'It's nothing short of a disgrace': Stoush over $20m delays projects

Member for Wannon Dan Tehan says more than $20m in funding earmarked for the region has been stripped from the federal government budget this year.

However, the federal government has hit back, saying the funding will be delivered when it is needed.

Data obtained by Mr Tehan show $10.7m for stage two of the Warrnambool to Melbourne rail line upgrade, $7.3 million for the upgrade of the notorious blue church intersection on the Princes Highway near Colac and $3.3 million for work on the Chatsworth-Woorndoo Road have been taken out of the 2023/24 budget.

Mr Tehan said an additional $50 million in funding for projects on the Princes Highway in four electorates, including Wannon, had been deferred from the 2023/2024 budget to the 2025/26 budget.

He said this could potentially put a number of vital road upgrades in the south-west at risk of not starting this year.

These include bridge upgrades at Panmure, Dartmoor, Yambuk, Dennington and Allansford and the addition of overtaking lanes east and west of Terang.

"What this demonstrates is that Labor sadly does not care when it comes to rail and road funding in Western Victoria," Mr Tehan said.

"A lot of time and effort had gone into getting this funding and making sure it was rolled out on time and now Anthony Albanese has just turned his back on our communities," Mr Tehan said.

"It's nothing short of a disgrace."

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King said the upgrades were important projects for the community.

Ms King said it was disappointing to hear "Mr Tehan misleading his community in this way".

"There have been no cuts to any of these projects," Ms King said.

"The Albanese government is making significant investments in roads in regional Australia and we are moving to double Roads to Recovery funding to $1 billion per year and increasing Black Spot funding."

She said this doubled the amount of funding available to local governments to repair and improve local roads.

"The government makes payments based on project progress, rather than in advance of need, as this is prudent financial management for the delivery of major transport infrastructure projects," Ms King said.

"Our funding is ready to flow as delivery partners achieve agreed project milestones.

"Unlike the previous government Mr Tehan was part of, which issued a lot of press releases but left projects underfunded and not properly planned, we want to actually deliver infrastructure projects to improve safety and opportunity as well as connecting communities."

The Standard was also advised by the federal government stage two of the rail line upgrade was expected to be completed by June 2026.

There have been calls for an upgrade of the blue church intersection for many years due to safety fears, while funding for the Chatsworth-Woorndoo Road was announced in 2022.

At the time Moyne Shire mayor Ian Smith said the funding was much-needed to upgrade the road.

"It's going to make a huge difference to road safety in that area," Cr Smith said.

The $510 rail upgrade for the Warrnambool to Melbourne line, which would see the introduction of VLocity trains was announced in 2017.

However, The Standard has reported on a number of setbacks to the project, including a revelation that a new fleet of trains promised to offer greater comfort and reliability on the Warrnambool line will be too long for the city's station platform.

This was one of a number of hiccups experienced during the project, which has already seen a fifth daily return service introduced in December 2022 as part of stage one, and aims to operate VLocity trains after the completion of stage two.

Premier Jacinta Allan told The Standard in January 2020 when she was transport minister the line was in "much worse condition than what was initially anticipated", causing delays.

She said the state government was doing a business case at the time to "fully scope out the track work and what it costs to run VLocity on the line".