The Standard was contacted by a woman who had to travel to Geelong to access withdrawal services because the available beds in Warrnambool were temporarily closed.

The woman suffers from mobility issues and had to travel via bus due to upgrades on the Warrnambool to Melbourne train line. She said family members were worried about her travelling on a bus due to her history of falls.

Mr Soma said people needed to be able to access treatment close to home.

"This is above politics - it is a health issue and the Great South Coast needs a residential rehabilitation centre as well as adequate withdrawal beds to ensure that people don't have to leave this region for treatment," Mr Soma said.

"People sit on waiting lists and if they get into treatment they have to travel far away and they're away from their family and support systems - it's really not acceptable."

Incumbent Wannon federal member Dan Tehan said the the state government must explain to south-west residents why it failed to fund proposed alcohol and drug residential rehabilitation centre The Lookout in its budget.

"The question has to be asked why was the state government able to find $36 million for Mildura and it couldn't find anything for Warrnambool," Mr Tehan said.

"The Andrews Labor government needs to answer that question because the community is perplexed and bewildered."

Mr Tehan said he believed it was up to the state government to step up and fund the project.

"This has always been an area which historically has been funded by the state government, which is why I believe we need to be asking the state government why they were unable to fund it in the budget," Mr Tehan said.

However, in March this year Health Minister Martin Foley suggested a joint state and federal partnership might be the way to get Warrnambool's proposed alcohol and drug residential rehab centre off the ground.

The Standard asked Mr Foley if the state government planned to fund the proposed Lookout centre in May's state budget.

"Can I use this opportunity to thank The Lookout project, it's one that I'm very familiar with," Mr Foley said.

"I know that when it comes to alcohol and drug rehabilitation, whether it be in the community, residential rehabilitation services, or clinical services, this is a government like no other that has funded those arrangements.

"We have more than doubled over the course of the last few years, the number of residential rehabilitation drug and alcohol beds, and those have been overwhelmingly the majority of them in the regions.

"I look forward to continuing those discussions not just here in the south-west but across regional and rural Victoria. It's a significant issue here in the south-west and I look forward to all levels of government continuing to have those conversations about how we can support the further expansion of residential rehabilitation and community rehabilitation services."

South West Coast MP Roma Britnell spoke about the issue in parliament this week.

"COVID has been a challenging period, and we have seen people really struggle," Ms Britnell said.

"Addiction can strike anyone. It does not discriminate. We need to ensure that people who are taking steps to break the cycle of addiction have the access to the support and services they need close to home.

"Needing help with drug and alcohol rehabilitation is not a new problem, but it has been accentuated over the last couple of years.

"Having rehab at home in your home area of south-west coast is critically important for success."

Ms Britnell said Western Region Alcohol and Drug centre had worked closely with the state government on trying to open the facility.

"They tried to jump all the right hurdles," she said.

"They bought the land, they raised $1.5 million, they did the community consultation and they thought they had done what they needed to do, because you should not have to beg for something like this. It is a health facility that is needed and never before needed more than it is now, post COVID.

"But how disappointing to figure that they have been left out completely from this round of funding in the last budget - just really disappointing.

"Not only did they miss out on the rehabilitation but they were told constantly to work with the government and do the things that the government asked them to do. They did all that.

"So how can you say to volunteers and people who put their heart and soul into helping others that they are just not important enough? It does not make any sense to me."

A state government spokeswoman said the state government was in discussions with proponents of the project.

"We are in discussions with local stakeholders and community groups about this proposal and other initiatives to ensure AOD services meet the needs of the Warrnambool community," she said.

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