There is limited room in the state budget to respond to voter frustrations in the west after Labor’s primary vote collapsed 16.7 per cent in the Werribee byelection.
Ministers have been told to slash programs and services in their portfolios, despite Premier Jacinta Allan’s promise to do more for voters in the wake of Saturday’s calamitous Werribee byelection.
for projects such as Airport Rail and the Western Highway unless it included more funding for SRL East.Angry MPs from the western suburbs had been warning that voters in Labor’s heartland no longer felt the party had its back – raising transport and crime as core issues – before Saturday’s byelection.
One source, unable to speak publicly about budget deliberations but fearful that valuable services would be lost, said ministers who refused were told they would have decisions made for them. A second minister said the budget cycle always considered which programs were no longer necessary or a priority, but that this year’s budget process had been tough.
Thomas said no federal MPs had raised concerns about the SRL and she did not believe the state’s relationship with the Albanese government was fracturing.“But I will say this, Victoria will always fight for our fair share of infrastructure funding. And to be frank, we’ve never had it. We haven’t received our fair share from the previous Liberal government, and we’re still fighting to get our fair share from the Albanese government,” Thomas said.
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