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Budget | May 23, 2023

State Budget falls well short for Lowan

Today’s announcement of funding for a new childcare facility in Murtoa in the 2023-24 State Budget has delivered on a key pre-election commitment made by Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy.

Ms Kealy said she was delighted that construction of the much-needed facility at the Murtoa College would be completed by 2025, providing an enormous boost for local families.

“While this is fantastic news for Murtoa and district, I am bitterly disappointed that today’s budget makes no mention of funding for several other key local projects including redevelopment of Warracknabeal’s Anzac Park, Nhill’s Davis Park and the Horsham City Oval,” she said.

“There is virtually no funding for new capital projects in Lowan, with most projects in today’s budget having been previously announced by Labor, with funding now being drawn out over several years.

“Statewide there are budget cuts to urgently needed health care, with no funding for new hospital infrastructure in Lowan, and the duplication of the Western Highway between Ballarat and Stawell has been placed on hold.

“Road Asset Management funding has been cut by $365.8M, or almost 45 percent, since 2020 and regional development funding has been cut by more than 80 percent in the same period. Agriculture has also been hit hard with cuts of $232.5 million, or almost 34 percent, from last year.”

Ms Kealy said under the Andrews Labor Government, life was only going to get harder for regional communities.

“Regional Victoria is still not getting its fair share of funding under Labor, who just don’t seem to recognise that 25% of the state’s population lives in rural and regional Victoria.

“The state budget has confirmed what we already knew – under Labor Victoria is broke, and regional Victorians are being punished for Labor’s incompetence,” she said.